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JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Mar 28, 2004

Freedom is flagging in Japan's public-school system

Few people are probably aware that the national flags of many countries are not, strictly speaking, national flags. There is no law, for example, that designates the Union Jack as the national flag of the U.K. In most countries, the national flag and national anthem are defined, as such, by custom rather...
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Mar 28, 2004

Fuji TV's "New New York Love Story" and more

The government is talking about reforming the ailing pension system and cutting benefits. A retired salaryman with a wife who is a full-time homemaker receives on average 230,000 yen a month as social security. Obviously, it is difficult to live on that amount of money without other forms of income....
COMMUNITY
Mar 27, 2004

Ability to get up and go anywhere is true power

In India, he went to Darjeeling for one reason only: to drink tea.
JAPAN
Mar 27, 2004

Experts mull extent of bird flu infection among crows

The infection of eight crows in Kyoto and Osaka prefectures with avian flu has raised concerns that wild birds that get near people may become potential vehicles for the virus.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Mar 27, 2004

Meet the 'Brunei millionaire' -- and run!

So you thought you'd take a trip to Southeast Asia to get away from the pressures of modern life, including the spam that clogs your e-mail daily, especially those Nigerian scams that ask you to give your bank account information. As if you'd be so daft. So you plan a short trip to an exotic locale,...
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / PERSONALITY PROFILE
Mar 27, 2004

Angela B. Infante

After the end of World War II, Japanese people were in need. With the basic necessities of food, clothing and housing in short supply, and daily amenities almost unobtainable, the people suffered. Some concerned non-Japanese women living in Tokyo came together to provide help. They resurrected a prewar...
BASEBALL / MLB
Mar 26, 2004

Hanshin Tigers translator Sasaki thinking big

Players from overseas have established a solid presence in Japan, playing an indispensable role in Japanese baseball over the years.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Mar 26, 2004

Town of grisly times past

As the unfortunate home to one-tenth of the world's active volcanoes, Japan lacks no variety in these ill-tempered peaks.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Mar 26, 2004

Justice system a vehicle for order -- or revenge?

Nearly five years after four teenagers murdered his son, 53-year-old Mitsuo Sudo has gone public about his grief, and his beef with the criminal justice system.
JAPAN
Mar 26, 2004

Magazine publisher defends article on Tanaka's daughter

Tokyo-based publisher Bungeishunju Ltd. said Thursday its controversial article about former Foreign Minister Makiko Tanaka's daughter contributed to the public good.
BASKETBALL / NBA / NBA REPORT
Mar 25, 2004

Grizzlies defying expectations

NEW YORK -- Let's have a big round of applause for Hubie Brown, whose Grizzlies are an astounding 43-26. Other than team president Jerry West, who unflinchingly branded his team "dangerous" to me prior to the exhibition season, I imagine no one else figured Memphis, which began last season 0-8 under...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Mar 24, 2004

He loves me, he loves me not

Hana to Alice Rating: * * 1/2 (out of 5) Director: Shunji Iwai Running time: 135 minutes Language: Japanese Currently showing [See Japan Times movie listings] "Shunji Iwai has a shojo manga (girls' comic) sensibility," producer Takenori Sento once explained to me.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Mar 23, 2004

Surgeon gets suspended term for coverup

The Tokyo District Court sentenced a heart surgeon Monday to a suspended one-year prison term for destroying evidence related to the malpractice death of a 12-year-old girl in 2001.
COMMENTARY
Mar 22, 2004

Put global war on terror back on track

NEW DELHI -- One year after the invasion of Iraq, the U.S.-led global war on terror stands derailed, even as the scourge of terrorism has spread to more nations. The U.S. occupation of Iraq has proved divisive in international relations, splitting the world and fracturing the post-9/11 global consensus...
Features
Mar 21, 2004

The memory and spirit live on

The memory of John Manjiro lives on in many ways in many places. Symbolizing his life and historical significance, there is a statue of him looking out over the Pacific, octant in hand, at Cape Ashizuri in Tosa Shimizu, Kochi Prefecture, Shikoku, near his Nakanohama birthplace.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Mar 21, 2004

