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EDITORIALS
Jun 16, 2002

Thank God it's Monday

'A good name is better than precious ointment," according to the Bible. These days, that can mean more than just a good reputation, especially in business. It can mean a snappy title, too: something that will both stick in people's minds and make them smile.
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Jun 16, 2002

Life's a bitch and then some

This week, Fuji TV will begin airing the entries in its Eleventh Annual FNS Documentary Grand Prix, a contest that honors video documentaries submitted by Fuji network affiliates. The winners are eventually selected by a panel of media experts.
SOCCER / World cup
Jun 16, 2002

Sports bars tap new thirst for soccer

As Japan screamed into the second round of the World Cup with a win over Tunisia on Friday, sports bars in Tokyo lapped up a surge in customers.
CULTURE / Music / HOGAKU TODAY
Jun 16, 2002

We're talking the real thing

I recently received an e-mail from a foreign journalist in Japan asking me to comment on "the ongoing boom in Japan of traditional music." The request both puzzled me and made me think. Traditional Japanese music, hogaku, is not exactly booming. Attendance at traditional concerts and enrollment in university...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Jun 16, 2002

Tribute to a humanist

THE KANETO SHINDO ANTHOLOGY. Asmik Ace Entertainment, Inc. DVD collection, 21 discs (some optional English subtitles) and program booklet (Japanese only), 2002, 79,000 yen. This massive four-volume collection is devoted to the main works of one of the major film directors of the immediate post-World...
COMMUNITY
Jun 16, 2002

A torrent of words

Ame may mean rain, but it's never been just rain in Japan; it's been dissected and categorized under a multitude of names that, sadly, few Japanese are in touch with anymore. Still, the fact that many people casually refer to Japan as ame no kuni (country of rain), where water perpetually seeps from...
JAPAN
Jun 16, 2002

'Intelligent' TV server in works

Royal Philips Electronics N.V. of the Netherlands and Waseda University are jointly developing a household TV server that would allow viewers to watch the programming of their choice at any time, researchers said Saturday.
JAPAN
Jun 16, 2002

Student's stabbing at school disputed by Osaka police

OSAKA — A 17-year-old student was injured Saturday in what he claimed was an attack by a knife-wielding man in his prefectural high school, but police said the wound may have been self-inflicted because his wound apparently fails to fit the student's depiction of the attack.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Jun 16, 2002

The accessory of the season

Tsuyu. It's that wet and dismal time of year, the rainy season, when no matter what the skies look like, you have to prepare for the inevitable.
SOCCER / World cup
Jun 16, 2002

Majestic England sweeps past Denmark

NIIGATA -- England coach Sven-Goran Eriksson's local priest had "promised" that England would defeat Denmark in their Round of 16 game 2-1, with Michael Owen scoring the winner. The priest managed to get the result and one of the scorers right, coming up short with the scoreline however, as England cruised...
SOCCER / World cup
Jun 16, 2002

Germans advance to last eight

SOGWIPO, South Korea -- There are some soccer matches that fly past in a frenzy of rapid thrusts, parries and counterthrusts. This was not one of those.
JAPAN
Jun 16, 2002

Misumi's 'management of emptiness' anything but hollow

At Misumi Corp., the president makes no beginning-of-the-year speeches. There are no long-term sales goals, praise or scoldings.
COMMUNITY
Jun 16, 2002

Building for a rainy day

The most welcome visitor to the Suzuki house is, quite possibly . . . rain. The three-story building on a hillside in Asaka, southern Saitama Prefecture, is like a theater designed for the enjoyment of performances by that most versatile player from the sky, as it dances and sings and soothes on its...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / THE WAY OF WASHOKU
Jun 16, 2002

Big world sprouts from tiny grains of rice

When you travel between one small town and another in Japan often the panorama is a vast plain of flooded fields or a towering terraced mountain of rice paddies. In early June, up and down the Japanese archipelago, rice has been planted and the glistening paddies are teeming with life. Along with the...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Jun 16, 2002

Nodaiwa: Why put off eel you can eat today?

