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COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
Dec 23, 2003

Train trips, veggies and stitch-ups

Moonsky star trip Further to last week's information on where to buy tickets for the Trans-Siberian railway, Colette in Yokohama describes the trip she took in 1993 as, "one of the most amazing experiences of my life." She organized her journey through Moonsky Star, a travel agent based in Beijing that...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Dec 21, 2003

'Zaito' to be cut 12.5% in fiscal 2004

The Finance Ministry proposed Saturday a 12.5 percent cut in spending under the Fiscal Investment and Loan Program for fiscal 2004, which would be the fifth consecutive year-on-year reduction.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Dec 20, 2003

All I want for Christmas is Mori Living

How's your life space these days? Do you have the correct balance of relax space, social space and, say, foot space? In Japan, space is a topic of constant discussion. Hair salons are called "hair space" and companies tout products for "your enjoy living space."
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / PERSONALITY PROFILE
Dec 20, 2003

Colin Brown

Colin Brown says he is a lifelong rail fan. He has a strong personal interest additionally in "trams," the English term he uses for streetcars. His twin passions have brought him twice a year for the last six years to Japan. He praises especially "the discipline, smartness, courtesy and dedication of...
BUSINESS
Dec 20, 2003

Delay investment trust sales by Japan Post, Aso suggests

Posts minister Taro Aso said Friday his ministry should not submit a bill for allowing Japan Post to sell investment trusts before the government compiles a final report on the entity's privatization next fall.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Dec 18, 2003

As seas rise, Tuvalu calls for emission cuts

Tuvalu Prime Minister Saufatu Sopoanga urged industrialized nations Wednesday to cut greenhouse-gas emissions as soon as possible by shifting to renewable energy sources, fearing his island nation will sink if global warming continues.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Dec 16, 2003

'Shut-ins' turn backs on Japan

To look at 29-year-old Kenji Tanaka laughing and drinking with his friends, it's hard to believe that he spent the best part of his twenties cut off from almost all human contact.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / VIEWS FROM THE STREET
Dec 16, 2003

Are hikikomori (shut-ins) part of a troubling social trend or harmless misfits?

Steve Van der Westeisen 25
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Dec 14, 2003

Not letting the facts get in the way of a good 'documentary'

In the tributes to the Japanese diplomats who were killed two weeks ago, few people mentioned what they were actually doing in Iraq. Katsuhiko Oku was, among other things, encouraging Iraqis to watch NHK's popular drama series, "Oshin," which is being broadcast on Iraqi TV. The show, originally aired...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Dec 14, 2003

Bento pioneers stay the course of time

As the hub of the Gokaido, the five roads radiating from old Edo to major centers around the country, the Nihonbashi district of the capital was long one of its most bustling areas.
COMMENTARY
Dec 14, 2003

Getting Asia's youth behind their party

MANILA -- As elections approach, politicians remember the importance of being on good terms with the youth. Young people are easily motivated and are inexpensive workers in political campaigns. The young generation also constitutes a sizable electoral constituency.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / PERSONALITY PROFILE
Dec 13, 2003

Timothy Minton

"While some professional British vocal groups have long-established reputations in Japan, my wife and I felt that few Japanese fans realized how those groups actually came into being, nor how their great expertise was acquired. The collegiate and cathedral choirs are at the root of the English choral...
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Dec 12, 2003

'Land of Fire' with history burning in its mokkosu heart

Few things puff up local pride like a local hero. Sendai dotes on its "One-Eyed Dragon," warrior Date Masamune. Kagoshima loves its plump 19th-century rebel Saigo Takamori. And Kumamoto adores its old daimyo lord Kato Kiyomasa.
LIFE / Digital / NAME OF THE GAME
Dec 11, 2003

Mortality vs. morality

James Cash is the death row inmate and protagonist of "Manhunt" -- an ultra-violent new game for PlayStation2 from Rockstar Games -- and is given a new lease of life when his lethal injection turns out to be a sedative.
JAPAN
Dec 11, 2003

