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COMMENTARY / World
May 1, 2003

Reform is key to keeping Asia on top

MANILA -- Asia's future is bright, but it is not preordained. Policy reforms that augment investment, lead to the adoption of new technologies and enhance productivity must be pursued to increase the growth potential of developing economies in Asia. The urgency of these reforms is accentuated by the...
EDITORIALS
May 1, 2003

Privacy bills still have faults

The Diet debate on the government-proposed privacy legislation cleared a major hurdle last week as a Lower House special committee approved it with the support of the ruling parties. The controversial package, designed to protect personal information held by government offices and private companies,...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Apr 30, 2003

Pulling a few strings for teens

Last summer, at his annual Saito Kinen Festival in Nagano Prefecture, maestro Seiji Ozawa chose to perform the opera "Peter Grimes," in which the sea imagery represents the protagonist's emotions. Harpist Naoko Yoshino, one of the invited guest musicians, contributed greatly to the opera's success by...
JAPAN
Apr 30, 2003

TELL struggles amid foreigner influx

Tokyo English Life Line, a telephone counseling service for non-Japanese that celebrated its 30th anniversary this month, sees a need for such services increasing in line with the growing number of foreigners living in Japan.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Apr 30, 2003

A gathering of Kyoto's ancient masters

Before the advent of 20th-century brand-name designers such as Kenzo, Miyake or Mori, there was Kenzan of Kyoto -- back in the Edo Period that is. His instantly recognizable signature was not found on any trendy kimono or handbag of the day, however, but on clay vessels.
JAPAN
Apr 29, 2003

Gambling with retirement pay

Experts and the media said the writing was on the wall. Just over three years later, the nightmare became a reality.
JAPAN
Apr 29, 2003

Gaps huge in city assemblies' pay

The salary disparity for city assembly members nationwide can reach as much as six times, with the lowest pay generally corresponding to municipalities with small populations, according to a Kyodo News survey.
COMMENTARY
Apr 28, 2003

Asian politicians slowly embrace the Net

MANILA -- Irrespective of ideological leanings, all politicians are keen on receiving media coverage. As one U.S. political campaign publication noted, "If you don't exist in the media, you don't exist."
BUSINESS / JAPANESE PERSPECTIVES
Apr 28, 2003

Time for Japan to return to reality and give us safer reasons to invest

"Wonderful thing, death. So uncontroversial," said Jim Hacker, the hero of BBC TV's highly successful 1980s political sitcom "Yes Prime Minister."
COMMENTARY
Apr 28, 2003

Fair, transparent foreign aid

Last September the Japanese government was stunned by a lawsuit filed with the Tokyo District Court by 3,861 residents of Indonesia's Sumatra Island. The plaintiffs said their life had been disrupted by a dam for hydroelectric power and flood control built with Japan's official development assistance....
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Apr 27, 2003

Animal 'doctors' deliver health and well-being

At the Helsinki Olympics in 1952, Danish rider Liz Hartel became the first woman to ever win a medal in dressage. What was also historic about her achievement, though, was that her legs had been paralyzed since she was stricken with polio as a teenager.
JAPAN
Apr 26, 2003

Electoral vows Koizumi has kept -- and the rest

Following is a summary of the campaign promises that Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi has kept -- and those he has not:
LIFE / Food & Drink / VINELAND
Apr 25, 2003

When necrophilia isn't best

One of the perennial debates among wine lovers is whether wine is best drunk straight on release, after five or 10 years, or decades down the road. Even collectors and winemakers can't agree, leading to understandable confusion among the rest of us. And cultural differences also come into play, spawning...
JAPAN
Apr 24, 2003

Outlying regions want a piece of the action, too

Anticipating that the upcoming Visit Japan campaign will prove successful, businesses and local governments are developing strategies to draw prospective foreign tourists out of major cities and into their regions.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER
Apr 24, 2003

Bottlenose dolphin

* Japanese name: Bandou iruka * Scientific name: Tursiops truncatus * Description: Dolphins are marine mammals, toothed whales, with a broad dorsal fin and a long snout with a characteristic "smile." They grow to between 1.9 and 4 meters long, and weigh 90-650 kg, living for up to 50 years. The dorsal...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Apr 24, 2003

Getting serious about tourism -- finally

Japan is finally getting serious about attracting some foreign visitors to its shores.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Apr 23, 2003

Aum flailing amid vacuum left by Asahara

In early February, a 37-year-old former member of Aum Shinrikyo launched a Web site featuring transcripts of past lectures by the cult's founder, Shoko Asahara.
JAPAN
Apr 23, 2003

Defense Agency collated secret data on recruits for its ranks from 1966

The Defense Agency admitted Tuesday it has collected personal information -- including data normally not available to the public -- on teenagers eligible for recruitment into the Self-Defense Forces.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES
Apr 23, 2003

"Saddle Creek 50"

To the surprise of many, the American underground's most fertile soil is now found on the parched plains of Omaha, Neb. Despite the scarcity of clubs, record shops and other hipster-habitat markers, this remote Midwestern town has cultivated a bumper crop of interesting bands. Early bloomers Tom Bascle...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Apr 22, 2003

Group seeks care for socially withdrawn

An alarming number of young people are cutting off contact with society and shutting themselves in their rooms for years on end. More than a few turn into violent tyrants at home.
BUSINESS / JAPANESE PERSPECTIVES
Apr 21, 2003

Evasive accounting will darken already cloudy economic outlook

Now that the war in Iraq has completed a crucial phase, a major source of uncertainty for the world economy appears to have been eliminated. However, the global economic outlook still remains cloudy, as illustrated by the fall in share prices that occurred when Baghdad fell into the hands of the U.S.-led...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Apr 20, 2003

Looting the media for the best frontline news

Every Japanese TV network has female anchors, but Nippon TV seems to use more women in their news shows than any other. It was also the only commercial Japanese network to have a female "embed" reporting from Iraq. Since there weren't too many embedded women reporters in the first place, she naturally...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / BEST BAR NONE
Apr 20, 2003

An aroma of l'amour at Le Faubourg

Le Faubourg is a stylish lounge bar in the fashionable Aoyama district of Tokyo. The area is to Tokyo what Madison Avenue is to New York. This is where you'll find showcase boutiques for famous Japanese designers, like Issey Miyake and Yohji Yamamoto, as well as internationally renowned brands such as...
JAPAN
Apr 19, 2003

Diet panel starts debating attack response legislation

The Diet on Friday launched full deliberations on a package of bills dealing with responses to foreign military attacks.
JAPAN
Apr 19, 2003

Panel drops plan to identify ideal size for municipalities

An advisory panel to the prime minister examining the future of local governments has decided not to specify a desirable population level as a factor in deciding the scope of administrative powers for local authorities, according to panel sources.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Apr 19, 2003

Paying your last, last, last respects

When Kazuko, my next-door neighbor, came to my "genkan" at 8 in the morning, I knew something was wrong. She never comes to my house before 9. "Amy, your landlord has died," she told me.

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