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Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Mar 24, 2002

Shaping up nicely

There is something about landscaped Japanese gardens that suggests timelessness, a phenomenon apparently contrary to that Japanese tendency to locate beauty in what is fleeting in this world.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Mar 24, 2002

A greener shade of gray

Ever since Adam and Eve were banished from the Garden of Eden, people have been trying to climb back over the fence, because, whatever the attractions of city living, there is nothing like a garden to refresh both body and soul.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 23, 2002

Democracy gains a foothold in Cambodia

WASHINGTON -- Official returns have confirmed a broad sweep of Cambodia's ruling party, the Cambodia People's Party, in the country's first local elections. Critics in the U.S. policy community cite these elections as proof that democracy has failed in Cambodia. By their measure, elections are the sole...
BUSINESS
Mar 23, 2002

Snow Brand Foods to sell additives unit to Nissho Iwai

Snow Brand Foods Co., a meat processor and subsidiary of Snow Brand Milk Products Co., said Friday that it will sell its imported food additives operation to trading house Nissho Iwai Corp. on March 31.
BUSINESS
Mar 22, 2002

Culture clash arises out of FTA deliberations

Japan and Mexico have made it halfway through what for Japan remains an unexplored tunnel and are beginning to see a glimmer of light.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle / MATTER OF COURSE
Mar 22, 2002

Students give seniors a rousing send-off

My first-grader sighed at the dinner table the other night. "Sakamoto-kun is graduating soon," he said sadly. Who? I had never heard of anyone by this name. "He's one of the sixth-graders," my son explained. "He showed me a magic trick and helps me at school."
COMMENTARY
Mar 20, 2002

Uncertain future for Koizumi

In politics, as the saying goes, all is darkness just a step down the road. How right they are. When the administration of Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi was inaugurated at the end of April 2001, it enjoyed a stellar Cabinet support rating of 80 percent, and the prime minister himself was hugely popular....
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 20, 2002

Grim outlook for Asia's final frontier of biodiversity

NEW YORK -- Since brutally assuming direct power in 1988, the Myanmar military has been conducting a sustained assault on the environment in one of Asia's richest and least-developed lands. The country's ecosystem, which ranges from tropical reefs along the Bay of Bengal to the mountains of the Himalayas,...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / J-POPSICLE
Mar 20, 2002

Come back, come back wherever you were . . .

As part of its continuing effort to promote J-pop overseas, Sony last week released an album in the United States titled "Japan for Sale 2," which is a great all-around introduction to Japanese music.
SOCCER / THE BALD TRUTH
Mar 19, 2002

Troussier leaves us scratching our heads

Question: When is an "open" training session not an "open" training session?
BUSINESS
Mar 19, 2002

JAL-JAS merger may mean slot loss

Japan Airlines and Japan Air System may have to give up some of their arrival and departure slots at Haneda and other domestic airports to get their merger plan cleared under the Antimonopoly Law, a senior transport ministry official said Monday.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Mar 19, 2002

Will peace ever return to paradise?

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka -- Foreign visitors to Sri Lanka have been singing its praises since the days of Marco Polo. From sacred Buddhist ruins and magnificent sculptures to gorgeous beaches and the verdant hills of the tea estates, this is an island that has much to offer in a relatively small area. Wandering...
LIFE / Travel
Mar 19, 2002

Will peace ever return to paradise?

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka -- Foreign visitors to Sri Lanka have been singing its praises since the days of Marco Polo. From sacred Buddhist ruins and magnificent sculptures to gorgeous beaches and the verdant hills of the tea estates, this is an island that has much to offer in a relatively small area. Wandering...
LIFE / Food & Drink / NIHONSHU
Mar 17, 2002

Favorites that come widely recommended

The information in this column usually covers the gamut of sake nomenclature, types and brewing methods, as well as culture, history and the occasional oddities. But beyond the single recommendation in each column, rarely does it address the question, "So, uh, what are the good sake? What should I be...
LIFE / Lifestyle
Mar 17, 2002

The global village: small, but not always beautiful

The current No. 1 best seller in Japan is the cheery picture book "Sekai ga moshi hyakunin no mura dattara" ("If the World Were a Village of 100 People"; Magazine House), a retelling of a bit of "Netlore." Several years ago, the environmentalist Donella Meadows wrote a newspaper column on the global...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Mar 17, 2002

