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Japan Times
JAPAN / WEEKEND WISDOM
Aug 11, 2002

Bible scholar questions value of religion without substance

If something lacks substance, it is not to the taste of Bible scholar Michiko Ota. Thus, she contends, humans are better off without religion if that religion has lost its substance.
JAPAN
Aug 10, 2002

Nippon Food Inc. Osaka unit raided

OSAKA -- Farm ministry officials on Friday searched Nippon Food Inc.'s Osaka unit, which was implicated in the defrauding of a state-run beef buyback program, ministry officials said.
JAPAN
Aug 9, 2002

Accused killer of eight accepts competency claim

OSAKA -- The man accused of massacring eight children last summer at an Osaka elementary school said in court Thursday he does not plan to contest the prosecution's claim that he is mentally competent to be held accountable for the crimes.
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Aug 8, 2002

Debunking strange Asian myths: Part II

This story began over a beer in a Kabukicho restaurant, when an adventuresome Canadian lassie named Christine, who had requested a tour of Shinjuku's sleazier hangouts, leaned suggestively across the table and asked me in a husky voice if I had ever eaten monkey brains.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Aug 8, 2002

Government to file charges against Nippon Ham subsidiary

The government will file a criminal complaint against a unit of Nippon Meat Packers Inc. if it finds that the firm abused a beef-buyback program by disguising imported meat as domestic, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuo Fukuda said Wednesday.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Aug 6, 2002

Tussling over a stolen treasure

ATHENS -- In 1801, Thomas Bruce, the seventh Earl of Elgin and British ambassador to Constantinople, hit upon what he considered a splendid idea.
EDITORIALS
Aug 4, 2002

No exemptions for U.S.

Once again, Washington's single-minded protection of its freedom of action is raising eyebrows and jeopardizing international law. This time, concern about visits to U.S. civilian and military prisons has led the United States to block a United Nations vote on a plan to enforce a convention on torture....
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 4, 2002

Japan playing a vital role in Myanmar

Aung San Suu Kyi has completed two successful and delightful long-distance inland political journeys since her release from a second house arrest about 10 weeks ago. The State Peace and Development Council, or SPDC, the military regime, has provided full security for her travels in Mandalay and Mon states....
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Aug 4, 2002

Shock of the new: modernism as a cultural force

TOPOGRAPHIES OF JAPANESE MODERNISM. By Seiji M. Lippit. New York: Columbia University Press, 2002, 301 pp., $22.50 (paper) Among the many results of the 19th-century "opening" of Japan to the West was a truly massive internalization of foreign culture, one which is now so advanced that concepts such...
EDITORIALS
Aug 3, 2002

Positive moves from Pyongyang

The good news about North Korea is that it is ready to resume diplomatic contacts with Japan and the United States. At the ASEAN Regional Forum in Brunei this week, Pyongyang's foreign minister, Mr. Paek Nam Sun, expressed a willingness to mend fences with Tokyo and Washington in talks with Foreign Minister...
JAPAN
Aug 3, 2002

Lack of rival leaves Koizumi boss by default

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's sky-high popularity is a thing of the past. Over the last six months, his public approval ratings have declined sharply, as has his image as a charismatic reformer.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / PERSONALITY PROFILE
Aug 3, 2002

Hema Parekh

At her family home in Bombay, as part of her religion Hema Parekh was taught "never to take away another's right to life." That meant she lived as a vegetarian.
JAPAN
Aug 2, 2002

Tokyo cooling system in the pipeline

In an effort to curb Tokyo's ever-warming urban sprawl, the government is considering a massive project to cool the heart of the capital using an underground network of pipes -- tantamount to the world's largest radiator.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Aug 2, 2002

North Korean agent sought in abduction

Tokyo police obtained an arrest warrant Thursday for a North Korean agent who is suspected of acquiring a Japanese passport by pretending to be an Osaka man he abducted and spirited away to North Korea in 1980, police sources said.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Aug 2, 2002

