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COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
May 23, 2002

When it comes to giving money, just go with the flow

In answer to the reader in Mita-ku enraged with having to 'pay out' money for so many of the activities that at home she takes as freely granted (parties, weddings, funerals), best remember perhaps that everything has its price.
JAPAN
May 22, 2002

Duskin admits using antioxidant for dumplings

OSAKA -- Duskin Co., which runs the Mister Donut chain in Japan, on Tuesday reported to the Osaka Prefectural Government on its use of an unauthorized antioxidant for producing dumplings, as was disclosed Monday.
Japan Times
JAPAN / KANSAI BEAT
May 22, 2002

Hooligan hype threatens to get out of hand

OSAKA -- Does Osaka really want lots of foreign visitors to come for the World Cup?
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
May 22, 2002

The beautiful game becomes art

Soccer commentators, in their hyperbolic struggle to convey the excitement of the sport, sometimes refer to it as an art. This analogy isn't totally offside, as there's no denying the aesthetic element of a sport requiring so much strength, speed and coordination. But what happens when the kinetic art...
JAPAN
May 21, 2002

Nichibenren to investigate handling of asylum seekers

The Japan Federation of Bar Associations (Nichibenren) said Monday it will investigate the removal of five North Korean asylum seekers by Chinese police from the Japanese Consulate General in Shenyang, China, with an eye to pressuring the government to make greater efforts to protect human rights.
EDITORIALS
May 20, 2002

Regrets and resolutions

The Foreign Ministry's latest annual report reads partly like a litany of resolutions. That is only to be expected given the series of incidents and scandals that have hit the foreign service over the past year or so. Naturally, the blue book, as the report is commonly known, calls for a string of steps...
COMMENTARY / JAPAN IN THE GLOBAL ERA
May 20, 2002

Parochialism produces few world leaders

LAUSANNE, Switzerland -- Following the appearance of one of the recent articles in this series on Japan in the global era, a colleague of mine, Dominique Turpin, who has been doing research on Japanese industry for some 20 years, came into my office and said, "Jean-Pierre, when are you going to start...
ENVIRONMENT
May 19, 2002

What the label doesn't say

Scandals about deception in product labeling have been in the news of late, with both the expiry dates and the origins of dairy and meat products called into question. While not as big a news item, the labeling standards for whale meat take deception to further, murkier depths -- and to dangerous ones....
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
May 19, 2002

A lost textile art gains ascendancy

THE WORLD OF ROZOME: Wax-Resist Textiles of Japan, by Betsy Sterling Benjamin. Kodansha International, 2002, 224 pp., $49.95 (paper) If the art of "rozome" (wax-resist dyeing) were a moon in the sky, it would be full and glowing brightly. Having waned in importance as a textile-patterning process at...
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 / COHOSTING
May 18, 2002

Beyond the limits of normalcy

Can Japan and South Korea work together to put on the 2002 World Cup?
JAPAN
May 17, 2002

73% use Net at work for nonwork

Some 73 percent of Japanese workers have used the Internet for personal purposes in the workplace, according to a recent survey by research firm Macromill Inc. The survey shows only 27.5 percent of the respondents said they have never used the Internet for personal reasons at work.
COMMENTARY / World
May 17, 2002

Rude awakening for East Timor

JAKARTA -- The world's youngest democracy will have to stand on its own feet from Sunday. On this day East Timor will become the first newly independent nation of the 21st century. After more than 400 years of colonial rule by Portugal, 25 years of Indonesian occupation and over two years under U.N....
Japan Times
JAPAN / KANSAI BEAT
May 17, 2002

Osaka homeless fear evictions

OSAKA -- For Kazutoshi Nishimura, a 61-year-old homeless man who, in his own words, is retired and living on a park bench near Nagai Park, the approach of the World Cup soccer finals in June is a case of deja vu.
EDITORIALS
May 16, 2002

