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JAPAN
Dec 23, 2000

Kagawa folks get to bottom of their 'udon' bowls in more ways than one

TAKAMATSU, Kagawa Pref. -- As a native of a prefecture famous for Sanuki "udon" (wheat noodles), Kazutoshi Tao thought udon was a simple component of daily life -- until he visited a place where customers whip up their own variety.
LIFE / Travel
Dec 20, 2000

Rapt in the spell of a castle town

There's something exotic about a castle town, and Kumamoto is no exception. Kumamoto Castle's enormous fortifications and steps give an immediacy to the thrills and spills of history, and tower knowingly above its surrounds today.
LIFE / Food & Drink / WINE WAYS
Dec 14, 2000

Perfect match for sushi found in Deppisch wine

When all 194-cm of Johannes Deppisch looms before you, complete with his warm, spontaneous smile, you're inclined to think that his wines must be as powerful as he is. In fact, they're light, dry and fruity, and as refreshing as a visit to Josef Deppisch Weingut. Founded in 1872 in Marktheidenfeld, the...
COMMUNITY
Dec 10, 2000

Iron chef champ's book hailed best in the world

One of Katsuyo Kobayashi's strengths is that she is 100 percent reliable. With 140 books published to date, even the most inept cook can take home her latest compilation of recipes and come up trumps every time. Not only are they easy to make, good to eat and affordable, but joy of joys, some are now...
BUSINESS
Dec 2, 2000

Jobless rate unchanged at 4.7%

Japan's seasonally adjusted unemployment rate stood at 4.7 percent in October, unchanged from September, although the number of jobholders increased for the first time in 33 months from a year earlier, the Management and Coordination Agency said Friday.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 30, 2000

The Russian Far East reaps peace dividend

VLADIVOSTOK, Russia -- Bunkered in a hillside above the port city where Russia's Pacific Fleet anchors, Slavyansky Khleb may be one of the most secure bakeries on the planet.
JAPAN
Nov 26, 2000

Town takes eco stride, refines used cooking oil for car fuel

NAGAHAMA, Shiga Pref. -- In an effort to generate business opportunities and improve the environment of this western Japan city, a group of small and medium-size businesses have launched a project to build equipment to refine used cooking oil for use in automobiles as an alternative fuel.
LIFE / Travel
Nov 15, 2000

Russia's Baltic outpost

Mikhail Ivanovich Kalinin was not one of Russian history's shining stars. An unpleasant figure, he found favor with dictator Josef Stalin and rose to become Soviet president before dying in 1946. Nonetheless, in the fashion of those times, his surname was given to two major Russian cities and their accompanying...
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Nov 12, 2000

How to pick a foreigner out of the crowd

The longer I live in Japan the more I realize how strange people of my own planet look. Compared to the lean, congruent Japanese, foreigners seem like gigantic globs of cellulite.
COMMUNITY
Nov 9, 2000

Smoke gets in your eyes

A scar on her arm reminds Kyoko Saito (not her real name) of an unpleasant experience she had a month ago. The Tokyo office worker was hurrying home one night after working three hours overtime, when she overtook three men chatting as they sauntered along the crowded sidewalk to the nearby station.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Nov 9, 2000

Now is the season of our great content

It's all too easy to take for granted a restaurant of the caliber of Les Saisons. Ensconced within the venerable portals of the Imperial Hotel, it is plush, self-assured and runs with the same effortless reliability as a well-tuned Bentley sports car. You just know that an evening at table is going to...
JAPAN
Nov 8, 2000

Shops continue discriminatory practices

A year has passed since the Shizuoka District Court issued a landmark ruling that awarded damages to a Brazilian journalist for being refused service at a jewelry shop in Hamamatsu, Shizuoka Prefecture, simply because she was foreign.
COMMUNITY
Nov 2, 2000

Bank dealer trades finances for fiction

NIIHAMA, Ehime Pref. -- For most writers, the road to publication is paved with rejection slips. Not so for British expatriate Marisa Ishikawa, 35, who lives in Niihama-shi, Ehime Prefecture, with her Japanese carpenter husband and their two small children. Ishikawa dashed off her first novel in between...
JAPAN
Nov 1, 2000

Unemployment level climbs back up to 4.7%

Japan's unemployment rate climbed back to 4.7 percent in September, up 0.1 percentage point from August, for the first rise since June, when the rate rose to 4.7 percent from 4.6 percent, the Management and Coordination Agency said Tuesday.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Oct 27, 2000

The highs and lows of izakaya dining

The ethereal, powder-blue fiber-optic lights that illuminate the entrance to Yui-an give a remarkable sense of stepping into another dimension -- a sensation heightened by the high-speed elevator ride to the top of the Sumitomo Building. With your brain suitably befuddled before you even get through...
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 22, 2000

