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CULTURE / Music / HOGAKU TODAY
Sep 16, 2001

Good things come in simpler packages

A Ministry of Education and Science directive that takes effect next spring will require public schools to teach a Japanese instrument in junior-high-school music classes; up to now the focus has been entirely on Western music.
LIFE / Food & Drink / THE WAY OF WASHOKU
Sep 16, 2001

Help heal the spirit with comfort food

After watching live the two towers of the World Trade Center come down — the blessing and the curse of modern technology and communications — and spending a very sleepless night filling my head with the horrific images of the aftermath, I slipped away to the otherworldliness of a quiet Zen temple...
CULTURE / Music
Sep 16, 2001

Gone but no longer forgotten

A psychological opera composed in the shadow of World War I, Erich Wolfgang Korngold's long-neglected "Die Tote Stadt (The Dead City, or Shi no Miyako)" has this year been brought to the stage three times: once in a revival of the New York City Opera's 1975 production and twice in new stagings.
COMMUNITY
Sep 16, 2001

Simply divining: A quick glossary

* Fortunetelling is the prediction of future events (or uncovering of those concealed in the past) employing methods without a logical basis. Some fortunetelling techniques (e.g., palmistry) delineate a person's characteristics to enable them to alter certain traits and thereby ensure a more prosperous...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Sep 16, 2001

Documenting an unprecedented disaster

Crises, it is often said, bring out the best and the worst in people. In the case of the terrorist attacks that took place in the United States on Tuesday, the best was illustrated by citizens waiting five hours to donate blood, while the worst was exemplified by service stations gouging customers for...
JAPAN
Sep 15, 2001

Number of elderly at record high

The number of Japanese age 65 or older stands at a record 22.72 million, accounting for a record 17.9 percent of the population, the Public Management, Home Affairs, Posts and Telecommunications Ministry said in a report Friday.
JAPAN
Sep 15, 2001

Koizumi offers Bush condolences, support

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi has promised U.S. President George W. Bush that Japan will provide its "utmost support and cooperation" in the fight against terrorism.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / PERSONALITY PROFILE
Sep 15, 2001

Kazuko Ogawa

BRIDGEMERE, England -- The garden center in Bridgemere is said to be the largest of its kind in Europe. In the quiet of Cheshire's spreading plains, it is its own world of year-round flowers and plants, trees and garden ideas. It has greenhouses, fish in tanks and rustic furniture. Additionally, and...
JAPAN
Sep 14, 2001

Crimes by foreigners down, heinous acts up

Nonresident foreigners in Japan committed 12,238 crimes between January and June, down 18.2 percent from the same period last year, the National Police Agency said Thursday.
BUSINESS
Sep 14, 2001

Japan could be key to Asia recovery

Asian countries should cooperate in tackling a looming global recession, and Japan can play a key role in doing so, according to an executive of an international business organization.
BUSINESS
Sep 13, 2001

Nexion gets Winter Games contract

Tokyo-based Nexion, a subsidiary of trading company Marubeni Corp., said Wednesday it had received an order to provide trans-Pacific video transmission services for high-definition digital broadcasts of the 2002 Salt Lake Winter Olympics.
BUSINESS
Sep 13, 2001

Koizumi faces tough choice

Last week's worse-than-expected U.S. jobless figures stoked worries about the economic slowdown in the U.S., sending stock markets reeling around the world.
JAPAN
Sep 12, 2001

Economic fear keeping wives at work, survey reveals

The longtime practice of women quitting work upon marriage is dying out, with over half continuing in their positions, according to a recent survey by a semigovernmental organization.
CULTURE / Film
Sep 12, 2001

The untranslatable language of love

Captain Corelli's Mandolin Rating: * * * Japanese title: Koreri Taii no Mandorin Director: John Madden Running time: 129 minutes Language: English Opens Sept. 22 at the Marunouchi Louvre and other theaters
CULTURE / Art / CERAMIC SCENE
Sep 12, 2001

