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CULTURE / Books
Sep 9, 2001

This is the season of our national discontent

Last week's edition of Aera (Sept. 3) looked at the current "Age of Discontent," while Bungei Shunju published a special issue in August on ways to find happiness. Both themes currently feature on the shelves of Japanese bookstores as well.
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Sep 9, 2001

For your regular viewing pleasure

Those who believe young people don't have proper peer models should check out TBS's "Sekai Ururun Taizai (World Sojourn)," which, every Sunday at 10 p.m., features a young celebrity traveling to a distant corner of the globe and living with a local family while learning a local skill or craft.
JAPAN
Sep 6, 2001

Trash outside game parlor rendered fire door useless

A mountain of garbage on the landing outside a mah-jongg game parlor destroyed in a fatal fire early Saturday was blocking a fire door, stopping it from automatically closing when fire alarms went off, police investigating the blaze said Wednesday.
JAPAN
Sep 5, 2001

Lethal gases blamed for Shinjuku inferno deaths

Most of the 44 people who died from a fire in a building in Tokyo's Shinjuku Ward at the weekend are believed to have died less than two minutes after inhaling carbon monoxide or hydrocyanic acid gas, investigators said Tuesday.
CULTURE / Music
Sep 2, 2001

Foot-stompin', heart-stoppin' stuff

Carlinhos Brown is a phenomenon. Since the 1996 release of the highly acclaimed "Alfagamabetizado," he has been a prominent figure on the world music scene and compared to everyone from Prince, for his intriguing mix of musical styles, to Bob Marley, for his charismatic stage presence. At his show Aug....
JAPAN
Sep 2, 2001

Tokyo hoping to double number of foreign tourists

The Tokyo Metropolitan Government hopes to more than double the number of foreign tourists visiting Tokyo to 6 million a year within five years and is considering building a casino to attract visitors, officials said.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Sep 1, 2001

In Dog Heaven, pee on the Pearly Gates

There is much talk these days about the first tourists to the moon and Mars. Everyone wants to be the first to go. Except me. I'm not interested in going to the moon or Mars. I have a hankering to go someplace much farther away and much more exciting. I want to be the first person to go to Dog Heaven....
JAPAN
Aug 27, 2001

SMAP member Inagaki released from jail

Goro Inagaki, a member of the pop group SMAP who was being held by police on suspicion of obstructing and injuring a police officer, was released Sunday afternoon.
BUSINESS
Aug 27, 2001

Consolidated taxation slated for wholly owned subsidiaries

The Finance Ministry has decided to introduce a consolidated taxation system for companies and their wholly owned subsidiaries in fiscal 2002, ministry sources said Sunday.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 25, 2001

Scandals have Chirac on the defensive

LONDON -- August is the month when, traditionally, the French forget about the cares of everyday life as they head for long holidays at home or abroad. But, this year, the most eminent of them as had a far from relaxing time. Just nine months before he faces an uphill re-election battle, President Jacques...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Aug 25, 2001

Where there's a will (to return), there's a way

Endre Hules is fretting about his kids. "I never imagined it would be so hard to leave them with a baby sitter. I feel incomplete."
COMMENTARY
Aug 25, 2001

Japan should borrow more

In a small rural valley where I spend weekends, peace has been destroyed for almost a year by the roar of several large machines trying furiously to convert a few hectares of swamp and abandoned farmland into usable rice paddies. The project is heavily subsidized by the government.
JAPAN / 50 YEARS SINCE SAN FRANCISCO
Aug 25, 2001

Focus sharpens on Japan-U.S. economic relations

Staff writer While Japan and the United States exited the 20th century as the world's two largest economic powers, Tokyo and Washington had little to celebrate when they crossed the threshold into the new century.
BUSINESS
Aug 22, 2001

Survey shows one in five companies doles out shareholder sweeteners

One in five publicly traded companies hands out gifts to shareholders, mainly in the form of its own goods and services, according to a Daiwa Securities Co. survey.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Aug 19, 2001

Family drama of Koizumi's forgotten son

To: Fuji TV Attn: Programming Department, production division From: Izawa Office Talent Agency Re: Proposal for drama series
JAPAN / WEEKEND WISDOM
Aug 19, 2001

