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LIFE / Travel
May 22, 2001

Visiting the Little Prince at Hakone

Breathtaking mountain scenery, a walk through a French village, Provencal cooking and a meeting with the doppelganger of a world-famous author -- sounds like a nice day trip. Especially when you can do it all without leaving Kanto.
JAPAN
May 21, 2001

Survey finds hospice care in short supply

The number of hospice facilities for terminally ill cancer patients in Japan remains far smaller than the demand, covering only 1.8 percent of cancer patients who died in this country in 1999, it was learned Sunday.
JAPAN
May 20, 2001

Visually challenged violinist's career is an accidental passion

Seeing violinist Narimichi Kawabata in the spotlight at a concert, people often believe him to be one of the lucky few who have made a career out of what they love.
COMMUNITY
May 20, 2001

The Tiger's meow

Anti-mainstream, anti-centralism, a love of losers. Such is the stuff of a Hanshin Tigers fan.
CULTURE / Music
May 20, 2001

Is you is or is you ain't . . . ?

Stephen Malkmus, formally known as SM, formally known as that tall, skinny guy who knows more neat metal guitar riffs than anyone in Stockton, Calif., was the leader by default of Amerindie's greatest band, Pavement, which called it quits last fall after a year of waffling.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
May 20, 2001

We're pretty rude -- and we don't care

OSAKA -- Forget the phrase "Excuse me." Here in Osaka, nobody's going to excuse you, much less give you a second thought. Besides, if you've been raised with, say, English manners, you'd have to say "Excuse me" a million times a day.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
May 20, 2001

Amid a whirlwind of change, an elegant history of Japan

JAPAN IN TRANSFORMATION: 1952-2000, by Jeffrey Kingston. Harlow, Essex, U.K.: Pearson Education/Longman, 2001; 230 pp., b/w plates XII, $12. As the British historian, the late A.J.P. Taylor, remarked: "History gets thicker as it approaches recent times." The broad outlines, the major themes, have...
JAPAN
May 19, 2001

Slovenian envoy calls for investment

The top Slovenian envoy to Japan called Friday for the opening of a Japanese Embassy in the European country to help promote Japanese investment and bilateral exchanges.
BUSINESS
May 17, 2001

Fujitsu, GE team up on medical info

Fujitsu Ltd. and U.S. electronics giant General Electric Co. said Wednesday they will jointly develop advanced medical information systems for use in Japanese hospitals.
CULTURE / Art
May 16, 2001

Kishida's short but brilliant career

When Japan opened up to the West after the Meiji Restoration, it had a lot of catching up to do. Achievements that took hundreds of years to develop in European civilization were transplanted to Japan in a few decades.
CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES
May 16, 2001

'Look Into the Eyeball': David Byrne

David Byrne once told the New York Times that he hated world music, surprising for someone whose own music incorporates elements of samba, African pop and a plethora of other influences. But what he was criticizing is the way the term is used to relegate the vast majority of the music produced in the...
CULTURE / Art
May 16, 2001

There goes the neighborhood. . . into the future

Until last week, I thought there were basically three types of factories: oily old clunkers where maybe the beaten-down workers go on strike and a gritty hero emerges who is played by Jeff Bridges in the made-for-television movie; gleaming, robot-dominated technological wonders; and grim Third World...
Events
May 15, 2001

Citizens' group keeps an eye on local politicians

AMAGASAKI, Hyogo Pref. -- The members of local assemblies may play a major role in formulating policies affecting the citizens they represent, but few people have a chance to follow their day-to-day activities.
JAPAN
May 15, 2001

Surname rigidity frustrates

Kyodo News Before Akiko Orita got married in the fall of 1998, she planned to have an equal partnership with her husband, rather than, in her words, "an absorbed merger."
BASEBALL / MLB
May 15, 2001

Ichiro show rolls on in Canada

TORONTO -- The Ichiro Show has played to rave reviews in the U.S. for the first six weeks of the baseball season. This past weekend, it was a smash hit in its Canadian debut.
JAPAN
May 15, 2001

Former Australian prime minister hits U.S. over missile shield

AWAJI ISLAND, Hyogo Pref. -- A former Australian prime minister has slammed the decision of U.S. President George W. Bush to deploy an as-yet undeveloped missile defense system in Asia, saying it poses a "significant" threat to stability in the region.
MORE SPORTS / THE DUKE OF HAZARDS
May 15, 2001

Could Daly be the man to challenge Tiger?

Despite his many problems over the years, John Daly is still one of world's favorite golfers.
EDITORIALS
May 14, 2001

Looking history in the face

For the United States, the Vietnam War is a war that will never go away. This has again been made clear by the public confession of former U.S. Sen. Bob Kerrey and the continuing commentaries on the matter, some expressing outrage and anguish and others trying to explain what seems almost impossible...
JAPAN
May 13, 2001

Bureaucrat turns his back on elite job of the past for IT career of the future

Last July, elite bureaucrat Shin Yasunobe sent shock waves throughout government offices in Tokyo's Kasumigaseki district by announcing his resignation from the Ministry of International Trade and Industry.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
May 13, 2001

Everybody can't get stoned

Kenji Ogasawara returned from a visit to Hawaii seven years ago on a natural high. Partially paralyzed by multiple sclerosis in mid-1994, he left for Honolulu later that year in a wheelchair. On his return to Narita two weeks later, he stepped off the plane on his own two feet.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
May 13, 2001

A passion for Japan

SIEBOLD AND JAPAN: His Life and Work, by Arlette Kouwenhouven, with Matthi Forrer. Leiden: Hotei Publishing, 2000, 112 pp., with 87 plates, 3,200 yen. Shortly after arriving in Japan in 1823, Philipp Franz von Siebold wrote to a relative back in Holland, "I do not intend to leave Japan until I have...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
May 13, 2001

From the farm to your table

Finding restaurants that serve food seasoned with herbs isn't that difficult in Japan. In fact, it would be more difficult to find a French or Italian restaurant that doesn't have herbs in its pantry.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
May 13, 2001

Public participation aids media more than police

Prior to Thursday's arrest of a suspect in the April 30 murder of a 19-year-old woman in Asakusa, hundreds of people had called the police with information. The majority of these calls were not made until several days after the murder, when police found some items that they believe the killer discarded...
CULTURE / Books
May 13, 2001

When the nightmare broke through: "Underground: The Tokyo Gas Attack and the Japanese Psyche"

UNDERGROUND: The Tokyo Gas Attack and the Japanese Psyche, by Haruki Murakami. Translated by Alfred Birnbaum and Philip Gabriel. Random House, Vintage International; 366 pp., $14.
CULTURE / Stage
May 13, 2001

The makings of an omozukai

Tamao Yoshida is a dominating figure in the bunraku theater of today: A living national treasure, he has a 62-year history as a puppeteer. Onstage, he is elegantly composed, his countenance impassive as he manipulates his puppet with the aid of two assistants covered in black. Offstage, he is vigorous...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
May 13, 2001

Just what the herbologist ordered

Have ever wondered why sashimi is always served with wasabi? It's not just because they go well together. Wasabi is a powerful sterilizer and reduces the risk of food poisoning.
BUSINESS
May 12, 2001

Nighttime services popular among traders

Around-the-clock global stock trading is becoming the order of the day.

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