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CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Dec 29, 2002

A practical politician with his eyes fixed firmly on the stars

SPARKY: Warrior, Peacemaker, Poet, Patriot. A Portrait of Senator Spark M. Matsunaga, by Richard Halloran. Honolulu: Matsunaga Charitable Foundation, 2002, 259 pp., paper ($16.95) At a reception for a visiting Japanese prime minister held at the White House in 1981, Alexander Haig, recently confirmed...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Dec 28, 2002

Japan being led into war again, this time by U.S.

For years, ever since leaving Doshisha University, Shinpei Ishii worked for TV Man Union Inc. Then in 1989, tired of kowtowing to authority and wanting to write and speak out freely, he went freelance. It was a good move. He won an award for a program made for NTV and acclaim for literary translations,...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Dec 25, 2002

Dancing to the Eastern wind of change

Asian performers of contemporary dance embody an inherent contradiction. With their Asian physiques and being raised in Asian cultures, they perform an art form that was pioneered by Isadora Duncan (1878-1927) and developed in the West.
COMMENTARY / JAPAN IN THE GLOBAL ERA
Dec 23, 2002

Bleaker times may await the grandkids

LAUSANNE, Switzerland -- In four weeks this series will have run for a year, and it will be time to bring it to an end. These last four articles, therefore, will constitute a combination of conclusions and parting thoughts.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Dec 22, 2002

The Christmas business

Japanese marketers are well aware that Christmas ranks second in popularity only to New Year's -- above even the Bon holiday in August, when people flock back to their hometowns to pay respect to their ancestors.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / PLAY BUTTON
Dec 22, 2002

Exploring musical compositions' demarcation lines

What is the difference between a track and a song? To the average listener, nothing -- the terms are often used interchangeably.
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Dec 22, 2002

Looks at stolen lives, loot and . . . bases

As Japan's Major League Baseball broadcaster by default, NHK will certainly have its hands full next year when Hideki Matsui makes his MLB debut. It may be a logistic nightmare airing all Ichiro Suzuki and Matsui games, but it pays off in the end with lots of viewers.
EDITORIALS
Dec 19, 2002

A belated but welcome apology

The USS Greeneville, a massive nuclear submarine, accidently rammed and sank the Ehime Maru, a Japanese fisheries training vessel, off Hawaii on Feb. 9, 2001, killing nine. This week, nearly two years later, the Greeneville's former captain, retired Cmdr. Scott Waddle, traveled to Japan to apologize...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Dec 17, 2002

Putting in a bad word for Japanese

The other night, the wife and I were watching NHK's evening news when the announcer began a segment on the topic of "domestic violence." The term he used was exactly that. Well okay, not exactly: what I heard was domesuchikku baiorensu.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 16, 2002

Anti-Americanism sharpens U.S. attitudes

HONOLULU -- As anti-American emotions have erupted in the Islamic world and Asia, the response from Americans has increasingly taken on a hard edge. Some of the rejoinders have been predictable, but others are a surprise.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Dec 15, 2002

Chushingura Chushingura

Snow has been the backdrop to some of Tokyo's most colorful and epoch-making events.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Dec 15, 2002

Traveling in search of truth

IN SEARCH OF THE MAHABHARATA: Notes of Travels in India with Peter Brook, 1982-1985, by Jean-Claude Carriere. Translated from the French by Aruna Vasudev, with a forward by Jyoti Sabharwal. New Delhi: Macmillan India, 2001, 120 pp., with line drawings by Carriere, 198 rupees (cloth) Between 1982 and...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Dec 14, 2002

When massage goes far beyond just feeling good

After an exhausting move from one house to another, followed by weather that defies description and not a single greeting card yet written, it is good to find myself in healing hands.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 13, 2002

Roots of Nigeria's sectarian strife run deep

The riots that drove the Miss World Pageant from Nigeria this year have focused the world's attention on the religious conflict in that major oil-exporting country and its implications for Nigerian stability.
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Dec 10, 2002

Chilling in the houses of the rising damp

Waking up on winter mornings always reminds me of how primitive life in Japan can be.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Dec 8, 2002

On the night side of life

The last trains have long gone and the stations are shuttered.
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

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...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Dec 6, 2002

New washoku comes of age

Trends are only ever truly visible in retrospect, but all the indications are that 2002 will be viewed as the year in which washoku -- Japan's native, homegrown food -- finally made its big comeback.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 2, 2002

China has robbed Keio University, Japan's Foreign Ministry of their independence

NEW YORK -- Japan has been in an uproar since five of its citizens who were abducted by North Korean agents more than 20 years ago were allowed to return home Oct. 15. But an even more ominous event for the country, though not prominently reported by the mass media, occurred last month: the "kidnapping"...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Dec 1, 2002

'Mongrel' seeker after new self-understandings

"One day, people will realize they are a mongrel people with a mongrel history."
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,...
COMMUNITY
Dec 1, 2002

Essential dangling modifiers

Yuko, 38, an office worker, has keitai straps appropriate for each season -- furry ones for winter and beaded ones for summer. When the temperature changes, she adds another to her collection.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Dec 1, 2002

South Korea helps Japan to get more trendy

As we draw to the end of the so-called Year of Korea and Japan, which was sort of forced on the two neighbors by FIFA, we should take a moment to reflect on just how much closer the countries across the Sea of Japan have grown in the past 10 months.
COMMENTARY
Nov 30, 2002

West Coast optimists say the sun also rises

LOS ANGELES -- Sometimes the only explanation for it is that there are two Americas. The East Coast America, with its dark cynicism and worldly seen-it-all sangfroid, sees Asia as mostly a problem and a threat. But West Coast America, soaking up its proximity to Asia and reveling in local Asian ethnicities...
Japan Times
JAPAN / PREFECTURAL FARE
Nov 30, 2002

Representative office gives visitors hands-on approach to Yamanashi

The Yamanashi Prefectural Trade and Tourist Center in Tokyo's Minami-Azabu district is trying to offer more than just tasty delights and souvenir crafts.
Japan Times
JAPAN / THROUGH THE DOOR
Nov 29, 2002

Reluctance to accept refugees draws fire

Since October last year, there have been at least 34 cases in which asylum seekers at immigration facilities purposefully injured themselves, with some even going so far as to attempt suicide, the Justice Ministry has admitted.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Nov 28, 2002

Housing quest still tall order for foreigners

One of the first hurdles for people planning to work or study abroad is securing a place to live.
JAPAN
Nov 28, 2002

World Cup spurs South Korea exchanges

Following Japan and South Korea's cohosting of the World Cup soccer finals last summer, 36 prefectural governments have held or will hold 123 sports exchanges with South Korean teams in fiscal 2002, according to a survey conducted by the sports ministry.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / GARDENS FOR ALL
Nov 28, 2002

Autumn chilly spell yields a spectacular cast of colors

This year, the autumn color has been truly magnificent in the Kansai region, primarily thanks to the Japanese maple. Every year, these trees are almost guaranteed to deliver wonderful yellow-and-red fall foliage, but this year the sudden drop in temperature in the first few days of November pushed into...

Longform

A small shrine perched atop rocks braves the waves hitting the shoreline during a storm in Shimoda, Shizuoka Prefecture. The area is under threat of a possible 31-meter-high tsunami if an earthquake strikes the nearby Nankai Trough.
If the 'Big One' hits, this city could face a 31-meter-high tsunami