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EDITORIALS
Feb 25, 2001

Ode to the Oedo Line

You don't really notice it unless you go looking for it. Mostly, it's hidden away underground, catching the eye at street level only in places where its irrational exuberance breaks through: as a funky glass-tiled box at Akabanebashi, say, or huge, alien-looking metal leaf shapes at Iidabashi. Even the...
JAPAN
Feb 24, 2001

Kono's Okinawa visit set to focus on base issues

Foreign Minister Yohei Kono will meet Sunday with Okinawa Gov. Keiichi Inamine and other officials in Okinawa to discuss issues relating to the U.S. military presence in the prefecture, Kono said Friday.
JAPAN
Feb 18, 2001

Unusual body shop fills in the blanks

OSAKA -- After dealing with the usual prewedding chores of choosing venues, flowers, dresses, menus and guests, the young bride-to-be was faced with one final task: find a finger to go with her ring.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Feb 15, 2001

NTT's still calling all the shots

As is apparent to anyone who owns a computer in Japan, the government's stated aim of making the nation an IT powerhouse will come to nothing until telecommunications connection fees become more rational.
CULTURE / Art
Feb 8, 2001

Calligraphy: a goodwill ambassador for Japanese culture

MADRID -- I used to take it for granted in my youth that my practice of "sho" (Japanese calligraphy) would bear no relation to my career as a diplomat, but over the past half century I have often found that sho serves as a good topic of conversation with my guests.
JAPAN
Feb 6, 2001

Embassies said to have fingers in pie

The Japanese embassies of countries officially visited by the prime minister customarily received part of the so-called secret funds controlled by the Cabinet Secretariat as a "bonus" for their services, informed sources said Monday.
BUSINESS
Jan 24, 2001

Prudential to pay 23 billion yen for Orico Life

Prudential Corporation Holdings Ltd. will purchase a full stake in Orico Life Insurance Co. for 23 billion yen on Feb. 13 from its parent company Orient Corp., Prudential and Orient said Tuesday.
EDITORIALS
Jan 23, 2001

Mr. Kim's tutorial

Mr. Kim Jong Il's "secret" trip to China was one of the worst-kept secrets in recent history. Although the Chinese government refused to officially confirm the visit by the reclusive North Korean leader, the news was out as soon as Mr. Kim's special train crossed the border into China last week. If much...
CULTURE / Music
Jan 21, 2001

Smells like a significant odor

To tell you the truth, I'm not really a fan of this "new metal," or whatever you want to call it. I have nothing against rap — Will Smith sounds pretty bitchin' after six or seven Coronas — but metal is special. You don't mess with a perfect art form. Call me a purist, but that's just the way I am....
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Jan 21, 2001

Almost like a mouthful of Momma's tasty tofu

If you're a foreigner in Japan, Japanese people will always ask you, "Why are you in Japan?" If you're a foreigner who has been in Japan a awhile, Japanese people will always ask you, "Why are you still in Japan?"
JAPAN
Jan 14, 2001

Making gardens accessible proving a slippery path

Legend has it that when the Koishikawa Korakuen Garden in Bunkyo Ward was built in the early Edo Period, it boasted gigantic rocks and majestic, ancient trees reminiscent of the steep mountains and dark valleys of China.
COMMENTARY
Jan 12, 2001

Still waiting for real reform

A slimmed-down national government debuted Jan. 6, when Japan's central bureaucracy was reorganized. The realignment cut the number of ministries and agencies, under the Cabinet Office, to 12 from the previous 22.
JAPAN
Jan 11, 2001

Former Chiyoda Mutual board sued for insurer's bankruptcy

Chiyoda Mutual Life Insurance Co., restructuring under the corporate rehabilitation law, filed a 7.136 billion yen damages suit Wednesday against former board members, claiming their reckless loan policies were responsible for the firm's failure.
JAPAN
Jan 10, 2001

Cop impostor just wanted respect

A 25-year-old man was arrested close to the Diet building with a fake lapel pin resembling those worn by members of a special police unit assigned to protect key figures as well as a false bar association membership card, it was learned Tuesday.
ENVIRONMENT / GARDENING FOR ALL
Jan 10, 2001

Daimyo's garden: tall trees among the embassies

Arisugawa Memorial Park has an area of 3.6 hectares and is the largest park in Tokyo's Minato Ward. The collection of tall mature trees gives the park a pleasing woodland effect.
CULTURE / Film
Jan 9, 2001

A peep inside the otaku cocoon

Writing about Japanese films in English, I am usually flying below the radar of the local industry -- I can skewer a director's latest triumph on this page and meet him laterat a party secure in the knowledge that he has not the foggiest idea of what I've said about his movie. Once in a while, though,...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Dec 28, 2000

Looking back at the future

In honor of that particularly Japanese custom of creating instant tradition ("Since 1999"), this last column of the year peers forward by looking back. Here are just three of the many new places we have visited and enjoyed during the past 12 months but never got around to writing up.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / RENDEZVOUS
Dec 24, 2000

Rendezvous

MERRY CHRISTMAS . . . MERRY CHRISTMAS . . . MERRY CHRISTMAS . . . Have a great day. And the best is yet to come for Japan, with the unique welcoming of the new year -- a festival that can take as long as two weeks or a shorter period of about five days, beginning with what westerners call New Year's...
CULTURE / Music
Dec 24, 2000

Chamber orchestras prove light but not flighty

Die Freitagsakademie and l'Ensemble Vocale de Lausanne
LIFE / Style & Design / BEAUTY EAST AND WEST
Dec 21, 2000

Refresh your soul with the scent of eternal rebirth

For me the special warmth, freshness and magic of this time of year is beautifully embodied in its piny scents. The pine of Christmas trees and wreaths segues nicely into the pine of Japanese New Year displays.
JAPAN
Dec 20, 2000

Jazz singer's choir beats holiday blues

Like strangers, they eye each other cautiously at first -- perhaps even with a trace of suspicion. But the music begins, and instantly the room is transformed into a hall housing a choir of angels. A thunderous applause ensues, some tears fall -- and finally the smiles materialize.
LIFE / Digital
Dec 20, 2000

Gifts galore for the gadget lover

Japan constantly churns out high-tech gadgets, and Christmas is a great time to buy the best.
ENVIRONMENT / WILD WATCH
Dec 20, 2000

Glaciers prove ecological succession

That powerful forces have shaped the world we live in is somehow easier to grasp when one lives in a country wracked by earthquakes, dotted with calderas and pocked with active volcanoes.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 19, 2000

Eco-terrorism threatens Galapagos natural treasures, eco-tourism

The Galapagos Islands, the world's second-largest marine reserve, are under attack from fishermen spurred by Asian markets for marine products. The Ecuadorean government has done nothing to halt the eco-terrorism in what only recently was a paradise for eco-tourism.

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