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BUSINESS
Mar 5, 2002

Hazama shrugs off rumor of Sato Kogyo linkup

Construction firm Hazama Corp. rejected suggestions Monday that it is considering integrating its management with Sato Kogyo Co. or other companies, or that it is seeking additional financial aid from its creditor banks.
COMMENTARY
Mar 4, 2002

Research needs cutting edge

Since Japan has already decided to reorganize national universities into public corporations in fiscal 2004, it would be useless now to discuss the pros and cons of the plan. I happen to feel the plan will do neither harm nor good.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / CLOSE-UP
Mar 3, 2002

Ken Noguchi: Climb (and clean) every mountain

When Ken Noguchi reached the summit of Mount Everest in 1999, at the age of 25 he became the youngest person to have scaled the highest peaks on all seven continents. Born to a Japanese father and Egyptian mother, he grew up moving around the globe. His love affair with the dizzy heights of high-altitude...
Japan Times
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Mar 3, 2002

Gone fishing

Fly-fishing is like pachinko. You know how some people get a rush from watching things go into little holes? Well, replace the smoke, noise and flashing lights with tumbling brooks, mountains and fresh air and you've got fly-fishing.
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Mar 3, 2002

It takes a lot of work to fool a fish

One late summer afternoon, in the village of Oshino, Yamanashi Prefecture, I was sitting by a stream against the backdrop of Mount Fuji, my fly-fishing rod at my side. On a gentle breeze, a large mayfly came along and started fluttering on the water. It soon fell, getting its wings wet while trying to...
EDITORIALS
Mar 2, 2002

Launching a human rights board

The Justice Ministry is preparing legislation to create a powerful human rights commission that would recommend corrective measures, assist in lawsuits and take other steps to help victims of discrimination, abuse and other human rights violations. The government, which plans to send a related bill to...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / PERSONALITY PROFILE
Mar 2, 2002

Leslie deGiere

While she was still a student at San Francisco State University, Leslie deGiere took a break from lectures and went to London. "I had lived in America my entire life, and wanted to go somewhere else," she said. "I was interested in British history and literature, and decided to spend some time in London....
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle / JET STREAM
Mar 1, 2002

A prizewinning talk from the heart

When Jason Hancock took the grand prize at the NHK-televised 42nd International Speech Contest last June, he surprised everyone -- not least of all himself. After a series of impeccable orations by the other finalists (on such topics as the Japanese political system and Japanese linguistics), Hancock...
LIFE / Language / FOR KIDS
Mar 1, 2002

The boy who dreamt of dragons

More than a century ago, there was a 7-year-old boy who dreamt of a "green great dragon" and wrote his first short story about it.
EDITORIALS
Feb 28, 2002

Reform initiative faces setback

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi faces mounting difficulties as he tries to keep his reform initiative alive. His problem, in a nutshell, is that events are overtaking him. The gap between rhetoric and reality is widening amid growing signs of deflation. His favorite slogan, "structural reforms with...
JAPAN
Feb 27, 2002

NHK to show lost episode of 'Astro Boy'

NHK will air in April a long-lost episode of the popular animated series "Tetsuwan Atom" ("Astro Boy)" penned by late cartoonist Osamu Tezuka, according to NHK officials.
CULTURE / Stage
Feb 27, 2002

Learning not to mask their feelings

A good actor, according to director Louis Fantasia, knows how to kiss -- that is, how to K.I.S.S., an aphorism he borrowed from playwright David Mamet, meaning, "Keep it simple, stupid."
CULTURE / Art
Feb 27, 2002

Looking longer and seeing more

If you love art, you probably like nothing more than browsing at an exhibition; then perhaps, enthusing with friends that evening about what you saw. Maybe you even indulge in buying the occasional artwork.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES
Feb 27, 2002

Janet Klein: 'Paradise Wobble'

Janet Klein was born in the wrong era. With her warm, lilting voice, flapper dresses and ukulele, she seems more suitable for the Roaring '20s than the world today. On "Paradise Wobble," she gives us a taste of the bygone era she pines for. Together with her Parlor Boys, a group of enthusiastic archival...
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 25, 2002

Rarefied democracy of the Arab world

LONDON -- Bahrain produces little news of interest to the rest of the world, but now something remarkable has happened there. On Feb. 14, Emir Sheik Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa declared that Bahrain will henceforth be a democracy where he will reign only as a constitutional monarch. If he keeps his promise,...
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 25, 2002

