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Features
Aug 22, 2004

Keeping it in the club

On Oct. 16 last year, Hans van der Lugt, a correspondent for the Dutch newspaper NRC Handelsblad, telephoned the Land, Infrastructure and Transport Ministry with a simple inquiry.
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Aug 22, 2004

NHK's "Project X" on the first word processor and more

The word processor can be described as either the savior of the Japanese language or its curse. It's a savior in that it simplifies the process of making documents in written Japanese, which incorporates two separate syllabaries of 48 letters each and up to 50,000 Chinese characters. It's a curse because...
Japan Times
Features
Aug 22, 2004

'Stray dogs' dig the dirt

"Bluebottle fly" was what he says he was called by the police. But freelance journalist Shunsuke Yamaoka is now getting a buzz from watching the law deal with wrongdoers he exposed.
COMMENTARY
Aug 22, 2004

Withdrawal of U.S. forces a good start

WASHINGTON -- President George W. Bush has proposed bringing home upwards of 70,000 U.S. troops stationed in Asia and Europe. It's a good start, but remains only a start. Washington should withdraw all 230,000 service personnel guarding against phantom enemies in Europe and protecting well-heeled friends...
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Aug 21, 2004

Secondhand personal computer market expanding

The secondhand personal computer market is rapidly expanding as sharp growth in demand for new PCs sends relatively new ones to the used market.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Aug 21, 2004

Beat the heat -- get out to the islands

It has been one of the hottest years on record in Japan, especially in Tokyo. Something about too much pavement and too many high-rise buildings blocking the breeze. It makes you wonder, why don't those people in the high-rises just open their windows to let the breeze through?
BUSINESS
Aug 21, 2004

Scandal-wracked Mitsubishi Motors struggling to survive

Mitsubishi Motors Corp. is struggling to overcome its severe financial and management troubles as its rivals speed ahead.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Aug 20, 2004

On the path of poets

Utter silence, Piercing the stone walls, The cicada's cry
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / THE SECOND ROOM
Aug 20, 2004

The Gathering 2004 preview

After dozens of hours of copious, nail-biting research, I have deduced that there is absolutely no connection whatsoever between Respect for the Aged Day and the ending date for Gathering 2004, except that vigorous dancing has been medically proven to reverse the aging process.
EDITORIALS
Aug 20, 2004

Iraq's soccer magic

On the evening of Thursday, Aug. 12, Baghdad's Sadr City, a Shiite Muslim slum that has been the scene of pitched battles between supporters of rebellious cleric Muqtada al-Sadr and U.S. and Iraqi troops, lay strangely quiet and still. Where were the armed militiamen of al-Sadr's Mahdi Army, usually...
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 20, 2004

Broken promises a blot on Myanmar's regime

A s Myanmar's government prepares to take over the chairmanship of ASEAN for 1996, opposition groups have stepped up their campaign for reform in the country by appealing to the bloc's leaders, reminding them that the regime in Yangon has violated all its promises, including human rights reform, better...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Aug 20, 2004

Chilling out with noodles in summertime

These are days of heat and tribulation. For 40 days and 40 nights we sweltered and sweated through that record heat wave -- and there's plenty more of the summer yet to come. Not surprisingly, given these almost biblical weather conditions, our main source of solace and sustenance has been noodles --...
BUSINESS
Aug 19, 2004

Cell phone-based system to track products

The farm ministry will begin creating a system in fiscal 2005 that will enable consumers to trace the history of tagged farm products by scanning them with their mobile phones, ministry officials said Wednesday.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / WILD WATCH
Aug 19, 2004

Down in the grim intertidal zone

A coffee-shop friend of mine recently summed up his appreciation of our local lowland forest just outside Sapporo, saying: "You know, it's wonderful here; every season is the best season." And, you know, he has a powerful point.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Aug 18, 2004

Minds lost over teenage murderer

The United States of Leland Rating: * * * (out of 5) Director: Matthew Ryan Hoge Running time: 108 minutes Language: English Currently showing [See Japan Times movie listings] "The United States of Leland" has a difficult story to tell, but first-time director Matthew Ryan Hoge tries...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Aug 18, 2004

Violence and swordplay in wild, wild Edo

Izo Rating: * * * (out of 5) Director: Takashi Miike Running time: 128 minutes Language: Japanese Opens on Aug. 21 [See Japan Times movie listings] Swords are coming out all over. That's the impression I get watching recent swashbucklers from not only genre veterans like Kihachi Okamoto,...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Aug 18, 2004

Tokyo's 'heat island' keeps breezes at bay

Japan is unusually hot this summer. But Tokyo is hotter.
CULTURE / Stage
Aug 18, 2004

Shakespeare speaks for modern times

A struggle for control at the heart of a state followed by the assassination of the leader; division between rival noblemen and their factions; the resulting civil war; the death of a nobleman's wife by suicide; and lastly the ritual suicide of all the original conspirators against the leader. Sound...
COMMENTARY
Aug 18, 2004

Democracy depends on modernization

MANILA -- For all practical purposes, the internal affairs in most countries have ceased to be purely domestic affairs. Whether we like it or not, one of the consequences of globalization has been the erosion of national sovereignty. In economic matters, national boundaries have long ceased to exist....
BUSINESS
Aug 17, 2004

Equity fund might invest in Daiei

A private equity fund headed by a former executive of the Fast Retailing Co. casual clothing chain has emerged as a possible investor in troubled retailer Daiei Inc., the Financial Times reported Monday.
JAPAN
Aug 16, 2004

Mihama accident latest in long string of nuclear plant woes

OSAKA -- In early 1999, a group of German nuclear scientists and engineers had just returned to Osaka after visiting nuclear power facilities in Fukui Prefecture. Sitting in a bar in the Hotel New Otani, they were deeply disturbed.
LIFE / Travel / NATURE TRAVEL
Aug 15, 2004

Mad Max and a mango make for a mind-bendingly memorable city tour

After half an hour of clinging to the back of Mr. Tuc's scooter, the question needs to be asked. It really does.
JAPAN
Aug 15, 2004

Tokyo clinic kept fetuses from abortions in freezer

A maternity clinic in Tokyo has stored aborted fetuses in its freezer, according to Tokyo Metropolitan Government officials who have inspected the clinic.

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