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CULTURE / Film
Jun 13, 2001

Somewhere over the DMZ

JSA Rating: * * * 1/2 Director: Park Chan Wook Running time: 110 minutes Language: Korean Now showing at Hibiya Scala-za and other theaters Two types of Korean movies used to be released in Japan. One was the art film, usually something dark, raw and intense. The other was the erotic film, usually...
CULTURE / Art
Jun 13, 2001

Quiet scenes from life and nature

"Suigen (Water Source)" (2001) by Tsuneo Nakaune A joint exhibition of nihonga (traditional Japanese-style painting) by Haruko and Tsuneo Nakaune will open June 19 at the Ginza Church Tokyo Gospel Fellowship Center. Readers may already know Haruko from her "Word Play" cartoons on The Japan Times' Friday...
Events
Jun 12, 2001

Kobe friendship center to help local Brazilians learn Japanese

KOBE — Kobe Foreigners Friendship Center, a nonprofit organization assisting foreign residents, has compiled textbooks and CDs for Brazilians wanting to learn conversational Japanese.
JAPAN
Jun 12, 2001

Recession looms as GDP shrinks 0.2%

Japan's economy shrank during the last three months of fiscal 2000, according to government data released Monday, confirming fears that the world's second-largest economy is on the brink of another recession.
JAPAN
Jun 12, 2001

Koizumi's bid to empower urban voters hit

Toshikatsu Matsuoka is frustrated.
COMMUNITY
Jun 10, 2001

Home buyers seek new designs for living

Man people dream of buying a brand-new home. In Japan, realizing that dream usually means settling for a factory-made house that looks like hundreds of its neighbors or a condominium that must be paid for even before it is built.
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Jun 10, 2001

All problems, great and small

Up-to-the-minute trends and subjects are often incorporated into the story lines of television drama series. Unfortunately, topicality is usually given more consideration than relevance, and the dramas themselves rarely explore the reality of problems such as AIDS or teenage depression.
LIFE
Jun 10, 2001

Joseph Conder: Enduring legacies of a 'high-collar' expat

Japanese domestic architecture has changed a lot in the last 100 years, but Western-style architecture was slow taking off and in fact the modern Japanese architectural establishment owes its organization, training system and much of its sense of style to one man: Josiah Conder.
EDITORIALS
Jun 9, 2001

Secret fund is still under wraps

The Foreign Ministry, responding to a recent embezzlement scandal involving a senior ministry bureaucrat, has put together a package of measures designed to "reform" its secrecy-shrouded diplomatic war chest. The package falls far short of public expectations, largely because the ministry has not disclosed...
JAPAN
Jun 9, 2001

Koizumi's reform foes entrenched

With Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi firing off a barrage of reform proposals aimed at turning the ailing economy around, his foes, including fellow Liberal Democratic Party lawmakers and bureaucrats keen to protect vested interests, are drawing battle lines.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / PERSONALITY PROFILE
Jun 9, 2001

Pablo Javier

Last evening, Philippine ambassador Romeo Arguelles opened an art exhibition in the embassy. Held in conjunction with the celebration of the republic's Independence Day, the exhibition features the oil paintings of Pablo Javier. "I am very proud to be giving this one-man show of my Western-style paintings,"...
JAPAN
Jun 7, 2001

Obituary: Kiyonaga Ito

Kiyonaga Ito, a Western-style painter specializing in pictures of female nudes and recipient of the Order of Culture, died Tuesday evening of heart failure at a hospital in Karuizawa, Nagano Prefecture, his family said Wednesday. He was 90.
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....
CULTURE / Music
Jun 6, 2001

Music for the masses

Lord knows, it ain't easy Call it the Happy Meal effect, but what used to be considered "bonus" is now taken for granted. The multiple-stage gimmick offers more of a festival atmosphere, but if you go for the music you will eventually have to choose, and sometimes it ain't easy.
CULTURE / Art
Jun 6, 2001

