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CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Sep 15, 2002

Life in the fast lane

STANDARD DEVIATIONS: Growing Up and Coming Down in the New Asia, by Karl Taro Greenfeld. New York: Villard, 2002, 272 pp., $23.95 (cloth) The new Orientalist finds adventure in the "wicked sorcery in Asia," discovers "sexual magic in the fleshpots where girls and boys stand behind glass partitions with...
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
Sep 5, 2002

Divorce issues, cheap traveling and getting ADSL

Divorce issues Dear Lifelines, My wife and I have been separated for three years. I do not see any hope for our marriage and feel we need to get a divorce. I have two children. What should I do? -- Tony in Chiba
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Sep 4, 2002

Let there be light in the urban darkness

Naoya Hatakeyama's stunning photographs use finely tuned modern techniques to discover harmonious beauty in places where we often perceive only competing layers of chaos. They filter our all-too-familiar environment, revealing its underlying complexity and, in the process, leading us to question the...
CULTURE / Film / CLOSE-UP
Sep 1, 2002

Films, Zen, Japan

Donald Richie is regarded as the leading Western authority on Japanese film. He first came to Japan in 1947 as a civilian typist for the U.S. Occupational forces -- an intelligent, restless 22-year-old in search of purpose.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / CLOSE-UP
Sep 1, 2002

Films, Zen, Japan

Donald Richie is regarded as the leading Western authority on Japanese film. He first came to Japan in 1947 as a civilian typist for the U.S. Occupational forces -- an intelligent, restless 22-year-old in search of purpose.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Sep 1, 2002

Tokyo's blueprints of th past - and the future

Tokyo is an ugly city. Sure, it may not suffer from the smog of Mexico City, be blighted by Johannesburg-style shantytowns or possess Houston's plate-glass vacuity. Nonetheless, the Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923, World War II bombing and subsequent construction booms have combined to obliterate the...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Aug 11, 2002

Chill out in Tokyo's favourite haunts

Sites of assassinations, murders and suicides; dark, dank tunnels and creepy old abandoned buildings; weird creatures, the stuff of legends whose origins are lost in the mists of time . . . Tokyo harbors dozens -- perhaps even hundreds -- of "ghost spots" where inexplicable, sinister phenomena have reputedly...
COMMENTARY
Aug 3, 2002

Flaws mar proposed reforms

LONDON -- The Japanese Foreign Ministry has been much criticized over the last year. Reforms have been made and more changes are likely. Some of the criticism has been justified, but much is misplaced and some of the proposals for changes are mistaken.
JAPAN
Jul 31, 2002

Street performers audition for metropolitan licenses

Street performers auditioned Tuesday in front of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government building in Shinjuku to receive local government licenses to perform in public places.
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
Jul 25, 2002

Health insurance, pension cash claims and odd-job search

It's been quite surprising to receive so many "thank yous" from readers, but more surprising has been that they come not only from Japan but from all over the the world. It seems a lot of people who have lived in Japan in the past and moved on read the column at www.japantimes.co.jp to keep up on things...
CULTURE / Music / HOGAKU TODAY
Jul 21, 2002

They're out there, they're really out there

When I was a student in the United States during the 1970s, a classmate of mine went to a record shop in a large city and asked if they had any Japanese music. The shopkeeper excitedly pulled out a brand-new album titled "Koto and Shakuhachi" and talked about how wonderful and exotic the music was. Since...
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
Jul 11, 2002

Diving and biking to eco-awareness

Excuse me for a moment if I boast, but I am delighted with the progress my backyard is making in its quest for biological diversity. No doubt my neighbors view my garden as unruly and overgrown, but as it's no bigger than a parking space, I let it have its way.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 9, 2002

Japan's close encounter with the West

'By reading, hearing, and by observation in foreign lands, our people have acquired a general knowledge of constitutions, habits and manners as they exist in most foreign countries. . . . Japan cannot claim originality as yet, but it will aim to exercise practical wisdom by adopting the advantages, and...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / VINELAND
Jun 30, 2002

Matches made in Tokyo

From California-style cafes to French bistros, international restaurants in Tokyo possess world-class wine lists. But if consumers' experience of wine is limited to their forays into international gourmet dining, it will remain an exotic, special-occasion beverage. To establish a comfortable home for...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / PERSONALITY PROFILE
Jun 15, 2002