Of Montreal: "Satanic Panic in the Attic"

Many bands belonged to the now defunct Elephant 6 indie collective, but Of Montreal was definitely the most interesting. Leader Kevin Barnes is one of those snotty kid geniuses who releases everything that pops into his head, and while much of it is tripe, the good stuff is so good that the inconsistency...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Mar 21, 2004

Paradise to asylum, the city for storytellers

SHANGHAI STATION, by Bartle Bull. New York: Carroll & Graf Publishers, 2004, 340 pp., $26 (cloth). A full listing of novels and short stories set in the International Settlement of Shanghai between the first and second world wars, and then again up to China's 1949 revolution, would fill a book in itself....
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Mar 21, 2004

'Mister' is a god, but he's not immortal

Former Village Voice media critic Tom Carson once wrote an essay in which he blasted the style imperative subscribed to by American men's magazines. These publications had invested so heavily in a certain male image that they couldn't imagine anything else. "You want to strike terror in the hearts of...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Mar 21, 2004

Nothing lost in translation of mum music

It's important to say the band's name correctly: mum, which is always written without an initial capital letter, is pronounced "moom." The band itself is from Iceland, and the name has no meaning.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / NATURE TRAVEL
Mar 21, 2004

Little reason to gush about showy Sun King's fountains and gardens

King Louis XIV's finance superintendent, Nicholas Fouquet, decided to build himself a cha^teau on a grand scale. No expense was spared. The finest architects of the day were summoned and put to work. Landscape designers, too. And when the Cha^teau Vaux-le-Vicomte was finally complete, well, it was only...
COMMENTARY
Mar 19, 2004

Phantom fears of inflation

LONDON -- Could inflation return as the curse of global economic progress? After years of relative price stability -- and in some countries, such as Japan, price decline and deflation -- could the old threat rise, like Dracula, from the grave where most people assumed it was safely interred, and drain...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Mar 19, 2004

Tanaka's daughter seeks fines for publisher

The daughter of Diet lawmaker Makiko Tanaka has sought a court order forcing a publisher to pay fines of 30 million yen for every day that a weekly magazine featuring an article about her private life remains on store shelves, it was learned Thursday.
EDITORIALS
Mar 19, 2004

A victory for terrorists in Spain

Terrorists won an important victory last week in Spain. A series of bombs exploded in trains and rail stations in Madrid, killing some 200 people and injuring nearly 1,500 others. Al-Qaeda has taken credit for the savage attacks, saying Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar's support for the war against terror...
JAPAN
Mar 18, 2004

Japan detainee meets family in China

A Japanese man detained in China for allegedly engaging in smuggling people by helping them flee from North Korea has met members of his family, the Foreign Ministry said Wednesday.
JAPAN
Mar 18, 2004

Terror-at-sea bill wins approval

A House of Representatives committee unanimously approved a bill Wednesday to tighten measures aimed at countering terrorist attacks on ships and ports.
JAPAN
Mar 18, 2004

Obituary: Cid Corman

Cid Corman, an American poet, editor and translator who lived in Japan for nearly 40 years, has died after suffering a heart attack, his coeditor said Wednesday. He was 79.
LIFE / Lifestyle / MATTER OF COURSE
Mar 18, 2004

Wartime stories of schoolkids on the move

I recently stumbled across a war story I knew nothing about. I was at the library looking for books to keep my older son reading in Japanese, now that he no longer attends Japanese school. Since he had just made a trip to Hiroshima with his international school, I chose books about Japanese children's...
SPORTS / SPORTS SCOPE
Mar 18, 2004

Professional bowling coming to an alley near you

When first approached to interview Steve Miller, President and CEO of the Pro Bowling Association Tour (PBA), I was reluctant to put it politely. Bowling for me was always something of a last resort if a date was going badly, a sport in which my average closely resembled what it takes me to get around...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Mar 17, 2004

Three's a (talented) crowd

The Kabukiza in Ginza celebrates the arrival of spring with two excellent programs this month, including a striking dance number titled "Dattan" inspired by the fiery Buddhist rite of the same name held every March at Todaiji Temple in Nara.

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