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JAPAN
Nov 22, 2001

Second Holstein confirmed with mad cow disease

The Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry said Wednesday it has discovered a second case of mad cow disease in its ongoing inspections, and a panel of experts convened by the ministry formally confirmed the case later in the day.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Nov 18, 2001

Revealing the soul of an ancient land

MOTHER'S BELOVED: Stories from Laos, by Outhine Bounyavong. Hong Kong University Press, 1999, 163 pp., $14.95 (paper) It's unlikely that even the most generous evaluation of Lao literature would rank it among the world's great cultural legacies. Part of the problem has been a lack of visibility: Buddhist...
LIFE / Food & Drink / THE WAY OF WASHOKU
Nov 18, 2001

Kawatare : a fleeting taste of twilight

What's in a name? Often, for a restaurant, a lot rides on the naming of dishes. There is a science — and a whole consulting industry — devoted to food-item names and their placement on menus. Cooks everywhere, even before it became a science, have labored to find names suitable for their latest creations....
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Nov 18, 2001

Good Moon: Fusion that waxes and wanes

There's a whole generation out there who have come of age with laid-back, low-priced, modern izakaya, where they feel just as comfortable washing down the oden with wine as they do quaffing shochu with pasta. So when these kids grow up a bit and want to hang out somewhere less boisterous and more adult,...
BUSINESS
Oct 23, 2001

Government set to forecast negative growth

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuo Fukuda said Monday the government will revise downward its real economic growth target of 1.7 percent for the current fiscal year and announce a new figure Friday, ruling bloc legislators said.
JAPAN
Oct 21, 2001

APEC leaders begin 2-day meet

Compiled from AFP-Jiji, Kyodo SHANGHAI -- Leaders of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum kicked off a two-day summit Saturday afternoon, focusing on the global effort against terrorism and measures to reverse an economic slowdown in the region.
CULTURE / Books
Sep 30, 2001

Postwar Japan finds a voice

SILENCE TO LIGHT: Japan and the Shadows of War, Manoa 13:1, edited by Frank Stewart and Leza Lowitz. Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press, 2001, 217 pp. Manoa, published by the University of Hawai'i, is a twice-yearly journal of Pacific Rim writing and graphic art, with each issue devoted to a particular...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Sep 30, 2001

Book Bites

KODANSHA'S ROMANIZED JAPANESE-ENGLISH DICTIONARY, edited by Timothy J. Vance, et al. Kodansha International, Tokyo, 2001, 666 pp., 3,500 yen (paper) A completely rewritten and expanded version of Kodansha's 1990 "The New World Japanese-English Dictionary for Juniors," a popular reference work among...
CULTURE / Books
Sep 30, 2001

An ancient cult with contemporary significance

ENDURING IDENTITIES. The Guise of Shinto in Contemporary Japan, by John K. Nelson. Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press, 2000, 324 pp., 5,271 yen (paper) In 1475, a fight erupted between the priests of a shrine in Kyoto and local farmers, who claimed that the priests had unlawfully driven them off...
BUSINESS
Sep 28, 2001

Shiokawa says Japan still open to Indonesia's ODA needs

Despite a planned cut in the overall amount of official development assistance dished out to Indonesia in fiscal 2002, Japan will attach "due consideration" to Indonesia's needs, Finance Minister Masajuro Shiokawa told visiting Indonesian President Megawati Sukarnoputri on Thursday.
CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES
Sep 26, 2001

Sigur Ros

Since the worldwide release of their second album, "Aguis Byrjun," last year, Iceland's Sigur Ros has been dogged by more pretentious journalism than any pop group in history. Melody Maker took the cake when it described the group's music as "the sound of God weeping tears of gold in heaven."
CULTURE / Music / J-POPSICLE
Sep 26, 2001

Pop to the sixth power

Hermann H. & the Pacemakers are one of Japanese pop music's brightest new hopes. As with the superlative Cymbals spotlighted in last week's column, this six-piece band specializes in the musical genre known as "power pop." But in the case of Hermann (as the band is collectively known), the emphasis is...
CULTURE / Art
Sep 19, 2001

Art with some things to say

When the Yokohama Triennale opened a couple of weeks ago, several people asked which of the pieces I particularly liked. When pressed, from the works of more than 100 artists on show, I singled out Yoko Ono's "Freight Train" and Casagrande & Rintala's "Bird Cage," two large outdoor installations located...
JAPAN
Sep 13, 2001

Japan prompted to drop test-ban pact deadline

The government is expected to omit the 2003 deadline for ratifying the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty when it submits a new resolution to the U.N. General Assembly this year, well-placed sources said.
LIFE / Food & Drink / VINELAND
Sep 9, 2001

Home is where the harvest is

If you yearn to glimpse a vineyard in autumn, consider visiting one in Japan. In several prefectures, quality-minded vintners are exploring the grape varietals, cultivation techniques and microclimates needed to produce first-class wines.
BUSINESS
Aug 24, 2001

Job losses sure to increase: Koizumi

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi said Thursday that Japan's unemployment rate will inevitably rise as a result of his economic structural reform agenda.
ENVIRONMENT / GARDENING FOR ALL
Aug 23, 2001

Get that tropical feeling with hibiscus on your balcony

Summers just wouldn't be the same without hibiscus flowers. Hibiscus create the feeling of some tropical paradise -- even in city centers. Those of you who have balcony gardens can easily cultivate a number of hibiscus species.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 17, 2001

India's hardliners wait as pressures wear out premier

When the Agra summit between India and Pakistan failed last month, it was widely feared that its biggest victim would be the Indian prime minister: Atal Bihari Vajpayee might have to go.
COMMENTARY
Aug 16, 2001

Missed chance at Yasukuni

Japan's neighbors are expressing great indignation over Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's Aug. 13 visit to the Yasukuni Shrine, where the spirits of 14 convicted World War II war criminals are enshrined among some 2.5 million of Japan's war dead over the past two centuries. His decision to go early,...
BUSINESS
Aug 14, 2001

State warns NTT over competition issue

The government will reject a Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corp. business plan if it fails to promote competition among NTT group companies, telecom ministry officials said Monday.
CULTURE / Music / HOGAKU TODAY
Aug 12, 2001

Rich experience on a poor man's budget

Although hogaku is an important part of Japan's cultural identity, concerts and other opportunities for exposure are often difficult to track down. Meanwhile, the range of hogaku genres, instruments and performance styles is vast, and concerts expensive. So to experience hogaku in its totality involves...
ENVIRONMENT / IN BLOOM
Aug 9, 2001

Kusa (Meadow grasses)

"It's Bon, it's Bon -- but Only today and tomorrow. The next day we're up in the hillsCutting grass for fodder."
BUSINESS
Aug 9, 2001

Shiokawa vows to prevent negative growth

Finance Minister Masajuro Shiokawa reiterated Wednesday that the government will take all necessary measures to prop up the economy if it falls into negative growth on an annual basis.
LIFE / Travel / NATURE TRAVEL
Aug 7, 2001

Rubbing noses with a musk ox

The Northwest Territories cover approximately one-third of Canada. Given that Canada is the second-largest country in the world, it can therefore be said without fear of contradiction that the NWT is rather large.

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