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COMMENTARY
Aug 16, 2001

Missed chance at Yasukuni

Japan's neighbors are expressing great indignation over Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's Aug. 13 visit to the Yasukuni Shrine, where the spirits of 14 convicted World War II war criminals are enshrined among some 2.5 million of Japan's war dead over the past two centuries. His decision to go early,...
JAPAN
Aug 16, 2001

Thousands honor war dead at Yasukuni

About 3,000 people -- twice as many as last year -- gathered Wednesday at Yasukuni Shrine in Chiyoda Ward, Tokyo, to attend an annual memorial service to pay tribute to Japan's war dead.
SPORTS / SPORTS SCOPE
Aug 16, 2001

Five years later, a friend remembered

He was probably the greatest basketball player you have never heard of. Such was the fate of my friend Derek Smith, who died five years ago last week at the age of 34, while on a cruise from New York to Bermuda.
CULTURE / Film
Aug 15, 2001

The powerful roar of distant waves

Nami Rating: * * * * Director: Hiroshi Okuhara Running time: 111 minutes Language: Japanese Now showing Are we all going to end up slaving 24/7? The Japanese have long led the way to an all-work, no-play future, but now the Americans, writes Martin Kettle in Guardian Unlimited, are catching up....
CULTURE / Art
Aug 15, 2001

Flights of fancy

Like a captivated child watching a magician's tricks, we demand to know "how?" How, that is, did a surge of Italian creativeness 600 years ago seemingly lay the foundations of the modern world?
CULTURE / Art
Aug 15, 2001

A 'subversive' finally brought in from the cold

In 1953, Kansuke Yamamoto wrote: "The surreal exists within the real. Tireless experimentation with new photography leads to the creation of a new beauty."
JAPAN
Aug 15, 2001

Teachers lash out at new text selection procedures

The selection period for textbooks to be used starting in April in elementary and junior high schools across Japan draws to a close today, but the past months saw the selection procedure draw fire along with some of the texts on view.
LIFE / Travel
Aug 14, 2001

Probing the borderline between life and death

The Shimokita Peninsula is a broad thumb of land at Honshu's northern tip, curling around Mutsu Bay and up toward Hokkaido. It is a wild place. Here you can find feral horses, the world's northernmost wild monkeys, some of Japan's last remaining wilderness -- and a holy mountain, Osorezan.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Aug 12, 2001

To know us is to love us

ONE HUNDRED AND FIVE KEY WORDS FOR UNDERSTANDING JAPAN (Nippon o Shiru Hyakugosho). Tokyo: Corona Books/Heibonsha, 2001, bilingual (Japanese/English) edition. 328 pp. 205 plates, color, b/w. 2000 yen. This country has an abiding faith in the power of understanding. If we just understood each other,...
LIFE / Food & Drink / BEST BAR NONE
Aug 12, 2001

Some like it hot

There once was a Tokyo night empire called Ink Stick, which spawned a handful of cool jazz slash ambient slash progressive clubs around town. But this review has nothing to do with Ink Stick. It is about Shinichi Watanabe, who took over the space that the Nogizaka Ink Stick occupied. Even more than 10...
JAPAN / WEEKEND WISDOM
Aug 12, 2001

Copying Kyoto is way to revitalize Japan, fashion critic says

KYOTO -- If Japan wants to revitalize the sluggish economy and turn its prospects around, there are plenty of indications that Kyoto's way of life as well as its way of doing business are the answer, according to Hiromi Ichida, a fashion critic who has lived in the ancient capital for more than half...
COMMENTARY
Aug 11, 2001

Path to Yasukuni is for the independent

On Aug. 15, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi plans to visit Yasukuni Shrine for the express purpose of paying homage to the souls of those who died during World War II and expressing his determination that Japan will never again seek to solve international disputes by military force.
COMMENTARY
Aug 11, 2001

G8's glaring contradiction

LONDON — The belligerent actions of the Italian state at Genoa last month were a declaration of war against young anticapitalist protesters. That, anyway, is how they were understood.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Aug 11, 2001

Playing chicken with telecommunication big boys

To some he is a hero. To others an anathema. For this writer, who lives in trepidation of meeting with Japanese CEOs because (sorry guys) they tend to be so predictable, Sachio Semmoto is a breath of fresh air.
BUSINESS
Aug 11, 2001

Sony, Honda work on useful, entertaining robots

Ever since Sony Corp. and Honda Motor Co. unveiled prototypes of humanoid robots last year, expectations have been growing that they can be developed to carry out household chores and used for entertainment.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / PERSONALITY PROFILE
Aug 11, 2001

