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COMMENTARY
Aug 25, 2003

Japan's global security role

The most important feature of Japan's latest white paper on defense is that it gives new direction to the nation's defense policy. First, the report emphasizes that developing a missile defense system is a "matter of urgent importance for defense policy."
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Aug 24, 2003

Voices from the past help explain the present

SERVING OUR COUNTRY: Japanese American Women in the Military during World War II, by Brenda L. Moore. Rutgers University Press, 2003, $60 (cloth), $22 (paper). Building on her previous studies of racial issues, gender issues and military sociology, Brenda L. Moore has analyzed and documented an unusual...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Aug 24, 2003

Is anyone out there looking?

In streets and parks, at schools, airports or shopping centers, you won't go far in Japan these days without encountering artworks in some shape or form, from monumental sculptures to decorative tiles underfoot -- or even simply children's drawings on display.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Aug 24, 2003

Keeping abreast of the boob tube's favorite idols

Can we talk about breasts? Specifically, the large kind, which in the United States are affectionately (or not) called "knockers" or "hooters." In Japan, the slang is more clinical : kyonyu (giant breasts), honyu (rich breasts), and even bakunyu (explosive breasts). These words are clinical because nyu...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Aug 22, 2003

O, I do like to eat beside the seaside

Just because the rest of the country is heading back to work at the fag end of this cool summer doesn't mean the beach season is over. In fact, now that the crowds are thinning out, this is probably the best time to plan a day trip (or overnight) down to the Shonan "Riviera" -- that stretch of Kanagawa...
COMMENTARY / WASHINGTON UPDATE
Aug 21, 2003

California's political circus comes to town

WASHINGTON -- California Gov. Gray Davis will need more than a little luck to carry the day in the gubernatorial recall election now set for Oct. 7. As the campaign starts, he needs to gain ground quickly and mightily to remain in office. The voters are prepared to vote to oust him by margins ranging...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Aug 20, 2003

Noda gives Kabukiza a 'Mouse' that roars

A modern legend is back at the 114-year-old Kabukiza this summer in the diminutive form of Hideki Noda, one of the titans of Japanese contemporary theater.
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Aug 19, 2003

Cometh the man, cometh the charisma

Adashing & suave lady-killer and a misfit loser?
JAPAN
Aug 19, 2003

Women getting rubella despite vaccinations

Some women in Japan have contracted rubella during the early stages of pregnancies, resulting in birth defects in 31 cases, even though they had received vaccinations against the virus during childhood, researchers said Monday.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Aug 17, 2003

Combining the best of two worlds

DRAGON BONES, by Lisa See. New York: Random House, 2003, 368 pages, $24.95 (cloth). THE SAMURAI'S DAUGHTER, by Sujata Massey. New York: HarperCollins, 2003, 304 pages, $24.95 (cloth). It is no coincidence that, besides having Eurasian female authors, both of these books feature female detectives with...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Aug 17, 2003

Monastic comparisons and the rightness of left

MONASTIC DISCIPLINE: Vinaya and Orthodox Monasticism, an Attempt at Comparison, by George Sioris. Chiang Mai: The Knowledge Center, 375 pp., 495 baht (paper). LEFT VERSUS RIGHT, by George Sioris. Chiang Mai: The Knowledge Center, 150 pp., 195 baht (paper). George Sioris, a Greek scholar on Asia and a...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Aug 13, 2003

Hotshot terrorist comedy just misses target

Though only in his early 30s, Martin McDonagh already has a 1998 Tony Award under his belt for his worldwide hit, "The Beauty Queen of Leenane." What's more, his works have been staged in 38 countries -- Japan among them.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art / CERAMIC SCENE
Aug 13, 2003

The pot is mightier than the sword

As brutal as they may have been, many feudal Japanese warlords were passionate about the Way of Tea. In the midst of battle they would pause for a "tea break," appreciating the fleeting moment and simple joys of tea -- with bits of strategy tossed in.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Aug 10, 2003

Treasures too much for one

For one man alone, the Tokugawa treasures were simply too much to handle.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Aug 10, 2003