American poet wins Chuya Nakahara Prize

Chuya Nakahara (1907-1937) was a master at using the 7-5 syllabic meter in the nontraditional, free-verse shi style. His birthplace, the city of Yamaguchi, has established the annual Chuya Nakahara Prize and a memorial library where his papers are collected to be preserved and available for research....
CULTURE / Art
Jun 6, 2001

Moshino's multisided talents under one roof

An exhibition of images, paintings and designs by Katsura Moshino is now showing at the Canon Wonder Museum in Makuhari in Chiba.
JAPAN
Jun 5, 2001

New Zealand offering Japan 'soft trade' alternative: envoy

New Zealand is better-placed than other English-speaking nations to help Japan's goal of internationalizing its citizens, according to Ambassador Phillip Gibson.
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 / Media / MEDIA MIX
Jun 3, 2001

It's all about manners (cough, gasp), not health

It's not surprising that the local media glossed over the World Health Organization's 14th annual World No Tobacco Day last Thursday. The government, a member in good standing of the United Nations and a conscientious contributor to its causes, didn't start preparing a seminar to mark the occasion until...
BUSINESS
Jun 2, 2001

Reform blueprint supports Koizumi's avowed projects

A government panel has approved the basic framework of draft guidelines on economic and fiscal policies that center on Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's reform initiatives, including comprehensive reform of the national budget.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Jun 2, 2001

Wizard of Oz shares magic printing technique

Next Saturday, Australian print artist Dianne Longley provides the opportunity to hear about and see the demonstration of a new technique: photopolymer printing. The event will be held in Tokyo's Azabu-juban, and everyone is welcome, whether experienced or novice.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Jun 2, 2001

The missing link in your linguistic skills

Sometimes you just can't find the right word to describe something uniquely Japanese. Thus, I have created the following words for the first Japan Lite Dictionary for foreigners in Japan.
BUSINESS
Jun 1, 2001

Fiscal panel eyes release of public entities

A key government panel on economic and fiscal policy is expected to recommend next month a partial privatization of employee pension programs and sweeping deregulation, government sources said Thursday.
JAPAN
May 31, 2001

Time ripe for collective defense: panelists

Panelists at a symposium on Japan-U.S. relations held in Tokyo this week agreed that Japan should lift its ban on engaging in collective defense as both nations seek to strengthen security ties.
JAPAN
May 31, 2001

Tanaka family villa seized in '99, asset report shows

The government in December 1999 seized a villa owned by a firm operated by the family of the late Prime Minister Kakuei Tanaka, sources said Wednesday.
JAPAN
May 31, 2001

DoCoMo launches trial of high-speed service

NTT DoCoMo Inc. on Wednesday launched a trial run of its third-generation mobile phone service that promises to eventually allow users to watch video transmissions on their handsets.
JAPAN
May 31, 2001

Tobacco industry 'Insider' takes his campaign to Japan

Educational and grassroots activities will be crucial if Japan is to successfully reduce the nation's relatively high number of smokers and incidence of lung cancer -- one of the leading causes of death in this country, said scientist and tobacco educator Jeffrey Wigand.
BUSINESS
May 31, 2001

Taxpayer numbers viewed as solution to stop tax evasion

Hoping to cut down on tax evasion, a government advisory panel on economic and fiscal affairs will probably call for introduction of a taxpayer numbering system, panel sources said.
COMMUNITY
May 31, 2001

Cure me with your laser beam

Christchurch is known for its beautiful parks and gardens, English heritage and access to adventure sports, but there's another reason to join the 96,000 Japanese who visited the largest city on the South Island of New Zealand last year. If you're unhappy wearing glasses or contact lenses, it's also...
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
May 31, 2001

White lines, blowin' through my brain

Until 1903, a bottle of Coca-Cola contained around 60 mg of cocaine -- enough, it has now been shown, to trigger long-lasting changes in brain activity. According to a report in today's issue of Nature, giving a single dose of cocaine to mice changes the way that nerve connections transmit signals in...

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