Flawed theory, leadership thwart recovery

For many, the inability of Japan's economy to recover remains a mystery. This inability to assess the situation arises from misjudgments concerning the nature of the malaise and can be traced to the application of faulty economic theory.
CULTURE / Music / PLAY BUTTON
Feb 24, 2002

The method to the madness

Like Bauhaus architecture or a Charles Eames chair, Stereolab is retro yet refreshingly new. Beneath the surface of their shiny, polished pop, the lilting melodies of '60s lounge music, the drone of German progressive rock and the lightest hint of dance-floor beats coexist in a controlled upheaval.
COMMUNITY
Feb 23, 2002

Beauty and brains behind company clear as glass

Company President Narumi Tanaka is alone Monday morning, holding the fort in her office in Tokyo's Shibuya Ward. Her staff -- three full-timers, one part-timer and her husband -- are out and about on what she calls "the client site." A good thing, we agree, because it means TRANSe Project is at full...
BUSINESS
Feb 22, 2002

Haseko calls on major banks for 150 billion yen in support

Struggling condominium developer Haseko Corp. unveiled a sweeping restructuring plan Thursday, calling for 150 billion yen in financial support from major creditor banks and a 10 percent cut in personnel expenses in three years.
JAPAN
Feb 22, 2002

Former Kato aide brokered 50 million yen golf deal

A former aide to senior Liberal Democratic Party member Koichi Kato received some 50 million yen in cash in 1999 as a commission for brokering a golf course development project in Chiba Prefecture, informed sources said Thursday.
JAPAN
Feb 20, 2002

Mitsubishi Materials Kenzai, Nozawa suspected in price cartel

The Fair Trade Commission searched about 30 Mitsubishi Materials Kenzai Corp. and Nozawa Corp. outlets Tuesday on suspicion they ran an illegal sales cartel for construction materials.
JAPAN
Feb 20, 2002

Ex-Ishioka mayor, aide hit with fresh bribe charges

Prosecutors on Tuesday brought fresh charges against a former mayor of Ishioka, Ibaraki Prefecture, and a former aide to a lawmaker over a 2 million yen bribe allegedly made during bid-rigging for a public waterworks project.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Feb 19, 2002

Jewelry 'middle market' slipping away

Following the pattern seen in Japan's clothing and accessories industries, in which ultra-expensive designer bags by Louis Vuitton are snatched up with as much vigor as cheap clothing from Uniqlo stores, the "middle market" is rapidly disappearing from the nation's gemstone and jewelry industry.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 18, 2002

Will Blair err as Icarus did?

LONDON -- No European leader rode higher in the reaction to the Sept. 11 attack in New York than Tony Blair. The British prime minister immediately rallied to the American cause, enunciated the need to fight terrorism in ringing tones and committed troops to fight in Afghanistan. At last he had emerged...
COMMUNITY
Feb 17, 2002

We hold competition to be self-evident

Sibling rivalry, rivals in love, factional rivals, rivalry between nations: There seems to be no level of our lives not riddled with rivalry. Like its relatives, competition and conflict, rivalry is found in all societies and cultures.
LIFE / Food & Drink / NIHONSHU
Feb 17, 2002

Great sake only a hop, skip and a jump away

There are a plethora of pubs in Tokyo where you can enjoy good sake, but all too often we only read about those in the center of town. The truth, of course, is that there are plenty of great venues outside the Yamanote loop and beyond. Here are a few worth the short or midrange trip:
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Feb 17, 2002

Grow up, get over it or get done

Several weeks ago, Goro Inagaki, the quiet member of SMAP who for three months excluded himself from the group's activities as penance for a traffic violation, returned to showbiz with considerable fanfare.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Feb 17, 2002

Donald Richie rewinds a century of film

Donald Richie has always struck me as the ideal role model for the aspiring writer. More the distiller than the brewer, the cordon-bleu chef than the bone-cook, there is much to be learned from Richie's refinements.
COMMENTARY
Feb 16, 2002

U.S.-Korea policy: now what?

HONOLULU -- Has U.S. President George W. Bush's decision to include North Korea in his "axis of evil" foreclosed the possibility of serious dialogue between Washington and Pyongyang? Not necessarily. U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell maintains that Washington's earlier "any time, any place, without...
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Feb 16, 2002

'Couch rice' unwrap grains of wisdom

In the U.S., we have "couch potatoes." Japan has "couch rice." These sleepy little "onigiri" spend most of their time curled in the fetal position in front of the TV. Many of them are in my English Speech class at the university. Now that it's final exam time, the couch rice must break out of their safe...

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