Phil Richardson

Long, long ago, in a preflight age, diplomats and expatriate businessmen in Japan expected their lives to be leisured until the arrival of the next ship with its communications from home offices. Phil Richardson does not belong to such a remote past, but his timing places him at the end of another era...
Japan Times
JAPAN / CLOSE NEIGHBORS
May 31, 2002

Tourism offers one path to better understanding

The pamphlets lined up at tourist centers scream, "Experience the real Korean-style aesthetic treatment and make your skin smooth!" "Spend three full days in Seoul sightseeing and shopping!"
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
May 26, 2002

Enough to make Spanish eyes smile

In case you hadn't noticed, Spanish food is big right now -- or at least that's what the vernacular magazines would have us believe. This, of course, is not the first time it's been touted as the next big thing. But somehow a critical mass of popularity was never achieved, and Spain's culinary profile...
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
May 21, 2002

The hermit opens up to visitors

PYONGYANG -- It's not difficult to find your way around Pyongyang. The city has few tall buildings and wherever you go, the imposing monolith of the Tower of the Juche Idea -- topped by a red "flame" that glows at night -- enables visitors to get their bearings.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT
May 19, 2002

Whaling: A live issue over death

Whales dolphins and porpoises, the aquatic mammals collectively called cetaceans, number less than 80 species, or fewer than 2 percent of all mammals. They are, however, probably the most talked about and written about of all wild animals -- despite being some of the most poorly understood creatures...
SOCCER / World cup
May 15, 2002

Hayatou, Chung state case for FIFA leadership reforms

The "Blatter Out" campaign breezed through Tokyo on Monday as Issa Hayatou, FIFA boss Sepp Blatter's rival for the presidency, and his South Korean ally, Dr. Chung Mong Joon, held a press conference to state their case for a new broom in FIFA.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
May 12, 2002

Poetry that's music to the ears of millions

POEMS OF THE GOAT, by Chuya Nakahara, translated by Ry Beville. American Book Company, Richmond, VA, 2002, 77 pp., $15/2500 yen (paper) Why do some writers get translated and others -- better, more deserving -- remain obscure? This is a question that Ry Beville, a young Virginia native, asked himself...
EDITORIALS
Apr 30, 2002

Rough going awaits postal reforms

The Diet is set to debate legislation that incorporates Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's cherished plans to privatize the postal services (mail, savings and life insurance). At stake is a set of four reform bills. Two were introduced by the government last week. One will create an umbrella postal corporation;...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Apr 28, 2002

Toriyoshi: Simplest of pleasures on a stick

What could be more straightforward than yakitori? All that's required is to chop up some chicken into bite-size chunks, skewer and hoist them over a grill, then season to taste and eat. Simple? Yes. Easy to do well? Obviously not, or there would be far more places of the caliber of Toriyoshi.
JAPAN
Apr 23, 2002

Rules sought on secondhand smoke

A citizens' group in Osaka campaigning for a smoke-free environment for children submitted a petition Monday to the health minister calling for stricter regulations to reduce secondhand smoke.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Apr 7, 2002

Caregivers derive strength from their charges: professor

OSAKA -- People with disabilities may be considered weak, but they are often the ones giving comfort and strength to their caregivers, according to Kiyokazu Washida, a philosophy professor at Osaka University's graduate school.
Japan Times
Events
Apr 2, 2002

Kyoto offers new map and guidebook to help visually impaired enjoy city

KYOTO -- One of the pleasures of visiting an unfamiliar place is to walk around the area with a map in hand. But a normal map is no help to visually impaired people.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 29, 2002

Fresh irritants may still derail Sino-Japan ties

Like Tokyo's cherry-blossoms-dotted landscape at this time of year, relations between Japan and China appear to have sprung back to life -- and in bloom again after a winter of chill and frost.
LIFE / Travel
Mar 19, 2002

On the road in Sri Lanka

While security concerns deter many visitors, traveling in Sri Lanka can be very rewarding because there is so much on offer and few other tourists to crowd the experience. Flights from Japan arrive in the middle of the night, ensuring that one's first impression is not a traffic jam.
LIFE / Travel
Mar 19, 2002

On the road in Sri Lanka

While security concerns deter many visitors, traveling in Sri Lanka can be very rewarding because there is so much on offer and few other tourists to crowd the experience. Flights from Japan arrive in the middle of the night, ensuring that one's first impression is not a traffic jam.

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