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BUSINESS
May 5, 2001

DoCoMo's 3G service delay raises more questions

Last week's decision by NTT DoCoMo Inc. to scale back the introduction of third generation (3G) mobile phone services confirmed the skepticism of many observers about its launch date. But it proved the company was willing to cut prices to allow more consumers to access its richer, higher-speed content....
CULTURE / Music / J-POPSICLE
May 2, 2001

Power Puffy girls

Is America ready for Puffy? The pop duo's record label, Sony Music Entertainment (Japan), apparently thinks so. Sony Music Imports released Puffy's most recent album, "Spike," in the U.S. on May 1, in the hope that Americans will go gaga over Ami and Yumi in the same way Japanese and other Asians have....
JAPAN
May 1, 2001

Release of bilingual CD aims to soothe Tokyo-Seoul discord

Cultural exchanges between Japan and South Korea have made steady progress since the first deregulation of Japanese popular culture in South Korea in 1998, according to Kiyomi Kaneko, secretary general of the Foundation for Promotion of Music Industry and Culture (Promic).
LIFE / Travel
May 1, 2001

The end of a British institution?

LONDON -- The sleekly dressed man brandishing the Koran and standing on an upturned crate is getting very worked up. He points at a man in the crowd and shouts a retort, furious.
CULTURE / Film
Apr 25, 2001

Gambling with reality, double or nothing

Doubles Rating: * * * 1/2 Director: Satoru Isaka Running time: 90 minutes Language: JapaneseNow showing The title of Satoru Isaka's new film, "Doubles," is ironic, but appropriate. Its two heroes -- a middle-aged locksmith (Kenichi Hagiwara) and young computer nerd (Kazuma Suzuki) -- are unlikely partners...
JAPAN
Apr 22, 2001

Single Tokyoites lash out on entertainment, phones

Young, single Tokyoites spend 40 percent of their living expenses on food, drink and phone bills, according to a recent survey.
CULTURE / Music
Apr 22, 2001

A new drumbeat resounds around the world

The powerful beat of taiko (Japanese drums) of different sizes vibrates the air, while the delicate sound of shinobue (bamboo flute) adds spice to the dynamic rhythm. On stage is taiko troupe Tokyo Dageki Dan: four muscular men drumming and another with the flute.
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Apr 22, 2001

Big novels get the small-screen treatment

Jiro Asada won Japan's prestigious Naoki Prize for literature in 1997 for his novel "Poppoya," which was later made into a hit movie starring Ken Takakura. His followup, "Tengoku made no Hyaku Mairu (The One Hundred Miles to Heaven)," was published in the fall of 1998. Veteran TV director Katsumi Oyama...
JAPAN
Apr 21, 2001

Contorted system spells short-term leaders

Unless one is a political analyst or blessed with an excellent memory, it is close to impossible to correctly rattle off the names of Japan's prime ministers since the late 1980s. There have simply been too many in that time.
CULTURE / Books
Apr 15, 2001

Cracks in the great wall of China

CHINESE SOCIETY: Change, Conflict and Resistance, edited by Elizabeth J. Perry and Mark Selden. London, Routledge, 2000, 249 pp., $27.99. A single image dominates Western perceptions of the regime in China since the Tiananmen massacre of 1989: that of a government willing to crack down mercilessly...
JAPAN
Apr 13, 2001

Ex-politician convicted in loan scam, avoids bars

Former Tokyo Metropolitan Assemblyman Tai Yamazaki was given a suspended 30-month prison term and fined 2.5 million yen Thursday for conspiring with a broker who overcharged for mediating low-interest loans for small businesses.
JAPAN
Apr 13, 2001

Disparaging title forces video delay

Sony Pictures Entertainment Japan Inc. was forced to stop release of a psycho-thriller video after receiving complaints from autistic patients whose condition is used in the Japanese title of the video, it was learned Thursday.
BUSINESS
Apr 10, 2001

Upgraded PlayStation2 on the way

Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. on April 18 will launch an upgraded version of its PlayStation2 video game console in which a hard disk drive can be installed.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / PERSONALITY PROFILE
Apr 7, 2001

