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COMMUNITY
Feb 9, 2000

Down by the waterside in Mizumoto Park

Even in Tokyo there is such a place: a park with large open spaces, where a whole family can enjoy picnics, barbecues, camping, flowers and beautiful trees, catch fish and watch birds. Look no further than Mizumoto Park.
LIFE / Travel
Feb 9, 2000

New Zealand lunkers rise to flies

Few places in the world rival the South Island of New Zealand either for superb fly fishing or for stunning scenery, and the Ahuriri River in the Canterbury District is the sort of place every fly-fisherman who hasn't been wants to go to, and where those who have been long to return.
LIFE / Travel
Feb 9, 2000

Getting away from the skiers in Kyushu and Kyoto winter

When snow falls and the chill winds blow, skiers are happy but others are inclined to stay home. To lure people away from their warm hearths, the tourism industry offers special winter prices and attractions. This is an excellent time to explore areas of Japan that are on your travel list.
CULTURE / Music
Feb 5, 2000

At last, a live house for hogaku

Tokyo, being a vibrant, world-class metropolis, is home to hundreds of small musical venues ("live houses") which offer everything: the top names in the jazz world, rock and punk, piano parlor music, ethnic music from Asia, China, Korea, Africa, India, among others, as well as American and European folk...
CULTURE / Stage
Feb 4, 2000

Dance fests spotlight solo performances

Tokyo is awash with festivals of dance this month, mostly by solo dancers, which is not surprising since the majority of performers here prefer the controlled environment of one-man shows. But what is surprising is that even with all the organization involved in planning these events, the sudden accumulation...
COMMENTARY
Feb 2, 2000

Is the U.S. on the right track?

As we enter the Year of the Dragon, U.S. bilateral relations with key states in Northeast Asia generally appear on track. Ties with America's two key allies, Japan and Korea, remain steady, as the Trilateral Cooperation and Oversight Group process has helped to keep all three in sync when dealing with...
JAPAN
Feb 2, 2000

Nago airport plan seen as dugong threat

Less playful than dolphins and not as awesomely powerful as whales, dugongs have somehow failed to capture the popular imagination like their more dynamic cetacean brethren.
JAPAN
Feb 1, 2000

Nago base plan threatens dugong habitat

Less playful than dolphins and not as awesomely powerful as whales, dugongs have somehow failed to capture the popular imagination like their more dynamic cetacean brethren. But this endangered creature, found off the east coast of Okinawa's main island, may soon steal the limelight.
COMMENTARY
Jan 31, 2000

Let the great debate begin

The Diet is finally launching debate on constitutional issues, breaking a long-standing political taboo. As the ordinary Diet session opened Jan. 20, both houses created panels to conduct the first parliamentary debate on the pros and cons of constitutional amendments. All political parties will take...
COMMUNITY
Jan 30, 2000

Preaching the gospel of women's television

Those who watch the program "New Yorkers," broadcast weekly on NHK's satellite channel, will be familiar with the name Nancy Lee. But how many realize that this snappy, bright, Jewish-American from New Jersey is as much at home in Japanese as English?
CULTURE / Art
Jan 30, 2000

Vesting the third millennium in peace

KYOTO -- Llamas grazed contentedly on the slopes surrounding Machu Picchu as John Kurtenbach spread out the kesa on the South American peak. Later it became part of a meditation held there.
JAPAN
Jan 30, 2000

Old doesn't necessarily mean convalescent

A group of elderly women chatting over lunch and devoting the rest of their time to making handicrafts such as dolls and handkerchiefs say that time really flies at Kawaji-san-chi, a new type of day-care home.
JAPAN
Jan 30, 2000

Disaster dictated Ginza make-overs

JR Yurakucho Station is a well-known gateway to the shopping paradise of Tokyo's Ginza district, whose very name invokes images of luxury and big-name brands.
JAPAN
Jan 28, 2000

TV exec held for threats to 'beautician'

Former Fuji TV producer Koichi Ishimoto, 45, has been arrested for allegedly trying to extort 300 million yen from a beautician who once appeared on his television program, police said. Two others, including Takashi Teruyama, 42, who describes himself as a representative of a political organization,...
CULTURE / Stage
Jan 28, 2000

Irish dance fever comes to Japan

Lord of the Dance, an Irish dance troupe which has been seen by 7 million people in 18 countries since its 1996 debut, is finally coming to Japan to wow audiences with its world-renowned performance.
JAPAN
Jan 27, 2000

Serial killer claims he was forced into confessing

Convicted serial killer Tsutomu Miyazaki told the Tokyo High Court on Thursday he was forced into confessing to the murders of three young girls on the first day of his arrest in July 1989 although he was apprehended on molestation charges. During defense questioning, Miyazaki, 37, said he was detained...
COMMUNITY
Jan 26, 2000

