Search - special

 
 
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
May 6, 2001

Drumming up some PR for the old neighborhood

Most of the current travel-information programs you see on TV are stylistic offshoots of TBS's long-running "Soko ga Shiritai," which has been off the air for several years now. One of the few variety shows that has done something different with the format is TV Tokyo's "Shutsubotsu! Ad-Machikku Tengoku"...
JAPAN
May 4, 2001

Constitution turns 54 as battle lines drawn up for and against reform

Groups for and against revision of the Constitution held rallies in Tokyo on Thursday to mark the 54th anniversary of the supreme law amid increasing calls for its revision from political leaders, including Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Apr 29, 2001

Making room for urban home companions

Keeping a pet in the big city isn't easy. With many urban residents living in rented housing, landlords as well as limited space can prove to be obstacles. Some tenants, unwilling to part with their companions, even at the risk of eviction and their pet's discomfort, "smuggle" them in and keep them in...
COMMUNITY
Apr 29, 2001

Welcome to the jungle

"Why would anybody want to keep a snake?"
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Apr 29, 2001

Armchair travel to Italy and beyond

Tatsuo Umemiya used to be one of the hardest-working yakuza actors in Japan. Nowadays, he is mainly known as the father of model/talent Anna Umemiya and as "the cooking king" of Japanese show business. He even owns a popular chain of stores that sell all sorts of Japanese foods. The stores are easy to...
JAPAN
Apr 29, 2001

Hunger-striking Kurd granted permission to remain in Japan

The Justice Ministry has granted special residential permission to a Kurdish asylum-seeker who had been waging a weeklong hunger strike with four fellow Kurds from Turkey at an immigration center in Ibaraki Prefecture, it was leaned Saturday.
CULTURE / Books
Apr 22, 2001

The enigma of power in medieval Japan

THE GATES OF POWER: Monks, Courtiers, and Warriors in Premodern Japan, by Mikael S. Adolphson. Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press, 2000, 456 pp., $29.95 (paper), $60.00 (cloth). Who rules Japan? This question has a modern ring to it and has been belabored by many a student of political science....
JAPAN
Apr 20, 2001

Foreigners face long slog to Japanese citizenship

Seven years after he became the first foreign sumo wrestler to win the revered Emperor's Cup in 1972, Jesse "Takamiyama" Kuhaulua applied for Japanese citizenship.
ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER
Apr 20, 2001

Tiger beetle

*Japanese name: Hanmyo *Scientific name: Cicindela chinensis japonica * Description: Tiger beetles have strong jaws and metallic blue, red and green bodies. The pattern on their bodies makes it difficult for them to be spotted by enemies -- and by us, too. You're most likely to see tiger beetles...
CULTURE / Art
Apr 18, 2001

Sensual curves and serendipitous color

KOBE -- What do the ancient ceramics center of Shigaraki and suburban New Jersey have in common?
Events
Apr 17, 2001

Kansai leaders brainstorm on ways to kick-start the region

OSAKA -- Since the end of the bubble era, the Kansai region's economy has fared worse than many other parts of Japan.
COMMUNITY
Apr 8, 2001

How to escape the urban grind

After a grueling week at the office, we naturally look forward to getting outand about on the weekend. For diversions, Japan's major cities have it all, from art exhibitions and the latest movies to shopping and sporting events. Problem is, who wants to fight thesame workday-commute crowds at museums,...
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Apr 8, 2001

You say you've got woman troubles?

