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Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / PERSONALITY PROFILE
Nov 1, 2003

Gerri Sorrells

Born in Tokyo, Gerri Sorrells is credited with being an original "bi-lin gal" who used two languages in her first work for NHK TV. At the time she was still an undergraduate student in the International Division of Sophia University, Tokyo. Undertaking outside professional work while she was studying...
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 30, 2003

Style trumps substance in Bangkok

BANGKOK -- The appearance of the 21 leaders of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation forum in their handmade shiny silk shirts said a lot about this year's summit in Bangkok -- style over substance.
EDITORIALS
Oct 29, 2003

APEC makes the grade

The 10th annual Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) leaders summit has come and gone, leaving the usual questions in its wake. Perennial doubts about the forum's relevance have been highlighted following the collapse of the last round of world trade negotiations. APEC members acknowledged this year's...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Oct 29, 2003

An artist in a land of ice and snow

Jorg Schmeisser traveled to Antarctica on the icebreaker Aurora Australis in 1998. The result was a series of works -- etchings, drawings and paintings -- that became "Breaking the Ice," a major exhibition showing in Kyoto and scheduled for Tokyo and Yokohama, that explores the majesty and uncanny beauty...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Oct 18, 2003

Doi down on two-party system

Rarely a day goes by without a newspaper article focusing on whether the Nov. 9 general election will usher in an era of two dominant political parties.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Oct 12, 2003

Telling 'The Tale of Genji' through its forgotten poetry

A STRING OF FLOWERS, UNTIED: Love Poems from The Tale of Genji, by Murasaki Shikibu, translated by Jane Reichhold and Hatsue Kawamura. Berkeley: Stone Bridge Press, 2003, 238 pp., $18.95 (paper). Threaded throughout the 1000-page length of the "Genji Monogatari" (The Tale of Genji) are some 800 poems....
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Oct 5, 2003

Lone wolf, center-stage

The plays of Chikamatsu Monzaemon (1653-1724), who is often called Japan's Shakespeare, are a staple of the kabuki world and countless productions of his work have been staged over the centuries. However, actor Rintaro Haryu is determined to make his interpretation of Chikamatsu a unique one.
JAPAN
Sep 25, 2003

Ex-night school teacher still learns from students

For Yoshikazu Kenjo, those who attended his junior high evening classes were not only his students but also his teachers.
COMMENTARY
Sep 20, 2003

Liberal ideals gain ground in the Asia-Pacific region

MANILA -- In past decades, liberal democracy and economic freedom have made great advances in all parts of the world. This general trend also applies to Asia, as is documented in the annual "Freedom in the World" surveys published by the Washington-based Heritage Foundation and the "Economic Freedom...
LIFE / Language / KANJI CLINIC
Sep 18, 2003

A trove of kanji-learning treasure in cyberspace

Vacation is over and kanji learners at schools around the planet are once again cracking the books. Increasingly, they and their teachers -- as well as self-directed English-speaking kanji learners of all ages -- are supplementing paper-based publications with online learning resources. Today, Kanji...
JAPAN
Sep 14, 2003

LDP candidates all favor revisions to Constitution

The four candidates for the presidency of the governing Liberal Democratic Party each appeared positive Saturday about the possibility of revising the war-renouncing Article 9 of Japan's Constitution.
BUSINESS
Sep 3, 2003

Japan will fight lower tariffs at WTO talks

Japan will oppose a proposal to cut tariffs and expand import quotas at global trade talks next week, agriculture minister Yoshiyuki Kamei said Tuesday.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art / NEW ART SEEN
Aug 13, 2003

'Girl! Girl! Girl!' just wants to have fun

I've been looking forward to the new show at the Tokyo Opera City Art Gallery. Trying not to sound sexist here, there was more than a little appeal in the show's title: "Girl! Girl! Girl!" I guess I'm just a regular guy, sweltering through summer, looking for some easy distraction. A Steve McQueen film...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Aug 10, 2003

Pulling away the curtains from the 'Princes of the Yen'

PRINCES OF YEN: Central Bankers and the Transformation of the Economy, by Richard A. Werner. London: M.E. Sharpe, 2003, 362 pp., $27.95, (paper). Richard A. Werner has written a rare book. "The Princes of the Yen" is a scholarly, thoroughly researched treatise on economics that reads like a detective...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / CLOSE-UP
Aug 3, 2003

Activist draws on his talents to expose U.S. militarism

American sociologist and antiwar activist Joel Andreas, 46, is the author of "Addicted to War: Why the U.S. Can't Kick Militarism."
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 1, 2003