USJ struggles to save image from 'sophomore jinx'

OSAKA -- The Universal Studios Japan theme park, which drew 11 million people in the first 12 months after it opened in March 2001, is having a bad second year as it struggles to regain public trust following a series of management blunders.
EDITORIALS
Jul 31, 2002

Defense bills need thorough review

As the regular Diet session draws to a close, several key bills remain on the table. Among these are three defense bills designed to deal with a direct attack on Japan, real or perceived. The proposed legislation, however, is flawed in so many ways -- including the lack of provisions for civilian protection...
COMMENTARY
Jul 30, 2002

Asian multilateralism takes on new energy

HONOLULU -- Multilateral dialogue seems to be taking on new energy in Asia. Not since 1993 -- when foreign ministers attending the ASEAN Post-Ministerial Conference held a separate breakfast session to discuss security issues and decided to establish the ASEAN Regional Forum, or ARF, and the Asia Pacific...
JAPAN
Jul 30, 2002

Opposition parties to bring no-confidence motion to vote

The four main opposition parties agreed Monday to jointly submit a no-confidence motion against Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's Cabinet.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Jul 30, 2002

A race against cultural oblivion

Like minority groups the world over, the hill tribes of Laos are facing unaccustomed pressures on their traditional way of life. The depletion of protective, life-giving forest and wilderness, the upward migration of more lowland Laotians, growing pressure on the hill tribes to settle closer to accessible...
LIFE / Travel
Jul 30, 2002

A race against cultural oblivion

Like minority groups the world over, the hill tribes of Laos are facing unaccustomed pressures on their traditional way of life. The depletion of protective, life-giving forest and wilderness, the upward migration of more lowland Laotians, growing pressure on the hill tribes to settle closer to accessible...
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM MOSCOW
Jul 28, 2002

Moronic student textbooks

MOSCOW -- When you visit a recently independent nation, ask what kind of elementary school textbooks their kids are reading. I must say the textbooks my kids use are horrific.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Jul 28, 2002

A mother lode of beauty and horror

THE STONE OF HEAVEN: The Secret History of Imperial Green Jade, by Adrian Levy and Cathy Scott-Clark. Orion, 2002, 352 pp., 8.99 British pounds (paper) This book is one of a newly emerging genre: history told from the viewpoint of a single item. Other studies have already looked at subjects that ranged...
COMMUNITY
Jul 28, 2002

Into the unknown Sea of Okhotsk

The Bering Sea, 1999. A wave-dashed shore ahead; leaden skies above. The way the rough sea was lifting and pitching and rolling our ship was not promising. I could just make out a bleak and deserted beach backed by lush knee-high vegetation, with a low, steep bank beyond. Somewhere there, 250 years ago,...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Jul 28, 2002

Look at her, she's dying to lose some weight

If there is still any question whether China has finally joined the so-called industrialized world, the current diet-aid scandal should put it to rest. Only an industrialized nation with a population that eats enough food on a daily basis to worry about extra kilos can support an industry dedicated to...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Jul 28, 2002

Taking a shortcut to enlightenment

THE COMPLETE IDIOT'S GUIDE TO UNDERSTANDING BUDDHISM, by Gary Gach. Alpha Books, 2002, 408 pp., $18.95 (paper) Half a billion people in the world consider themselves Buddhists, and millions of Westerners have embraced the religion and its tenets. For the uninitiated, and even for some initiates, Buddhism...
JAPAN
Jul 27, 2002

Ishihara threatens road entity

Tokyo Gov. Shintaro Ishihara on Friday threatened to withdraw the financial support of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government for Metropolitan Expressway Public Corp. if the entity decides against building expressway links sought by the capital.

Longform

Mount Fuji is considered one of Japan's most iconic symbols and is a major draw for tourists. It's still a mountain, though, and potential hikers need to properly prepare for any climb.
What it takes to save lives on Mount Fuji