Bright lanterns, big New Year

Chinese New Year is always explosive, and that has nothing to do with Y2K. It is a three-day whirl of festivities, dancing dragons and lions, prayers, fiery lanterns, "lucky money" for children and mountains of exquisite dishes.
JAPAN
Jan 25, 2000

'20s Industry Club faces wrecking ball

The 80-year-old Industry Club of Japan building in Tokyo's Marunouchi district, which has served as a hub for Japan's business circles, will next month undergo reconstruction.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 23, 2000

Japan's 'railway diplomacy' rolls forward

Plans for a Japanese consortium to construct a shinkansen link between Taiwan's two biggest cities will showcase Tokyo's technology and "railway diplomacy." Both have been running virtually nonstop and on schedule since 1872, when the first line connecting Tokyo's Shimbashi station to Yokohama opened....
COMMUNITY / How-tos
Jan 23, 2000

Buried in time

A woman writes of her problem. It is likely to remain one. She has a collection of what she calls bark pictures, produced in Japan after World War II. She describes them as landscapes composed of mountains made of tree bark, trees made of moss, and painted water and skies. She doubts if they were considered...
COMMENTARY
Jan 22, 2000

Close the bases, start again

Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi's Cabinet deserves praise for changing Japan's policy stance regarding the Japan-U.S. security system. First, the Cabinet recently proposed a 15-year time limit on U.S. use of the facility that would take over operations of the U.S. Futenma Marine Air Station in Okinawa, which...
COMMUNITY
Jan 19, 2000

Lafcadio Hearn: interpreter of two disparate worlds

He created an illusion and lived his days and nights within its confines. That illusion was his Japan. He found in Japan the ideal coupling of the cerebral and the sensual, mingled and indistinguishable, the one constantly recharging the other and affording him the inspiration to write.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 17, 2000

Cut U.S. military presence

Japan faces intense pressure to settle uncertainties regarding the relocation of the U.S. Marine Corps heliport now at the Futenma Air Station in Okinawa before July, when it hosts a Group of Eight summit. Unless the problems are settled by then, U.S. President Bill Clinton is likely to face a firestorm...
CULTURE / Music
Jan 11, 2000

Ani DiFranco's hard road leads her to a higher plane

Last year, the prolific Ani DiFranco released three albums. Any record company marketing executive would tell you that's more than the market could take. But then, DiFranco doesn't have to answer to any record company. She owns her own.
CULTURE / Books
Jan 10, 2000

Getting under a tattooist's skin

TATTOOING THE INVISIBLE MAN: Bodies of Work, 1955-1999, by Don Ed Hardy. edited by Francesca Passalacqua. Santa Monica, Calif.: Smart Art Press/Hardy Marks Publications, 1999, 300 pp., profusely illustrated, color and b/w, $90. In 1972 Don Ed Hardy, already a tattoo artist of note, made his first trip...
COMMUNITY
Jan 9, 2000

Good I-house innkeeper still making world news

Meet my first man of the 2000s after last Sunday's press holiday. Hiroshi Matsumoto may be 70, and a "banto," but a more civilized and forward-thinking innkeeper you are unlikely to meet in the next 99 years (or 999 years, for that matter).
JAPAN
Jan 9, 2000

Tent city gone but common bonds remain

KOBE -- The idyllic image of a father and son flying a kite in Minami Komae Park bears no resemblance to the scenes visited on this place during the devastating 1995 Great Hanshin Earthquake.
CULTURE / Art
Jan 8, 2000

Ceramic greats spotlighted

New Year's Greetings to all Ceramic Scene readers! In Japan there are innumerable artistic groups that allow their members to exchange ideas or research, sponsor lectures or workshops and to acknowledge outstanding work in their respective fields. The Japan Ceramic Society (Nihon Toji Kyokai) is one...
SOCCER / J. League
Jan 3, 2000

Grampus Eight hoists Emperor's Cup

Nagoya Grampus Eight walked off with what was probably the world's first soccer title of the millennium after downing Sanfrecce Hiroshima 2-0 in the final of the Emperor's Cup at Tokyo's National Stadium on a beautiful, sunny New Year's Day.
JAPAN
Dec 30, 1999

Trains to run all night despite midnight breaks

Staff writer For people who want to make predawn visits to shrines and temples Saturday, major railways throughout Japan will provide their usual New Year's Eve all-night services. However, some plan to halt trains for a few minutes both sides of midnight today to cope with possible Y2K computer problems. In...

Longform

Figure skater Akiko Suzuki was once told her ideal weight should be 47 kilograms, a number she now admits she “naively believed.” This led to her have a relationship with food that resulted in her suffering from anorexia.
The silent battle Japanese athletes fight with weight