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Oct 13, 2002

Joanie's in town, and she's ready to kick some butt

Joanie Laurer lists herself as 5'10". She looks more like 6'4" in the flesh. Built like a brick lighthouse, former World Wrestling Federation (WWF) star "Chyna" cuts an imposing figure as she greets me at the door to her hotel room.
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Oct 13, 2002

Dear old dads star in series, specials

Fathers of all shapes and sizes are the stars of this week's lineup of drama specials and new series. "Otosan (Father)," premieres Oct. 13 at 9 p.m. on the TBS network.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Sep 22, 2002

Hsia Yu: modern, universal and refreshing

FUSION KITSCH: Poetry by Hsia Yu, Translated by Steve Bradbury. Zephyr Press, Massachusetts, 2001, 131 pp., $13 (paper) The title of this book, the first bilingual collection of work by Taiwanese poet Hsia Yu, is apt. In fact, translator Steve Bradbury, a professor at National Central University in Taiwan,...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / J-POPSICLE
Sep 11, 2002

Putting the J in J-punk

It's taken a while, but punk rock seems to have finally broken into the J-pop mainstream.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Sep 1, 2002

Rene Paulo takes a break from the hotel circuit

For the better part of five decades, Rene Paulo has made a steady living playing piano in hotel lounges in Honolulu, Las Vegas and Los Angeles -- but don't call him a lounge player. And don't ask him if Liberace was an influence.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Sep 1, 2002

Reaching for the skyline

Sixty-nine-year-old British architect Sir Richard Rogers has been one of the world's foremost architects for the last 30 years. Awarded the Gold Medal of the Royal Institute of British Architects in 1985, he was further rewarded for his outstanding achievements with a knighthood from the Queen six years...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / PERSONALITY PROFILE
Aug 31, 2002

Madhu Jain

"My exhibition in Japanese-style painting portraying Indian imagery was an exciting challenge for me, as it uses a relatively unknown medium. At times I struggled late into the night to bring about the desired effects. When suddenly I could see the subject emerge with the brilliance of its pigments against...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES
Aug 7, 2002

The Streets: Original Pirate Material

Following hard on the heels of drum 'n' bass, U.K. garage (or two-beat) was already the hippest thing in urban Britain by the time the rest of the world had even heard of it. Critics called it the purest form of dance music since '70s disco, while practitioners made much of its up-from-the-streets credibility,...
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / NATURE TRAVEL
Aug 6, 2002

Pick a Palau isle and call it your own

The boat is fueled. Frosted beer bottles glint in the ice boxes. The provisions are stashed, and we are about to go and find ourselves our very own desert island.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jul 31, 2002

Modern Paintings of Mongolia: taking great steppes

Dividing his massive empire between his sons, Genghis Khan's grand legacy to the eldest was all the land from the Aral Sea westward "as far as the hooves of Mongol horses have reached."
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Jul 21, 2002

Public works projects? Dam them all to hell

The person who said that all politics is local probably wasn't thinking about Japan, where regional officials don't seem to have much purpose in life beyond trying to cadge money from Tokyo.
SOCCER / World cup
Jul 5, 2002

Zico open to taking Japan job

Former Brazil international and Kashima Antlers technical director Zico is very receptive to the Japan Football Association's offer to become the next Japan national team coach, saying he "would like to take it if the two sides can settle the matter in details."
CULTURE / Books
Jun 23, 2002

The courage to endure

BAD ELEMENTS: Chinese Rebels from Los Angeles to Beijing, by Ian Buruma. Random House: New York, 2001. 367 pp. $27.95 (cloth) Are the Chinese hard-wired for authoritarian government? Is there a cultural barrier to democracy? Ian Buruma spends more space than warranted in answering these questions with...
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 11, 2002

Let them breathe water: U.S. blocks sustainable development talks

BALI -- Already from the beginning there was an air of defeatism at the preparatory meeting in Bali for the World Summit on Sustainable Development. It was certainly not the ambience: The resort-style lodging for the 6,000 delegates could hardly have been a reason for complaint. But after two weeks of...
COMMUNITY
Jun 2, 2002

See you at Almond

Earlier this year, the Dentsu Research Institute predicted that Japan's co-hosting of the World Cup would benefit the economy to the tune of 3.182 trillion yen. While Tokyo isn't hosting any of the games, its glitzy Roppongi district will likely play host to thousands of soccer fans from around the world...
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...
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
May 28, 2002

