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JAPAN
Apr 7, 2003

Fans celebrate Astro Boy's 'birthday' in Tokyo parade

Wearing red boots and pointy black hats, Japanese revelers paraded down a Tokyo street Sunday as a brass band played "Happy Birthday" in honor of a fictitious robot boy.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Apr 6, 2003

Popping up everywhere

GLOBAL GOES LOCAL: Popular Culture in Asia, edited by Timothy J. Craig and Richard King. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 2002, 310 pp. with illustrations, $24 (paper) It is commonly observed that as the political hegemony of the West has grown, so has its cultural dominance: Mickey Mouse, Elvis...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / FUZZY LOGIC
Apr 6, 2003

Rock with a nasty bite

"What the hell happened to the Cobra Chicks?" I say, slapping last year's "Loaded" album onto the cafe table. Four rock chicks stare up at me from the CD jacket pulling pouty poses so effortlessly steamy that only a eunuch or a nun could resist dashing off to snap up a ticket for the next show.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 6, 2003

Muslim 'jihad' not always a call to arms

HONOLULU -- In the flickering images on the television tube, anti-American Muslim demonstrators in Cairo, their faces contorted in anger, promised they would rush to Iraq to take up arms against the American invaders in a "jihad" to defend Islam.
JAPAN
Apr 1, 2003

South Korea food, culture site to open in Osaka in '05

OSAKA -- A South Korean food and cultural complex will open in the Rinku area near Kansai International Airport in February 2005 to promote friendship between Japan and South Korea, it was announced Monday.
BUSINESS
Apr 1, 2003

ANA to raise discount fares on domestic flights

All Nippon Airways said Monday it will raise its discount fares for domestic flights beginning in June to offset a deteriorating business environment amid the war on Iraq.
COMMENTARY
Mar 31, 2003

U.S. coalition unnerves allies

SAN FRANCISCO -- Although the United States didn't go to the United Nations for explicit authorization of an attack against Iraq, the Bush administration never abandoned attempts to craft a multilateral coalition in support of those efforts. But this government's view of "multilateralism" differs from...
JAPAN
Mar 31, 2003

Japan can help rebuild Iraq without new law: Kawaguchi

Japan can participate, under the current legal structure, in minesweeping operations to help reconstruct a postwar Iraq, Foreign Minister Yoriko Kawaguchi said Sunday.
JAPAN
Mar 30, 2003

80% fear Japan will be involved in war

Looking apprehensive, Masaharu Ito sits on a bench beside an approach road lined with stalls leading to Kogan Temple in Tokyo's Toshima ward. He has just finished paying homage at the shrine.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Mar 30, 2003

Was WWF3 a washout for citizens' rights?

While the outbreak of war in Iraq may have disrupted proceedings at the Third World Water Forum being held in Kansai, it also lent them deeper significance.
BUSINESS
Mar 25, 2003

Business chief advocates splitting war costs

The chairman of the Japan Business Federation (Nippon Keidanren) said Monday that the private sector should cooperate with the government in the event that Japan shoulders part of the cost of the Iraq war and subsequent reconstruction efforts.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Mar 25, 2003

Rugby boys pack down for sevens extravaganza

Tradition has it that in 1883 the Melrose rugby club in Scotland was casting around for ideas to help the club's finances when the suggestion of a rugby football tournament was put forward by the now legendary "Ned" Haig.
MORE SPORTS
Mar 24, 2003

Ai-chan to play in World Championships

Teenager Ai Fukuhara was chosen to represent Japan in women's singles at the upcoming World Championships in Paris this spring, the Japan Table Tennis Association said Saturday.
JAPAN
Mar 23, 2003

Ishihara's team fears war may affect Tokyo election

Aides and officials managing Tokyo Gov. Shintaro Ishihara's re-election campaign are concerned that the U.S.-led war in Iraq may adversely affect the Tokyo gubernatorial election, while his rivals see it as a good chance to promote their peace policies.
COMMUNITY
Mar 23, 2003

By the people, for the people

Pop into any bookstore and you'll find shelves overflowing with comic books about samurai, yakuza, war, business, baseball, soccer, golf, examination hell, high-school romance, office affairs -- in every genre from sci-fi to porn. And that's just the tip of Japan's manga iceberg.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Mar 23, 2003

Art on the fast track

OK, so manga are hugely popular -- but so are 500 yen umbrellas on a rainy day. Like those cheap plastic parapluies, though, manga seem little more than a temporary feature of daily commuting. Those young furiita and salarymen who thumb through the pages with barely a pause can't be getting much from...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Mar 22, 2003

Painter enhances nature to give ikebana new life

About to spend four days in Tokyo curating her students' work for an exhibition -- "Collaboration with Nature" -- at Sogetsu Kaikan in Akasaka, Liga Pang juggles cooking lunch and packing bags as we talk.
JAPAN
Mar 20, 2003

Iraq reconstruction bills could be in Diet by May

The government will submit a package of bills to help in the postwar reconstruction of Iraq to the Diet probably by early May, Liberal Democratic Party Secretary General Taku Yamasaki said Wednesday.
JAPAN
Mar 20, 2003

Major Tokai quake could cost 10,000 lives

A large earthquake in the Tokai region of central Japan could claim up to 10,000 lives and cause economic losses of 37 trillion yen, according to a government disaster prevention panel.
JAPAN
Mar 20, 2003

Newcomers fan a breeze of change

With his goatee and buttoned-up, collarless shirt and jacket, Satoru Aiko blended in seamlessly with other young Japanese hanging out near JR Kamakura Station on Sunday evening. Except that Aiko stood perfectly still, ceremoniously erect.
JAPAN
Mar 20, 2003

Iraq envoy urges Japan to steer U.S. to peace

The charge d'affaires at the Iraqi Embassy in Tokyo on Wednesday nudged Japan to lean on the U.S. to avert a war in his country.
JAPAN
Mar 20, 2003

Relatives demand probe into death of Iranian detainee

Relatives of an Iranian man who died in an immigration detention facility in 1997 are demanding an investigation into why public prosecutors chose not to charge eight bureau officials with assault resulting in death.
EDITORIALS
Mar 19, 2003

Mr. Koizumi's course is clear

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi has faced the wrenching task of spelling out his foreign policy on Iraq. Until Monday he remained noncommittal on how Japan would respond if the United States goes to war without explicit U.N. backing. Now, with the U.S. having issued an ultimatum to Iraq and an invasion...
BUSINESS
Mar 19, 2003

Koizumi tells Cabinet to watch markets closely

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi on Tuesday urged his Cabinet to monitor financial markets carefully and cooperate closely with the Bank of Japan to prevent any disruptions as a result of the looming war in Iraq, government officials said.
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Mar 19, 2003

MLB Tour promises fun for everyone

Yes, I know, it's fans prediction week for Japanese baseball, but there were more entries than expected from Japan, North America and even New Zealand, and there just is not enough space to include all the picks and comments. Instead, let me tell you something about the Major League tour set to begin...

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