Search - people

 
 
JAPAN
Mar 23, 2003

Kyoto water forum opens amid internal wrangling

KYOTO -- A two-day meeting of ministers from 170 countries opened Saturday in Kyoto at the World Water Forum, with delegates making firm promises to deal with the world's water crisis.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / PLAY BUTTON
Mar 23, 2003

A beautiful day in the life of sound

The phone line buzzes, the electric heater drones and the pitter-patter of rain can be heard in the background. Not the perfect sonic environment for a phone interview, but for Yuko Kitamura, it is perfect.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Mar 23, 2003

Lawyers: they're not all out for themselves

HUMAN RIGHTS IN JAPAN, South Korea and Taiwan, by Ian Neary. London, Routledge, 2002, 297 pp., $95 (cloth) It's not easy being a lawyer these days -- putting up with nasty jokes, scant respect and widespread suspicions that the public interest is way down on the list of priorities. Ian Neary reminds...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Mar 23, 2003

Japan's dumb leaders fail to exercise tongues

In the weeks leading up to the invasion of Iraq, it was common for reporters throughout the world to sample public opinion about it. As journalism, man-on-the-street interviews are more or less a sideshow, since, depending on the country, they offer little of substance in terms of information. Americans,...
COMMENTARY
Mar 22, 2003

Economy top priority for new leadership

HONG KONG -- The two-week session of the National People's Congress in Beijing, which ended Tuesday, finished the political transition begun by the 16th Party Congress in November.
SOCCER / PREMIER REPORT
Mar 21, 2003

Drink culture still a major problem for English soccer

LONDON -- It has long been one of the mysteries of English football -- why does the national sport accept so much money from the product that has fueled so much hooliganism, which has caused so much trouble -- even deaths and destruction?
JAPAN
Mar 21, 2003

Koizumi cites security in backing attack

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi emphasized the importance of Japan's alliance with the United States on Thursday as he voiced support for the U.S.-led attack on Iraq less than two hours after the operation began.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Mar 21, 2003

Sri Lankan makes a case for the right to water

KYOTO -- Sumika Perera is in the midst of a fight against the Sri Lankan government and international lending agencies, which are trying to privatize her country's water.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Mar 18, 2003

Water privatization not the answer: American activist

Patrick McCully had a revelation in India more than a decade ago. The campaign director of International Rivers Network witnessed indigenous people in Gujarat state, India, risking their lives to protest construction of a dam on the Narmada River. All were eventually arrested, but government officials...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Mar 17, 2003

Antiwar protests continue as Japan backs Washington

Tens of thousands of people took part in weekend protests against a possible U.S.-led war against Iraq, with many criticizing the government of Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi for throwing his support behind Washington's threatened use of force.
JAPAN
Mar 17, 2003

Water forum under way as war concerns mount

KYOTO -- With war in Iraq possibly only days away, a leading delegate to the Third World Water Forum declared at the opening session that providing clean water is more important than the looming conflict.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Mar 16, 2003

Kindred spirits on a journey into sound

The angelic voice of Canadian chanteuse Jane Siberry has graced a stunning series of CDs over the past 20 years. Since the early 1980s, she has released her own recordings and contributed songs to numerous compilations. Perhaps most famously, the lovely "Calling All Angels" was included on the soundtrack...
JAPAN
Mar 16, 2003

Water activists gather ahead of Kansai forum

KYOTO -- Representatives of citizen's groups in Japan and abroad gathered here Saturday to raise awareness of worldwide water issues before the start of the Third World Water Forum, which begins Sunday at three venues in Kansai.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Mar 15, 2003

International NGO urges Japan to stop backing Iraq attack

The head of an international NGO on Friday urged the government to understand that a war on Iraq would trigger a major humanitarian disaster.
JAPAN
Mar 15, 2003

Bill aimed at Net dating sites OK'd

A bill that would ban the use of Internet dating sites to solicit sex or dates with people under 18 years old was endorsed by the government Friday.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Mar 14, 2003

