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LIFE / Travel
May 29, 2001

Thai bases offer a taste of military life

LOP BURI, Thailand -- Where else in the world can a tourist be a soldier for a day or two, shoot off an M-16, jump from a parachute tower, climb rocks, ford streams and hike through the jungle?
JAPAN
May 29, 2001

MSDF divers may help raise Ehime Maru

At the request of the U.S. Navy, the government is considering sending divers from the Maritime Self-Defense Force to help raise the fisheries training ship accidentally sunk off Hawaii on Feb. 9 by a U.S. submarine, government officials said Monday.
EDITORIALS
May 28, 2001

Mr. Wahid's time is running out

Indonesia continues its descent into the political maelstrom. The threats and manipulations of beleaguered President Abdurrahman Wahid seem to have failed and Parliament looks set to launch the impeachment process this week. It is hard to contest the charges. Mr. Wahid, Indonesia's first democratically...
COMMENTARY
May 28, 2001

Junichiro Koizumi: Can stardom become success?

LOS ANGELES -- Quality political leadership is so frequently conspicuous by its absence that even the slightest whiff of its sudden presence can electrify a political region. Is Japan finally experiencing the dynamic quality leadership it deserves? That's the question intriguing Asia.
COMMUNITY
May 27, 2001

Sleep on this

* Insomnia is not a modern-day phenomena: Aristotle penned his "Sleep and Sleeplessness" in 350 B.C.
LIFE / Food & Drink / BEST BAR NONE
May 27, 2001

Late shift at the Factory

Tokyo's art-party scene is alive and well and sometimes converges in Shibuya. One focal point is Uplink Factory, and one of the more interesting banners under which it rallies is an event known as "Ubique." Uplink Factory is an offshoot of Uplink Co., which, since 1987, has produced and distributed the...
BUSINESS
May 26, 2001

Aid ready to be doled out to ensure African boats rise with IT tide

Japan is offering African countries a lifeboat to help keep them from drowning as the IT tsunami sweeps around the globe.
JAPAN
May 26, 2001

Koizumi pitches privatization plan

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi has called for the reorganization of government-affiliated corporations and pointed to the need for sweeping privatization, government officials said Friday.
COMMENTARY / World
May 26, 2001

Afghans' prospects grow worse by the day

KABUL -- Surrounded by squalor, 9-year-old Naim Gul raises his hand to beg for a cheap pen.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
May 26, 2001

Thunderbird set to make history for second time

Charlotte Kennedy-Takahashi, as much at home in Tokyo's American Club as her local "izakaya," refutes any description of herself as the first non-Japanese woman to start her own business in Japan. But she does acknowledge herself as a pioneer, heading the first company founded by a foreigner to be granted...
BUSINESS
May 25, 2001

Japan stumped by politics of AIDS

Japanese government officials are scratching their heads over a turn of events that has taken place since last summer's Group of Eight summit in Okinawa, where Tokyo tried to make the fight against AIDS a major topic.
SPORTS / SPORTS SCOPE
May 25, 2001

Contribution to game will put Nomo into the Hall of Fame

"When he tossed his second career no-hitter on April 4 against the Baltimore Orioles, Nomo assured his entrance to the Baseball Hall of Fame."
BUSINESS
May 24, 2001

Employees encouraged to start ventures

When Noriyuki Ichihashi, an employee of Itochu Corp., proposed his idea to the firm's Internet venture incubation office about a year ago, the trading house was quick to give him the green light. Within a month, the 34-year-old had set up a planning company.
JAPAN
May 24, 2001

State won't appeal court ruling on redress for Hansen's patients

The government decided Wednesday not to appeal a landmark court ruling ordering the state to compensate former Hansen's disease patients for violating their basic human rights by forcing them to be isolated in sanitariums.
JAPAN
May 24, 2001