Martin L.M. Smith

It is startling to see a man in a wheelchair high up the mast of a sailing ship.
EDITORIALS
Aug 10, 2001

Easing the pain of reform

Japan's unemployment rate stood at 4.9 percent in June, setting the worst post-World War II record for two consecutive months. It is likely to go up higher still, as Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's economic-reform plans received a solid mandate in the July 29 Upper House election. For one thing, bad-debt...
SOCCER / J. League
Aug 10, 2001

Missing faces as J. League resumes action

After a three-week interval, Division One of the J. League kicks off again Saturday with the start of the second stage.
LIFE / Lifestyle / JET STREAM
Aug 10, 2001

Getting a different perspective

Before coming to Japan, Jennifer Biggers had achieved some success as a musician in her native Texas. The world music enthusiast had composed and produced two tapes and a CD of original music.
COMMUNITY / THE PARENT TRIP
Aug 10, 2001

We are family . . .

My seven brothers and sisters testify to the reality that families come in all sizes, shapes and colors. We range in shades from straight coffee to cafe latte to cream.
COMMENTARY
Aug 9, 2001

The dangers of cohabitation

LONDON -- The institution of marriage has been taking some hard knocks lately. It is not just that cohabitation -- living together without the marriage commitment -- is now increasingly popular. Nor yet that, as is widely known, one in four British marriages end in divorce. (In the United States, the...
CULTURE / Film
Aug 8, 2001

Director Veysset knows her characters by heart

Sandrine Veysset has only made three films so far, but it would be no exaggeration to call her one of France's most talented directors. Her debut, "Will It Snow for Christmas?" took a Cesar (French Academy Award), her follow-up "Victor . . . pendant qu'il est trop tard," grabbed a Critics' Award at Rotterdam,...
JAPAN
Aug 8, 2001

Tanaka to delay own punishment

Foreign Minister Makiko Tanaka said Tuesday that she will wait until a fuller picture emerges of the embezzlement scams enveloping her ministry before imposing punitive measures upon herself.
JAPAN / STAGING A COMEBACK
Aug 8, 2001

Nanotechnology is seen having a massive future

AKO, Hyogo Pref. -- In many ways a typical science lab, it is difficult for an outsider to see what goes on at Himeji Institute of Technology's Laboratory of Advanced Science and Technology for Industry -- at least with the naked eye.
CULTURE / Art
Aug 8, 2001

Teddy bears dress for success

The great attraction of the Mona Lisa is the ambiguity of her expression. This allows the viewer to imagine, construct or project their own feelings onto the woman's face. This quality, which Da Vinci was only able to create by skillfully blurring the corners of the Mona Lisa's eyes and mouth, is perhaps...
CULTURE / Art
Aug 8, 2001

Two takes on what's really happening

Shiseido Gallery in Tokyo's Ginza and Art Tower Mito in Mito, Ibaraki Prefecture, will simultaneously present exhibitions of contemporary art from East Asia by up-and-coming artists, starting Friday. Asian contemporary art has captivated many people over the past decade. Masaki Higuchi from Shiseido...
LIFE / Travel
Aug 7, 2001

On a quiet crusade to end a tradition of injustice

BANGKOK -- On the first lunar cycle of the first month of this year, Chatsumarn Kabilsingh, an eminent Buddhist scholar, threw away her makeup, gave up eating meals after midday and relinquished the luxury of a comfortable bed. A month later, one day before the auspicious date of Buddha's holy Makhapuja...
COMMENTARY
Aug 6, 2001

Now Koizumi's battle begins

HONOLULU -- Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi delivered on his promise to revive the fortunes of the Liberal Democratic Party the weekend before last. LDP candidates steamrollered their opposition, claiming 64 of the 121 seats that were contested in the Upper House ballot. After an independent candidate...
BUSINESS
Aug 6, 2001

Wine exporters focus on Asia

BORDEAUX, France -- Japan is firmly back on the agenda for many wine exporters despite its continued economic slump, and value for money at the lower end should improve further. However, futures prices already indicate the prestige 2000 Bordeaux vintages won't be cheap.
EDITORIALS
Aug 5, 2001

Lies and consequences

Considering how consumed the media are with both death and dying, you might think a brief news item about someone's impending demise wouldn't cause much of a stir. But, of course, it all depends who the someone is.

Longform

Totopa in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward was picked by consultants TTNE as the best sauna of the year.
Japan’s sauna movement: Relax, refresh, repeat