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CULTURE / Music
Dec 23, 2005

Medeski Martin & Wood

Medeski Martin & Wood was one of the first pure jazz groups who crossed over big time with the nascent jam band crowd in the mid-1990s. All three members -- keyboardist John Medeski, drummer Billy Martin and bassist Chris Wood -- were fixtures on the avant-garde downtown music scene in New York in the...
EDITORIALS
Dec 22, 2005

Perception of safe beef

The government lifted a ban on imports of U.S. and Canadian beef last week. The ban had been in force for Canadian beef since the discovery in May 2003 of a case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), popularly known as mad cow disease, in that country. The ban on U.S. beef followed in December of...
BUSINESS
Dec 22, 2005

Panel to let firms skip white-collar overtime

Companies would have the freedom to avoid paying overtime wages to high-ranking white-collar workers under a recommendation by a study panel at the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry.
JAPAN
Dec 22, 2005

LDP, DPJ to push vote on Constitution

The ruling bloc and the Democratic Party of Japan have agreed in principle to submit a bill to a regular session of the Diet next year authorizing a referendum on revising the Constitution, party members said.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art / CERAMIC SCENE
Dec 22, 2005

Looking back on 10 years of yakimono

In the 10 years since this column started, much has changed in the worldwide perception of yakimono, Japanese ceramic art. I'm talking about in the contemporary realm, not antiques. The deep and wide world of contemporary Japanese ceramic art is as varied as there are stars in a brilliant winter night...
COMMENTARY
Dec 22, 2005

Insecurity fuels anti-globalization battle

LOS ANGELES -- The issues that fueled the antiglobalization movement at the Battle of Seattle have not gone away. A revival movement surfaced last week. Call it the Battle of Hong Kong.
COMMENTARY
Dec 20, 2005

A job dogged by historical comparisons

HONG KONG -- Not all modern Chinese leaders are alike. First there was Mao Zedong. History's judgment suggests he could and should have done a lot better as boss man of the Middle Kingdom after the World War II, to say the least.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / VIEWS FROM THE STREET
Dec 20, 2005

How do you deal with missing Christmas dinner?

Katherine Stuart Teacher, 23 The other day, I went to a British pub with some friends and we ordered a turkey. We were all so excited that we ate it all, and then they brought another one and we ate that too. It was-all-you-can-eat. I think they made a loss on us.
SOCCER / PREMIER REPORT
Dec 17, 2005

Celtic's signing of volatile Keane difficult to understand

LONDON -- It is the time of the year when, because it is goodwill to all, we open the occasional Christmas present and say "excellent . . . just what I wanted," when the reality is "oh no . . . why was I given that?"
EDITORIALS
Dec 16, 2005

Advocate for the elderly

Next year Japan will take another step forward toward strengthening the protection of the weaker members of society. The Diet has passed a law to prevent cruel treatment of the aged and to assist those taking care of them. Preparations are being made for implementing the law in April. Enactment of the...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Dec 16, 2005

Dropping a line and seeing what hits

The Icelandic singer Emiliana Torrini is sitting in the Tokyo office of her Japanese record company, talking about an izakaya where she spent an evening. Torrini has a special affection for eateries since she grew up in a restaurant run by her Italian immigrant father in a small town outside Reykjavik....
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Dec 16, 2005

Ensemble plucking festive note

The St. Petersburg Chamber Ensemble is coming to Tokyo for a special Christmas performance, "Ave Maria In Christmas." The ensemble plays Tokyo Opera City Concert Hall, Hatsudai (Dec. 25 at 11 a.m.) and Bunkamura Orchard Hall, Shibuya, Tokyo (Dec. 24, 11:30 a.m.), with only a few tickets remaining.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Dec 16, 2005

A few more before we go

It's always the same story: So many restaurants, so much great food, so little time. The Food File never has enough columns in a year to feature all of the excellent places we've enjoyed over the past 12 months. So, quickly, before we get sidetracked on pouring the mulled wine and carving the turkey,...
JAPAN
Dec 15, 2005