15,000 more day-care centers vowed

The government has decided in principle to provide an additional 15,000 after-school day-care centers for elementary school children by fiscal 2004, using vacant classrooms, government officials said.
SPORTS / SPORTS SCOPE
May 24, 2001

Perez is talking the talk in Japan

All it took for Eduardo Perez to learn the names of his Hanshin Tigers teammates was one embarrassing moment.
ENVIRONMENT / GARDENING FOR ALL
May 24, 2001

Just plant grass, and mow it for 400 years

The Hosokawa family is deeply rooted to the history and development of Kumamoto. Hosokawa Tadatoshi (1586-1641) was granted the domain of Kumamoto (540,000 koku) by Shogun Tokugawa Iemitsu in 1632 and started work on the gardens which became Suizenji Jojuen in the same year.
BUSINESS
May 23, 2001

Tax Commission will tackle road-building tax

The government's Tax Commission agreed Tuesday to review use of the special road-building tax in response to Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's pledge to include the controversial fund in his budget reform effort.
JAPAN
May 23, 2001

Loan firms linked to rise in personal bankruptcies

With colorful billboards at train stations, TV commercials showing Brazilian soccer legend Zico or a carefree, successful young woman, major consumer loan firms seem to have shed the shady images that previously haunted them.
CULTURE / Music / J-POPSICLE
May 23, 2001

Have you never been soft rock?

All sorts of great music is coming out of Japan these days, as any true J-pop fan knows. And some of the most interesting stuff is the music that can be included under the rubric "soft rock."
COMMENTARY / World
May 23, 2001

A new strategy for Asian energy

Interest in "Asian energy security" is growing, suggesting the possibility of a divergence from the quest for national control of resources that inspired energy security policies in the past. Will Asian energy security take hold as an organizing concept that addresses Asian energy needs and contributes...
CULTURE / Stage
May 23, 2001

Dankikusai passes torch to a new generation

For the month of May, the Kabukiza Theater in Tokyo is presenting a special program celebrating the Dankikusai (Danjuro-Kikugoro Festival). The afternoon program features "The Tale of Genji, Part II" in three acts, and the evening program includes two strikingly intense plays, "Gappo's Abode" and "Ise...
CULTURE / Art
May 23, 2001

High-rise hair takes center stage

Early evening thundershowers have raised humidity in Harajuku's Lapnet Ship Gallery to near-sauna level, but despite the sticky discomfort the tiny room is packed on this Saturday night. It's the much-anticipated opening party for Vivienne Sato's exhibition "Wig Wig Wig," and by following a Marge Simpson-like...
BUSINESS
May 22, 2001

LDP to extend bad-debt buying

The ruling Liberal Democratic Party decided Monday to allow the state-run Resolution and Collection Corp. to continue buying bad debt from banks for another three years, until the end of March 2004, LDP officials said.
JAPAN
May 22, 2001

Suspicions true: communists defied ban in U.S.-run Okinawa

A secret communist group was formed within the Okinawa People's Party on Okinawa Island in the 1950s during U.S. rule when such organizations were outlawed, according to the latest study by a group of researchers.
BUSINESS
May 22, 2001

Retirement benefits eat up Suzuki's profits

Suzuki Motor Corp. said Monday its group net profit slid 24.7 percent in the year ended March 31 to 20.25 billion yen due chiefly to shortfall-covering for retirement benefits reserves.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
May 20, 2001

The importance of being Osakan

"Osaka? You think Osaka is the same as Tokyo?"
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
May 20, 2001

Ten weddings and a quiz show

'Timeshock" was one of the original Japanese quiz shows, an uncomplicated but tense trivia contest that kept viewers glued to their screens in the '60s and made its voluble host, the late Jiro Tamiya, a superstar. The heart of the show was the intense one-minute barrage of questions that the contestants...
LIFE / Food & Drink
May 20, 2001

Big taste treats await in Osaka's Little Korea

OSAKA -- As soon as you exit the station wickets, sometimes even before that, the aroma hits you.

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