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CULTURE / Music
Jan 1, 2003

Too young to fall in love?

2002 was an eventful year, to say the least, for superstar singer/songwriter Utada Hikaru. In March, she signed a international recording deal (as an English-language artist -- she remains signed to Toshiba-EMI as a Japanese-language artist) with Island Def Jam.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art / NEW ART SEEN
Jan 1, 2003

So you thought '02 was good? Well, there's Mori to come

It looks, at first glance, like a refreshing case of "out with the old, and in with the new": In late 2002 the Tokyo art community bade a teary goodbye to its Mecca, when the falling-down old Sagacho building, home for years to some of Japan's most progressive gallery spaces, finally closed its doors...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Jan 1, 2003

Ackerman and tpt bend theater's rules

Whether a person becomes a theatergoer often depends on a crucial encounter with this dramatic art form -- and a play that just opened at the Benisan Pit in Tokyo's Sumida Ward is indubitably the stuff that makes theatergoers.
CULTURE / Music
Jan 1, 2003

Mash it up, tear it up

The battle over music copyrights continued to rage this year. To combat the song pirates, the record industry unveiled copy-proof CDs and AudioGalaxy, one of the biggest music file-sharing networks in the post-Napster era, was shut down. It was a heavy blow, but MP3 hounds just regrouped and shared elsewhere....
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jan 1, 2003

These things take time

Jazz fans have long taken scratches, hisses, poor miking and wobbly mixing as signs of hidden truths and authenticity in recordings of their legends. In 2002, though, they had to deal with a little cleanliness. Last year's releases of freshly remastered classics showed off extended sonic depth and range,...
MORE SPORTS
Dec 31, 2002

'Sappu' phenomenon captures imagination of Japanese public

A beast will send chills down the spine of the bravest of men.
COMMUNITY
Dec 31, 2002

Bringing AIDS awareness to the EFL classroom

Burning the candle at both ends has a different meaning for Louise Haynes, director of Japan AIDS Prevention Awareness Network (JAPANetwork).
EDITORIALS
Dec 31, 2002

Making sense of the mess of 2002

2002 will be remembered as a year of spectacular failures. The political mistakes that became front-page news were glaring, but they were often the product of miscalculation. Those that dominated the business headlines were the result of greed and larceny. Painful as all those blunders were, there are...
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Dec 31, 2002

Caveats to help avoid the conmen

Not long ago, while I was out posting a letter, a salesman phoned and told my wife that we had been tabbed to receive a new water filter for our kitchen faucet, absolutely free of charge.
MORE SPORTS
Dec 31, 2002

All-Star cager Takahashi moving on

Seven-time All-Star forward Michael Takahashi will leave the Yokohama Giga Cats men's basketball club, manager Mototaka Kohama said Monday.
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
Dec 31, 2002

Don't pay extra for shipping when you move to Japan

Belated greetings
COMMENTARY
Dec 31, 2002

Koizumi losing ability to lead

The most striking impression about 2002 is that the world has become increasingly insecure. When two jetliners hijacked by suicide terrorists crashed into New York's World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001, old-fashioned big-power games ended and a new struggle between civilized society and international...
EDITORIALS
Dec 30, 2002

Mr. Koizumi fails to measure up

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi is losing his precious political capital: public popularity. He may be likened to a stage actor who no longer strikes a strong chord in his audience. The actor still has many fans, but he is falling short of general expectations. Moreover, his lines lack punch and he...
COMMENTARY
Dec 30, 2002

Missiles challenge diplomac

Defense chief Shigeru Ishiba's rash remarks regarding a joint Japan-U.S. missile defense project deviate from Tokyo's official defense policy and could give the impression that Japan is advancing the bilateral initiative beyond research to the development stage.
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM NEW YORK
Dec 30, 2002

Pomp, ceremony and the U.S. presidency

NEW YORK -- A new book by Christopher Anderson is called "George and Laura: Portrait of an American Marriage." Andersen, who also wrote "Jack and Jackie" and "Bill and Hillary," may not always be "respectful," to quote a reviewer, toward America's First Couples, but the appearance of his latest book...
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 30, 2002

S. Korean-U.S. relations at a crossroad

SEOUL -- Riding atop a tsunami wave of popular protest against perceived inequities in the Status of Forces Agreement governing U.S forces in South Korea and a general restiveness over the American military presence, South Korea's president-elect, Roh Moo Hyun, promises to bring a new focus to South...
ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER
Dec 30, 2002

Carrion beetle

* Japanese name: Yotsu boshi hiratashide mushi * Scientific name: Dendroxena sexcarinat * Description: The full name of this insect is the Japanese four-spotted carrion beetle. It is 15 mm long, with a flat, orange body with four black spots. The body is unusually flexible for a beetle. Carrion beetles...
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle / JET STREAM
Dec 30, 2002

An Ainu 'homecoming' for journeying Navajo

When Marcus Mose, a Native American from the Navajo Nation and an assistant language teacher in Gonohe, Aomori Prefecture, visited the popular Ainu musician Kano Oki in Hokkaido this November, it was like a journey home.
MORE SPORTS
Dec 29, 2002

Japan-S. Korea league being mulled

Japanese and South Korean ice hockey officials will study the feasibility of establishing a joint league featuring clubs from both countries, Japan Ice Hockey Federation (JIHF) officials said Friday.
SOCCER / J. League
Dec 29, 2002

Matsui nets pair as Kyoto gets first crack at Cup final

SAITAMA -- Kyoto Purple Sanga advanced to their first ever Emperor's Cup final after defeating Sanfrecce Hiroshima 2-1 with two first-half goals from Daisuke Matsui on Saturday at Saitama Stadium 2002.
EDITORIALS
Dec 29, 2002

What 'McDonaldization'?

I t wasn't all that long ago that American journalist Thomas Friedman was making headlines with his so-called Golden Arches Theory of conflict prevention: No two countries that both had McDonald's, he wrote in 1996, had ever fought a war against each other. Around the same time, McDonald's was drawing...
COMMUNITY
Dec 29, 2002

A master of tea's art and science

Kunihiko Sokan Horinouchi, 59, is not just the 13th master of the tea house Horinouchi Choseian, one of the two subdivisions of the Omotesenke, a major school of traditional Japanese tea ceremony. As the head of one of the two families which, for generations, have been supporting the Omotesenke tradition...
COMMUNITY
Dec 29, 2002

Winter's ancient symbol of vigor and life

In the contemporary Western world, Christmas starts with Christmas Eve on Dec. 24. and ends with Boxing Day on Dec. 26. In times now long past, though -- and on calendars now long since consigned to history -- the date of Christmas and celebrations of the birth of Christ have varied from Dec. 25 to Jan....
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Dec 29, 2002

Stymied by a myopic military

THE SHADOW WARRIORS OF NAKANO: A History of the Imperial Japanese Army's Elite Intelligence School, by Stephen C. Mercado. Brassey's: Washington, D.C., 2002, 331 pp., $27.95 (cloth) This is the groundbreaking story of Japan's World War II intelligence agents, an elite cadre of approximately 2,500 men...

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