Power and purity both old and new

The colorful ceramic culture of Kyoto meets the darker, subdued world of Karatsu potter Jinenbo Nakagawa this week at the Tachikichi department store in Kyoto.
BUSINESS
Sep 12, 2001

January eyed for stock tax reform

Finance Minister Masajuro Shiokawa said Tuesday he hopes to implement securities tax reforms in January after discussing them during the extraordinary Diet session to be convened this month.
JAPAN
Sep 9, 2001

Needle suspected in cleaner's AIDS death

A waste disposal worker at a hospital may have died of AIDS after contracting HIV by accidentally pricking himself with discarded needles, according to a report submitted to a health ministry panel.
MORE SPORTS
Sep 9, 2001

Hirano to retire after season

Freestyle swimmer Masato Hirano, who holds the men's 1,500-meter national record, will retire after the current swimming season, Japanese swimming officials said Friday. Hirano, 26, has been the top Japanese long-distance swimmer, winning the national 1,500-meter title seven times while finishing sixth...
JAPAN / WEEKEND WISDOM
Sep 9, 2001

Takarazuka chief pins group's success on Japan's decline

The success of the extravagant, all-woman Takarazuka theatrical troupe over the past decade owes a great deal to Japan's economic decline since the bubble economy of the late 1980s burst, according to Shinji Ueda, president of the Takarazuka Revue Co.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Sep 9, 2001

Vanity thy name is also man

If my mates could see me now, they'd just about die laughing.
LIFE / Food & Drink / THE WAY OF WASHOKU
Sep 9, 2001

Grater expectations

Oroshigane, traditional Japanese graters, come in all shapes and sizes. From orosu (to grate or cut) and kane (metal or metal tool), this kitchen essential was originally made exclusively of copper or steel. Now stainless steel, aluminum and plastic predominate, but one can still find graters made of...
JAPAN
Sep 8, 2001

Official says he padded bills for 20 years

An assistant director of the Foreign Ministry who was arrested Thursday on suspicion of defrauding the state out of some 423 million yen by padding hotel bills for international meetings in 1995 has admitted padding accommodation fees for the past 20 years, investigative sources said Friday.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Sep 8, 2001

Make mine the tow roll floor tortillas

It's time for another column about funny English! This time I bring you an honest-to-goodness menu from a restaurant called Skegs, which specializes in Mexican food. Following the menu items I have inserted explanations.
JAPAN
Sep 7, 2001

Peace pact anniversary to be marked in Tokyo

A group of Japanese businessmen, former diplomats, government officials, scholars and private citizens will celebrate on Saturday the 50th anniversary of the signing of the San Francisco Peace Treaty in a ceremony in Tokyo.
JAPAN
Sep 7, 2001

Foreign Ministry official arrested in latest scandal

Police arrested a Foreign Ministry official and two employees of the Hotel New Otani on Thursday on suspicion of defrauding the government of some 400 million yen by padding hotel bills for international meetings.
JAPAN
Sep 7, 2001

Female stalker gets suspended term

NAGOYA -- The Nagoya District Court on Thursday sentenced a 36-year-old unemployed woman in Nagoya to a year in prison, suspended for three years, for violating the antistalking law by repeatedly demanding that a male medical doctor have closer relations with her.
BUSINESS
Sep 7, 2001

Japanese bonds could receive lower rating

Moody's Investors Service Inc. may downgrade its Aa2 rating on Japanese government bonds, citing the nation's feeble economy, the rating agency said Thursday.
JAPAN
Sep 7, 2001

Top U.N. official criticizes Japan's plan to cut back on ODA

Japan's plan to cut back on official development assistance will worsen the nation's economic prospects by shrinking the volume of trade it enjoys with the rest of the world, a high-ranking official of the United Nations Development Program said.
JAPAN
Sep 7, 2001

Lens maker shines brightly in economic gloom

When Yasuo Ikuta saw the light focused by his unique lens erupt in a streak of smoke on a paved road about a decade ago, he was stunned by its potential.

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