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CULTURE / Art
Sep 5, 2001

Connoisseur's selection from the vaults

Times have certainly changed. Corporate art acquisition, once fueled by bubble-era prosperity, is now low down the list of boardroom priorities.
CULTURE / Books
Aug 5, 2001

From the outside looking in

THE DONALD RICHIE READER: 50 Years of Writing on Japan. Compiled, edited and with an introduction by Arturo Silva. Stone Bridge Press, 2001, 238 pp., $19.95 (paperback). Full disclosure: I've known Donald Richie for more than 20 years and, like many people who have known him for a long time, I count...
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 20, 2001

China's AIDS policy taking a deadly toll

NEW YORK -- China's decision to bar Dr. Gao Yaojie from attending an award ceremony in the United States is the latest example of the Chinese government's mistaken policy on AIDS. Taken together with other policies, it shows that by trying to avoid publicity about AIDS and ignoring the rapid spread of...
JAPAN
Jun 16, 2001

Refrigerant gases to be banned

The House of Councilors on Friday approved a bill mandating the retrieval and destruction of ozone-depleting and greenhouse gases used in automobile air conditioners, industrial refrigerators and cooling systems.
BUSINESS
Jun 14, 2001

Problem loans rising at regional banks

Problem loans at the nation's 64 regional banks rose 17.7 percent to 9.8 trillion yen during fiscal 2000 as borrowers fell delinquent and banks made more stringent assessments of loans, the Association of Regional Banks said Wednesday.
SOCCER / World cup
Jun 10, 2001

Can Japan leave Les Bleus feeling blue after Confederations Cup final?

If you take the negative aspects of the Confederations Cup (the League Cup of international football) away from the equation, then FIFA couldn't have asked for a more intriguing final today at International Stadium Yokohama.
COMMENTARY / World / GUEST FORUM
Jun 7, 2001

Japan's efforts to responsibly manage southern bluefin tuna resources bear fruit

HONOLULU-- Australia, New Zealand, and Japan recently agreed to jointly launch an experimental fishing program for southern bluefin tuna. Quotas for southern bluefin tuna, along with Japan's unilateral experimental fishing programs, have been sources of diplomatic contention among the three countries....
JAPAN
Jun 3, 2001

Unpublished Akutagawa notes found

Five unpublished notebook pages written by Ryunosuke Akutagawa (1892-1927), one of modern Japan's best known writers, have been found in an antique bookstore in Tokyo's Kanda district, researchers said Saturday.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Jun 3, 2001

Where to find those bygone gems

If you're after antique furniture you don't have to go to Camden Lock or Jubilee market in London to find that "one-and-only" piece. There are antique shops right here full of treasures from home and abroad -- and at reasonable prices.
BUSINESS
Jun 1, 2001

Keidanren, bankers to work on debt relief

The Japan Federation of Economic Organizations (Keidanren) and the Japanese Bankers Association have agreed to begin working on guidelines for banks to forgive loans to troubled corporate borrowers, Financial Services Minister Hakuo Yanagisawa said Thursday.
CULTURE / Art
May 30, 2001

Futura 2000 is now

A graffiti legend from the very earliest days of New York's underground hip-hop movement, Futura 2000 is presently being elevated to iconic status by his progeny. At 46, he is old enough not only to be their father but also to know better.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
May 27, 2001

Bibliophiles rejoice

A COLLECTOR'S GUIDE TO BOOKS ON JAPAN IN ENGLISH: An Annotated List of over 2,500 Titles with Subject Index, by Joseph Rogala. Richmond, Surrey: Curzon Press, Ltd., 2001. 292 pp., 15.99 UK pounds. The book's title says precisely what it is. It is not a listing of 'best' books on Japan, nor a catalog...
JAPAN
May 23, 2001

Loan firms linked to rise in personal bankruptcies

With colorful billboards at train stations, TV commercials showing Brazilian soccer legend Zico or a carefree, successful young woman, major consumer loan firms seem to have shed the shady images that previously haunted them.
JAPAN
May 9, 2001

Coalition agrees on bill to destroy ozone-harming gases

The ruling coalition agreed in principle Tuesday to legislation that would mandate the collection and destruction of chlorofluorocarbon gases known to deplete the ozone layer and induce global warming, coalition officials said.
CULTURE / Art
May 9, 2001

The shock of the Nouveau

Like a femme fatale, Art Nouveau has long guarded her secrets well. Were her sinuous lines symbolic or erotic? Did she bring fresh beauty into the modern world, or exploit a fin de siecle taste for the decadent? And why did she suddenly disappear, after a rapid rise to fame?
JAPAN
Apr 19, 2001