Cops turn to forensic analysis to catch gropers

Stumped for years by blatant suspects, police are using forensic analysis to hunt down gropers on crowded trains by matching tiny fabric fibers from the perpetrator's palm with the victim's clothes.
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM MOSCOW
Dec 15, 2005

Russian rightwingers ride benzene spill

MOSCOW -- The city of Khabarovsk is ill-starred. Founded by hopeful entrepreneurs as a major trade hub in the Russian Far East on the doorstep of China, it turned into a big dump -- a symbol of missed opportunities and disillusionment.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER
Dec 14, 2005

Common Buzzard

* Japanese name: Nosuri * Scientific name: Buteo buteo * Description: Buzzards are fairly common raptors in Japan, where they are among the larger of the birds of prey, typically growing to between 51-57 cm in length with a 110-130-cm wingspan. They are chunky birds with broad, blunt-ended wings and...
COMMENTARY
Dec 13, 2005

Keys to the LDP's viability

The Liberal Democratic Party has ruled Japan since it was established in 1955 -- except for 11 months in 1993 and 1994. Last month it celebrated the 50th anniversary of its founding.
JAPAN
Dec 13, 2005

Panel to combat epidemics induced by global warming

The Environment Ministry will set up a special advisory panel to look into diseases that may become epidemics in the near future as temperatures rise in Japan due to global warming, according to ministry officials.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 13, 2005

Japan-China feud clouds EAS launch

SINGAPORE -- The East Asia Summit gets under way in Kuala Lumpur on Wednesday under Malaysia's chairmanship. The EAS will be held concurrentl with the summits of the 10-nation Association of Southeast Asian Nations and the ASEAN-Plus-Three (Japan, China, South Korea) grouping.
Features
Dec 11, 2005

The 'undigested other': Koreans in Japan

Few parents would voluntarily send a son to live in North Korea; Kongsun Yang sent all three of his. In the early 1970s, Yang waved goodbye to his young Osaka-born boys, who later married and started families in Pyongyang. Poor and unhappy, the sons survive today only thanks to support from their parents...
SOCCER / PREMIER REPORT
Dec 10, 2005

Ferguson risks legacy being rise and fall of Man United

LONDON -- When your club has spent £65 million on four strikers, all of whom played in the 2-1 Champions League defeat by Benfica on Wednesday you have a right to expect better than the powder-puff display by Manchester United in the Stadium of Light -- none of which is at the end of the Old Trafford...
JAPAN
Dec 10, 2005

Civil servants' get modest increase in bonus this year

Employees of the central and local governments received Friday slightly larger winter bonuses than last year.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / PERSONALITY PROFILE
Dec 10, 2005

Kazumi Okamura

Before becoming a government servant, Kazumi Okamura worked for 17 years as a corporate lawyer. She believes she did her work well. "And I think I developed the reverse side, my inner world," she said. Now with a unit of the Ministry of Justice, and bearing the awesome title of attorney in the Supreme...
EDITORIALS
Dec 9, 2005

Dutiful extension in Iraq

The government has extended by another year the deployment of Self-Defense Force (SDF) troops in Iraq. The extension, decided at Thursday's Cabinet meeting, came about by changing the basic plan under an ad hoc law that allows SDF soldiers to engage in noncombat activities in Iraq. The decision follows...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / CLOSE-UP
Dec 4, 2005

Shogo Kariyazaki: Flower power at his fingertips

Shogo Kariyazaki is one of Japan's most flamboyant and outspoken authorities on beauty.
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Dec 4, 2005

NHK's "Project X" on the Takarazuka production of "The Rose of Versailles" and more

Takarazuka, the all-female musical theater company based in Hyogo Prefecture, made its first-ever trip to South Korea last month with a revival of the troupe's most popular musical, "The Rose of Versailles." Riyoko Ikeda's 1970s manga, upon which the musical is based, has been translated into 10 languages...

Longform

Bear attacks have dominated Japanese news headlines in recent months, with 13 people so far having been killed by the animals.
Japan’s bears have been on their killing spree for more than 100 years