Who says you have to wait till the dog days of midsummer to enjoy unagi? Ignore the media hype: There are no rules that say when you should (or should not) eat your eel. But if you are only going to dine on unagi once a year, then make it somewhere special. And you will not find anywhere in Tokyo that...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Jun 16, 2002

When the World Cup runneth over

How do you say "stereotype" in Portuguese? Every day during the World Cup, an industry association of commercial broadcasters places an ad in newspapers promoting the games that will be shown on TV that day. The matches on June 8 were Italy vs. Croatia and Brazil vs. China. The copy read, "Entranced...
EDITORIALS
Jun 15, 2002

Stop modern-day slavery

Human slavery is a difficult idea to comprehend. Treating another person as a piece of property is so fundamentally alien to every philosophical and legal tenet of our age that most people assume that slavery is a purely historical phenomenon. They are wrong. Slavery is very much alive. It continues...
COMMENTARY
Jun 15, 2002

Russia looks both East and West, for now

HONG KONG -- Last July, Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Chinese counterpart, Jiang Zemin, solemnly signed a landmark Treaty on Good Neighborliness, Friendship and Cooperation that was little short of a military alliance. Shortly before that, the two countries, together with Kazakstan, Tajikistan,...
SOCCER / World cup
Jun 15, 2002

Japan reaches World Cup milestone

OSAKA -- On-fire Japan reached another World Cup milestone Friday, advancing to the World Cup second round for the first time ever, after topping Group H with a 2-0 win over Tunisia at Osaka's Nagai Stadium.
SOCCER / World cup
Jun 15, 2002

Red Devils win game of Russian roulette

SHIZUOKA -- The Red Devils of Belgium qualified for the Round of 16 as runnersup of Group H after a dramatic 3-2 victory over Russia at the Shizuoka Ecopa Stadium on Friday. The seesaw battle revived memories of Belgium's 4-3 extra-time win over the same team in Mexico '86, with Belgium again gaining...
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 15, 2002

No winners in Shenyang case

CAMBRIDGE, England -- Now that a little time has gone by, and peoples' attention is distracted by the World Cup, it is time for a little quiet thinking about the implications of the Shenyang incident. This was the incident in which Chinese police forcibly removed five North Koreans from the Japanese...
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 15, 2002

Developing Asia's publishing industry

CHIANG MAI, Thailand -- A very interesting conference took place earlier last month in Bangkok with the participation of leading publishers from around Asia. As with many such specialized events, its impact mainly reached people in the publishing industry rather than the public at large. But, because...
JAPAN
Jun 15, 2002

Efforts to preserve Ainu language gain momentum

An independent television producer and an Ainu-language teacher recently released a compact disc featuring traditional Ainu stories in a bid to pass down the indigenous minority's language.
Japan Times
JAPAN / MUSEUM MUSINGS
Jun 15, 2002

Famed sculptor's mannequins wear evolution of Western haute fashion

The Sugino Costume Museum is ensconced among campus buildings in a quiet residential area in Tokyo's Meguro district frequented by college boys in the days before World War II who were curious to glimpse female dressmaking students in stylish Western clothes.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jun 15, 2002

World War I POW camp found in Hyogo

ONO, Hyogo Pref. — A local historical committee has recently confirmed that wooden structures in a neighborhood here were once part of a World War I prisoner-of-war camp that housed nearly 500 German and Austrian prisoners.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 15, 2002

Defense Agency deals democracy a blow

The mushrooming scandal at Japan's Defense Agency highlights the ongoing struggle between advocates of free speech and government secrecy. The clumsy and duplicitous handling of this affair by the Koizumi administration leaves even the most cynical observers of government speechless.
JAPAN
Jun 15, 2002

Man hurt in morning earthquake

An earthquake with a magnitude of 5.2 jolted eastern and northeastern Japan, including metropolitan Tokyo, on Friday, injuring one man, the Meteorological Agency said.
JAPAN
Jun 15, 2002

New Kansai runway faces delay

The transport ministry on Friday sharply lowered its forecast for passenger demand at Kansai International Airport off Osaka, indicating that the scheduled opening of a second runway in 2007 could be delayed.

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