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Yoko Hani
Japan Times
Features
Jan 30, 2005
'Secret' writer joins Diet drama
There are lawyers-turned-politicians. There are bureaucrats-turned-politicians. There are professors-turned-politicians . . . sports players-turned-politicians . . . actors-turned-politicians . . . and so on.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jan 26, 2005
Concert of 1,000 cellists looks set to raise the roof in Kobe
World-famous cellist Mstislav Rostropovich will conduct a concert for 1,000 cellos during a weeklong international cello convention in May in Kobe, which is currently commemorating the 10th anniversary of the devastating Great Hanshin Earthquake.
Features / WEEK 3
Jan 16, 2005
Water from everywhere, and so many drops to drink
Sure, water is tasty. Water is healthy. And recently, bottled water seems to have been deluging the shelves of Japan's shops, as more people turn away from their taps and toward thirst-quenching labels from home and abroad.
Japan Times
Features / WEEK 3
Dec 19, 2004
PM's barber keeps 'Beethoven' top of the locks
Tadashi Muragi is a 46-year-old Tokyo hairdresser with a 22-year career of scissor wielding already behind him. Clad in a clean white barber suit at his classically styled, five-seat shop, Muragi may look little different from others of his professional ilk -- though the fact that he is tonsorially responsible...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Oct 31, 2004
At-home dads
Kazuyuki Yamamura is a tall, good-looking man in his 30s, who was also good at his job. In fact, not so long ago he bought a house for himself, his wife and their kindergarten-age daughter in a leafy suburb of Tokyo. Then, unexpectedly, his company found itself in choppy financial waters -- and he was...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Oct 20, 2004
Designs for life
Whether you regard Sir Terence Conran as an ambitious visionary or a restless control freak, the fact is that this 73-year-old English designer and "lifestyle guru" stays forever busy. He designs chairs, sofas and vases; restaurants, bars and cafes; apartment rooms and hotels. He consults, he lectures...
Japan Times
Features
Sep 19, 2004
Cream-puff heaven is open to all
First it was Chinese dumplings that got the theme park treatment at Ikebukuro Gyoza Stadium in 2002. Then, last year, up popped Ice Cream City. So, what was to be this year's gastronomic addition to the menu of attractions at Namco Namja Town in Sunshine City?
Features
Aug 22, 2004
Keeping it in the club
On Oct. 16 last year, Hans van der Lugt, a correspondent for the Dutch newspaper NRC Handelsblad, telephoned the Land, Infrastructure and Transport Ministry with a simple inquiry.
Japan Times
Features
Jul 18, 2004
Drop by and tune in to a world of music
Features
Jul 4, 2004
Questionnaire findings spotlight younger people's political gloom
Are you satisfied with current state of politics? Do you support a particular political party? How do you see the future of Japan? They say that the younger generation isn't interested in politics, do you agree? These were some of the questions that The Japan Times recently asked Japanese nationals in...
Japan Times
Features
Jul 4, 2004
Fears that falling voter turnout may 'threaten democracy'
"Are you only interested in Japan as far as sports are concerned?" asks a newspaper advertisement that has been running recently to alert people to the Upper House election July 11.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / CLOSE-UP
Jul 4, 2004
Seiichi Kanise: Media insider casts an outsider's eye on Japan
After 17 years' experience as a top-flight news reporter both at home and abroad, in 1991 Seiichi Kanise began a 10-year stint as a TV news anchorman. Then, after covering a wide range of news events, in 2003 he accepted an offer from the Tokyo-based Bunka Hoso (Nippon Cultural Broadcasting Inc.) radio...
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Jun 18, 2004
Enjoy a taste of Boso's byways
When I got off the train at Sanuki-machi on the Uchibo Line in Chiba Prefecture, I realized, in a vague kind of way, that I knew the old little station. Perhaps I'd visited this rural town near the sea on a grade-school summer trip. Certainly, the 89-year-old station at the foot of the hills was exactly...
Japan Times
Features
May 9, 2004
Bridging cultures with books
Whether their parents read them fairy tales by Hans Christian Andersen and the Brothers Grimm, or even encouraged them to explore Lewis Carroll's Wonderland, most Japanese have been exposed to overseas literature from an early age, and many go on to discover the likes of Tolkien, L.M. Montgomery, Michael...
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Apr 30, 2004
Get away from it all without going so far
HINASE, Okayama Pref. -- Most people, if asked to name their favorite islands in Japan, might plump for the southernmost and most exotic ones which together comprise Okinawa Prefecture. Others, less enamored of balmy climes, might prefer Niigata Prefecture's Sado Island in the Sea of Japan; while some...
Japan Times
Features
Apr 25, 2004
Reluctantly putting the hanging case
Despite official data showing public support for capital punishment running at around 80 percent, few Japanese are willing to openly defend the death penalty.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Mar 12, 2004
Museums bid to widen leisure appeal
Museums want you to drop by, of course, but they also want you to linger, to explore, take your time -- the whole afternoon, if possible. To this end, no respectable museum can be without cafes and shops to enhance the experience.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Jan 25, 2004
Crowds flock to city in search of rich pickings
It is a chilly Sunday morning. And it's pretty early.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Jan 25, 2004
Where time stands still
Once upon a time, if you stood in the Saiwai-cho area of Kawagoe in western Saitama Prefecture, you would have seen all around you people in kimono moving between rows of old merchants' houses with upswept, tiled roofs, kura warehouses with double-shuttered windows, and alleys twisting between black-painted...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Jan 25, 2004
Happy Ko-Edo exile
Midori Fujii calls herself a "cityscape exile."

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