Bidding goodbye to the monoculture myth

Some years ago I was sitting at the counter of a rather exclusive sushi restaurant in the Roppongi district of Tokyo when I noticed that a middle-age man a few stools along was making monosyllabic comments each time I ordered a morsel of sushi or slipped one into my mouth.
LIFE / Travel
Oct 11, 2000

In the quiet domain of the stone Buddhas

As you turn into the quiet country road leading to Usuki's Buddhist rock carvings, a stone torii gate, riveted into the earth, deeply corroded by wind and rain, comes into momentary view. Standing in a field of rippling green paddy, it is an unintentional signal that you have entered a different time...
CULTURE / Music / HOGAKU TODAY
Oct 7, 2000

Tales of romance and bloodshed come alive in Shinnai song

Some of the performing arts of Japan are so spectacular that they grab your attention and immediately make you feel a part of the music. Taiko drumming is one; rhythm speaks directly to our bodies, and the beating of a stick on a drum has a physical appeal to all, regardless of language or culture.
JAPAN
Oct 6, 2000

NPA targets credit card fraud

The National Police Agency said Thursday it will develop a data-sharing system aimed at curbing the surge in crimes involving counterfeit credit cards, which caused losses exceeding 9 billion yen last year.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Oct 5, 2000

Celebrate the elderly when they stop saving

On Sept. 15, the country "celebrated" Respect for the Aged Day, when we honor our elders, who pass their wisdom and experience down to us so that our lives and those of our children will be happier and more fulfilling. Of course, nothing is farther from the truth. We in the industrialized world seem...
LIFE / Travel / NATURE TRAVEL
Oct 4, 2000

The parochial charm of Carmel

Rough Guide guidebooks are some of the best on the store shelf: thorough, entertaining and with excellent briefings on things historical, political and environmental. By and large we, and the Rough Guides, think alike.
JAPAN
Oct 4, 2000

Tokyo hotel reheats G8 menu

The Okinawa Prefectural Government and a top Tokyo hotel launched a festival of culinary delights Tuesday featuring the same menu served during the Okinawa summit of the Group of Eight nations in July.
JAPAN
Sep 30, 2000

Jobless rate eased to 4.6% in August

Japan's unemployment rate eased to 4.6 percent in August, down 0.1 percentage point from July, marking its first monthly downturn in three months, the Management and Coordination Agency said Friday.
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Sep 28, 2000

Trendy slurping in Azabu-Juban

All things must pass -- especially, it seems, the good stuff. So a final farewell, then, to the old Azabu-Juban we used to know and love, with its funky, friendly mom 'n' pop stores, cheap nomiya and overpriced wine bars, and its faintly musty smells of onsen and kimchi.
JAPAN
Sep 24, 2000

Dead pets returning to haunt the neighbors

ICHIHARA, Chiba Pref. -- It was the start of a real-life horror story for the people of Ichihara's Otsubo district when a smokestack suddenly appeared in a neighbor's yard in August last year.
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM MOSCOW
Sep 24, 2000

From lady killer to whale protector

So Japanese fishermen are banned from U.S waters. Whales rejoice, environmentalists celebrate, Texas Gov. George W. Bush loses a point, U.S., President Bill Clinton drafts a chapter for his memoir called "After Monica: Whales!", I grieve.
LIFE / Style & Design / SIMPLY DIVINE
Sep 21, 2000

Cosmetic makers target tots

While wearing your school uniform is considered the ultimate in cool, it's little wonder that the next phase is a young face full of slap. Younger and younger girls in Japan are reaching for the rouge and in response cosmetic companies are deliberately targeting teeny-boppers.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 21, 2000

MacArthur's audacious landing at Inchon astounded everyone -- except Mao

HONG KONG -- Sept. 15 was the 50th anniversary of the famous Inchon amphibious landing by U.S. forces under Gen. Douglas MacArthur, which so decisively turned the tide of battle in the early stages of the Korean War.
LIFE / Travel
Sep 20, 2000

The night train to Nha Trang

A few minutes before dawn on the night train to Nha Trang I awake to the sound of a nonstop diesel speeding past in the opposite direction. It hurtles past just inches away from the open windows of our own side-tracked train, sending us rocking nearly out of our bunks.
JAPAN
Sep 17, 2000

Ikuno pitches kimchi for World Cup

OSAKA -- While the nation is gripped by Olympic fever, Shigemitsu Nishihara in Ikuno Ward here is looking forward to the 2002 World Cup to be cohosted by Japan and South Korea as an event to boost bilateral relations and to promote his hometown.

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