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JAPAN
May 29, 2002

Cadmium study may be released

The government may release information on a study conducted from 1997 to 1998 on cadmium levels in domestic rice products, farm minister Tsutomu Takebe said Tuesday.
JAPAN
May 29, 2002

Special antitheft squad makes first arrests

Police said Tuesday that a special squad set up ahead of the upcoming World Cup soccer finals to prevent an increase in thefts and robberies has made its first arrests: three men are being held on suspicion of trying to steal a wallet in Tokyo.
JAPAN
May 29, 2002

Ozone hole will close: Japanese team

The hole in the ozone layer will be mostly gone by around 2040 due to restrictions placed on chlorofluorocarbons, a Japanese research team said Tuesday.
JAPAN
May 29, 2002

Day-care centers' online cameras keep tots in view

Sakura Kindergarten in Setagaya Ward, Tokyo, is one of a growing number of day-care centers hoping to use the Internet and other information technology to keep parents happy and worry-free.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES
May 29, 2002

Wayne Shorter: 'Footprints Live!'

Wayne Shorter first established himself as a central figure in the development of jazz as a member of Miles Davis' seminal mid-'60s quintet. He contributed a major portion of the compositions and a technique honed with Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers. Shorter also released a series of recordings as leader...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
May 29, 2002

Star's role derails Streetcar classic

Demons inhabit the live-performance stage. Nobody can judge the success of a production until after the curtain has risen and fallen. This is what gives drama -- and musical and dance performances -- their peculiar zest. And when the director of a production is a titan of the international theater world,...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES
May 29, 2002

Wilco: 'Yankee Hotel Foxtrot'

On the new Wilco album, "Yankee Hotel Foxtrot," frontman Jeff Tweedy muses that his mind is filled with "radio cures." Looks like his old label didn't think so. Citing a lack of commercially viable tracks on "YHF" and the band's refusal to rework them, Warner/Reprise Music showed Tweedy and company the...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art / NEW ART SEEN
May 29, 2002

The naked truth about (male) beauty

I'm thinking, as I write this, about beauty. I'm thinking about beauty because I'm flying over Siberia, and below me there is an expanse of softly sculpted white. I'm thinking about beauty because I'm returning from Paris, where I spent the last few days -- ostensibly on a writing assignment, but mostly...
BUSINESS
May 29, 2002

Japan Telecom posts net losses of 66 billion yen

Struggling with ongoing restructuring efforts, Japan Telecom Co. on Tuesday reported net losses of 66 billion yen for the business year that ended in March. It was Japan Telecom's first net loss as a publicly traded company.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / J-POPSICLE
May 29, 2002

And the 'nice try' award goes to . . .

It is my sad duty to report that the inaugural MTV Video Music Awards Japan, held May 24 at the Tokyo International Forum, was a less than spectacularly successful affair.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES
May 29, 2002

DJ Shadow: 'Private Press'

When DJ Shadow released his first album, "Endtroducing," in 1996, sample-based music was mostly complementary, designed for MCs or parties, and wasn't generally accepted as a viable creative endeavor by itself. It wouldn't be fair to all the turntablists who inspired Shadow (Josh Davis) to say that "Endtroducing"...
BUSINESS
May 29, 2002

Nippon Mitsubishi buys North Sea oil rights

Nippon Mitsubishi Oil Corp. said Tuesday it has acquired operational rights in Britain's Brae oil and natural gas fields in the North Sea, and rights to use transportation facilities.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES
May 29, 2002

Salif Keita: 'Moffou'

Salif Keita -- otherwise known as the Golden Voice of Mali -- has taken some jabs from world music purists in recent years for straying from his traditional African roots in collaborations with the likes of Vernon Reid of Living Color and the keyboardist Joe Zawinal. With "Moffou," Keita has dropped...
BUSINESS
May 29, 2002

Domestic auto output up for first time in three months

Domestic motor vehicle production climbed 2.7 percent to 777,497 units in April, the first year-on- year rise in three months, the Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association said Tuesday.
BUSINESS
May 29, 2002

Nissan Fire group falls 44 billion yen into red

Nissan Fire & Marine Insurance Co. said Tuesday it plunged into the red with a consolidated net loss of 43.76 billion yen in the 2001 business year after taking heavy losses from reinsurance contracts linked to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
May 29, 2002

Master at the cutting edge of art

Japan is often seen as a blend of the advanced and the archaic. But this combination is nothing new, as a visit to an exhibition of swords now on at the Nezu Museum in Tokyo's Omotesando district makes clear.
JAPAN
May 29, 2002

Japanese-Thai team inoculates monkeys against simian AIDS

Japanese and Thai researchers said Tuesday they have successfully inoculated monkeys against SIV, the simian version of the human immunodeficiency virus.
BUSINESS
May 29, 2002

Panasonic, Fuore Design ink deal

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. said Tuesday it has signed a deal with Fuore Design International of Spain to cooperate in developing Matsushita consumer electronic products.
BUSINESS
May 29, 2002

Ford chairman joins Mitsubishi

Mitsubishi Motors Corp. said Tuesday it has nominated Eiji Iwakuni to its board of directors.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
May 29, 2002

Exposing the dark side of human nature

Man Ray was master of an art form for which he nonetheless professed "a certain amount of contempt": photography. His first love was painting, and he persistently denied the artistry of the medium that made him famous. But it is largely thanks to his photographic work -- explored in an impressive new...
BUSINESS / ON THE FRONT LINE
May 29, 2002

Stock, GDP surge fuels unwelcome yen rise

There is mounting alarm in the government that a stronger yen might undermine its effort to get the economy back on track.
EDITORIALS
May 28, 2002

Sustainable usage is key for IWC

The International Whaling Commission's 54th annual gathering concluded last Friday in the traditional whaling port of Shimonoseki, Yamaguchi Prefecture. Once again it sent a signal to the world that the forum is not ready for compromise. The meeting left U.S. and Russian indigenous peoples without a...
COMMENTARY
May 28, 2002

Japan's diplomacy at stake

Corruption at the Foreign Ministry has come to a head following the arrest of two assistant division directors earlier this month on suspicion of breach of trust. Last year, three assistant division directors and a clerk were arrested on suspicion of embezzlement and fraud. Several senior ministry officials...
JAPAN
May 28, 2002

ANA computer failure strands thousands of fliers

Passengers on All Nippon Airways flights across Japan were unable to board their flights Monday afternoon after two sets of computer systems handling boarding processes temporarily broke down, ANA officials said.
JAPAN
May 28, 2002

Government fears public's reaction to reactor mishap

The government is concerned about the impact the radioactive water leak at the Hamaoka nuclear plant in Shizuoka Prefecture over the weekend will have on public sentiment, a top industry ministry official said Monday.
JAPAN
May 28, 2002

Tokyo's population hits record high

Tokyo's estimated population grew to a record 12.24 million people as of May 1, up about 110,000 from a year earlier, the Tokyo Metropolitan Government said Monday.
JAPAN
May 28, 2002

Hacker hits Kommy customer files

Beauty treatment firm Kommy Corp. said Monday that personal information on more than 37,000 customers who have used its Web site has been leaked.
JAPAN
May 28, 2002

Death penalty seminar commences

A group of Japanese lawmakers and representatives from the Council of Europe opened a joint two-day seminar Monday in Tokyo on the abolition of capital punishment.

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