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COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
Sep 28, 2004

New talent, cheap fares and STDs

Talent scouting Jan believes she has a great voice and wonders how to find representation in Japan. "Are there any agencies that take on foreigners?"
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Sep 28, 2004

To hell and back again

For a woman who barely cheated death earlier this year and who has since spent months recovering from post-traumatic stress disorder, Nahoko Takato looks in remarkably fine fettle.
CULTURE / Books / THE BOOK REPORT
Sep 28, 2004

Japanese mega-stores blazing trails in a brave, new publishing world

The Japanese bookstore world used to be one of "If you put it out, it will sell." But that comfortable age is over. Seven straight years of declining book sales have killed off some 1,500 bookstores.
EDITORIALS
Sep 27, 2004

A greater burden for higher earners

The government's Tax Commission is discussing the fiscal 2005 revision of the tax system. The focus this time is on the decrease or abolition of the fixed reduction for individual income and resident taxes, which was introduced in 1999 as an economic-stimulus measure. Rather than draw the line there,...
COMMENTARY
Sep 27, 2004

Reforming the United Nations

LONDON -- The Japanese government is understandably frustrated by the delay in reaching agreement on enlargement of the Security Council. Japan makes the largest contribution to the running of the United Nations, but still has to take its turn as an elected member of the Security Council.
Japan Times
Features
Sep 26, 2004

Disillusioned bard of a bygone Japan

In the century that has passed since the death of Lafcadio Hearn on Sept. 26, 1904, the Japanese people have studiously formulated and maintained a myth -- and they have done it with all the tools and vigor of nostalgia at their disposal.
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Sep 26, 2004

"Sunday Present" on TV Asahi and more

Lately, a lot of attention has been focused on the problem of waste left behind on mountains by alpinists and hikers. Mount Everest is said to be almost a dump and Mount Fuji a national disgrace. However, the problem of trash and environmental pollution afflicts even smaller peaks.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER
Sep 23, 2004

Herring gull

* Japanese name: Segurokamome * Scientific name: Larus argentatus * Description: Herring gulls are large, noisy, boisterous birds. They are white with light gray backs, black wingtips and pink legs that have webbed feet. A key identifying mark is the red spot on the lower tip of their yellow bills....
BUSINESS
Sep 22, 2004

Daikyo, UFJ to take IRCJ rehab route

Daikyo Inc. and its main creditor, UFJ Bank, are planning to seek support from the government's Industrial Revitalization Corp. of Japan, possibly this month, to rehabilitate the struggling condominium builder, sources said Tuesday.
EDITORIALS
Sep 20, 2004

Updating the defense program

The government is stepping up efforts to revise the 1995 Defense Program Outline, which sets guidelines for the buildup of the Self-Defense Forces. A revision is considered necessary in light of recent changes in the security environment surrounding Japan. Beyond adjusting to reality, though, it is essential...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Sep 19, 2004

9/11 conspiracy theories enthrall Japanese audiences

Only three years after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, American mainstream media are providing scant coverage of ceremonies to mark the tragedy, according to Japanese reporter Akihiko Reizei on the Internet news service Japan Mail Media. A resident of New Jersey, Reizei said that unlike the...
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / WILD WATCH
Sep 16, 2004

The changes that come what may

The arrival of just one dramatic, even devastating, typhoon, storming to the center of the seasonal stage like a massively overblown diva with a case of bad timing, is enough to signal autumn is on its way. This year the global signs of the season change have been untempered in the extreme. Hurricanes...
EDITORIALS
Sep 15, 2004

Division casts shadow over DPJ

The Democratic Party of Japan has formed a new executive team and a new shadow Cabinet, but one man of great influence is conspicuously absent: Mr. Ichiro Ozawa, the former acting president. His refusal to take up any post, apparently reflecting an ongoing dispute with the party president, Mr. Katsuya...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Sep 15, 2004

Here's to a classic 'comeback'

The Return Rating: * * * * 1/2(out of 5) Director: Andrey Zvyagintsev Running time: 111 minutes Language: Russian with Japanese subtitles Currently showing [See Japan Times movie listings] Perhaps the most dispiriting aspect of the global corporate culture that's spread like mold over...
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Sep 14, 2004

