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CULTURE / Art
Jul 23, 2003

Shiseido boss hymns art's power

Shiseido Co., Japan's top cosmetics company, received the Asahi Shimbun Foundation's Grand Prize on July 8 in recognition of its contribution to society.
JAPAN
Jul 20, 2003

Matsushita unit hit for assets error

OSAKA -- Matsushita Electric Works Ltd. failed to declare about 300 million yen in assets, mainly in connection with the development of a computer system, over the two years through the business year that ended in November 2001, company sources said Saturday.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jul 20, 2003

Here's your red hot mama, daddy

When the smoke cleared from the retro swing boom of the '90s, only a few bands remained. Lavay Smith and her Red Hot Skillet Lickers was one of them. The swing bands resurrected an entire corpus of old-style dancing, slick dressing, and lyrics not heard in public for a half-century. While the posers...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Jul 20, 2003

Making sure your fragrance fits

There is always something sensual about the scent of the opposite sex -- or more particularly, the aroma he's wearing. On the streets, I pass by a man and often find myself glancing back, not because I've been struck by his looks but because I've caught a faint whiff of his cologne. The intoxicating...
COMMUNITY
Jul 20, 2003

Being nasally challenged is nothing to be sniffed at

To be honest, I never gave much thought to noses, ne'er even my own, until my sense of smell departed.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Jul 20, 2003

Taking readers to the edge

RUNNERS IN THE MARGINS: Poems by Akira Tatehata, translated by Hiroaki Sato. Vermont: P.S A Press, 2003, 103 pp., $12.95 (paper) The poet Akira Tatehata has a wide-ranging imagination as rich, and yet as controlled, as the brush of the most delicate artist. His poems are sometimes playful, sometimes...
BUSINESS
Jul 19, 2003

Execs call for political manifestos

KARUIZAWA, Nagano Pref. -- Business executives called Friday on the nation's political parties to show voters their manifestos so that they can compete on the basis of concrete policy goals in the next general election.
EDITORIALS
Jul 18, 2003

Time for responsibility in Hong Kong

The sense of crisis in Hong Kong continues to mount following the resignation this week of two top government officials. The departures come on the heels of massive demonstrations against Article 23, the proposed legislation designed to protect public security but which critics claim would erode civil...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jul 16, 2003

Jazz swinging out in the open

Jazz fans have dozens of excellent festivals to choose from throughout Japan, with lineups covering a broad base from slick, traditional-minded swing to in-your-face free jazz. At most festivals, one would have to have to be either deaf or drunk to love everything on the schedule, but part of why festivals...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Jul 16, 2003

It's an absurd, absurd world

Theatrical experiences don't get much more intimate than at the Umegaoka Box in Tokyo's Setagaya Ward. The room-size home of the Rinko Gun theater company is barely four meters from front to back (including the floor-level acting area) and 15 meters across, meaning there's no place for either the 40...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jul 16, 2003

Not fade away

If Jim Morrison were alive, he'd turn 60 in December. His band, The Doors, will be playing in August at Summer Sonic; or, actually, keyboardist Ray Manzarek (64) and guitarist Robbie Krieger (57) will. The other surviving member, drummer John Densmore, has sued the pair for using the name without his...
EDITORIALS
Jul 13, 2003

Music and (some) words by Bob Dylan

Speaking of inspiration -- the creative kind -- people have long wondered where it comes from and how it works. Maybe the American composer Aaron Copland came closest to an answer when he said, "Inspiration may be a form of superconsciousness, or perhaps of subconsciousness -- I wouldn't know. But I...
Events
Jul 13, 2003

KANSAI: Who & What

Visitors to Kagawa can fill up on 'udon' noodles: Every tourist who visits sightseeing spots in Kagawa Prefecture after crossing the Seto Ohashi Bridge until Aug. 31 will receive a package of "udon" noodles.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Jul 13, 2003

Second strings

Shin Yoshida leads a double life. And everyone, including his boss, his wife and three children, knows about it.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jul 13, 2003

Classical rarities prove to be a hit

The maestros of the world generally conduct the music of others, but a Japanese record label has scored a minor hit with a CD of piano pieces that conductors themselves composed.
JAPAN
Jul 13, 2003

Obituary: Hosei Komatsu

Actor Hosei Komatsu died of an infection Friday morning in a Tokyo hospital, his family said Saturday. He was 76.
BUSINESS
Jul 12, 2003

Koizumi says Nikkei has hit bottom

The stock market appears to have bottomed out and will probably continue to demonstrate a firm trend in the foreseeable future, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi said Friday.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jul 11, 2003

Tokyo Star taking a different approach to banking

Enter one of Tokyo Star Bank's four new branches, and you are soon ushered into booths arranged for private consultations with customers.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jul 9, 2003

Dub-tropical of Little Tempo travels well

While most of Tokyo is frantically trying to cool down, Japan's prime dub outfit Little Tempo will be heating things up this summer with a series of live gigs.
Events
Jul 6, 2003

KANSAI: Who & What

Performers to promote peace at Osaka event: Taihen, a performance troupe organized by physically challenged people, is organizing a two-day antiwar event from 1 p.m. on July 12 and 13 at Metamoru Hall in Osaka's Higashi-Yodogawa Ward.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / FUZZY LOGIC
Jul 6, 2003

A last taste of Honey

It might be the right time for the 54 Nude Honeys, but it's the wrong place and they've decided to do something about it. In September, they're jumping on a plane and decamping to New York, where the American music-media have stepped into line with their British brethren and realized that the current...
BUSINESS
Jul 4, 2003

JETRO wants doors open for foreign firms

The Japan External Trade Organization released a report Thursday urging that the nation do more to remove hurdles for foreign companies.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jul 3, 2003

Homeless group works to show its worth

YOKOHAMA -- Every morning at JR Yokohama Station, people show up armed with brooms and dustpans to clean up litter on nearby streets left by the previous night's carousing throngs.
JAPAN
Jul 2, 2003

Is Baghdad safe enough for SDF? Depends on which party you ask

The ruling bloc and the opposition parties are presenting completely conflicting reports on their respective fact-finding missions to Iraq, with the opposition arguing the Self-Defense Forces should not be dispatched to the area due to deteriorating security.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES
Jul 2, 2003

Pat Metheny: "One Quiet Night"

Pat Metheny is one of the most widely imitated guitarists in modern jazz. A prodigy on guitar, he played in jazz clubs before he could even drive to the gigs and became one of the youngest teachers ever at the famed Berklee College of Music in Boston. Because of that early fame, he has had the freedom...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jul 2, 2003

On a director's storyboard far, far away

Is there a person in the Western world -- or even globally, given Hollywood's cultural reach -- who is unaware of "Star Wars"? In a society increasingly described as amnesiac, in which pop culture seems to come with an expiry date, George Lucas' movie trilogy (now with two -- soon to be three -- "prequels")...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES
Jul 2, 2003

The Octagon Man: "Magneton"

His real name might be J-Saul Kane; no one knows for sure. Kane is, however, known to possess multiple bank accounts and aliases. Most commonly known as Depth Charge, he also works under the name Alexander's Dark Band and seems to reserve the pseudonym The Octagon Man for his most twisted and deranged...

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