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SUMO
Jan 31, 2001

Akebono rewarded with 100 million yen

The Japan Sumo Association on Monday rewarded former yokozuna Akebono with 100 million yen for his distinguished contribution to the sport, JSA officials said.
COMMUNITY
Jan 31, 2001

Kinder makes learning kanji fun

Slippery snow is turning to slush. It is midwinter in Kanto, time for bundling up in fleecy sweaters and heavy coats. But at the two Hikari Yochien schools in Kawasaki, boys and girls are playing outdoors wearing nothing more than gym shorts.
CULTURE / Film
Jan 30, 2001

Otaku loose in a noirish world

Dark future movies are, by now, as established an SF subgenre as creature features or space operas. Their world view is usually a cross between an Orwellian nightmare and a Jean Paul Gaultier fashion show: grim, oppressive and dangerous but sexy, radical and cool. In other words, you wouldn't mind visiting,...
MORE SPORTS
Jan 30, 2001

Ravens dominate Giants for title

TAMPA, Fla. -- For a while it looked like it might be a game, but in the end it turned into a blowout.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Jan 30, 2001

The brocaded body beautiful

PEAU DE BROCART: Le Corps Tatoue au Japon, by Philippe Pons. Paris: Seuil, 2000, 142 pp., plates (color, b/w) 60, FFr 230 (cloth). Rene Magritte has spoken of someone clad "only in the robe of her skin," and this concept of surface as substance is observed by the tattooing tradition of Japan, the...
CULTURE / Books
Jan 30, 2001

When does a faith become a cult?

FALUN GONG'S CHALLENGE TO CHINA: Spiritual Practice or "Evil Cult," by Danny Schechter. Akashic Books, 2000, 225 pp., $24 (cloth). Last year about this time, I visited Tiananmen Square, mingling with tourists and day-trippers enjoying the warmth of the midday sun. As I reminisced about this historic...
COMMENTARY
Jan 29, 2001

'Bubble' ethics cripple Japan

Chaos prevailed at some of the coming-of-age ceremonies held across the nation on Jan. 8. Youngsters who had joined the ranks of adults behaved like rogues, swilling sake from king-size bottles, throwing firecrackers at a mayor, or shouting "go home" to a governor. These and other acts of gross incivility,...
JAPAN
Jan 28, 2001

Egalitarian values stifle creativity: researcher

The egalitarianism embedded in Japanese society deprives researchers and scholars of the economic incentives to pursue creative and innovative studies, according to 46-year-old Shuji Nakamura.
COMMUNITY
Jan 28, 2001

Rip'em up, tear 'em up

SAN FRANCISCO -- If you've ever had the pleasure of watching a U.S. college or pro football game on television, you'll notice one thing invariably. Just before the commercial they'll pan to a too-cute-to-be-true cheerleader.
JAPAN
Jan 28, 2001

Tokyo residents facing grave backyard problem

The view from the living room of Hisako Watanabe's home in central Tokyo is not exactly one to die for.
BUSINESS
Jan 27, 2001

FSA to tighten insurance industry rules

The Financial Services Agency plans to tighten its supervisory controls over life and nonlife insurance companies in a bid to keep a closer watch over the nation's hard-pressed insurance industry.
CULTURE / Film
Jan 27, 2001

Some guys have all the luck

Here's a strange thing. All our lives, movies have taught us that for love relationships to happen, men must be tall and smooth-skinned and lookgreat in Levi's (let's not even think about how women must be). Yet the very people responsible for generating the myth are often polar opposites of the characters...
BUSINESS
Jan 27, 2001

Foreigners net buyers for fourth week

Foreign investors were net buyers of Japanese stocks for the fourth straight week last week, with their buying excess hitting the highest level in more than a year.
BUSINESS
Jan 27, 2001

Tokyo Mutual to receive 30 billion yen in capital aid

Mid-tier insurer Tokyo Mutual Life Insurance Co. will receive 30 billion yen worth of capital assistance from Daiwa Bank and other corporations at the end of March, Tokyo Mutual officials said Friday.
JAPAN
Jan 27, 2001

South Korea wants more than token ties

Japan should be more reciprocative in efforts to solidify ties with South Korea, given the extent to which South Korean President Kim Dae Jung has pursued forward-looking bilateral relations, according to Seoul's ambassador to Japan, Choi Sang Yong.
MORE SPORTS
Jan 26, 2001

Giants hope backs can provide spark against Ravens

TAMPA, Fla. -- The weather report says it'll be fine with partly cloudy skies on Sunday, but the New York Giants will be looking for "Thunder and Lightning" at Raymond James Stadium when the NFC champions square off against the Baltimore Ravens in Super Bowl XXXV.
JAPAN
Jan 25, 2001

Mapping of lethal E. coli bacteria gene completed

OSAKA -- Researchers at Osaka University say they have succeeded in reading all the gene information on the O-157 strain of E. coli bacteria that caused a massive, and deadly, outbreak of food-poisoning in Sakai, Osaka Prefecture, in 1996.
MORE SPORTS
Jan 25, 2001

Ray Lewis takes on media blitz

TAMPA, Fla. -- Before taking on the New York Giants in Super Bowl XXXV, Baltimore Ravens linebacker Ray Lewis first took on the media Tuesday.
CULTURE / Music
Jan 25, 2001

Tickets for Bach concert

Japan Times readers will be given 30 pair tickets to the NEC Super Tower Special Concert to be held Feb. 22 at Tokyo's Sumida Triphony Hall to commemorate the 250th anniversary of Bach's death.
EDITORIALS
Jan 24, 2001

Putting bureaucrats in the back seat

The Council on Economic and Fiscal Policy, an advisory panel to the Cabinet Office, is the highlight of the Jan. 6 government reorganization. The high-powered council, which includes private advisers, cuts across ministerial lines. It represents part of a comprehensive attempt to shift the policymaking...
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 24, 2001

Russia can teach California a few things about blackouts

VLADIVOSTOK, Russia -- When blackouts hit the residential districts of Russia's largest Pacific seaport, as they have for up to 20 hours a day and even more this week, people learn to cope.
LIFE / Digital / CYBERIA
Jan 24, 2001

Back in the loop

This is not what you would call a lede per se, but indulge me for a few paragraphs. This will take some explaining.
CULTURE / Film
Jan 23, 2001

Lock, stock and instant noodles

Here's a word association game for you. What comes to mind when you hear "Thai cinema?" A blank? Don't worry -- in Japan, you're hardly alone.
CULTURE / Music / MUSIC NOMAD
Jan 23, 2001

Artists with eclectic tastes dispute the 'healing' tag

Of all the nonsensical musical genres, perhaps the most irksome is one coined here in Japan: "healing" music.
SOCCER / World cup
Jan 22, 2001

World Cup fans face multiple-entry visa ban

The government has decided not to issue multiple-entry visas to foreigners visiting Japan next year for the World Cup finals because of concerns over hooligans, government sources said Sunday.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 22, 2001

The clock is ticking for Gen. Musharraf

ISLAMABAD -- Gen. Pervez Musharraf, Pakistan's military ruler, has vowed to give Pakistanis a new life through the establishment a new political order. This promise will be put to test in the next few months.

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