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COMMENTARY / World
Feb 28, 2002

Familiar faces fail to stir French voters

PARIS -- It could happen only in France. The president of the Republic is running for re-election as the opposition candidate while his main challenger is defending the government's record over the past five years.
SPORTS / SPORTS SCOPE
Feb 28, 2002

Japanese teams treat Guam to rugby spectacle

For many Japanese people, the island of Guam conjures up images of duty-free shopping, cheap golf courses and unequaled diving around the reefs that surround this Pacific island.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / GARDENS FOR ALL
Feb 28, 2002

Ferns: as mysterious as they are ancient

Ferns are very old plants that long predate the dinosaurs and were already abundant during the Carboniferous Period 350 million years ago, when many species grew in treelike form. Nowadays, they are perfect for bringing a natural feeling to gardens, and complementing trees and shrubs.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Feb 28, 2002

Workshops for mentally ill feel fenced in

A newspaper article that called attention to the May 1981 opening of the Aoi Mugi No Ie workshop for the mentally ill, mainly schizophrenics, in Kamakura, Kanagawa Prefecture, sparked a 15-year campaign by local residents to drive the facility away.
EDITORIALS
Feb 27, 2002

New IOC regime's shaky start

The new president of the International Olympic Committee, Mr. Jacques Rogge, no doubt spent some sleepless nights in his bed in the athletes' village at Salt Lake City. It was his first Olympics since taking over from Mr. Juan Antonio Samaranch, and Mr. Rogge had made an extraordinary decision to stay...
CULTURE / Stage
Feb 27, 2002

Learning not to mask their feelings

A good actor, according to director Louis Fantasia, knows how to kiss -- that is, how to K.I.S.S., an aphorism he borrowed from playwright David Mamet, meaning, "Keep it simple, stupid."
CULTURE / Art / NEW ART SEEN
Feb 27, 2002

Hanayo and Tenko: through a lens blurrily

Cocky, irreverant and devil-may-care, invariably to be found surrounded by admirers as he holds forth from behind a big fat cigar, the Neo-Pop painter Takashi Murakami has for the last few years been one of Japan's leading international art stars.
JAPAN
Feb 27, 2002

Free-lancers, Web 'media' under bill

A human rights bill being prepared to, in part, protect individuals from excessive media coverage will apply to freelance reporters working in all media -- including the Internet -- as well as reporters employed by news organizations, the government said Tuesday.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES
Feb 27, 2002

Janet Klein: 'Paradise Wobble'

Janet Klein was born in the wrong era. With her warm, lilting voice, flapper dresses and ukulele, she seems more suitable for the Roaring '20s than the world today. On "Paradise Wobble," she gives us a taste of the bygone era she pines for. Together with her Parlor Boys, a group of enthusiastic archival...
BUSINESS / ON MANAGEMENT
Feb 26, 2002

Avoiding strikeouts when you decide who to promote

When it comes to success rate, business shares at least one thing with baseball -- you tend to strike out a lot more than you get on base.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 25, 2002

Rarefied democracy of the Arab world

LONDON -- Bahrain produces little news of interest to the rest of the world, but now something remarkable has happened there. On Feb. 14, Emir Sheik Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa declared that Bahrain will henceforth be a democracy where he will reign only as a constitutional monarch. If he keeps his promise,...
JAPAN
Feb 25, 2002

Human rights bill bolsters press freedom

A human rights bill being prepared by the government aims to protect press freedom despite mounting public criticism about invasions of privacy and overzealous crime reporting by journalists, sources familiar with the bill have said.
JAPAN / WEEKEND WISDOM
Feb 24, 2002

Skeptical astrophysicist constructs 'green' home his own way

KYOTO -- For most people, tearing down a perfectly good house to build a new one may not seem all that environmentally friendly.
JAPAN
Feb 24, 2002

Crown Prince turns 42, vows to be 'active' father

Crown Prince Naruhito, who turned 42 on Saturday, said he was excited about becoming a father and promised to "be actively involved" in bringing up his daughter, Princess Aiko.
COMMENTARY
Feb 24, 2002