Firms plug their toys' ability to lick stress

It seems as though everyday life is getting more and more stressful, and toy manufacturers are coming up with new products they say can soothe mind and body of young and old alike.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 14, 2003

How the U.S. piqued Pyongyang

CAMBRIDGE, England -- If it weren't for the fact that the lives of several million people are at stake it could be fun watching the game of diplomatic poker being played by North Korean leader Kim Jong Il and U.S. President George W. Bush. Those lives are at stake, however, as is the future stability...
Japan Times
JAPAN / IN WITH THE NEW
Mar 13, 2003

Edano didn't need family name, cash to enter Diet

What is the quickest, most common way to become a politician in Japan? Be born into a political family and have lots of money to spread around.
EDITORIALS
Mar 7, 2003

Hunger in a world of plenty

The U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization estimates that the number of chronically malnourished people in the world will fall from 776 million to 440 million in 2030. Good news -- except when compared with targets agreed at the 1996 World Food Summit.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Mar 6, 2003

Can prewashed rice make a clean sweep?

Washing rice before it is cooked has long been a daily ritual in Japan.
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital / NAME OF THE GAME
Mar 6, 2003

The mayor's conundrum

"SimCity 4," a new and entertaining city-planning simulation for PC from the Maxis division of Electronic Arts, is a nightmare, and I mean that in the best possible way.
JAPAN
Mar 5, 2003

Hearing-impaired man strives to hone sign skills, study at U.S. university

Yuji Sato, who is hearing impaired, has a motto: to be like an "active volcano" as long as he lives.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Mar 5, 2003

Recruit exec gets suspended term in bribes scandal dating from '80s

The Tokyo District Court, ruling on a 15-year-old bribery scandal that led to the downfall of a prime minister and touched deep into the bureaucracy, gave a suspended sentence Tuesday to Hiromasa Ezoe, founder and former chairman of information conglomerate Recruit Co.
BUSINESS / JAPANESE PERSPECTIVES
Mar 3, 2003

Unorthodox likely to be deprived of death wish

So now we know. After much speculation, leaking and hearsay, the next governor of the Bank of Japan has been named. Toshihiko Fukui it is, to the surprise and dismay of many it seems, judging by immediate media reactions here and elsewhere.
EDITORIALS
Mar 2, 2003

Never upon a time

An American social ecologist last month published the results of tests that proved, she said, how easy it is to implant false memories in people. Dr. Elizabeth Loftus of the University of California at Irvine reported that in one experiment, subjects were shown advertisements featuring pictures of the...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Mar 2, 2003

In pursuit of 'reality,' TV sinks to new depths

Last week, a judge ruled in favor of NHK in the public broadcaster's libel suit against Kodansha. The publisher's monthly magazine Gendai ran an article in Oct. 2000 that said NHK persuaded fishermen in Indonesia to re-create a method for catching fish involving explosives for a news report. The court...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Mar 2, 2003

Modernization seen from the bottom up

A MODERN HISTORY OF JAPAN FROM TOKUGAWA TIMES TO THE PRESENT, by Andrew Gordon. New York: Oxford University Press, 2003, 384 pp., $35 (cloth) In this superb book, by far the best in its genre, Andrew Gordon, director of the Reischauer Institute for Japanese Studies at Harvard University, provides a...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Mar 2, 2003

The Great North

"It is Japan, but yet there is a difference somehow.'' -- Isabella Bird, 1878
JAPAN
Mar 1, 2003

Hello Work job centers a hotbed of false listings

An increasing number of bogus job listings and unscrupulous employers are exploiting the government-run Hello Work job centers as high unemployment continues to grip the country.
JAPAN
Feb 28, 2003

Moriyama supports transsexuals

Justice Minister Mayumi Moriyama voiced support Thursday for amendments to the family registration law aimed at allowing people with gender identity disorder to register their new gender.

Longform

Tetsuzo Shiraishi, speaking at The Center of the Tokyo Raids and War Damage, uses a thermos to explain how he experienced the U.S. firebombing of March 1945, when he was just 7 years old.
From ashes to high-rises: A survivor’s account of Tokyo’s postwar past