'Historic' Japan-Mexico FTA said beneficial for both sides

The free-trade agreement between Japan and Mexico due to be signed this week in Mexico City will be a landmark treaty benefiting both sides, according to the Mexican ambassador.
CULTURE / Music
Sep 12, 2004

Spanish Harlem Orchestra: "Across 110th Street"

Japan Times
Features
Sep 12, 2004

Heights of cleanliness

What must it be like to stand on top of the world's highest mountain? To battle through driving snow and across deadly glaciers, to scale icy rock walls and risk falling thousands of meters while being hit full-on by raging, freezing winds -- aware that an avalanche could, at any moment, swat you into...
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Sep 12, 2004

"Pitanko Kankan" on TBS and more

One reason Iraq has fallen into chaos following the U.S. invasion is that it was never much of a unified state in the first place. In fact, it has only been a country since 1920. On Wednesday at 9:15 p.m., NHK-G helps explain how Iraq came to be through the story of Thomas Edward Lawrence, better known...
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Sep 11, 2004

Want to be royalty? Try a home stay

When it comes to hospitality, the Japanese are champions. In Japan, hospitality is like an Olympic sport and requires rigorous cross training in fields such as politeness, modesty, unconditional giving and overall self-sacrifice. There is no better display of this hospitality than in the Japanese home...
MORE SPORTS
Sep 10, 2004

Pats looking Super with Dillon

The NFL is set to kick off the 2004 season with a rematch of last season's AFC Championship Game -- the Indianapolis Colts at the New England Patriots -- on Thursday night. The defending Super Bowl champion Patriots, who are shooting for their third NFL title in four years, are the team to beat. The...
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER
Sep 9, 2004

Barn swallow Tsubame

* Japanese name: Tsubame * Scientific name: Hirundo rustica * Description: A common and easily recognizable bird, barn swallows have long, pointed wings and deeply forked tails. The feathers on the back and wings are a metallic dark blue; the underside is white or cream. The face is scarlet red....
COMMENTARY
Sep 9, 2004

Seoul is not the proliferator

LOS ANGELES -- Fundamentally, as they tend to say in particle physics, the big brouhaha over the secret South Korean uranium-enrichment experiment is an absurdity.
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital / NAME OF THE GAME
Sep 9, 2004

Return of the plant people

"Pikmin 2" may be old news around Japan, but it's fresh out in English.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Sep 8, 2004

Tangled in the helix

Code 46 Rating: * * * * (out of 5) Director: Michael Winterbottom Running time: 93 minutes Language: English Opens Sept. 11 [See Japan Times movie listings] In "Code 46," the dynamics of boy-meets-girl is explained not as destiny but as a genetic consequence. In the near-future world...
COMMENTARY
Sep 7, 2004

Scandal deals LDP a blow

The Liberal Democratic Party's largest faction, formerly headed by ex-Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto, is embroiled in a major scandal. Hashimoto, who allegedly received a check for 100 million yen from the political arm of the Japan Dental Association (JDA) in 2001, resigned about a month ago. Tokyo...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Sep 5, 2004

Traveling with eyes wide open

SUN AFTER DARK: Flights into the Foreign, by Pico Iyer. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2004, 224 pp., $22.95 (cloth). "They say travel broadens the mind," says G.K. Chesterton, adding, "but you must have the mind." Further, that mind must be both attentive and reflective, independent and philosophical, and...
OLYMPICS
Sep 2, 2004

Kitajima cashes in on Athens gold

Double gold-winning breaststroke swimmer Kosuke Kitajima and gymnast Hiroyuki Tomita were among Japan's medal winners rewarded with special bonuses for their achievements at the Athens Olympics by the Japanese Olympic Committee on Wednesday.
BUSINESS
Sep 1, 2004

ADB president to resign Jan. 31

Tadao Chino told a board meeting Tuesday that he will step down as president of the Asian Development Bank on Jan. 31, according to Finance Minister Sadakazu Tanigaki.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Sep 1, 2004

Shaking it up on Sado

SADO ISLAND, Niigata Pref. -- Step one: right leg forward, left leg back.

Longform

Dangami House is a 180-year-old former samurai residence of the Kato clan, who ruled over Ozu, Ehime Prefecture, until the Meiji Restoration.
A house, a legacy and the quiet work of restoration in rural Japan