Too rich, too complex to be run by slaves

HONG KONG -- China's new premier, Wen Jiabao, on his first visit to Hong Kong in his new job gave a resounding speech, declaring that local people were in charge of their own destiny. The question now is whether he meant it and whether the leaders in Beijing are prepared to trust the maturity of Hong...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Jul 27, 2003

The art of redemption

YOSHIMASA AND THE SILVER PAVILION: The Creation of the Soul of Japan, by Donald Keene. New York: Columbia University Press, 2003, 10 illustrations, 224 pp., $29.95 (paper). In the appropriate volume of his monumental history of Japanese literature, Donald Keene only once mentions the eighth Ashikaga...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Jul 27, 2003

A laconic energy from days gone by

TALES OF DAYS GONE BY: Woodcuts by Naoko Matsubara, English translation and annotation by Charles De Wolf, design by Yoshiki Waterhouse. ALIS, 2003, 64 pp., 3,900 yen (cloth). ALIS (Arts & Literature International Service) is a small Japanese publisher that specializes in illustrated books and acts as...
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
Jul 22, 2003

Make space, shock value and J-culture

Family line Karen writes in response to Linda Croissant's question in Lifelines (June 10) about how to get rid of stuff she doesn't want.
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM MOSCOW
Jul 20, 2003

'Potter': the order of parents

MOSCOW -- It is normal for a parent to distrust the things kids like. Having heard enthusiastic reports about some new product, be it a toy, computer game or movie, an average parent issues a suspicious grunt, thinking that it is probably overpriced, stupid and aggressive, and that the kid will never...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Jul 20, 2003

Taking readers to the edge

RUNNERS IN THE MARGINS: Poems by Akira Tatehata, translated by Hiroaki Sato. Vermont: P.S A Press, 2003, 103 pp., $12.95 (paper) The poet Akira Tatehata has a wide-ranging imagination as rich, and yet as controlled, as the brush of the most delicate artist. His poems are sometimes playful, sometimes...
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jul 16, 2003

Trendy avatars give Net users new way to impress -- and spend

"Avatar" has become the latest buzz word in the Net world, with major providers and portals launching new Web sites in their search for fresh revenue sources.
COMMENTARY
Jul 2, 2003

Drive for European unity gets a boost from Iraq war

PARIS -- Two months ago, the European Union seemed bound to be one of the major casualties of the trans-Atlantic rift generated by the Iraqi war. Now, however, the climate is improving.
BUSINESS
Jun 26, 2003

GET BROADBAND (but ignore fine print)

You may have already tuned out the incessant commercials by broadband Internet service providers on TV, in magazines and on the Net, but the Fair Trade Commission is tuning them in.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Jun 25, 2003

An all-star cast -- but if only they'd let 'Hamlet' be

As the Beckham typhoon swept through Japan last week, so Japan's theater world was taken by storm by its biggest event of the year to date.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Jun 22, 2003

Mapping out Japan

MAPPING EARLY MODERN JAPAN: Space, Place, and Culture in the Tokugawa Period (1603-1868), by Marcia Yonemoto. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2003, 234 pp., 86 illustrations, $49.95, (cloth). It was at the beginning of the 17th century that Japanese scholars first began to articulate the notion...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Jun 22, 2003

Evil war crims had it cushy

From behind a wooden lectern in Princeton University's Department of East Asian Studies last month, 85-year-old Tokio Tobita, a Japanese World War II veteran and convicted war criminal who served 10 years in Sugamo Prison, surveyed the intently focused faces of scholars, artists, students, American war...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Jun 8, 2003

Taisho Sophisticates

TAISHO CHIC: Japanese Modernity, Nostalgia, and Deco, text by various contributors. Honolulu Academy of Arts, 2002, 176 pp., 7,390 yen (cloth). There are certain historical periods that resonate with a style and sophistication that is inimitable. They last for only a short, intense few years. The Restoration...
JAPAN
Jun 7, 2003

Official denies fiddling with text of Koizumi-Bush talks

Deputy Foreign Minister Hitoshi Tanaka denied Friday that he attempted to delete the word "pressure" from documents prepared to brief reporters on the outcome of last month's Texas summit between Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi and U.S. President George W. Bush.
JAPAN
Jun 7, 2003

Official denies fiddling with text of Koizumi-Bush talks

Deputy Foreign Minister Hitoshi Tanaka denied Friday that he attempted to delete the word "pressure" from documents prepared to brief reporters on the outcome of last month's Texas summit between Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi and U.S. President George W. Bush.

Longform

Construction takes place on the Takanawa Gateway Convention Center in Tokyo, slated to open in 2025.
A boom for business tourism in Japan?