Designer holds hope for the future of Japanese creativity

Surrounded by shelves filled with art books and magazines from around the world, Yasushi Fujimoto sits comfortably in his office in Harajuku, one of Tokyo's trendiest areas.
JAPAN
Aug 17, 2001

Robbers tie 10 up in bar, kill manager

A group of men stormed a hostess club in Tokyo's Shinjuku Ward on Thursday morning, fatally stabbing the manager and tying up the other 10 people in the establishment during a robbery, police said. Investigators believe the culprits may be Chinese.
BUSINESS
Aug 16, 2001

New cafes offer broadband experience

With most homes in Japan not yet ready for high-speed access to the Internet, more and more "broadband cafes" are sprouting up to offer firsthand experience with the latest Internet services.
JAPAN
Aug 12, 2001

Kansai / Who & What

Art space combines dance, dinner, bonfire A dinner party with dancing, music and a bonfire will be held Wednesday and Thursday at the KyoRyuKan International Art Space in Kamigyo Ward, Kyoto.
JAPAN / WEEKEND WISDOM
Aug 12, 2001

Copying Kyoto is way to revitalize Japan, fashion critic says

KYOTO -- If Japan wants to revitalize the sluggish economy and turn its prospects around, there are plenty of indications that Kyoto's way of life as well as its way of doing business are the answer, according to Hiromi Ichida, a fashion critic who has lived in the ancient capital for more than half...
CULTURE / Film
Aug 8, 2001

Director Veysset knows her characters by heart

Sandrine Veysset has only made three films so far, but it would be no exaggeration to call her one of France's most talented directors. Her debut, "Will It Snow for Christmas?" took a Cesar (French Academy Award), her follow-up "Victor . . . pendant qu'il est trop tard," grabbed a Critics' Award at Rotterdam,...
JAPAN
Aug 8, 2001

Chinese writer heads drive to build schools in Asia, Africa

After graduating from Shanghai's Fudan University, studying Japanese at Tokyo's Takushoku University and history at the University of Tokyo, Chinese writer Ye Qing is now leading a drive to construct elementary schools in Asia and Africa.
JAPAN
Aug 5, 2001

Foreigners aim to help in World Cup

Korean, Chinese, Brazilian and other foreign nationals living in Japan plan to set up a nonprofit organization to provide interpreters and volunteers for the 2002 World Cup finals, which kick off in less than 300 days.
BUSINESS
Aug 4, 2001

Matsushita touts lightest DVD player

OSAKA -- Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. said Friday it will launch the world's lightest portable DVD player on Sept. 1.
LIFE / Lifestyle / JET STREAM
Jul 27, 2001

Hawaiian JETs sing a new island song

The song "Neba Neba Natto" may never make the Japanese music charts, but it is becoming a classic of a sort. The song, by Nikkei Aloha, has a laid-back Hawaiian tempo and humorous lyrics paying homage to natto (fermented soybeans).
CULTURE / Film
Jul 25, 2001

Stranded on Planet Hollywood

Planet of the Apes Rating: * * Director: Tim Burton Running time: 120 minutes Language: EnglishNow showing Michael Clarke Duncan in Tim Burton's "Planet of the Apes" -- (C)2001 Twentieth Century Fox Director Tim Burton is quite clear on this matter: His version of "Planet of the Apes" is no mere "remake"...
CULTURE / Books
Jul 15, 2001

Controversial textbooks are big sellers for Fusosha

The latest best seller, oddly enough, is a junior high school history textbook. After going on sale on June 1, "Atarashii Rekishi Kyokasho" has been at or near the top of the best-seller list and the related social studies text "Atarashii Komin Kyokasho" in the top 10. Already 500,000 copies of the history...
CULTURE / Film
Jul 11, 2001

Remember Pearl Harbor?

There's been a lot of talk about historical revisionism in Japan lately, given the history textbook controversy and other attempts by rightists to gloss over past aggression in favor of a Reaganesque, feel-good imagining of history.
LIFE / Travel / NATURE TRAVEL
Jul 10, 2001

Where pachyderms on the run find haven

A thumping makes the banana-flower curry shiver in the bowl. The cutlery rattles, and there is an excited rush of diners to the second-floor windows of the restaurant. Bellows and borborygmus* rise from below. The air is pungent with a dusty, thunderous aroma.

Longform

Construction takes place on the Takanawa Gateway Convention Center in Tokyo, slated to open in 2025.
A boom for business tourism in Japan?