Search - u_times

 
 
JAPAN
Feb 18, 2003

ASEAN official eyes political, cultural cooperation

The relationship between Japan and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations should encompass political, security and cultural cooperation, as well as economic concerns, a senior ASEAN official said Monday in Tokyo.
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Feb 17, 2003

The art of making excuses

Part of growing up in Japan is about naturally acquiring shoseijutsu -- phrases and expressions that get you through difficulties and make good impressions.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Feb 16, 2003

An omiai conjurer of couples out of singles

Mitsuko Kai stifles a sigh as she watches her visitor, Yuko Saito, cross out one candidate after another.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Feb 16, 2003

Enslaved and liberated by lust

CONSUMING BODIES: Sex and Contemporary Japanese Art, edited by Fran Lloyd. London: Reaktion Books, 2002, 224 pp., 134 color and 34 black-and-white illustrations, £16.95 (paper). In her introduction to this very interesting collection of essays, Fran Lloyd emphasizes that the portrayal of sex and consumerism...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Feb 16, 2003

Songs of the sorta rich and famous

Daniel Johnston is apparently napping. His father, Bill, who answers the phone, says to someone, "Tell Dan it's his interview from Japan."
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Feb 16, 2003

Making a match all manner of ways

It wasn't so long ago that the Japanese ideal was to be married by age 25, typically to someone handpicked by parents. At its core, matrimony was an economic arrangement with all the romantic overtones of a mortgage contract.
BASKETBALL / NBA / NBA REPORT
Feb 16, 2003

Hornets face penalty after shortfall in season ticket sales

NEW YORK -- By popular demand, this campground is employing new guidelines for the second half of the season: Making fun is out, making knowledge is in. Any hint of an association between the two is purely accidental.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Feb 15, 2003

Local boy with a liking for the finer things in life

Living in Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's "furusato" (hometown), it seems likely that Hisataka (Issa) Koizumi is related.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Feb 15, 2003

Chile president stresses need for fresh resolution prior to attack on Iraq

Visiting Chilean President Ricardo Lagos on Friday stressed the importance of the U.N. Security Council adopting a fresh resolution before any military action is taken against Iraq.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Feb 14, 2003

Loan sharks feasting on ballooning number of people deep in debt

With the economy in the doldrums for years and unemployment at a record high, Japanese are racking up debts, falling prey to loan sharks and declaring bankruptcy by the thousands.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Feb 14, 2003

Japan urged to take lead in easing of drug patents

As host of an informal ministerial meeting of the World Trade Organization, Japan should take the initiative in easing rules on pharmaceutical patents so developing countries can have better access to desperately needed drugs, according to Dr. Tatsuo Hayashi, president of Africa-Japan Forum.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Feb 14, 2003

Former Eitai execs held for taking doomed loans

Police on Thursday arrested four former executives of the failed credit union Eitai who allegedly had their firm take over 7.8 billion yen in bad loans extended by an affiliated company to ailing borrowers, even though they knew the loans were unrecoverable.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 13, 2003

Time for a Japan-Chile free trade accord

Chilean President Ricardo Lagos is currently visiting Japan at the official invitation of Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi. I suppose that one of the aims of his visit is to ask Japan to begin a joint study with Chile on the possibility of a free trade agreement, or FTA, between Japan and Chile. I say,...
COMMENTARY
Feb 13, 2003

The 'vision thing' still matters

LONDON -- In the ideal Middle East "dream scenario," U.N. weapons inspectors, gently prompted by American and British intelligence information, stumble on stores of chemical and biological weapons hidden in Iraq.
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
Feb 13, 2003

Have we got the will to survive?

"State of the World 2003," this year's edition of a report published annually by the Worldwatch Institute, arrived in my mailbox several days before the shuttle tragedy, but it sat on my desk unopened until the morning of Columbia's fiery descent.
COMMENTARY
Feb 12, 2003

Koizumi shirking top duty

Over the past year, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi appears to have all but lost his enthusiasm for military contingency legislation. Protecting the lives and property of the Japanese people from armed attack is the most important duty of the prime minister as the supreme commander of the Self-Defense...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Feb 12, 2003

Starting all over again

Gowasan means "call off," "start again," or "bankruptcy." The term is originally derived from abacus calculation, where it refers to the shaking of the abacus to return all beads to their starting point after completing a calculation.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art / NEW ART SEEN
Feb 12, 2003

Bright white, big city

Something interesting I recently learned about anatomy: There are 26 bones in the human foot, and if you break just one of them, your entire leg is basically useless.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Feb 11, 2003

ACCJ welcomes pledge to boost foreign investment

The Japanese government's recent pledge to encourage a doubling in foreign direct investment from overseas is a welcome and appropriate step to help resuscitate the flagging economy, according to the new president of the American Chamber of Commerce in Japan.
JAPAN
Feb 11, 2003

Murder suspect may have killed before

A 29-year-old man charged with committing a murder in July in Tokyo was served a fresh warrant Monday in connection with a slaying in 2000, police said.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Feb 9, 2003

Titillating tales from China's perfumed city

SHANGHAI: The Rise and Fall of a Decadent City, by Stella Dong. Perennial/HarperCollins, 2001, 318 pp., $15 (paper) Great cities deserve the attentions of writers who combine the historian's pursuit of accuracy with the willingness to be swayed by impressions, prejudices, anecdotes and flawed opinions....
COMMUNITY
Feb 9, 2003

Hole in one: Hole in pocket

All golfers dream that -- be it only once in their lifetime -- they might, miraculously, achieve a hole in one.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Feb 9, 2003

Role models for a changing nation

One welcome exception to the gloomy news in Japan last year was the unexpected awarding of a Nobel Prize in chemistry to an apparently ordinary company worker. Koichi Tanaka's steadfastness, lack of personal ambition and open, nice-guy persona were a refreshing throwback to a less cynical age, and his...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / BEST BAR NONE
Feb 9, 2003

Turning the heat waaaay up in Roppongi

If you've had enough chilling this winter and you could use a little heat, why not get down to La Rumba, Roppongi's latest Latin hangout? And you don't have to wait for the weekend. La Rumba offers dance classes most evenings till 9 p.m. -- an excellent way to warm up.

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