Panel eyes transplants for children

The Liberal Democratic Party plans to introduce a bill next year that would allow people under the age of 15 who have been diagnosed as brain-dead to be organ donors for transplants.
JAPAN
Dec 10, 2003

Killer's death sentence commuted

The Tokyo High Court on Tuesday acknowledged that a 56-year-old man who killed a woman and seriously injured three members of her family when he torched their house was insane at the time and thus commuted his death sentence to a life term.
JAPAN
Dec 10, 2003

Ruling on quake insurance overturned

The Supreme Court on Tuesday overturned a lower court ruling that ordered seven nonlife insurance companies and an insurance group to pay damages to people whose homes were damaged in a fire caused by the 1995 Great Hanshin Earthquake in Kobe and its vicinity.
JAPAN
Dec 10, 2003

Opposition leaders refuse to 'understand'

Opposition leaders remained opposed Tuesday to the government's plans to send Self-Defense Forces troops to Iraq, rebuffing Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's request for their understanding on the matter.
JAPAN
Dec 10, 2003

Iraq gives SDF a military-reality check

An Air Self-Defense Force officer in his 40s says he is happy to be chosen as a candidate for the planned mission to help rebuild Iraq.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art / CERAMIC SCENE
Dec 10, 2003

Desperately seeking Kyusetsu

In the world of tea, certain inherited potters' names stand out as shining stars and their works are seen almost as brand-name goods. Just as shoppers hanker for a Gucci bag, a tea devotee covets certain chawan (tea bowls), say, from the Kaneshige kiln in Bizen. Possessing one of these is a status symbol,...
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / A GAIJIN'S TALE
Dec 9, 2003

Gentlewoman

One of the more interesting things about Japan is the rather unusual dynamic between men and women.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Dec 7, 2003

Thousands pay respects to diplomats slain in Iraq

Some 3,500 people paid their last respects at the funerals Saturday of two Japanese diplomats killed in an ambush in Iraq, with many sobbing as friends and colleagues of the two men offered eulogies.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Dec 7, 2003

Traditions of fiction that can liberate and stifle

VIRTUAL LOTUS: Modern Fiction of Southeast Asia, edited by Teri Schaffer Yamada. Ann Arbor: The University of Michigan Press, 2002, 332 pp., $29.95 (paper). Though novels are not unknown in Southeast Asia, it is the short-story form that has been chosen here to represent the area. Neither novels nor...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Dec 7, 2003

Celebrating art far from home

"This stuff saved my life," says Amelia Toledo, one of Brazil's best-known artists. She pulls out of her handbag a tiny bottle of flower essence. "You just drop it on your tongue and it makes you feel better."
Events
Dec 7, 2003

KANSAI Who & What

Osaka district lights up its streets for Christmas: The Nakanoshima district of Osaka's Kita Ward is being illuminated every evening until Dec. 27 as the city celebrates Christmas.
JAPAN
Dec 6, 2003

Death penalty upheld for Hayashi

The Tokyo High Court on Friday upheld the death penalty for senior Aum Shinrikyo member Yasuo Hayashi for his roles in two fatal sarin attacks and an attempt to spread cyanide gas at JR Shinjuku Station.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / PERSONALITY PROFILE
Dec 6, 2003

Yoko Wakabayashi

Last month, Shinjuku Gardens staged its annual chrysanthemum show. Last spring, it maintained its reputation as one of the best Tokyo places for cherry blossoms. Year round, people enjoy the extensive lawns, giant trees and scenic lakes of these public gardens, which have replaced what used to be the...
COMMENTARY
Dec 6, 2003

Chen plays a dangerous game

HONOLULU -- Is President Chen Shui-bian trying to provoke a crisis with China in the runup to Taiwan's March 2004 presidential elections?

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