The tower and the story

On Christmas Eve, 1958, thousands of people poured through Hamamatsucho Station in Tokyo's Minato Ward to take in Japan's first postwar shot at a "public attraction." There was nothing particularly cute about it; no fearsome rides, or cuddly characters to have your photo taken with. What's more, visitors...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Mar 16, 2002

Researching business ops for African-Americans

They are packed and at the ready at the Westin Hotel in Tokyo's Yebisu Garden Place. Ready to return home to America. Ready to give me the remaining few minutes of their precious time before boarding the bus for the airport. Talk about a rush.
EDITORIALS
Mar 15, 2002

'Shunto' outlives its usefulness

Japan's traditional annual wage round, known as "shunto" (spring labor offensive), has collapsed for all practical purposes. As a union leader in the information sector points out, "This year marks a historic turning point for shunto." In fact, labor groups have given up customary wage demands, effectively...
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 15, 2002

Political winds still shape Chinese history

HONG KONG -- Historical revelations are rarely found in China's controlled presses. When they are, they have to be treated with care. Rewriting history remains part and parcel of Chinese politics. Chinese academics still get imprisoned for revealing documents that are in the public domain outside China....
EDITORIALS
Mar 14, 2002

Death of a warmonger

The death of Mr. Jonas Savimbi offers Angola its first real chance for peace in a decade. War has been a constant feature of Angola's history; Mr. Savimbi has been a key antagonist in the fighting. His death deprives UNITA, the rebel group he commanded since 1966, of its chief source of inspiration and...
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Mar 14, 2002

Evolution of intelligence

Woody Allen once famously said that the brain was his second favorite organ. And it is well-established that having a big one, as with Allen's "first favorite" organ (I'm guessing he wasn't referring to his liver), confers high status on its owner.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Mar 13, 2002

What names, things standing thus unknown, shall live behind me

William Shakespeare
BUSINESS
Mar 13, 2002

Banks told not to lower efforts

Banks should not become lax in their efforts to dispose of nonperforming loans, despite speculation that the risk of a financial crisis occurring this month has receded, Financial Services Minister Hakuo Yanagisawa said Tuesday.
EDITORIALS
Mar 12, 2002

Japan, Russia set to resume talks

Japan and Russia are set to resume the territorial talks under a precedent-breaking formula that may lead to the phased return of the Northern Territories, the group of islands off Hokkaido that the Russians have occupied since the end of World War II. A new round is expected to begin at a vice ministerial...
COMMENTARY
Mar 11, 2002

Reform takes back seat to economic values

HONOLULU -- Despite the hype, Japan's antideflation package has failed once again to impress the critics. This failure is remarkable given the international attention that has focused on the proposal, the vote of no-confidence that had been delivered by the markets and the pressure applied by the U.S....
EDITORIALS
Mar 11, 2002

Time to fasten the seat belt

The Lower House passage of the fiscal 2002 government budget on Wednesday represents a sort of victory for Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's administration. The vote ensures, by virtue of a constitutional provision giving priority to Lower House budget decisions, that the 81-trillion yen package clears...
COMMENTARY
Mar 10, 2002

Modern delusions of equality

LONDON -- Ask a total stranger about his or her sex life and, though he may be taken aback, he is likely to take it in stride. For what's so secret about sex? Ask a total stranger about his or her income, and she is likely to biff you for your impudence. Money is all secrets and lies.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Mar 10, 2002

'Genji': the long and the shorter of it

The Tale of Genji, by Murasaki Shikibu, translated by Royall Tyler. Viking, 2001, 1,174 pp., $60 (cloth) In the February 2002 issue of the monthly journal Eureka, Fusae Kawazoe gives a rundown of translations of Murasaki Shikibu's "The Tale of Genji" -- not only into foreign languages, but into modern...
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST
Mar 10, 2002

Hey, thank you for the delicious feast, baby

"If I should meet thee, After long years, How should I greet thee?"
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 9, 2002

Poverty and disease: our deadliest enemies

Consider this: More people died of AIDS on Sept. 11 (and every day since) than died during the terrorist attacks in New York, and over 8,000 people die from diseases every day that are easily preventable by vaccinations.

Longform

Once smoky, male-dominated spaces, today's net cafes, like Kaikatsu Club, are working to make their operations more attractive to women customers.
The second life of Japan's net cafes