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Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Jul 14, 2002

It's a wired, wired world

If you were among the hordes of shoppers itching to spend summer bonuses last weekend, perhaps you got caught up in the frenzy in Akihabara. Everywhere in Tokyo's "Electric Town," the hunt was on for air conditioners, computers, MD players, stereos and the latest flat-screen TVs.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle / JET STREAM
Jul 12, 2002

Cultivating tradition

Seventeen boys and girls from Furusawa Elementary School are up to their shins in mud. June is the traditional rice-planting month in the Isumi area of Chiba Prefecture and for the past three years, the local fifth-graders have tried their hands at planting rice the old-fashioned way.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Jul 7, 2002

Love will tear them apart

Lovers who say goodbye in the last reel exist in Hollywood films -- remember Rick and Ilsa in "Casablanca"? -- but far more common are variations of Charlie Chaplin and Paulette Goddard's happy stroll into the sunset in "Modern Times."
COMMUNITY
Jul 7, 2002

Until we meet again

For as long as men and women have looked at the stars, they have read in the distant constellations stories of life close to home, filling the sky with maidens and monsters, lovers and heroes, hunters and beasts.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Jul 7, 2002

Hisio: The pleasure zone is your oyster

Now that the monthlong soccer carnival has samba'd off stage, it's safe to venture back into the heartland of Roppongi again. This is highly welcome, as there are several places that we've been looking forward to trying out -- and top of the list is Hisio, with its newly opened oyster bar.
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 / 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.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jul 3, 2002

This year's model

Having evolved over the past 25 years from an angry young man to a well-fed totem of artistic integrity, Elvis Costello would seem to have little left to prove. He started wandering outside the perimeters of rock in the early '80s, and several years ago hinted that he was through with rock. Then, in...
BUSINESS
Jul 3, 2002

Nippon Columbia plans share issue to up capital

Nippon Columbia Co. said Tuesday it will issue 17,606,000 new shares in and outside Japan through Lehman Brothers Japan Inc. and Lehman Brothers International (Europe) to boost its capital base.
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Jun 30, 2002

Please, Hama, don't hurt 'em

Actor Masatoshi Nagase became a star in Kaizo Hayashi's 1993 tribute to Cinemascope noir, "The Most Terrible Time in My Life," as private detective Mike Hama, a none-too-veiled tribute to Mickey Spillane's hard-boiled shamus Mike Hammer. The movie was a hit, both domestically and overseas (England's...
BUSINESS
Jun 29, 2002

Spending by wage-earning households fell 0.4% in May

Spending by wage-earning households fell an inflation-adjusted 0.4 percent in May from a year earlier, down for the first time in two months, the government said Friday.
JAPAN
Jun 29, 2002

Cup cohosts' ties thaw, at least on individual level

OSAKA — When the excitement over the World Cup finals subsides, many may wonder whether cohosting the event actually helped improve relations between Japan and South Korea.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / J-POPSICLE
Jun 19, 2002

What's the real problem behind music file sharing?

Share and share alike -- that's what we were taught when we were kids.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Jun 16, 2002

Tribute to a humanist

THE KANETO SHINDO ANTHOLOGY. Asmik Ace Entertainment, Inc. DVD collection, 21 discs (some optional English subtitles) and program booklet (Japanese only), 2002, 79,000 yen. This massive four-volume collection is devoted to the main works of one of the major film directors of the immediate post-World...
JAPAN
Jun 15, 2002

World Cup fever grips the nation as Japan advances to second round

OSAKA — Japan was upbeat Friday as its national team beat Tunisia in a make-or-break match in Osaka to secure a place in the second round of the World Cup soccer finals.
JAPAN
Jun 14, 2002

Frugal World Cup fans slay shops' cash cow

OSAKA — Shopkeepers here are disheartened by the impact the World Cup soccer finals are having on the area's economy.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jun 14, 2002

Hooligan fears prove unfounded

OSAKA — Fears of hooligans running rampant in Osaka on Wednesday after a key World Cup soccer tie between England and Nigeria proved unfounded, and now opinions are mixed over the heavy security and concern prior to the game.
LIFE / Lifestyle / MATTER OF COURSE
Jun 14, 2002

Furigan fears prompt school safety drills

Journalists who write columns love to tie up their topics with current events. Still, I never thought I'd write about the World Cup soccer finals. I don't follow the sport, and I didn't see any connection between my education column and the international tournament. Until I saw the handout my kids brought...
LIFE / Digital
Jun 13, 2002

Hoofs, heroes, horrors on the siege

John Ronald Reuel Tolkien began publishing his "Lord of the Rings" trilogy in 1954, and people have been trying to escape into his fantasy ever since.
LIFE / Digital / NAME OF THE GAME
Jun 13, 2002

Genius collides in 3-D matchup

In the red corner, weighing in with "Beach Spikers Volleyball," Sega's living legend, Yu Suzuki.
JAPAN
Jun 11, 2002

Pizza, convenience store sales surge for Japan-Russia match

Pizza deliveries and convenience store sales surged Sunday before and during the World Cup Group H match between Japan and Russia.
JAPAN
Jun 5, 2002

METI enters fray over secondhand game software sales

The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry has announced that it will set up a distribution study group to mediate the protracted dispute between game software makers and secondhand shops that sell their products.
COMMUNITY
Jun 2, 2002

See you at Almond

Earlier this year, the Dentsu Research Institute predicted that Japan's co-hosting of the World Cup would benefit the economy to the tune of 3.182 trillion yen. While Tokyo isn't hosting any of the games, its glitzy Roppongi district will likely play host to thousands of soccer fans from around the world...
JAPAN
May 31, 2002

Ministry to reprimand top prosecutor over underling's gangland dealings

The Justice Ministry decided Thursday to reprimand the public prosecutor general over a bribery and fraud scandal involving a former senior official of the Osaka High Public Prosecutor's Office, Justice Minister Mayumi Moriyama said.
JAPAN
May 28, 2002

Obituary: Saburo Boya

Comedian Saburo Boya died of heart failure Saturday morning at a Tokyo hospital, his family said. He was 92.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST
May 26, 2002

Waxing monstrously about the first Japanese I ever got to know

The first Japanese I fell in love with was a little taller than my wife.
COMMUNITY
May 26, 2002

Art and life in a bowl

Like a gossamer web, drifting in mist, the threads that link Japan's traditional arts can be hard to grasp. Yet some links become visible as soon as a keen observer points them out.
COMMUNITY
May 26, 2002

Tea to soothe the soul

Outside, evening commuters splash through the Tokyo rain and a train conductor is shouting to be heard above the rush-hour din.

Longform

Visitors walk past Sou Fujimoto's Grand Ring, which has been recognized as the largest wooden structure in the world.
Can a World Expo still matter? Japan is about to find out.