History of homegrown Japanese science finally adds up

Think Edo Period, and you think ukiyo-e, bonsai, yakimono and kabuki. Few think of science, or of the technological skill and spirit, which would later hatch Sony, Toyota and a core part of the country's national identity.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Aug 9, 2003

Heart of Laos displays traditional textiles' beauty

Having heard so much about Rassanikone Nanong, what a joy to meet her at an exhibition of textiles from her homeland. Sponsored by Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO), the show in Akasaka Twin Towers is promoting the work of three of 10 companies working in the arena of traditional Laotian weaving....
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 8, 2003

No symmetry in annexations of Sikkim and Tibet

CHIANG MAI, Thailand -- In my last column, and in the aftermath of the recent high-level Sino-Indian talks in Beijing, we dealt with the issue of Tibet from a historical perspective. A parallel analytical exercise with regard to Sikkim would perhaps prove equally interesting.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Aug 8, 2003

Keeping your cool this summer

Summer is here, the season of lethargy and listlessness, of sweat and stunted appetites. There are ways to ameliorate (if not actually beat) the big heat, but very few of them involve eating. For us, summer is about sitting outside in the cool of the evening, a nice cold beer at hand, or a bottle of...
LIFE / Digital / NAME OF THE GAME
Aug 7, 2003

Lessons in rage control

"Hulk," a game that is ever so loosely based on the new Universal Studios movie, has an element missing from most superhero action games -- fun.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Aug 6, 2003

O, what a tangled web we weave

Though nowhere near as all-encompassing as the Renaissance in Europe, the closed, feudal world of shogunal Japan did throw up a few periods of vigorous artistic expression in the more than two and a half control-freak centuries it lasted. One of these was about 200 years ago, from 1804-1830, during what...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES
Aug 6, 2003

Rough Trade Shops: "Post Punk 01"

When punk hit a recession-ridden U.K. in 1975-'76, using a rudimentary version of rock 'n' roll as a platform to scream obscenities and threaten to smash the state, it was enough to ignite outrage across the land. And then, before your grandfather could curse "They should bring back military service,"...
SOCCER / World cup
Aug 5, 2003

New coach happy with Beckham

Real Madrid's coach said Monday that David Beckham is experiencing some problems communicating with his new teammates as he works hard to fit into the all-star side of the Spanish soccer powerhouse.
COMMENTARY
Aug 2, 2003

Exaggeration leads to tragedy

LONDON -- Politicians always exaggerate, or at least embroider the facts. Like lawyers they have a case to make and an audience to persuade. So they emphasize the strongest points in their argument and slide over the weaker ones.
JAPAN
Jul 30, 2003

Major firms searched for bid-rigging clues

The Fair Trade Commission on Tuesday searched more than a dozen companies, including major machinery makers, in Tokyo and Osaka for evidence of bid-rigging in connection with local government construction contracts for sewage pumps.
JAPAN
Jul 29, 2003

Koizumi appears set to stay on by default

With the extended 190-day Diet session having closed Monday, lawmakers' attention is shifting to the Liberal Democratic Party's presidential election on Sept. 20, the new Cabinet that will immediately follow it and the expected House of Representatives poll in November.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jul 29, 2003

Tokyo bike couriers pedal their wares

Tokyo's perennial gridlock first prompted the birth of motorbike messenger services, but bicycle courier businesses are fast establishing themselves as viable.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / BEST BAR NONE
Jul 27, 2003

Yet another reason to head to Roppongi

Home is where the heart is, as they say. Well, the hottest new home for the after-office crowd in Roppongi, it would seem, is Heartland bar in the Roppongi Hills complex. This is where, as every evening unfolds, you will find a steady flow of both foreign and Japanese coworkers and friends dropping by...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Jul 27, 2003

Have a Bali good time at Shiseido's spa

BALI, Indonesia -- Imagine, if you will, a paradise.
BUSINESS
Jul 26, 2003

300 billion yen sought for rice reforms

The Liberal Democratic Party will request a budget of about 300 billion yen for rice policy reforms for fiscal 2004, LDP officials said Friday.

Longform

Dangami House is a 180-year-old former samurai residence of the Kato clan, who ruled over Ozu, Ehime Prefecture, until the Meiji Restoration.
A house, a legacy and the quiet work of restoration in rural Japan