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Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Jan 15, 2005

Student summit: food safety a growing concern

While his two brothers followed their father into local government service, Akimi Fujimoto took a different path. "My father had two working lives, as a government official and helping my mother farm our land in Niigata. There was no way I ever wanted a desk job."
SOCCER / PREMIER REPORT
Jan 14, 2005

Morientes fired up to join Liverpool

LONDON -- Last summer Liverpool sold Michael Owen to Real Madrid for £8 million, the England striker becoming the third choice behind Raul and Ronaldo at Bernabeu Stadium.
SOCCER / J. League
Jan 14, 2005

North Korea picks Ri, An

Sanfrecce Hiroshima midfielder Ri Han Jae and Albirex Niigata midfielder An Yong Hak have been named to the North Korean national team for the upcoming final-round World Cup qualifier against Japan, the two J. League teams said Wednesday.
EDITORIALS
Jan 14, 2005

Deserts of an in-house inventor

The dispute involving the inventor of the blue light-emitting diode (LED) and his former employer has ended in a mediated settlement in which the Tokyo High Court has confirmed the in-house inventor's right to a fair reward. The high court heard the case between Mr. Shuji Nakamura, the inventor and now...
SUMO
Jan 13, 2005

Kaio's hopes die with third loss

Tosanoumi upset Kaio at the New Year Grand Sumo Tournament on Wednesday, dashing any hope the ozeki wrestler had for promotion to sumo's highest rank.
EDITORIALS
Jan 13, 2005

Chance for peace in Sudan

The government of Sudan and southern rebels signed a peace agreement last weekend. The deal could end one of Africa's longest civil wars. While hopes are high, there are many reasons to be cautious. The history of this conflict is fraught with agreements that have been betrayed.
LIFE / Digital / NAME OF THE GAME
Jan 13, 2005

Adult fun and gore galore

Here's my dirty little secret: Despite my reputation as a hardcore moralist, truth be told I love the "Mortal Kombat" games. When it's late at night and the kids are in bed, I'll sometimes pull out whichever is the latest title in the series -- surely the bloodiest of the bloody fighting games -- and...
LIFE / Lifestyle / ON THE BOOK TRAIL
Jan 13, 2005

"The Time Wreccas," "Winnie's Magic Wand"

"The Time Wreccas," Val Tyler, Puffin Books; 2005; 338 pp. Children's fiction these days is so all-knowing, so cynical, even, that possibly only a first-time writer can bring back to it the naivete that it has all but lost. Perhaps Val Tyler, author of "The Time Wreccas" has not noticed how popular...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jan 12, 2005

Balancing act

Singer-songwriters are the half-breeds of pop music. Evolved from Bob Dylan's navel-gazing spawn, they lead hyphenated existences because each half of their calling is considered insupportable without the other. Though many are accomplished vocalists, what distinguishes them as singers doesn't always...
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 10, 2005

Why does CCP still fret over the news?

LONDON -- A short while ago, when I was in Beijing, I wanted to keep up with some political development in Hong Kong. I turned on my computer and went to the Asia-Pacific page of the BBC's Web site. Or at least I tried to; I had forgotten that the BBC site is blocked in China.
SUMO
Jan 9, 2005

Kaio still has shot at promotion

Will ozeki Kaio finally claim the yokozuna prize that has slipped through his fingers more times than he cares to remember?
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Jan 9, 2005

The occupied days of the ultimate observer

THE JAPAN JOURNALS: 1947-2004, by Donald Richie. Stone Bridge Press, 2004, 494 pp., $29.95 (cloth). In "The Japan Journals," American writer Donald Richie has acted to the letter on Rimbaud's conviction that the first study for the man who wants to be a poet "is to know himself, completely. He must search...
SOCCER / PREMIER REPORT
Jan 7, 2005

Hysterical reaction to 'Worst Decision Of All Time'

LONDON -- The reaction was as predictable as it was hysterical and misplaced.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / THEN AND NOW
Jan 7, 2005

Old Asakusa lives on

Asakusa is a magnet for those who love old-time Tokyo. Like a theater full of excitement and festivity in praise of old Edo, Asakusa Kannon Temple and the surrounding business district are vibrant year-round, attracting on average 35 million people a year. This two-part article will take an in-depth...
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 6, 2005

