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COMMUNITY
Apr 7, 2002

A dicey history

The earliest reference to gambling in Japan -- found in the eighth-century, 31-volume "Nihon Shoki (Chronicle of Japan)" -- states that in 685 AD, Emperor Temmu passed the time playing a dice game similar to backgammon called sugo-roku (double sixes). Once his successor Empress Jito assumed the throne,...
EDITORIALS
Apr 5, 2002

Secure food safety

Never before, perhaps, has a government advisory panel made such a scathing attack on public policy. The final report on bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or BSE, popularly known as mad cow disease, submitted Tuesday by a 10-member investigative committee, points out that the government made a "grave...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Apr 3, 2002

Slipknot unmasked!

For a big guy, the evil-looking Clown from the band Slipknot can move pretty fast. In a flash he leaps out of his seat, lunges at me with a stiletto blade and plunges it into my chest. "Nothing else means anything to me," he snarls, his face inches away from mine, his eyes burrowing to the back of my...
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 1, 2002

The role of nuclear weapons is deterrence

How do we justify the paradox of using a weapon of mass destruction to stop others from acquiring them?
EDITORIALS
Mar 25, 2002

More needed than festive spirit

This year is a special one for Japan and South Korea. Not only does the World Cup kick off in two months' time, but 2002 has also been designated the "Year of People-to-People Exchange Between Japan and the Republic of Korea." The governments of both countries have high hopes that the successful cohosting...
LIFE / Food & Drink / VINELAND
Mar 24, 2002

Let your taste buds do the browsing

At some point, it happens to all of us. You stand in front of the wine shelves and stare at the labels. You struggle to remember the last great vintage in the Rhone Valley, Rioja or Tuscany. You see the name of a winery you've liked in the past, but can't recall if it was the Syrah or the Zinfandel (it...
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Mar 23, 2002

Gods and sea monsters: culture quiz

It's time for another Japanese culture quiz!
LIFE / Language
Mar 22, 2002

A brief history of the comic strip

Herge was not the first to create comic art. There were many artists who came before him. They all played a part in the evolution of the comic strip as we know it today. But, where did it all really begin?
COMMUNITY
Mar 17, 2002

Cathedrals of commerce, towers of power

The tall building radically reshaped the modern city, thrusting it upward in the decades around the turn of the 20th century, just as the automobile pushed it outwards between the world wars. The skyward trend began in the 1890s, when high-rise commercial buildings began replacing the six- and seven-story...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / J-POPSICLE
Mar 13, 2002

I take it back, gladly

When writing recently about Seiji Ozawa's very successful "New Year's Concert 2002" album, I made a passing reference to his "nasally voiced" nephew, Kenji Ozawa.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Mar 10, 2002

Can common sense penetrate the food market?

You don't have to be paranoid to conclude that the recent series of food-labeling scandals represents the tip of the iceberg. With the Japanese market continually opening itself wider to food imports, and the government still unable or unwilling to untangle the tight, complicated interrelationships that...
BUSINESS
Mar 6, 2002

Second antideflation plan on way

The government will try to release a second antideflation policy package by the end of this month, Finance Minister Masajuro Shiokawa said Tuesday.
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Mar 3, 2002

It takes a lot of work to fool a fish

One late summer afternoon, in the village of Oshino, Yamanashi Prefecture, I was sitting by a stream against the backdrop of Mount Fuji, my fly-fishing rod at my side. On a gentle breeze, a large mayfly came along and started fluttering on the water. It soon fell, getting its wings wet while trying to...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / NIHONSHU
Mar 3, 2002

With foam, brewers call it like they see it

Long before the days of thermometers, hydrometers and barometers, brewers relied entirely on their senses to gauge the progress of a fermenting tank of sake. They might not have known the scientific causes, but experience and intuition told them how to interpret what they saw, tasted and smelled.
COMMENTARY
Mar 1, 2002

Revisiting the 'axis of evil'

HONOLULU -- Those of us who comment on U.S. foreign policy are deeply indebted to U.S. President George W. Bush for his State of the Union reference to North Korea, Iran, and Iraq as an "axis of evil." Never before have three simple (if not simplistic) words spawned so many editorials, fed so many talking...
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
Feb 25, 2002

Media must probe collusion: group

Japanese news media should make greater efforts to shed light on collusive ties between politicians and bureaucrats in the wake of revelations of close relations between lawmaker Muneo Suzuki and the Foreign Ministry, members of an advisory committee to Kyodo News have said.
JAPAN
Feb 25, 2002

LDP brochure appeals for help in solving abductions

The Liberal Democratic Party has printed an English-language brochure to drum up support from foreign diplomats in Japan to try to solve the alleged abduction of Japanese nationals by North Korea, LDP lawmakers have said.
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...
EDITORIALS
Feb 23, 2002

Mr. Hun Sen's gamble

The United Nations has withdrawn its support for Cambodian efforts to mount a war crimes tribunal. The decision has dismayed governments that had hoped the world body would assist Phnom Penh as it tried to provide some justice for victims of genocide during the years of Khmer Rouge rule. The U.N. acted...
BUSINESS
Feb 20, 2002

Officials say Bush gave tacit warning on economy

Economic ministers said Tuesday they understood U.S. President George W. Bush had issued "tacit" calls for Japan to revive its economy during his summit with Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi.
Japan Times
Events
Feb 19, 2002

Swim meet to spotlight river filth

OSAKA -- Anyone for a dip? The Dotonbori River has been running through the center of Osaka's bustling Namba district since it was diverted as a waterway in the early 16th century. But the filth in the river makes the idea of holding a swimming tournament in it sound like a joke.
JAPAN
Feb 18, 2002

Bush arrives in Tokyo, keeps hard line on 'axis'

U.S. President George W. Bush arrived in Tokyo on Sunday afternoon for his first visit to Japan since his inauguration last year, on the first leg of a six-day tour of East Asia that will also take him to South Korea and China.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 18, 2002

Will Blair err as Icarus did?

LONDON -- No European leader rode higher in the reaction to the Sept. 11 attack in New York than Tony Blair. The British prime minister immediately rallied to the American cause, enunciated the need to fight terrorism in ringing tones and committed troops to fight in Afghanistan. At last he had emerged...
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 14, 2002

North Korea: signs of trouble but no evil

CAMBRIDGE, England -- I have just returned from a week visit to North Korea, one of the countries on U.S. President George W. Bush's "axis of evil." I was one of three British academics running a workshop under a new technical assistance program inaugurated when the two countries opened diplomatic relations...
EDITORIALS
Feb 13, 2002

Reading between the lines

According to the financial mandarins of the Group of Seven, the global economy has turned the corner. Despite recession in Japan and the United States, the world's leading economies, and the shock created by the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, the international outlook has improved. The statement released...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Feb 6, 2002

The Japa-Rican Dream

NEW YORK -- From a New Yorker's point of view, young Japanese actor Masayasu Nakanishi definitely has chutzpah. How many other people would go out of their way to flash their dreams and frustrations in public, especially when the defeats equal or outnumber the successes?
COMMENTARY
Feb 3, 2002

Judge Beijing by its deeds

NEW DELHI -- At a time of growing U.S.-Indian strategic engagement, Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji's unusually conciliatory tone during his visit to India last week reflected his country's desire to decelerate that process by emphasizing areas of potential Sino-Indian cooperation. China is suddenly signaling...

Longform

Professional cleaner Hirofumi Sakurai takes a moment to appreciate some photographs in a Gotanda apartment whose occupant died alone.
The last cleanup: Life and death in a lonely Japan