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COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Dec 14, 2002

A nation that's set up for looking down

Only in Japan is it possible to ride a crowded train to work, stop to buy your "o-bento" lunch at the convenience store, and arrive at work -- all without ever having eye contact with anyone. That is because people spend a lot of time looking at the ground in Japan.
EDITORIALS
Dec 13, 2002

High stakes in reducing poverty

In the 2002 edition of its annual "State of World Population" report, the United Nations Fund for Population Activities, or UNFPA, emphasizes that eliminating poverty and reducing the birthrate by raising the educational level of women will curb the population explosion, shrink the gap between rich and...
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
Dec 12, 2002

A fresh approach

Ten years ago, at the first Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, Severn Cullis-Suzuki got the chance to make the speech of her life.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art / CERAMIC SCENE
Dec 11, 2002

In search of the real artist-potter Ogata Kenzan

"Sensational art finds are both desired and feared: desired because they become a form of pleasure and capital; feared because they displace something or somebody. Japan has had its share of such moments."
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Dec 8, 2002

There's cows in them there hills

Even today, most of the "milk" in Japan is soymilk, eaten as tofu. The lactic sort, from cows, may be steadily growing in popularity, but consumption per person is still only around a liter a week, according to government data issued last year.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Dec 8, 2002

Take me back to the ball game

WE ARE NIPPON: The World Cup in Japan, by Simon Moran. S.U. Press, 2002, 190 pp., 1,500 yen (paper) As anyone who was here will undoubtedly recall, things got a little raucous in Japan and South Korea last summer. But hosting a World Cup will do that to a nation or, as in this case, two nations.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Dec 8, 2002

Expat writers shoot from the lip

FACES IN THE CROWDS: A Tokyo International Anthology, edited by Hillel Wright. Printed Matter Press: Tokyo, 2002, 254 pp., 2 yen,500/$25 (cloth) "Faces in the Crowds" is a hyperkinetic grab bag that brings work by a cross section of Tokyo's expat writers, and Japanese writers working in English, together...
EDITORIALS
Dec 7, 2002

Controversial Aegis dispatch

Whether or not to send an Aegis destroyer to the Indian Ocean has been a touchy question ever since Japan indirectly joined in the U.S. military campaign in Afghanistan about a year ago. The question was settled, officially at least, earlier this week when the government decided, after hemming and hawing,...
EDITORIALS
Dec 6, 2002

Aceh on the brink of peace

At long last, there is an end in sight to the two decades of deadly conflict in Indonesia's separatist province of Aceh. The Indonesian government of President Megawati Sukarnoputri and the Free Aceh Movement, the guerrilla group established in 1976, are expected to sign a peace agreement in Geneva next...
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / WILD WATCH
Dec 5, 2002

Vital links in a flyway chain

Amazingly, we continue to take fresh water for granted. This precious resource is vital for our survival and that of a vast array of other species, from microscopic creatures and aquatic insects, to fish and hordes of birds. In Lake Baikal in Siberia, at 1,737 meters the deepest lake in the world, there...
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Dec 4, 2002

Are Petagine and the Giants a good fit?

Having lost superstar slugger Hideki Matsui to free agency and the major leagues, the Yomiuri Giants have acquired Roberto Petagine, the runnerup to Matsui in this year's Central League home run derby. The Giants have thus plugged Matsui's hole in their lineup with another Triple Crown threat, but three...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / CLOSE-UP
Dec 1, 2002

Writer on the borderline

Haruki Murakami is Japan's most important and internationally acclaimed living writer. "Norwegian Wood," his fourth novel, has sold more than 2 million copies since it was published in 1987. His latest, "Kafka on the Shore," has sold more than 200,000 copies since its publication in September, and has...
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Dec 1, 2002

A look at the trials of the uprooted

Though so-called international marriages continue to become more commonplace in Japan, the authorities still treat them as glaring exceptions that call for special treatment. If you're not a Japanese national and you want to make sure you can stay in Japan in the event you divorce your Japanese spouse,...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Nov 30, 2002

