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Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Aug 21, 2002

Universal comedy without errors

Hold on to your seats: We're going back to the essence of theater -- entertainment. "The Kyogen of Errors," directed by and starring 36-year-old Mansai Nomura, is a fitting way to celebrate his five-year appointment as artistic director of the Setagaya Public Theater (SEPT), which was announced two weeks...
BUSINESS
Aug 21, 2002

Nanaboshi execs held over shady bookkeeping

OSAKA -- Prosecutors on Tuesday arrested the president and two former executives of Nanaboshi Co., a plant maintenance firm that went under last year, for allegedly doctoring the company's books to make the business results look better.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Aug 21, 2002

Light My Fire festival to heat things up

Relaxing in a conference room crowded with shelves of CDs and a couple dozen bottles of Belgian beer, Shohachiro Haga recently explained how he chose the four acts for the Light My Fire world music festival. A middle-aged man wearing an enviably broken-in polo shirt, Haga says, "We can find the roots...
JAPAN
Aug 21, 2002

Accidents claim 282 over Bon season

Water- and road-related accidents claimed 282 lives across Japan during the Bon summer holidays this year, the National Police Agency said Tuesday.
JAPAN
Aug 21, 2002

NTT disconnects 'wangiri' caller

OSAKA -- NTT West Corp. on Tuesday suspended connection services to a company in Fukuoka that allegedly made "wangiri" phone calls in such massive numbers that it threatened to paralyze NTT's telephone networks, NTT West officials said.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Aug 21, 2002

Afghan heritage is back from the brink

Like many exhibitions, "Afghanistan: A Timeless History" tells a story. It's not the story of Afghan art, though; nor, despite its title, the story of Afghanistan itself -- a country whose millennia of strife are expressed in every artifact now on display at the Tokyo National University of Fine Arts...
BASEBALL / MLB
Aug 21, 2002

Major League tour in doubt

It appears that bad news is in the offing for Japanese and foreign fans of Major League Baseball.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Aug 21, 2002

Revenge is a dish served to chill at Kabukiza

In the heat of summer, Japanese people turn to noryo (activities to enjoy the evening cool) -- and kabuki is among the enjoyments on offer. Noryo programs were started at the Kabukiza Theater in August 1990, and have been in the charge of Nakamura Kankuro, 47, ever since. For this year's program he has...
BUSINESS
Aug 21, 2002

Japan-China trade climbed in first half

Trade between Japan and China in the first half of 2002 totaled $45.12 billion, up 3.4 percent from a year earlier, the Japan External Trade Organization said Tuesday.
CULTURE / Music
Aug 21, 2002

Spirited Asian Youth Orchestra does it again

The Asian Youth Orchestra's performance at the Tokyo Opera City Concert Hall on Aug. 8 was lively and spirited but not quite up to the standards of the seven previous performances I've seen.
JAPAN
Aug 21, 2002

Jam-packed house rows traded for condos

The Harue district of Edogawa Ward, Tokyo, was once crammed with run-down houses on small plots separated only by narrow alleyways.
CULTURE / Film
Aug 21, 2002

The busiest bad guy around

Show Aikawa is the hardest-working man in Japanese movies, but one that Japanese cinemagoers have rarely, if ever, seen. Unless, that is, they happen to be fans of straight-to-video films. They would know Aikawa as the gangster glaring down from the boxes of dozens of action films with titles like "Shuraba...
EDITORIALS
Aug 20, 2002

Clearing up the haze

Since it first commanded world attention in 1997, "haze" -- an ugly smog created by fires -- has become a regular feature of the Southeast Asian environment. A new United Nations report identifies the grimy acid cocktail as a major health hazard for that region and the world. It is killing millions and...
SOCCER / World cup
Aug 20, 2002

Ono's Feyenoord makes winning start to season

AMSTERDAM -- Japan midfielder Shinji Ono got off to a winning start in his second season in the Dutch first division as Feyenoord beat NEC Nijmegen 2-0 on Sunday in the opening round of season.
MORE SPORTS
Aug 20, 2002

Japan's leading sire Sunday Silence dies

Japan's leading sire, breeding giant Sunday Silence, has lost a 14-week battle with illness and laminitis. According to the Shadai Stallion Station in Hayakita, Hokkaido, the 16-year-old American champion, whose progeny changed the face of Japanese racing, succumbed to heart failure at 11 a.m. Monday....
BASEBALL / MLB
Aug 20, 2002

Lions' Cabrera catches up with Tuffy

Alex Cabrera and Kazuo Matsui each homered twice Monday as the front-running Seibu Lions overpowered the Fukuoka Daiei Hawks 10-5 in a 14-hit attack in the Pacific League.
JAPAN
Aug 20, 2002

DNA scholars hope to stock Siberia 'park' with mammoths

"Jurassic Park" was a work of fiction. Pleistocene Park is in the process of becoming fact.
JAPAN
Aug 20, 2002

More flexible school holidays to be considered

The government will consider introducing flexible school holidays so families with children can take more relaxed and less-crowded summer and other vacations, government officials said Monday.
COMMENTARY
Aug 20, 2002

Forum breaks new ground

The recent meeting of the ASEAN Regional Forum, or ARF, the Asia Pacific's premier track for security dialogue, has been applauded as a watershed for the institution -- and rightly so. The group's pledge to fight international terrorism breathed new life into the forum. But the real significance of this...
JAPAN
Aug 20, 2002

Solution for office glut: housing units

The infrastructure ministry says it plans to promote the conversion of office buildings in urban centers into public rental housing units in order to cope with a shortage of high-quality apartments.
JAPAN
Aug 20, 2002

East Timor leader requests aid in talks with Nakatani

DILI -- East Timor President Xanana Gusmao asked Japan on Monday to help with his country's efforts to deal with unemployment and build a judicial infrastructure.
JAPAN
Aug 20, 2002

Researcher urges water consciousness

A common saying in Japanese is "mizu to anzen wa tada" ("water and safety are free"), meaning they can be taken for granted.
JAPAN
Aug 20, 2002

Japan, North Korea claim progress at two-day talks

PYONGYANG -- The North Korean Red Cross confirmed Monday the whereabouts of six Japanese among the 49 Tokyo has demanded Pyongyang search for, but the six are not among the 11 Tokyo says were abducted.
JAPAN
Aug 20, 2002

Residents to seek redress over Tokai nuclear accident

Three residents of the village of Tokai, Ibaraki Prefecture, home to Japan's worst nuclear accident, said Monday they will seek compensation for health hazards from the operator of the uranium processing plant and its parent company.
BUSINESS
Aug 20, 2002

JAMA calls for development of low-pollution automobiles

The automobile industry should work to reduce environmental damage from vehicles by developing low-pollution cars such as fuel-cell automobiles, according to a Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association report released Monday.
COMMENTARY
Aug 20, 2002

New era brings new Japan-U.S.-China ties

I am writing from Honolulu, more than 60 years since the Japanese Imperial Navy's surprise attack on Pearl Harbor on Dec. 8, 1941, which started the Pacific War between Japan and the United States.
JAPAN
Aug 20, 2002

Kan announces candidacy in DPJ election

Naoto Kan, secretary general of the Democratic Party of Japan, on Monday announced his candidacy for the largest opposition party's election next month.

Longform

Figure skater Akiko Suzuki was once told her ideal weight should be 47 kilograms, a number she now admits she “naively believed.” This led to her have a relationship with food that resulted in her suffering from anorexia.
The silent battle Japanese athletes fight with weight