North of the border, Chinese reap a rich harvest

LAZAREVSKOYE, Russia -- In order to enter Lu Binzheng's pig farm, visitors have to dress in white lab coats, stand under an ultraviolet light to kill any germs and slosh their shoes in disinfectant.
LIFE / Travel
May 28, 2002

North of the border, Chinese reap a rich harvest

LAZAREVSKOYE, Russia -- In order to enter Lu Binzheng's pig farm, visitors have to dress in white lab coats, stand under an ultraviolet light to kill any germs and slosh their shoes in disinfectant.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / PERSONALITY PROFILE
May 25, 2002

Amalia Lior

Since its founding in 1959, the Japan-Israel Women's Welfare Organization has usually invited the wife of the Israeli ambassador to Japan to be its honorary president. Each one who has accepted the position has praised the organization and devoted herself to promoting its activities and aims. Amalia,...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
May 12, 2002

Poetry that's music to the ears of millions

POEMS OF THE GOAT, by Chuya Nakahara, translated by Ry Beville. American Book Company, Richmond, VA, 2002, 77 pp., $15/2500 yen (paper) Why do some writers get translated and others -- better, more deserving -- remain obscure? This is a question that Ry Beville, a young Virginia native, asked himself...
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
May 9, 2002

Welcome to a new page, welcome to a new column

Welcome to a brand new new weekly column that will provide a forum for readers to help one another, and for myself and Ken Joseph, of Japan Helpline, to help you. We will be printing your letters, offering personal input and bringing in experts on a regular basis to help answer your queries on living...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
May 8, 2002

The intoxication of Maurice Utrillo

Paris is a city of the mind. In addition to its reputation for intellectualism, it is one of the few cities of which almost everyone has some mental picture. And even though these images sometimes prove to be romanticized, Paris is nevertheless indisputably picturesque.
LIFE / Digital
May 2, 2002

IMAX 3-D puts outer space in your face

The astronauts are playing with their food.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Apr 21, 2002

And don't come back another day

ARTHRITIC JAPAN: The Slow Pace of Economic Reform, by Edward J. Lincoln. Washington, D.C.:Brookings Institution Press, 2001, 247 pp., $18.95 (paper) Japan's agonizingly slow attempts to resuscitate its ailing economy have left many observers bewildered. The policy failure is plain: the lowest growth...
COMMUNITY
Apr 14, 2002

Off on the road of laughs

Paul Betney is perpetually in motion. It's the first thing that everyone notices about him. To put it bluntly, he shakes. Sometimes he looks like he's going to rattle himself apart, but then he arches his eyebrows and says, "Can you imagine me at airports?" and the audience is in fits.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Apr 7, 2002

Ex-foreigner on a Diet 'mission'

In February, Marutei Tsurunen made political history when he became the first Westerner to take a seat in the Diet. This was as much of a surprise to him as anyone. After being first reserve in the proportional representation list of Minshuto (Democratic Party of Japan) after last July's Upper House...
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 4, 2002

Tony Blair struggles to fill Margaret Thatcher's giant shoes

LONDON -- She has been out of power for a dozen years, but former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher has remained a formidable political force while her contemporaries on the world scene have faded from view.
Japan Times
Events
Apr 2, 2002

Museum displays home articles of 'typical' family from Seoul

SUITA, Osaka Pref. -- South Korea may never have felt closer to Japan than it has this year. Not only are the two nations cohosting the World Cup later this year, but a three-day tour to Seoul nowadays costs less than 30,000 yen, and Korean food is popular across Japan.
COMMUNITY
Mar 30, 2002

Making music less than a job, more than a hobby

Donna Burke and Bill Benfield deserve to be sitting pretty. Just married (Dec. 28, in Australia), they live in a large apartment in Tokyo's Azabu-juban with three cats, and a flock of sparrows lined up on the balcony waiting to be fed every morning.
CULTURE / Art / NEW ART SEEN
Feb 14, 2002

Art appreciation as commodity fetishism

For the next three months, the Tokyo Opera City Gallery is devoting its large exhibition space to "JAM: Tokyo-London." Born of a cross-cultural happening in England in 1996, this second installment of JAM focuses on art, fashion and music. Premiered at the Barbican Gallery in London last summer and now...

Longform

A man offers prayers at Hebikubo Shrine in Tokyo's Shinagawa Ward. The shrine is one of several across the country dedicated to the snake.
Shed your skin and reinvent yourself in the Year of the Snake