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JAPAN
Sep 2, 2003

Annual disaster-prevention drills draw 1.3 million participants nationwide

Some 1.3 million people took part in nationwide disaster-prevention drills Monday that were organized by central and local governments.
JAPAN
Sep 2, 2003

Japan planning to dispatch fact-finding team to Iraq

The top government spokesman said Monday that Japan plans to send a fact-finding team to Iraq to assess rebuilding the war-torn country.
COMMENTARY
Aug 31, 2003

France's long, hot summer

PARIS -- Fifty-three thousand deaths in August against 40,000 the same month in 2002: This has every chance of being the minimum toll of the unprecedented heat wave France has known this summer, with daytime peaks of more than 40 degrees Celsius vs. a seasonal norm of 27 degrees.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / JAZZNICITY
Aug 31, 2003

Jazz and more under one roof

The exaggerated rumors of jazz's demise can be put to rest. The second annual festival Tokyo Jazz 2003 showed that jazz is not ready to be relegated to the museum of past musical styles quite yet. An amazing (for jazz anyway) 40,000 fans headed to Ajinomoto Stadium in western Tokyo for two days of music...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Aug 30, 2003

Scones, fresh lemon curd and cream teas, anyone?

Glen Taylor is on a mission. He wants to help dispel the notion that English food is terrible. "Forget any negative image. I'm out to prove it's easy to make, tastes terrific and is very healthy."
BUSINESS
Aug 30, 2003

BTM to launch revival task force for borrowers

The Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi will launch a special task force in September to deal exclusively with corporate rehabilitation for some 3,000 troubled borrowers.
SPORTS / SPORTS SCOPE
Aug 29, 2003

Zico should keep perspective

The question on everyone's lips after Japan's resounding 3-0 thrashing of a second-string Nigerian team, was has Japan turned the corner and will Zico now be given the elbow room he has so craved in order to take the national team to a new level?
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER
Aug 28, 2003

Japanese black face fly

* Japanese name: Kuroi ebae * Scientific name: Musca bezzii * Description: Face flies are similar to common house flies, but they are larger and darker. If in doubt, check the eyes: Those of the face fly almost touch at the top, but those of house flies have a wider gap between them. The face of...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Aug 24, 2003

Voices from the past help explain the present

SERVING OUR COUNTRY: Japanese American Women in the Military during World War II, by Brenda L. Moore. Rutgers University Press, 2003, $60 (cloth), $22 (paper). Building on her previous studies of racial issues, gender issues and military sociology, Brenda L. Moore has analyzed and documented an unusual...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Aug 24, 2003

Is anyone out there looking?

In streets and parks, at schools, airports or shopping centers, you won't go far in Japan these days without encountering artworks in some shape or form, from monumental sculptures to decorative tiles underfoot -- or even simply children's drawings on display.
COMMENTARY
Aug 24, 2003

Looking for a few bad men

LONDON -- Will Prime Minister Tony Blair's government fall as a result of the inquiry being led by Lord Hutton into the apparent suicide of weapons expert Dr. David Kelly? Unlikely.
BUSINESS
Aug 22, 2003

Aggressive marketing for antidepressants giving drug companies a lift

With more and more people in Japan complaining of depression, drug companies are enjoying a bonanza in pushing antidepressants.
ENVIRONMENT
Aug 21, 2003

Mars attacks

As the day draws near when Mars makes its closest encounter with Earth for 60,000 years, Japan's astronomical observatories are launching "Mars Week" on Aug. 22 in an effort to get "more than 100 million people" across the country to go outside and see for themselves Earth's planetary neighbor.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Aug 20, 2003

Stars for a day: kabuki initiates in the limelight

For a glimpse of the future of kabuki, make your way this month not to the Kabukiza (where contemporary drama superstar Hideki Noda is reigning supreme, see article below) but to the National Theater, Tokyo.
BUSINESS
Aug 19, 2003

FSA targets 167 borrowers in fresh probe

The Financial Services Agency said Monday it will launch followup inspections targeting 167 large-lot borrowers in an effort to gauge how likely these firms are to repay their debts.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / FRONT-RUNNERS
Aug 19, 2003

Residents wake up to transparent need for security

Japanese used to say water and security are free, but with the rise in home burglaries, one of those commodities is no longer a given.
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Aug 19, 2003

