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BUSINESS
Dec 29, 2001

Sony in talks with Fujitsu over Nifty

Sony Corp. is negotiating with Fujitsu Ltd. to acquire Internet service provider Nifty Corp., a Fujitsu subsidiary, industry sources said Friday.
JAPAN
Dec 29, 2001

TV comedian indicted over drug use

Prosecutors on Friday indicted TV comedian Masashi Tashiro on a charge of using stimulant drugs.
CULTURE / Film
Dec 26, 2001

Simply, the best

This was a year in which the most memorable screen image belonged to reality, not cinema. Indeed, as many have noted, the spectacle of airline jets ramming into the World Trade Center towers was all too reminiscent of a Hollywood blockbuster's money shot -- and that may have been the point. Terrorists...
CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES
Dec 26, 2001

'Jazzin' ' with UFO

It is a rare trick to be both popular and cutting-edge, a trick that the DJ unit United Future Organization has pulled off with aplomb. In the quicksilver world of club music, it is even more unusual for a dance event to last one year, much less ten. "Jazzin' " celebrates its 10th anniversary this month...
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST
Dec 23, 2001

Beating the game -- at last

"Dad, could you show me how to make a jump shot?" So my younger son once requested as we stood beneath a hoop in his junior-high playground.
CULTURE / Film
Dec 19, 2001

Fun and family bonding

Spy KidsRating: * * * 1/2 Director: Robert Rodriguez Running time: 88 minutes Language: English Now showing
JAPAN
Dec 19, 2001

Visa sweep nets over 20 in Shinjuku

Tokyo police and immigration officials took more than 20 Chinese, Iranian and other foreigners in the Shinjuku area into custody Monday night on suspicion they have been overstaying their visas.
CULTURE / Music
Dec 19, 2001

2001 -- A sound odyssey

It was a year for rocking, for boppig, for grooving, for moshing, for swaying and of course, for listening. Taking one last spin through the sounds of the past 12 months, our music writers tell us what they heard.
JAPAN
Dec 18, 2001

Obituary: Hiroshi Minami

Pioneer social psychologist Hiroshi Minami died early Monday of pneumonia at a Tokyo hospital, his family said. He was 87.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 18, 2001

Sowing the seeds of revolution

Does the end of Taliban rule mean that the people of Afghanistan can now look forward to a new era of peace and freedom? Not according to the Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan, who believe that unless all fundamentalist groups in the country are disarmed, a repeat of the brutality...
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 16, 2001

Heading off hooligans at 2002 World Cup

The 2002 soccer World Cup draw was a confusing and nerve-racking affair for the national team coaches and officials attending the ceremony in Pusan, South Korea, and for the many fans watching on television all over the world. For Japanese soccer officials, the collective sigh of relief never happened....
JAPAN
Dec 15, 2001

Traps planned to corral pesky Tokyo crows

The Tokyo Metropolitan Government plans to launch a sweeping operation this month against the capital's crows, notorious for attacking piles of garbage and even small animals.
JAPAN
Dec 15, 2001

Tax reforms to result in 30 billion yen revenue loss

The ruling coalition announced a package of tax reforms for fiscal 2002 on Friday evening that will result in an estimated revenue loss of about 30 billion yen.
BUSINESS
Dec 12, 2001

NTT, SCE agree on fast link for PlayStation2

Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. said Tuesday it has agreed with NTT Broadband Initiative Inc. and Sony Communication Network Corp. to start offering broadband services for PlayStation2 computer game consoles in April.
CULTURE / Art
Dec 12, 2001

The world according to Bucky

Naming himself "Guinea Pig B," Buckminster Fuller vowed that his whole life would be an experiment "to see what an unknown individual . . . might be able to do effectively on behalf of all mankind."
CULTURE / Film
Dec 12, 2001

Walking a fine line between silly and smart

Monkeybone Rating: * * * Director: Henry Selick Running time: 93 minutes Language: English Now showing
Japan Times
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Dec 9, 2001

And they call it puppy love

H igh on the cuteness scale this week is TBS's "Dobutsu Kiso Tengai (Unbelievable Animals)" (tonight, 8 p.m.), a variety-cum-quiz show that covers animals both wild and domesticated.
JAPAN
Dec 9, 2001

Jazz singer only trying to make today better than yesterday

Making one's musical debut at the age of 40 night be seen a source of amusement in an industry dominated by the younger generation, but for jazz singer Chie Ayado the release of her first album, "For All We Know," in June 1998 was the start of her rise to fame.
CULTURE / Music / J-POPSICLE
Dec 5, 2001

The man with the plan

Jack Matsumura is a man with a mission: to turn Nippon Columbia, Japan's oldest label, into a profitable, hit-making record company once again.
BUSINESS
Dec 3, 2001

Management buyouts find favor as restructuring tool

Management buyouts, a form of corporate acquisition in which management teams invest in the acquisition financing, have exceeded 100 billion yen so far this year, eclipsing the record of 40 billion yen set in 2000.
JAPAN / Media / CHANNEL SURF
Dec 2, 2001

They're playing our song . . .

The Japanese penal system is a murky realm since contact between inmates and the outside world is limited. Much of what is reported about prison life is received from indirect sources.
BUSINESS
Dec 1, 2001

Household spending posts 1.6% increase

Wage-earning households spent 1.6 percent more in real terms in October than they did a year earlier, the first rise in seven months, the government said Friday.
LIFE / Digital / NAME OF THE GAME
Nov 29, 2001

The battle is for second

The door to the haunted house creeks open and a terrified man with a mustache and chattering teeth peers in.
CULTURE / Film
Nov 28, 2001

The empire strikes back

Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone Rating: * * * * Director: Chris Columbus Running time: 152 minutes Language: English Now showing
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Nov 28, 2001

Reaching out in dramatic style

"Am-dram" may attract devotion and derision in equal measure, but in Japan a strong tradition of amateur English-language theater has been serving the wider community for nearly 150 years.
SPORTS / SPORTS SCOPE
Nov 22, 2001

Dark clouds looming in the Sky

I wish Southampton would buy a Japanese player. Sky-Perfect TV would get all excited, send over an army of media and TV crews and, "presto," I would be watching Southampton games every weekend. Christmas would have come early for a frustrated Saints fan who hardly ever gets to see his team play, apart...
CULTURE / Film
Nov 21, 2001

All under the sun

The Japanese, my barber once told me, "don't really think of Hawaii as America -- for us, it's more like part of Japan." But after Sept. 11, many Japanese who might have otherwise booked a wedding in Honolulu or a golf holiday in Maui suddenly realized that Hawaii really was part of the United States...

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.