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COMMENTARY / World
May 19, 2003

North Korea tops Koizumi's U.S. agenda

HONOLULU -- When Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi meets with U.S. President George W. Bush at the president's ranch in Texas this week, he will be speaking for a Japan that feels more threatened, this time by North Korea, than at any time since World War II.
JAPAN
Apr 27, 2003

Koizumi to discuss Iraq, North Korea in Europe

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi left Japan on Saturday for Britain, the first leg of an eight-day European tour, to discuss postwar Iraq and the situation in North Korea with British Prime Minister Tony Blair.
Events
Apr 20, 2003

KANSAI: Who & What

Spring herb festival under way in Kobe: A spring herb festival is being held at Nunobiki Herb Park in Kobe's Chuo Ward until May 25.
JAPAN
Apr 18, 2003

Pyongyang urged to heed human rights resolution

Japan on Thursday urged North Korea to take seriously a resolution issued by the U.N. Human Rights Commission that criticizes the North's human rights abuses.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Apr 13, 2003

Black where they belong

Rewind to September 1986. Yasuhiro Nakasone, prime minister of a self-assured, economically powerful Japan, was taking swipes at American minorities -- especially African-Americans.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Apr 13, 2003

Who copped my hip-hop?

On a visit to Tokyo's trendy Shibuya Ward several years ago, I came across a Japanese teenager dressed from head to toe in baggy hip-hop wear, one of the first "B-Boys" I'd ever seen here. Still relatively new to Japan, I was curious about whether this young man represented some growing awareness of...
JAPAN
Apr 10, 2003

School texts cite 9/11, toe line on SDF

The Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in the United States and subsequent war in Afghanistan are included in most high school textbooks that survived the latest round of screening by the education ministry.
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Mar 23, 2003

Women on top

Shows about and for women will highlight the second week of Japan's pre-spring TV specials. Fuji TV will present the eighth in its occasional series of talk shows, "Ganbare! Onna Bakari no Jinsei Tatenaoshi Hitori Mi, Issho Kenmei Special" (Monday, 7 p.m.), in which a dozen or so single female celebrities...
JAPAN
Mar 20, 2003

Higuchi will run for governor of Tokyo

Seventy-year-old university professor and social critic Keiko Higuchi announced Wednesday that she will run in the April 13 Tokyo gubernatorial election.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES
Mar 19, 2003

Kenny Brown: "Stingray"

Some blues come smooth-planed and varnished. Other blues leave splinters. Kenny Brown's "Stingray" is the latter. Accompanied only by bass and drums, Brown eschews all slickness and gets to the core of hardworking blues.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Mar 19, 2003

War fears put water forum in jeopardy

KYOTO -- The remainder of the 3rd World Water Forum, which is scheduled to end Sunday, was thrown into confusion Tuesday by fears that a U.S.-led war on Iraq is imminent.
BUSINESS
Mar 18, 2003

Iraq question said hurting U.S. auto market

The U.S. automotive industry will remain weak until the uncertainty surrounding the possible war in Iraq is clarified, General Motors Corp. Chairman John Smith Jr. said Monday in Tokyo.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Mar 18, 2003

Water privatization not the answer: American activist

Patrick McCully had a revelation in India more than a decade ago. The campaign director of International Rivers Network witnessed indigenous people in Gujarat state, India, risking their lives to protest construction of a dam on the Narmada River. All were eventually arrested, but government officials...
JAPAN
Mar 16, 2003

Water activists gather ahead of Kansai forum

KYOTO -- Representatives of citizen's groups in Japan and abroad gathered here Saturday to raise awareness of worldwide water issues before the start of the Third World Water Forum, which begins Sunday at three venues in Kansai.
Events
Mar 9, 2003

KANSAI: Who & What

Giant Buddhas shown for three days only: The Guide Interpreters Volunteer Club is organizing three one-day tours for English-speaking foreigners from March 14 through March 16 to observe huge pictures of Buddha displayed at two temples in Kyoto.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Mar 2, 2003

In pursuit of 'reality,' TV sinks to new depths

Last week, a judge ruled in favor of NHK in the public broadcaster's libel suit against Kodansha. The publisher's monthly magazine Gendai ran an article in Oct. 2000 that said NHK persuaded fishermen in Indonesia to re-create a method for catching fish involving explosives for a news report. The court...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / VINELAND
Feb 28, 2003

Never too late for resolutions

The study and enjoyment of wine can be a lifelong passion: Insight gained now can bring pleasure for years to come. We are often asked what we would recommend to people looking to expand their wine knowledge and over the years we've gathered a list of suggestions. Though spring is coming, it's not too...
JAPAN
Feb 28, 2003

Zoo animal care rules get first update in 27 years

The Environment Ministry plans to update guidelines for how zoos and aquariums should care for animals for the first time in 27 years.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Feb 23, 2003

Neglected poet gets his due

JUST LIVING: Poems and Prose of the Japanese Monk Tonna, edited and translated by Steven D. Carter. New York: Columbia University Press, 2003, 243 pp., $49.50 (cloth); $18.50 (paper) Tonna (a pen name often romanized as Ton'a) was a poet and lay-monk who lived from 1289 to 1372. Born as Nikaido Sadamune...
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 27, 2003

China leaves India in the dust

NEW DELHI -- While I was in India recently, the first phase of an underground railway was inaugurated in New Delhi. At about the same time, in Shanghai, the world's first magnetic levitation train was inaugurated between the airport and the city. This is a fitting metaphor for the two countries. China...
BUSINESS
Jan 24, 2003

Environmentally Friendly Vehicle confab kicks off

The first International Meeting on Environmentally Friendly Vehicles opened Thursday in Tokyo as part of global efforts to develop greener vehicles and fight air pollution and global warming.
EDITORIALS
Jan 22, 2003

Sumo needs a clear vision

Yokozuna Takanohana has finally bowed out of the dohyo. Looking back over his active career, he certainly made spectacular achievements. There can be no objections to his being described as one of the all-time great grand champions of sumo.
JAPAN
Jan 22, 2003

Obituary: Ken Yasuhara

Ken Yasuhara, a noted editor and literary critic, died of lung cancer in Tokyo on Monday afternoon, his family said. He was 63.
BUSINESS
Jan 18, 2003

WTO meet in March should tackle investment rules: Japan

Japan wants the informal ministerial meeting of the World Trade Organization that it will host next month to address investment rules and other topics, in addition to the main issue of farm trade.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jan 7, 2003

Bacteria spreads across nation to create slimy, healthy treat

Across the country, from Hokkaido to Okinawa, bacteria brought back by a Japanese scholar from a remote village in the former Soviet Union have been multiplying like crazy.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jan 4, 2003

Stuttering reform drive prompts election whispers

Speculation is mounting that Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi will call a general election this year, as old guard politicians continue to hamper his reform drive and leave him appearing increasingly forlorn.
EDITORIALS
Dec 25, 2002

A bridge from science to life

The government's Biotechnology Strategy Council deEfines biotechnology as a pillar industry of the 21st century along with information technology. This perception, expressed in the council's "outline of bioEtechnology strategy" issued last week, should serve as an important guide for Japan. Such a national...
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Dec 18, 2002

Hot stove ponders fate of Rose, Matsui, Nakamura

This is the final "Baseball Bullet-In" for 2002, so let's take a look at, and make some comments about, topics on the hot stove of baseball news on both sides of the Pacific.

Longform

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