Lessons from the Shenyang incident

Japan and China have been locked in a diplomatic row over an incident May 8 in which Chinese police guards seized and removed five North Korean asylum seekers from the compound of the Japanese Consulate General in Shenyang, northeastern China. On Wednesday, however, it appeared that concerns over the...
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
May 16, 2002

Expansion in Japan unlikely

Dear Wayne Graczyk: I'm writing to express support for the move of the Nippon Ham Fighters to Sapporo. I think this would be good not just for the Fighters and the city of Sapporo, but for all of Japanese baseball.
BUSINESS / ON THE FRONT LINE
May 16, 2002

U.S. pickup fuels hope for Japan recovery

There is little dispute that a solid pickup in U.S. consumer spending has bolstered evidence that the economic recovery is gaining momentum.
COMMUNITY / How-tos
May 16, 2002

Lifelines

Hello there! My name's Ken Joseph Jr.
Japan Times
JAPAN / THE OKINAWA FACTOR
May 15, 2002

Nuclear pact ensured smooth Okinawa reversion

On Nov. 21, 1969, President Richard Nixon met with Prime Minister Eisaku Sato in Washington to discuss an extremely delicate issue.
COMMENTARY
May 15, 2002

EU's costly quest for world leadership

LONDON -- Nowadays the European Union and the United States seem to be locked in almost permanent quarrels. One moment it's bananas, then it's steel, land mines, the Kyoto Protocol on global warming, European defense arrangements and NATO. Then it's the question of whether there should be a permanent...
SOCCER / World cup
May 13, 2002

A once-in-a-lifetime opportunity

"Passion" is the story of Japan soccer team coach Philippe Troussier, his struggle to make it as a player and manager and his travels around France, Africa and Japan. In the book, Troussier also details his philosophy and thinking as he prepares for the World Cup in June. In this, the ninth of 10 exclusive...
COMMENTARY / World
May 13, 2002

Prime minister or nationalist puppet?

CAMBRIDGE, England -- The ink was barely dry on my April 21 Japan Times article "Koizumi trade pitch misses," which stated Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi was thinking of going to pray at Yasukuni Shrine, when the news came that he had gone. We were told that he had felt the need "to mourn those who...
Japan Times
JAPAN / WEEKEND WISDOM
May 12, 2002

Former top executive attempts to save Japan Inc. with ethics

What is the root cause of corporate failure?
COMMENTARY
May 12, 2002

The ICC's war crimes fantasy

WASHINGTON -- Former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger recently visited Europe and almost ended up in the dock for alleged war crimes committed three decades ago. This preview of the operation of the International Criminal Court, or ICC, a U.N. body ready to go into effect after receiving the necessary...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
May 12, 2002

When in doubt, just say 'wakarimasen'

Violent antisocial crimes by teenagers have sent shockwaves through Japan in recent years, hinting ominously at cracks in the very foundations of modern Japanese society. On a more mundane level, older Japanese often find themselves puzzled and annoyed by the everyday behavior of young people, who often...
JAPAN
May 12, 2002

OECD set to recognize gradual Japan recovery

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development is likely to acknowledge the possibility of a modest recovery in Japan's economy at its ministerial meeting in Paris this week, according to a draft statement obtained Saturday.
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...
JAPAN
May 11, 2002

182 Koreans lost in '44 sinking of Japanese vessel

An estimated 182 Koreans were among the 956 people who died when the Imperial Japanese Army ship Taihei Maru sank off the Chishima Islands during World War II, the government said Friday.
SOCCER / J. League / ON THE BALL
May 9, 2002

Injuries hampering Japan's World Cup plans

With the World Cup just over three weeks away, injuries and illness to some of the national team players are big concerns to everyone.
BUSINESS / ON THE FRONT LINE
May 9, 2002

Dollar drops, rebound remains in question

The gap between Japanese and U.S. economic fundamentals has long been a major factor behind the dollar's strong showing.

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