Finding succor in tragedy

WASHINGTON -- It is said that even the darkest cloud has a silver lining. So what positives could possibly be connected with the sorrowful destruction from Sumatra's tsunami? The catastrophe has shown us several things:
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / OLD NIC'S NOTEBOOK
Jan 6, 2005

Buckwheat booze lifts locals' spirits

The first flurries of snow usually fall here where I live in Kurohime in mid-November, just at the start of the hunting season.
Japan Times
JAPAN / BY THE NUMBERS
Jan 5, 2005

Vending machines turn new tricks to make a buck

Japan is a vending machine paradise. They're ubiquitous -- on streets, train platforms, even at the top of Mount Fuji -- and sell about everything.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Jan 5, 2005

Momix: taking it to the top

Moses Pendleton remembers well his first taste of live performance. He was an elementary school kid when his father -- a dairy farmer in northern Vermont -- hired his young son to show off his prized Holstein cows at the county fair. "My job was to walk the animals around and make them look good in order...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jan 5, 2005

Following the line to enlightenment

In order to write an article about renowned Zen master Tanchu Terayama's Hitsuzendo calligraphy exhibition, I was offered the rare opportunity to visit his mountain retreat in Ibaraki Prefecture to participate in a workshop with Terayama himself. I first got a call from Terayama's most dedicated student,...
JAPAN
Jan 3, 2005

Two more Japanese confirmed dead, hundreds unaccounted for

The deaths of two more Japanese citizens were confirmed Sunday in southern Thailand, bringing the Japanese death toll to 20 from the tsunamis triggered by the Dec. 26 earthquake off Indonesia's Sumatra Island, the Foreign Ministry said.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Jan 3, 2005

Common weeds of nationalism

NATIONALISMS OF JAPAN: Managing and Mystifying Identity, by Brian J. McVeigh. Latham: Rowman & Littlefield, 2004, 331 pp., $34.95 (paper). Angry Chinese and Korean responses to Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's repeated visits to Yasukuni Shrine, anti-Japanese actions by Chinese soccer fans at the Asia...
SUMO
Jan 1, 2005

2004 was the year of Asashoryu in sumo

When he went undefeated at the New Year meet to kick-start his 2004 campaign, the message hit home like an 18-wheeler barreling full-throttle down a highway: Move out of the way, or get squashed like a grape. The choice was simple.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Jan 1, 2005

Bless your house, TV for the new year!

A male voice called out. I ran downstairs and there was a Buddhist priest, dressed in full robes, standing in my genkan. At first I panicked, "Am I dead?" No, that's what Catholic priests do, not Buddhist priests. He smiled and looked at me expectantly. I smiled back, wondering why in the world a Buddist...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Dec 31, 2004

Zoos grope to captivate visitors

Gone are the days when a new panda or elephant guaranteed a boost in zoo visitors.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Dec 31, 2004

Reincarnated banks pitch brighter, better service

With their long lines and officelike interiors, typical Japanese banks can be a turnoff for customers.
CULTURE / Art / NEW ART SEEN
Dec 29, 2004

Cheers to contemporary art

The years are passing too quickly for this no-longer-young critic. Lest you think me embittered, let me start this year in review on a high note by trumpeting the star of 2004, a grand old dame who looks as bright and new as the day she was born -- the Hara Museum of Contemporary Art. Built in the Bauhaus...
JAPAN / READERS' FUND
Dec 28, 2004

NPO stretched thin aiding ill illegal aliens

Friendly Asians Home (Ajia Yuko no Ie), a nonprofit organization based in Shinjuku Ward, Tokyo, has been active since the 1960s in helping people from Southeast Asia facing difficulty in Japan.
EDITORIALS
Dec 28, 2004

Another step in bureaucratic reform

Bureaucratic reform is part and parcel of Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's structural reform agenda. As he puts it aptly, the basic idea is to "let the private sector do what it can do." Bureaucratic reform is also about decentralization: "letting local governments do what they can do."
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Dec 28, 2004

BMW unit gets female touch from on high

Before Fumiko Hayashi applied for a sales job at a car dealership 27 years ago, she hadn't planned on entering the automobile industry. Today, she is president of BMW Tokyo Corp.

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