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BUSINESS
Jul 10, 2002

Dollar's rapid fall must be checked: Shiokawa

Finance Minister Masajuro Shiokawa said Tuesday that the rapid decline of the dollar must be checked before it reaches the 115 yen level.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / J-POPSICLE
Jul 10, 2002

A card-carrying regular guy

One interesting aspect of Japanese meishi (name-card) etiquette is that entertainers never give them out. It took me a while to figure out that one. Several interviews with musicians I thought had begun inauspiciously when I handed the artist my meishi only to receive nothing in return.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / NATURE TRAVEL
Jul 9, 2002

Chengdu, Sichuan's city of contrasts

Tonight, our guide Desmond assures us, there is going to be "a very exciting party." The Tibetans are planning a neck-wrestling competition. And you, Desmond adds, as the first foreigners to visit the newly opened hall of Tibetan games and dance, are going to be invited to participate.
LIFE / Travel / NATURE TRAVEL
Jul 9, 2002

Chengdu, Sichuan's city of contrasts

Tonight, our guide Desmond assures us, there is going to be "a very exciting party." The Tibetans are planning a neck-wrestling competition. And you, Desmond adds, as the first foreigners to visit the newly opened hall of Tibetan games and dance, are going to be invited to participate.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 8, 2002

Legacy-building in Beijing

CAMBRIDGE, England -- Chinese President Jiang Zemin has made another speech -- another important speech -- adding gloss to the landmark speech he made July 1 last year at the Communist Party of China's 80th birthday party.
EDITORIALS
Jul 7, 2002

A man in a balloon

It may not seem obvious, but Mr. Steve Fossett really is a man for our times. Why? Because this adventurer-athlete, who last week became the first solo balloonist to circumnavigate the globe, in some ways embodies our frenziedly competitive era and in others -- particularly with his latest feat -- gives...
COMMENTARY
Jul 7, 2002

Morality to match the times

LONDON -- What is it about the British and sex? Young people seem to leap to it as though having as much of it, as soon as possible, as flamboyantly and boastfully as possible and damn the consequences, is their national destiny.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / NIHONSHU
Jul 7, 2002

As benchmarks rise, honjozo takes a hit

Last year, sake production dropped below 1 million kiloliters for the first time since the industry's postwar recovery. Much of this drop was seen in the realm of cheap sake and honjozo, whereas the higher grades of junmaishu and ginjoshu stayed the same or made very modest production gains. Fewer people,...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Jul 7, 2002

How we wonder what we are

Stargazing is like traveling through time and space; imagining as best we can such unimaginable distances, such wondrous, unknown possibilities out there in the vast, star-spangled sky.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jul 6, 2002

Envoy seeks to boost Greece's profile

The new Greek ambassador-designate to Japan is eager to enhance his country's image and perception among Japanese during his tenure, especially through promoting the 2004 Olympics in Athens and through the country's assumption of the European Union presidency in the first half of 2003.
BASEBALL / MLB
Jul 5, 2002

It may be the world's most popular sport, but not here in Japan

If there was any defining moment for Japanese sports last month, it surely came right after Turkey eliminated the lads in blue from the World Cup on June 18.
BUSINESS
Jul 5, 2002

Nippon Columbia triples new shares issue

Nippon Columbia Co. said Thursday it will issue 49,646,000 new shares at 141 yen per share in and outside Japan to boost its capital base.
LIFE / Language / THE PARENT TRIP
Jul 5, 2002

Equal but different

My 18-month-old daughter, Marin, was involved in a tug-of-war over a toy with a little friend a few months older. The boy gave my daughter a small shove and won possession of the coveted toy, and Marin promptly burst into noisy sobs. The other mother hurried over. Handing the toy back to Marin, she scolded...
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Jul 5, 2002

Our yankii are different from your yankees

You know you're old when the slang expressions so fashionable in your youth go right over the heads of 22-year-olds who stare blankly as though you've just spoken to them in ancient Egyptian. One remembers a time when mecchanko (extremely superduper) was the adjective of the day, used to describe everything...
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER
Jul 5, 2002

Swallowtail

* Japanese name: Kiageha * Scientific name: Papilio machaon * Description: There are several species of swallowtail butterflies in Japan, all of them easily recognizable by their swallowtails -- the tail-like appendages on the edge of the hind wings. Body length is 36-70 mm. Swallowtails have fully...
SOCCER / World cup
Jul 4, 2002

JFA set to appoint Zico as Japan coach

Former Brazil international Zico is set to take over as manager of Japan's national soccer team, the Japan Football Association (JFA) said Wednesday.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jul 4, 2002

Forum mulls nuts, bolts of Kyoto aims

Global warming poses a formidable challenge to the world.
BUSINESS
Jul 4, 2002

Nissan boosts capacity for making March

Nissan Motor Co. has expanded production capacity of its new March car by about 20 percent to 17,500 units a month to meet demand, a Nissan spokesperson said Wednesday.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 4, 2002

The Cyprus connection: How Milosevic evaded arms sanctions

NICOSIA, Cyprus -- On Dec. 27, 1998, a Yugoslav named Drakomir Stojkovic flew from Belgrade to Cyprus's Larnaca airport on a private jet carrying bags stuffed with 35 million deutsche marks -- worth roughly $17 million.
LIFE / Digital / NAME OF THE GAME
Jul 4, 2002

Summertime fun to seek, avoid

It's been more than a year since Nintendo released Game Boy Advance -- a much, much more powerful Game Boy with a bigger, color screen and several times more processing power.
COMMUNITY
Jul 4, 2002

The land of the early rising, and setting, sun

The issue of daylight-saving time is back in the news.
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Jul 3, 2002

Baseball steps back up to the plate

Let's begin the first baseball column following the World Cup with some words of congratulations and praise to everyone involved in that spectacular event. It was an exciting tournament that mesmerized most of Japan and South Korea, especially during the first half of June prior to the elimination of...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Jul 3, 2002

A play that's as Japanese as . . . cherry pie

Following "The Seagull," "The Sneeze," "Three Sisters" and "Uncle Vanya," "The Cherry Orchard" is the final play in a series titled "Chekhov: The Work of the Soul" staged by the New National Theatre, Tokyo.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / J-POPSICLE
Jul 3, 2002

Make way for the gloom

Mr. Hyde is waiting to be interviewed in the chicly decrepit confines of Casa del Japon, a Western-style house in Azabu that was the residence of China's ambassador to Japan before World War II and is now a bar and restaurant.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES
Jul 3, 2002

Bill Frisell: 'The Willies'

Bill Frisell, who is ostensibly a jazz guitarist, has been poking around with other forms of traditional American music for long enough now that "The Willies," a collection mainly of bluegrass tunes, comes as no surprise. But as with anything Frisell lays his hands to, this album is not without its quirks....
EDITORIALS
Jul 3, 2002

High goals for G8 summit

With the world still living in the shadow of the Sept. 11, this year's Group of Eight summit meeting had its work cut out: reinforcing the ongoing campaign against terrorism. On this score, G8 leaders achieved a measure of success during two days of talks last week in the Canadian Rockies resort of Kananaskis,...
BUSINESS / JAPANESE PERSPECTIVES
Jul 1, 2002

Dollar weighed down by external debts, tax cuts, skittish investors

The dollar is losing ground against major currencies and the foreign-exchange rates are reflecting the relative strengths of the economies involved.

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