Dirty business taking a toll

LONDON -- The Enron affair has made it impossible to justify boasts about the effectiveness of corporate governance in the United States and the reliability of independent accountancy firms.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Feb 24, 2002

Dubya's campaign to bring tourists to America

During this past Christmas season, it became something of a joke in the United States when Americans were asked by their government to go shopping as a means of pursuing the War on Terrorism at home. The idea was that the Forces of Evil wanted nothing less than the destruction of Our Way of Life, so...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Feb 24, 2002

Moral absolutism on trial

ONE MAN'S JUSTICE, by Akira Yoshimura, translated by Mark Ealey. New York, San Diego and London: Harcourt, 2001, 276 pp., $23 (cloth) In every society, even the most apparently open-minded, there are times when some questions become taboo. In the United States right now, such questions include anything...
COMMUNITY
Feb 24, 2002

Overseas and under pressure

For people moving to a foreign country, the simplest daily activities can become a nightmare.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Feb 24, 2002

Images of a common brutality

HELL IN THE PACIFIC: From Pearl Harbor to Hiroshima and Beyond, by Jonathan Lewis and Ben Steele. London: Channel 4 Books, 2001, 288 pp. $30 (cloth) TALES BY JAPANESE SOLDIERS OF THE BURMA CAMPAIGN. Edited by Kazuo Tamayama and John Nunneley. London: Cassell, 2000, 252 pp., $24 (paper) If you've ever...
JAPAN
Feb 23, 2002

Globalization is both a bonus and curse, Nobelist Sen says

Although globalization has produced remarkable opportunities and improvements in the lives of people around the world, there are a number of others who have suffered increased insecurity, according to an Indian scholar who, in 1998, became the first Asian economist to win a Nobel Prize.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Feb 23, 2002

Martha Stewart does a Japanese house

Today I will give Martha Stewart a tour of my house.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / PERSONALITY PROFILE
Feb 23, 2002

Jaw-Shen and Yoshiko Tsai

The husband in this team is a research fellow at the NEC Fundamental Research Laboratories, Tsukuba. He is also head of the Riken Macroscopic Quantum Coherence Laboratory, Wako. He keeps the title of professor from his guest positions at institutes and universities, which include the University of Tokyo....
BUSINESS
Feb 23, 2002

Foreigners snap up stocks

Foreign investors turned net buyers of Japanese stocks for the first time in five weeks last week.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Feb 23, 2002

Beauty and brains behind company clear as glass

Company President Narumi Tanaka is alone Monday morning, holding the fort in her office in Tokyo's Shibuya Ward. Her staff -- three full-timers, one part-timer and her husband -- are out and about on what she calls "the client site." A good thing, we agree, because it means TRANSe Project is at full...
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER
Feb 22, 2002

Silver water beetle

* Japanese name: Gamushi * Scientific name: Hydrophilus acuminatus * Description: Adapted for aquatic life, water beetles have streamlined bodies and heads. Despite this, they are not powerful swimmers, having normal legs that are not flattened like oars for swimming. Most of their lives are spent...
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Feb 21, 2002

Chino cements image as ADB's best chief ever

MANILA It was the most important night of the year. As "Show 2001" got off to a start, the hall was packed to standing room only, and talented employees -- mostly Filipinos -- strutted their stuff in aid of local charities.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Feb 20, 2002

Master of life's joys and sorrows

Chikamatsu Monzaemon (1653-1724), Japan's foremost playwright, was born Sugimori Nobumori, the second son of a samurai of the feudal lord of Yoshie in Echizen (now Fukui Prefecture). Because he could not inherit his father's samurai status, Nobumori resolved to be a playwright, and took the pen name...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Feb 20, 2002

From 'kimono as canvas' to modest couture

What is so fascinating about royal dress? Clearly, in the case of Diana, Princess of Wales, her fame and glamour set the style for millions of people worldwide. But for countless centuries, the dress of the ruling classes has been about far more than just setting a trend: It has confirmed the high status...
JAPAN
Feb 20, 2002

Teens sentenced for fatal beating at train station

The Tokyo District Court handed down indeterminate sentences of three to five years Tuesday to two 19-year-old boys who fatally assaulted a banker on a train platform in Setagaya Ward in April.

Longform

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