Car-sharing gears up to find a foothold

SEIKA, Kyoto Pref. -- Sonoko Umemura, an official at the Kansai Economic Federation in Osaka, reserves a car by mobile phone when she travels to Kansai Science City so that she can drive to research centers scattered across an area not well served by the public transportation system.
COMMENTARY
Nov 30, 2002

Opposition, come out please

LONDON -- Parliamentary institutions in Britain and Japan currently have one thing in common -- they lack an effective and credible opposition. The absence of opposition can allow governments with large majorities to ignore public opinion, at least in the short term, and behave in an autocratic way,...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / THE SECOND ROOM
Nov 30, 2002

The funkier side of Mike Maguire; new Antidote release; Domino at Fire

Somewhere standing off to the side of all the people who have claimed titles in electronic music -- the various kings, queens, godfathers and godmothers -- is Mike Maguire, marking his own beat, seemingly oblivious to the world.
Japan Times
JAPAN / THROUGH THE DOOR
Nov 27, 2002

Education for some refugees is ray of hope

The men in uniform white shirts and dark shorts sitting in the classroom looked too old to be junior high school students; some had gray hair, close-cropped.
JAPAN
Nov 26, 2002

Tokyo-Pyongyang talks in limbo

Japan and North Korea will probably not resume bilateral normalization talks before the end of November because the two sides remain at odds over several key issues, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuo Fukuda indicated Monday.
JAPAN
Nov 25, 2002

Diplomat in China likely reaching out to North Korea

A top Japanese official has traveled to Beijing in an apparent effort to resume stalled normalization talks between Tokyo and Pyongyang, it was learned Sunday.
SOCCER / J. League
Nov 24, 2002

Dunga sees the same fierce spirit in Jubilo

Jubilo Iwata's unprecedented sweep of both J. League stages was eagerly anticipated by at least one former player.
COMMUNITY
Nov 24, 2002

A feast for the eyes

A man carefully slices a loaf of rye bread. He piles lettuce leaves and slices of ham and cheese onto one slice, then tops it with another slice. The tasty looking sandwich finished, he cuts it neatly in two.
COMMENTARY
Nov 24, 2002

Pyongyang's threat to peace

LONDON -- In North America and Europe the joint problems of Iraq and of al-Qaeda-inspired terrorism dominate the news. Only limited attention is given to the threat posed by North Korea. This is partly because North Korea seems far away and partly because there is no simple way of dealing with the threat....
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Nov 24, 2002

Blinded by dogma, or just poor journalism

One would have thought the media learned something from the Kim Hye Gyong debacle.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Nov 23, 2002

Kiwi embassy fetes ties in true Maori tradition

To mark half a century of diplomatic representation in Japan, the New Zealand Embassy has marked the installation of an elaborately carved "tomokanga" Maori entranceway.
BASEBALL / MLB
Nov 23, 2002

Dodgers closer Gagne would rather be chasing a hockey puck in NHL

Eric Gagne is a 25-year-old pitcher with the Los Angeles Dodgers. After three rather unspectacular years as a starting pitcher with the Dodgers, the Montreal native was converted to a closer prior to this past season.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Nov 23, 2002

Marketing Cardiff as cultural capital of Europe

This is quite a month for Bet (Elizabeth) Davies. On Nov. 28, she will receive an award from the Japanese ambassador in London on behalf of the government for services rendered to to the Japanese community in Wales, and her work in bridging Japan and the U.K. in general.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / PERSONALITY PROFILE
Nov 23, 2002

Angela Bilbao de Infante

Next year, the International Ladies Benevolent Society will celebrate its 50th anniversary of nonstop, wholehearted, generous help to charitable organizations and people in need in Japan. A continuing, major fundraising event is the annual Christmas Fair. This year's chairwoman for the fair is Angela...

Longform

Sumadori Bar on Shibuya Ward's main Center Gai street targets young customers who prefer low-alcohol drinks or abstain altogether.
Rethinking that second drink: Japan’s Gen Z gets ‘sober curious’