Rebeka Majid

At the beginning of this year, the Asian Ladies Friendship Society was formally renamed the Asia-Pacific Ladies Friendship Society. "This name better reflects the society's present composition," said Mrs. Rebeka Majid, wife of the ambassador of Bangladesh.
CULTURE / Film
Apr 4, 2001

The genius boy in a bubble

My mother used to say that she could read me like a book. A compliment? At the age of 15, I didn't think so -- I didn't want anyone "reading" me, let alone dear old Mom. Worshipping at the altar of cool, I wanted to be an inscrutable, unflappable James Bond, not a hapless innocent walking down the pitiless...
LIFE / Food & Drink
Apr 1, 2001

Takoyaki wars shift to Tokyo

There was a time when takoyaki (octopus dumplings) were dismissed by Tokyoites as festival fare or a snack for kids. In recent years, though, takoyaki has found fans outside its birthplace of Osaka and joined the ranks of other Kansai-Kanto crossovers such as okonomiyaki and Yoshimoto-style comedy (think...
LIFE / Food & Drink / BEST BAR NONE
Apr 1, 2001

Misunderstanding in the shadows, five flights up

Like many, I initially confused Gokai with Go, another fifth-floor hideout on Meiji-dori going toward Shibuya. Having ascertained that it is in the building next to the crepe shop on the corner of Takeshita and Meiji-dori, I then thought people meant Bar Poor, another cavelike perch with hobbit-sized...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Apr 1, 2001

Ohkura brings kabuki to life

KABUKI TODAY: The Art and Tradition. Photographs by Shunji Ohkura, text by Iwao Kamimura, translated by Kirsten McIvor. Introduction by Donald Keene. Tokyo: Kodansha International, 2001, 194 pp., profusely illustrated. 5,800 yen. This lavish volume, as extravagant as the kabuki itself, is devoted to...
BUSINESS
Mar 27, 2001

Department store sales dip for fifth straight month

Sales at department stores dropped 2.5 percent in February from a year before for the fifth straight month of decline, an industry group said Monday.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Mar 25, 2001

Hot rod 'tribes' roar into the night

It's 2:30 a.m. on a Friday night outside the Shibaura parking area, a thin strip of concrete and pavement stuck to a pillar under the belly of Tokyo's Rainbow Bridge. There's a flash of red taillights as vehicles speed in. New arrivals are greeted by leather-clad bikers revving their engines, spitting...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Mar 23, 2001

How diplomats express Japan

An Australian diplomat found modern Japanese weddings exciting and representing of the adaptability of the nation's culture, while a British participant described how much he loves "onsen" hot springs. And both did so in smooth Japanese.
BUSINESS
Mar 22, 2001

Tertiary industry index slips

The government said Wednesday that an index designed to gauge economic activity in Japan's tertiary industries slid 0.5 percent in January from the previous month.
JAPAN
Mar 21, 2001

U.S. warships not welcome in Hokkaido

While U.S. Ambassador Thomas Foley was receiving an award Jan. 9 aboard the USS Blue Ridge for his contribution to increased visits by U.S. naval vessels to Japanese ports, the mayor of Tomakomai, Hokkaido, was expressing opposition to a planned February visit to his town by the flagship.
CULTURE / Music
Mar 20, 2001

Gion's coolest geiko carves out her own funky groove

She's small, she's cute, she's lively and at 14 she used to do Deep Purple covers fronting her brother's rock band.
JAPAN
Mar 19, 2001

State funds lavished on Diet members

Japanese diplomatic establishments in foreign countries used discretionary government funds to wine and dine visiting Diet members, a Foreign Ministry internal document revealed.
BUSINESS
Mar 18, 2001

Kansai mulls ways to attract U.S. cash

OSAKA -- Discussion on America's relationship with the Kansai region generally centers on business investment or the lack thereof.
SPORTS / SPORTS SCOPE
Mar 15, 2001

Time for NHL to quit whining and get the red out!

The National Hockey League general managers wrapped up their annual meetings in the California desert last week. As usual, one major topic of conversation was how to speed up the game and increase the flow of play.
BUSINESS
Mar 9, 2001

Average household expenditures drop 0.5% in January

Average household spending fell a real 0.5 percent in January from a year earlier to 307,952 yen following a 2.1 percent gain in December, the government says in a preliminary report released Thursday.

Longform

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