Cometh the man, cometh the charisma

Adashing & suave lady-killer and a misfit loser?
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Aug 17, 2003

Monastic comparisons and the rightness of left

MONASTIC DISCIPLINE: Vinaya and Orthodox Monasticism, an Attempt at Comparison, by George Sioris. Chiang Mai: The Knowledge Center, 375 pp., 495 baht (paper). LEFT VERSUS RIGHT, by George Sioris. Chiang Mai: The Knowledge Center, 150 pp., 195 baht (paper). George Sioris, a Greek scholar on Asia and a...
BUSINESS
Aug 15, 2003

Asian Bond Fund not just a pipe dream

There's little hype. Certainly no fanfare. But quietly and with infinite patience, Asia's economies are hoping to bond together.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 15, 2003

Baron of porn spills it all

HONG KONG -- His pictures beamed across the nation's television stations and front pages of all of its newspapers from down market tabloids to sober-sided broadsheets: the grin on his face was as wide as a melon and he held, fanlike, a huge wad of currency notes for all the world, like a television game...
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 14, 2003

The identity of the Arab world

DAMASCUS -- Fadil Shururu, chief political officer of Ahmad Jibril's Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command, has come a long way since I first met him 35 years ago in Jordan's Ghor Valley, seedbed of the newborn guerrilla movement that was to liberate the whole of the Palestinian...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art / CERAMIC SCENE
Aug 13, 2003

The pot is mightier than the sword

As brutal as they may have been, many feudal Japanese warlords were passionate about the Way of Tea. In the midst of battle they would pause for a "tea break," appreciating the fleeting moment and simple joys of tea -- with bits of strategy tossed in.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art / NEW ART SEEN
Aug 13, 2003

'Girl! Girl! Girl!' just wants to have fun

I've been looking forward to the new show at the Tokyo Opera City Art Gallery. Trying not to sound sexist here, there was more than a little appeal in the show's title: "Girl! Girl! Girl!" I guess I'm just a regular guy, sweltering through summer, looking for some easy distraction. A Steve McQueen film...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Aug 10, 2003

The ones who got there first

Four centuries before Tokugawa Ieyasu arrived at Edo, a fierce band of mounted warriors had already fortified the hill where Ieyasu would build his magnificent Edo Castle, and on which the Imperial Palace now stands.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Aug 10, 2003

Lost pet? No sweat -- except in the tub

You may think you've got just about everything for your pet -- from brand-name waterproofs and jewelry to its weekly trips to a pet cafe and yoga classes. Now, though, there's a new out-of-this-world accessory for the pet owner with everything: the no-hiding-place collar.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Aug 10, 2003

State of the rock nation, in 35-min. bites

Since they took place on successive weekends, it's difficult not to compare this year's editions of the Fuji Rock Festival and Summer Sonic, so let's do it. Fuji is bucolic where SS is urban. Fuji's vibe is communal and free-spirited, while the SS vibe is commercial and controlling. Fuji is populated...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Aug 10, 2003

EDO: City spirit of an era

Whether it's the floating world of ukiyo-e, the stately rites of sumo, the meticulous craft of netsuke, the minimalist art of Japanese gardens or the decorums of the samurai, what we today regard as the traditional values of Japan took shape in what's known as the Edo Period.
COMMENTARY
Aug 9, 2003

Political world prepares for fall showdown

The first half of 2003 was volatile both internationally and domestically. Severe acute respiratory syndrome hit China, other Asian countries and Canada at the beginning of the year and spread around the world. Then, in the Middle East, war broke out when the United States and Britain invaded Iraq, overthrew...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Aug 9, 2003

Heart of Laos displays traditional textiles' beauty

Having heard so much about Rassanikone Nanong, what a joy to meet her at an exhibition of textiles from her homeland. Sponsored by Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO), the show in Akasaka Twin Towers is promoting the work of three of 10 companies working in the arena of traditional Laotian weaving....
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 8, 2003

No symmetry in annexations of Sikkim and Tibet

CHIANG MAI, Thailand -- In my last column, and in the aftermath of the recent high-level Sino-Indian talks in Beijing, we dealt with the issue of Tibet from a historical perspective. A parallel analytical exercise with regard to Sikkim would perhaps prove equally interesting.

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