This week, on "Ningen Yuyu" (Educational, Monday-Thursday, 7:30 p.m.), NHK will explore the malaise that is afflicting many young Japanese women right now. The four-night series, "Hyoryu suru Shojotachi (Drifting Girls)," will use conversations with experts and documentary footage to show how many young...
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM MOSCOW
Apr 7, 2001

The U-2 affair all over again

Spy-plane pilot is one of the few professions we should strongly discourage our sons from developing an interest in. Rich in experience, critically important and thrillingly challenging, it is, nevertheless, a career charged with personal and collective disaster. Along with the ongoing anxieties of parents...
JAPAN
Apr 5, 2001

Insurance coverage mulled for gyms used for therapy

The Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry is considering allowing patients of lifestyle-related diseases to claim national health insurance payments for fitness facilities used for therapeutic purposes, ministry sources said Wednesday.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 2, 2001

India wages an uphill battle against AIDS

NEW YORK -- India's population of 1 billion, greater than Africa, Australia and Latin America combined, is undergoing the threat of the unrelenting advance of HIV/AIDS. The infection is affecting all ages and social classes, and does not show any signs of abating. As things stand now, it is necessary...
BUSINESS
Apr 2, 2001

Japan's new era of reconstruction: changing an outdated government

Perhaps you may wonder why as of Jan. 6 the Okurasho (Finance Ministry) is being called the Zaimusho and why various changes are being made within this administrative bureau.
LIFE / Food & Drink
Apr 1, 2001

Squid tentacles draw the crowds

OSAKA -- If asked to name Osaka's local specialties, most outsiders would say okonomiyaki (meat and vegetable pancakes) and takoyaki (octopus dumplings, or, as former Gov. "Knock" Yokoyama once introduced them to visiting world leaders, "samurai balls"). While it's true that these dishes originated in...
BUSINESS
Mar 31, 2001

Trade panel concerned over U.S. Byrd Amendment

An advisory panel to the trade minister voiced concern in an annual report released Friday over a U.S. antidumping law that may violate the World Trade Organization's international trade rules. The Subcommittee on Unfair Trade Policies and Practices under the Industrial Structure Council calls in the...
JAPAN
Mar 28, 2001

Bureaucracy may face merit pay

Ryutaro Hashimoto, state minister in charge of administrative reform, unveiled a government blueprint Tuesday for overhauling the civil service that would make promotion subject to performance and tighten rules regarding retiring bureaucrats who go to work in the private sector.
BASEBALL / MLB
Mar 26, 2001

High school baseball tourney kicks off at Koshien

NISHINOMIYA -- Fukui Shogyo rallied for five runs in the top of the ninth inning to defeat Tokyo's Obirin High School 11-9 Sunday and join Tokaidai Daiyon of Hokkaido in the second round of the 73rd Japan high school baseball national invitational tournament.
JAPAN
Mar 17, 2001

Father's plight raises immigration policy questions

Ken Imran Massey considers Japan his home. The Pakistani national has spent almost 18 years -- half his life -- in this country and his two children are both Japanese citizens.
JAPAN
Mar 9, 2001

CTBT signatories plan talks to accelerate ratification steps

Some 160 signatory nations to a 1996 treaty banning nuclear tests will hold ministerial-level talks at the end of September in New York to accelerate efforts toward ratification.
JAPAN
Mar 9, 2001

Japan's history again haunts future relations

The ongoing controversy between Japan and South Korea over a new textbook for Japanese junior high schools has taken a toll on the bilateral diplomatic calendar.
COMMUNITY
Mar 6, 2001

Students give technical edge to volunteer activities

TOCHIGI -- It might seem strange that a group of students at a rural Japanese high school would be concerned about the culinary habits of Zambia's wildlife or the conditions of India's walkways.
JAPAN
Feb 28, 2001

Navy's No. 2 officer meets Mori, promises efforts to raise ship

In an effort to soothe Japanese public sentiment and contain damage to bilateral ties, a U.S. special envoy visited Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori on Tuesday and promised that the U.S. government will do its utmost to salvage a Japanese vessel that sank Feb. 9 off Hawaii after being hit by a U.S. submarine....
JAPAN
Feb 28, 2001

U.S. admiral apologizes over sub accident

A special envoy from Washington arrived in Japan on Tuesday afternoon to convey apologies from the United States to Japan over the Feb. 9 sinking of a Japanese high school fisheries training ship off Hawaii, which left nine Japanese missing and presumed dead.

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