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Japan Times
JAPAN
Apr 13, 2004

Kin of hostages tormented by info vacuum

For relatives of the three Japanese hostages in Iraq, hopes for their release Sunday morning quickly turned to frustration and gloom over a subsequent lack of solid information on what was happening to their loved ones as the day wore on.
BUSINESS
Apr 13, 2004

Sales of used vehicles down again

Sales of used motor vehicles in Japan totaled 5,353,520 units in fiscal 2003, down 0.1 percent from the previous year, the Japan Automobile Dealers Association said Monday.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Apr 12, 2004

Hostages' fate still unknown

The fate of three Japanese civilians taken hostage by an armed group in Iraq remained unknown Monday morning -- more than a full day after a statement by the kidnappers promising to release them within 24 hours was broadcast.
COMMENTARY
Apr 12, 2004

Disillusionment over Iraq

LONDON -- In March 2003, British Prime Minister Tony Blair apparently believed that there was an imminent threat that Iraq might use weapons of mass destruction. A majority of British voters were accordingly persuaded that Britain was probably justified in taking part in an attack on the tyrannical regime...
JAPAN
Apr 11, 2004

Tigers have economy by the tail

The adage that the economy picks up and equity markets rally the year after a successful Hanshin Tigers season seems to be coming true.
JAPAN
Apr 11, 2004

Government scrambles for info on hostages and captors

The government continued Saturday trying to gather information on the whereabouts of three Japanese nationals taken hostage in Iraq and details of their captors.
JAPAN
Apr 11, 2004

Energy to peak earlier than expected

Progress in a range of energy-conserving technologies will move the peak in Japan's energy demand forward by eight years to fiscal 2014, according to a government report made available Saturday.
JAPAN
Apr 11, 2004

SDP chief says Koizumi should resign over crisis

Social Democratic Party leader Mizuho Fukushima demanded Saturday that Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi resign over the kidnapping of three Japanese citizens in Iraq.
JAPAN
Apr 11, 2004

Families opposed to U.S. rescue operation

The families of the three Japanese held captive in Iraq urged the government Saturday not to seek any help from U.S. military special units in freeing the hostages.
JAPAN
Apr 11, 2004

52% of young adults uninterested in science, survey shows

More than half of Japanese between the ages of 18 and 29 are not interested in science, and the percentage is growing despite an increased exposure to information technology products, according to a government poll.
JAPAN
Apr 11, 2004

Crisis HQ established in Jordan

The government set up an emergency office at the Japanese Embassy in Jordan to facilitate a possible release of the three hostages in Iraq before Sunday night, the presumed deadline for Japan to withdraw its troops or risk their deaths, officials said Saturday.
JAPAN
Apr 11, 2004

Public is split over policy not to pull out SDF: survey

A survey released Saturday shows that 45.2 percent of respondents disagree with the government's policy of rejecting a demand for the withdrawal of troops from Iraq issued by a group that took three Japanese hostage.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Apr 11, 2004

Sufjan Stevens: "Seven Swans"

In a recent interview, Sufjan Stevens confessed vocal inadequacies: his range is limited; his falsetto is strained; he lacks Patti Smith's attitude and Willie Nelson's cliches. However, narrative, he says, saves the music from these weaknesses.
Japan Times
Features
Apr 11, 2004

Zen for all to see

A few years ago, I went to see "Izutsu (The Well Curb)" at the old Kongo Theatre in Kyoto. A key scene in this noh classic comes when the shite (principal character), a beautiful woman played by a man, offers prayers at the little grave mound beside a well in a dilapidated temple. In answer to the waki...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Apr 11, 2004

Religion of the East through the eyes of the West

THE BUDDHA AND THE SAHIBS: The Men Who Discovered India's Lost Religion, by Charles Allen. John Murray, 2003, 322 pp., £8.99 (paper). The story begins with a botanist. At the end of the 18th century, a Scottish doctor named Francis Buchanan was employed to carry out surveys of Burma and Nepal, neither...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Apr 11, 2004

Chosuke Ikariya: the professional amateur

In his autobiography, Chosuke Ikariya, who died two weeks ago at the age of 72, mentions that when he won a Japan Academy Award in 1999 for his performance in "Odoru Daisosasen (Bayside Shakedown)" he felt guilty because he had never taken acting that seriously. It sounds like the requisite modesty of...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Apr 11, 2004

Keeping ghosts in the family

STRANGERS, by Taichi Yamada, translated by Wayne Lammers. New York: Vertical, Inc., 2003, 204 pp., $19.95 (cloth). Orphaned as a child, a middle-aged TV script writer wanders back to Asakusa where he was born. "A forlorn air hung about the area . . . streets empty even at midday . . . the atmosphere...
Events
Apr 11, 2004

KANSAI: Who & What

Major exhibit features Miffy the bunny: A big event featuring Miffy the bunny is being held until April 18 at ATC Museum in Suminoe Ward, Osaka.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Apr 11, 2004

The struggle to find a collective identity

JAPAN UNBOUND: A Volatile Nation's Quest for Pride and Purpose, by John Nathan. New York: Houghton Mifflin, 2004, 271 pp., $25 (cloth). In this engaging book, largely based on extensive interviews, John Nathan probes the pathologies, contradictions and search for identity in contemporary Japan. He ranges...
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Apr 11, 2004

NHK's "Sonotoki Rekishi ha Ugoita" and more

Zenigata Heiji is an enduring fictional character in Japanese popular culture. Many of Japan's top leading men have portrayed him in dozens of movies and TV series.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 11, 2004

India girds for world's biggest tamasha

Between April 20 and May 10, staggered over five rounds, Indians will vote in the 14th general election since inde- pendence in 1947. When Florida caused such a fuss in the last U.S. presidential election four years ago, Indians were bemused and amused in equal measure. They suggested that Americans...

Longform

Mount Fuji is considered one of Japan's most iconic symbols and is a major draw for tourists. It's still a mountain, though, and potential hikers need to properly prepare for any climb.
What it takes to save lives on Mount Fuji