DPJ bill proposes fluorocarbon tax

The Democratic Party of Japan unveiled a bill Wednesday to levy a tax on manufacturers in order to promote the collection and disposal of three types of greenhouse gases known to destroy the ozone layer.
COMMUNITY
Apr 15, 2001

Where the reading's free and easy

As England was once called a nation of shopkeepers, Japan could be called a nation of readers.
CULTURE / Books
Apr 15, 2001

Cracks in the great wall of China

CHINESE SOCIETY: Change, Conflict and Resistance, edited by Elizabeth J. Perry and Mark Selden. London, Routledge, 2000, 249 pp., $27.99. A single image dominates Western perceptions of the regime in China since the Tiananmen massacre of 1989: that of a government willing to crack down mercilessly...
JAPAN
Mar 18, 2001

Heir to reed traders promotes appreciation of the marsh grass

OMIHACHIMAN, Shiga Pref. -- When the wind blows, common reeds in front of Yoshihiro Nishikawa's house make a unique sound. Inside, the house is filled with all kinds of products made of the reeds. Nishikawa's head is also filled with reeds, or at least knowledge about them.
CULTURE / Art
Mar 4, 2001

Japan's art for all seasons

Japan is a country with four seasons. This has long been an accepted fact, and most visitors to the country have been assured of it on numerous occasions. The progress of the seasons is a usual topic of conversation and is always mentioned at the beginning of any personal letter. Poetry, especially haiku...
JAPAN
Mar 2, 2001

Deep-sea water targeted for next big health fad

Salt water deep in the sea and beyond the reach of sunlight is attracting the attention of local government officials, fishermen and businesspeople who see seawater products as a promising new business.
CULTURE / Books
Mar 2, 2001

Ex-OL, self-described everyman take Naoki prize

The winners of the Naoki literary prize for the second half of 2000 have been announced. This time, both winners -- "Planaria" by Yamamoto Fumio and "Vitamin F" by Shigematsu Kiyoshi -- are short-story collections, as were three of the other four short-listed works.
LIFE / Travel
Feb 28, 2001

A phoenix from the ashes

ALEXANDRIA, Egypt -- Down by the corniche, a legend of classical antiquity is rising from the ashes as miraculously as a phoenix. This summer, the new $200 million Bibliotheca Alexandrina, a spectacular piece of high-tech architecture billed as the revival of the Ancient Library of Alexandria, is due...
JAPAN
Feb 25, 2001

Kanda's Jinbo-cho is book-lovers' paradise

With about 150 used-book stores in addition to ordinary bookstores and publishing houses, Kanda Jinbo-cho in Chiyoda Ward is a cultural asset that Tokyo and all of Japan can be proud of.
JAPAN
Feb 25, 2001

Kanda's Jinbo-cho is book-lovers' paradise

With about 150 used-book stores in addition to ordinary bookstores and publishing houses, Kanda Jinbo-cho in Chiyoda Ward is a cultural asset that Tokyo and all of Japan can be proud of.
CULTURE / Books
Feb 20, 2001

Charting the landscape of Japan's foreign affairs

JAPANESE FOREIGN POLICY TODAY, edited by Inoguchi Takashi and Purnendra Jain. New York: Palgrave, 2000, 316 pp. $59.95 (cloth). This collection of studies on Japan's foreign policy is edited by Takashi Inoguchi, professor of political science at the Institute of Oriental Culture, University of Tokyo,...
CULTURE / Art
Feb 10, 2001

Happiness is a warm bar, with artwork

It appears that Tokyo curators have assumed a new duty as of late: that of thinking up catchy, metered titles for their exhibitions. First we had "Point of Purchase" at Parco, then "The Gift of Hope" at MoT, and now "The Place of Happiness" at the Watari-Um Museum of Contemporary Art in Aoyama.
BASEBALL / MLB
Feb 8, 2001

Yomiuri to host memorial game

A squad of Yomiuri Giants minor leaguers and a team of South Korean professionals will play a memorial game March 11 for the South Korean student killed in a train accident last month trying to save a drunken man who had fallen from a station platform.
JAPAN
Feb 3, 2001

Pricey Rinku trash system to be dumped

OSAKA -- An advanced underground waste disposal and collection system developed for Rinku Town, the coastal business center adjacent to the offshore Kansai International Airport, is facing closure less than five years after it first came into operation, it was learned Friday.

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