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CULTURE / Stage
Feb 16, 2005

Tale of the spy who loved Brandt

"Democracy" is an iconic buzzword of our times. What Webster's dictionary defines as "government in which the people hold the ruling power either directly or through elected representatives" is routinely held out, particularly by the current leader of the world's foremost military-industrial complex,...
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Feb 15, 2005

Compromised NHK needs closer scrutiny

As someone who toiled for several years inside NHK during the early 1990s, it is bemusing to see the simplistic criticism of the quasi-official broadcaster by the Japanese media.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Feb 13, 2005

A brass band perfect for any occasion

One of the enduring images of New Orleans is the jazz funeral, a long procession of mourners walking toward the cemetery with a full-piece brass band playing along behind. On their most recent release, "Funeral for a Friend," the Dirty Dozen Brass Band re-creates this jazz funeral with gusto. Perhaps...
MORE SPORTS
Feb 11, 2005

Kitajima says that despite the fame, he is still the same

It has been nearly six months now since he shot to stardom at the Athens Olympics, but swimmer Kosuke Kitajima says that, in spite of all that has transpired since, fame has not altered his personality, though it has changed his life.
BUSINESS
Feb 11, 2005

FamilyMart to introduce 'konbini' to Americans

When FamilyMart Co. opens a store in Hollywood, Calif., in July, the first Japanese convenience store in the U.S. might not be perceived as such by locals.
EDITORIALS
Feb 11, 2005

Middle East truce opens a door

How many times has the world observed an Israeli-Palestinian handshake and breathed a sigh of relief that hostilities in that sliver of the Middle East finally appeared to be ending? The answer, of course, is far too often for the latest declaration of peace to promise much. Camp David, the Rose Garden,...
BUSINESS
Feb 10, 2005

Japan Telecom agents lying to woo clients, ministry told

Thousands of consumers are complaining that sales agents for Japan Telecom Co. are lying to them in order to get contracts for the company's new fixed-line phone service, sources said Wednesday.
MORE SPORTS
Feb 7, 2005

Sharapova takes Pan Pacific Open

Wimbledon champion Maria Sharapova claimed the Toray Pan Pacific Open on Sunday by defeating top-ranked Lindsay Davenport in a third-set tiebreaker.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 7, 2005

Beijing's military buildup races ahead

HONOLULU -- China is modernizing its military forces faster than anyone expected only a few years ago, escalating the potential danger to the island of Taiwan, to American forces and bases in Asia, and to the overall balance of power in the region.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Feb 7, 2005

Japan must end silence on structural problems to escape stagnation, economist says

Japan's economy is trapped in a vicious circle caused by excessive corporate domestic investment and debt that leaves exports as its only option for avoiding another, more serious, recession, a British economist told a recent seminar in Tokyo.
EDITORIALS
Feb 6, 2005

Prohibition in Bhutan

The news out of the Himalayas last week was all about Nepal, where King Gyanendra on Tuesday dissolved the government and proclaimed a state of emergency. (The move was billed as an attempt to end an intractable Maoist insurgency; observers predict it will only feed the flames.) But if you think Nepal...
COMMENTARY
Feb 6, 2005

Boundary that won't stretch

LONDON -- Recent ceremonies at Auschwitz to mark the 60th anniversary of the liberation by Russian forces of Nazi Germany's main death camp have rightly made us think about man's inhumanity to man and ponder how such horrific acts could have taken place. The Nazi attempt to exterminate the Jewish race...
Japan Times
Features
Feb 6, 2005

Calls for change as WHS status threatens one of Japan's gems

The breathtaking mountain landscape of the Kii Peninsula, and its ancient temples, monasteries and shrines have captivated the Japanese people for more than 1,000 years.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Feb 6, 2005

Tokyo as fragmented as its observers

KUHAKU & OTHER ACCOUNTS FROM JAPAN, by various artists, edited by Bruce Rutledge. Chin Music Press, 2004, 224 pp., 3,500 yen (cloth). TOKYO FRAGMENTS, by Ryuji Morita, Tomomi Muramatsu, Mariko Hayashi, Makoto Shiina, Chiya Fujino; translated by Giles Murray. IBC Publishing, 2004, 206 pp., 2,100 yen (cloth). "To...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Feb 5, 2005

National Children's Centers cater to body, spirit

In July 2000, after 15 years heading the International Section of the Children's Castle, Teri Suzanne left the play and educational center in Aoyama, Tokyo, and became a freelance bilingual specialist. Two years later she was employed as program adviser to the 14 National Children's Centers of Japan's...
EDITORIALS
Feb 4, 2005

Lifestyle geared to saving energy

The energy-wasting industrialized world had a rude awakening in the 1970s when oil prices zoomed into the stratosphere. Japan was no exception. The oil crisis spread a sense of energy dependence nationwide, setting off a spate of conservation measures. In recent years, though, Japanese consumers seem...
MORE SPORTS
Feb 3, 2005

Sharapova, Kuznetsova on cruise control

Wimbledon champion Maria Sharapova proved once again why all that glamour isn't just sugarcoating.
COMMUNITY
Feb 3, 2005

A common thyroid disease that's easily overlooked

Of late, do you find yourself becoming very tired or sleepy without any particular reason? Do you feel that you cannot concentrate on your studies or work as well as before? If so, you should have your levels of thyroid hormone checked.
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Feb 2, 2005

1995: A tumultuous year for Japan, a great one for baseball

Ten years have passed since one of the most unforgettable times in Japan's history.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Feb 2, 2005

Miracles of the moment in Saburo Teshigawara's dance

Dancer, choreographer and artist Saburo Teshigawara works in a time zone of his own. In the 24 years since he came on the dance scene, Teshigawara has transformed the definition of movement. His work with his group Karas and major international companies, including the Frankfurt Ballet and the Opera...
MORE SPORTS
Feb 1, 2005

Weary Davenport ready to do her thing

Coming off a tough loss to Serena Williams in the Australian Open final on the weekend, Lindsay Davenport faces a tough task applying her weary body to this week's Pan Pacific Open tennis tournament in Tokyo.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Feb 1, 2005

'I want to make Japan a better place to live'

Chong Hyang Gyun has just written herself into the history books, but not for the reason she wanted.
COMMENTARY
Jan 31, 2005

Zhao Ziyang: the death of a nonperson

HONG KONG -- While it seems unlikely that the death of China's former leader Zhao Ziyang will provoke mass unrest, the way in which it is being handled indicates the profound official insecurity still aroused by the mass unrest in 1989.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Jan 30, 2005

Japanese hero pointedly ignored

It's said that the virtue most valued in Japan is loyalty, which is why the famous heroes of Japanese literature and history are people who made sacrifices for their lords rather than their beliefs. And often, as in the case of the 47 ronin celebrated in Chushingura or the tokkotai (kamikaze) pilots...
Japan Times
Features
Jan 30, 2005

'Secret' writer joins Diet drama

There are lawyers-turned-politicians. There are bureaucrats-turned-politicians. There are professors-turned-politicians . . . sports players-turned-politicians . . . actors-turned-politicians . . . and so on.
COMMENTARY
Jan 29, 2005

China's global impact grows

LONDON -- Suddenly China has become the No. 1 topic on the agenda of every Western policy forum and think tank. That the focus should be so sudden is in a way surprising.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Jan 29, 2005

To do or not to do -- that is the decision

Westerners often find it takes Japanese a long time to make decisions. I believe the training for decision-making starts at an early age, when Japanese children are conditioned to be shy.

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