search

 
 
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Aug 31, 2003

Tips from the top

Feeling lucky? This time, you're certain, you just know the takarakuji is as good as yours.
COMMUNITY
Aug 31, 2003

What's it really like to win?

Everyone who buys a takarakuji ticket dreams of winning big, but what is it like to actually hit the jackpot? The Japan Times spoke with a 36-year-old who won a 100 million yen jackpot seven years ago, and heard how his win brought him a fortune -- and some hard lessons in life as well.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Aug 31, 2003

Great wave of artistic influence

HOKUSAI, by Gian Carlo Calza. London: Phaidon Press, Ltd., 2003, 336 pp., 700 illustrations, $59.95 (cloth). It was the West that first discovered the art of the Japanese woodblock print. Though popular in Japan, the prints were denied any kind of artistic standing until it became understood that abroad...
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.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Aug 31, 2003

A better forecast for South Korea's Sunshine Policy

SUNSHINE IN KOREA: The South Korean Debate Over Policies Toward North Korea, by Norman D. Levin and Yong Sup Han. Rand Center for Asia Pacific Policy, 2002, 143 pp. (paper). Although Kim Dae Jung is no longer president of South Korea, his "Sunshine Policy" toward North Korea lives on. His successor,...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / J-POPSICLE
Aug 31, 2003

Buffalo Daughter's deeper grooves

It's usually not a good idea to go into the recording studio without having some idea of what you're going to record. Most artists have a demo or a written score to work from; some even have full-fledged arrangements down on paper before they start recording.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Aug 31, 2003

Reform is required to untangle pension system

A woman I know recently went to her local Social Insurance Agency office to find out about her pension. Since she is 68, she is past the age when she should have started collecting benefits, but she was never sure what she was supposed to do because the SIA never contacted her.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Aug 31, 2003

Lottery yarns of yore

For at least 300 years, lotteries in Japan have been the stuff of dreams -- and nightmares. This is most evident in the stories about tomikuji (fortune lotto), a lottery that flourished in the Edo Period (1603-1867). These tales are found in the repertoire of rakugo comic monologues.
MORE SPORTS
Aug 31, 2003

Ichihara still perfect

Kyodo News Brazilian striker Sandro bagged a goal in each half as JEF United Ichihara came from behind to win 3-1 at Nagoya Grampus Eight and preserve its perfect record in the J. League second stage on Saturday.
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 31, 2003

When your number's up ...

Emiko Kameyama has two close friends she likes to hang out with. In addition to their monthly dinners and the occasional trips they take together, two years ago the trio began a new tradition -- playing the Jumbo takarakuji (lottery).
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 31, 2003

Enthusiasm for EU club has evaporated

PRAGUE -- When communism in Eastern Europe collapsed, the region's new democratic leaders agreed that joining the European Union -- fast -- must be their priority. "Back to Europe!" became the slogan, one enthusiastically backed by a majority of their populations. Yet eight months before that dream formally...
JAPAN
Aug 31, 2003

Firm told to recall Chinese diet aid

Tokyo's Shibuya Ward has ordered the recall of a diet food product imported from China after it was found to contain excessive levels of a sweetener that can cause diarrhea, metropolitan government officials said.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Aug 31, 2003

Enjoy it while you can

The Ibaraki House in Bunkyo Ward (above) is a fine -- and rare -- example of Tokyo's prewar residential architecture.
MORE SPORTS
Aug 30, 2003

Sugiyama leads Japanese trio into third round of U.S. Open

NEW YORK -- Japan's Ai Sugiyama, Shinobu Asagoe and Saori Obata all advanced to the third round of the U.S. Open on Thursday, an impressive Grand Slam showing by rising tennis stars from the Land of the Rising Sun.
COMMENTARY
Aug 30, 2003

Governments must plan today for tomorrow's energy needs

LONDON -- Electric power -- or lack of it -- is once again in the news. It is not just the millions of East Coast Americans and Canadians who have suffered with monster blackouts. Power cuts have become drearily regular in France, Japan, China, Spain, Italy, not to mention in struggling Iraq. And shortages...
COMMENTARY
Aug 30, 2003

A tax hike for God? Don't you believe it

WASHINGTON -- It has long been said that patriotism is the last refuge of the scoundrel. Today religion plays that role in the United States. At least it does for Gov. Bob Riley of Alabama, who is pushing a massive tax hike in the name of God.
BUSINESS
Aug 30, 2003

Severe unemployment situation holds steady

The nation's seasonally adjusted jobless rate remained unchanged in July from the previous month at 5.3 percent as the severe unemployment situation continued, the government said Friday.
EDITORIALS
Aug 30, 2003

Justice served in Osaka

On June 8, 2001, a disgruntled jobless man stormed an Osaka elementary school, wielding a kitchen knife, and killed eight children and wounded 13 others and two teachers. "This is an unprecedented case of atrocity in the nation's criminal history," the Osaka District Court stated in its death sentence...
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

Ogi moves to rescue ailing airlines

Transport minister Chikage Ogi on Friday unveiled a package of comprehensive measures aimed at supporting the troubled airline industry.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Aug 30, 2003

'Hari': acupuncture or body piercing?

I had already tried massage, but my back and shoulders were still hurting from a pinched nerve. So, I tried "hari." Hari is acupuncture. "Hari," also the Japanese word for needle, but with a different kanji, is almost always written in hiragana, perhaps to make it seem less threatening. I had spotted...
BUSINESS
Aug 30, 2003

Spending slashed as incomes fall again

Spending by wage-earner households fell 6 percent in July in real terms from a year earlier for the largest monthly contraction in nine years and reversing the previous month's 0.4 percent increase, the government said Friday.
BASEBALL / MLB
Aug 30, 2003

Shimoyanagi shoots down Swallows

Tsuyoshi Shimoyanagi scattered three hits over the distance and struck out 11 en route to his first shutout victory in two years as the Hanshin Tigers downed the Yakult Swallows 8-0 at Koshien Stadium on Friday, to lower their magic number to 13.
BUSINESS
Aug 30, 2003

Ogi questions validity of IRCJ revival plan for bus firm

Transport chief Chikage Ogi expressed reservations Friday about an industry revival plan announced the day before by the government's Industrial Revitalization Corp. of Japan.

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