Search - special

 
 
JAPAN
Dec 18, 2000

Societal barriers facing disabled may prove the most formidable

As deputy chief of the Japanese delegation at the Sydney Paralympic Games this summer, Tsunenobu Wakana was impressed with the handicapped-friendly facilities and transportation system.
JAPAN
Dec 17, 2000

Tokyo to open parks and zoos for New Year's holiday season

The New Year's holiday season is one of the rare occasions when the hustle and bustle of Tokyo comes to a temporary halt as dwellers of the metropolis leave in droves.
CULTURE / Music
Dec 17, 2000

A true match made in heaven

Wiener Philharmoniker Nov. 16, Seiji Ozawa conducting in Suntory Hall -- Symphony No. 3 in F Minor, Op. 90; Symphony No. 2 in D Major, Op. 73 (Johannes Brahms, 1833-97)
JAPAN
Dec 16, 2000

Ogi rocks the boat with airport review

Transport Minister Chikage Ogi recently sparked a row over a key part of the nation's future infrastructure plans when she suggested a review of the roles of Haneda and Narita airports.
JAPAN
Dec 15, 2000

Bush expected to focus on Japan rather than China

Experts on Japanese-U.S. relations broadly see George W. Bush's victory in the U.S. presidential election as a good sign for Tokyo, as the Republican Party places relatively strong importance on Japan in its Asia policy, and the new administration is expected to take a less-confrontational approach to...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Dec 14, 2000

Dining out in year-end style

With Christmas a mere 10 days away, it is unlikely that anyone has failed to make their arrangements for celebrations, either on the day itself or during the Yuletide run-up. However, just in time for the season of good cheer, overeating and loosening of purse strings, here are two places (opened in...
JAPAN
Dec 13, 2000

Narita-Haneda role reversal not in offing, Ogi assures

The current rules on the roles of Haneda and Narita airports will not change in the immediate future, Transport Minister Chikage Ogi said Tuesday in an apparent effort to fend off stronger-than-expected protests from Chiba Prefecture.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Dec 13, 2000

The willow world stripped bare

GEISHA: The Secret History of a Vanishing World, by Lesley Downer. London: Headline Books, 2000, 370 pp., 20 British pounds. A common question asked about geisha is: Do they or don't they? Their attraction seems balanced between artistic prowess and sex appeal, but just how often is the latter properly...
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST
Dec 6, 2000

Expats all losers, choosers or abusers?

Wetting my whistle on a humid afternoon inside a Tokyo establishment for the soberly impaired, I listened to the following affirmation by a foreign longtime friend.
SOCCER / J. League
Dec 3, 2000

First leg ends scoreless

YOKOHAMA -- One of the arguments against the J. League having a two-stage format is that the first-stage champion spends the entire second stage coasting.
SOCCER / J. League
Nov 30, 2000

Alex: Dreadlocks in deadlock at S-Pulse

SHIMIZU, Shizuoka Pref. -- It's an image that sticks very firmly in the mind. Sixty seconds into a crucial game against the Yokohama F. Marinos, a brilliant 60-meter pass out of defense by Kazuyuki Toda catches a flurry of dreadlocks on the run.
CULTURE / Music
Nov 28, 2000

Embracing both past and present, shakuhachi gala blows up a storm

KYOTO -- A gala concert by shakuhachi grandmaster Genzan Miyoshi Dec. 3 at the Kyoto Concert Hall promises something for everyone: An array of traditional and modern pieces performed as solos, "hogaku orchestras" and everything in between.
JAPAN
Nov 27, 2000

Fujimori denies transfer of funds

Deposed Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori on Sunday denied allegations that he has had $18 million in secret funds remitted to Japanese bank accounts.
JAPAN
Nov 24, 2000

Tokyo politician arrested in loan-brokering scam

Public prosecutors have arrested Tai Yamazaki, a member of the Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly, on suspicion of conspiring with a broker who has overcharged for mediating low-interest loans for small businesses, prosecutors said.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 17, 2000

Generosity toward China faces tough test

The first sweeping review of Japan's generous official development assistance for China is under way within the government and the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, amid growing domestic criticism of such aid.
LIFE / Travel
Nov 15, 2000

Russia's Baltic outpost

Mikhail Ivanovich Kalinin was not one of Russian history's shining stars. An unpleasant figure, he found favor with dictator Josef Stalin and rose to become Soviet president before dying in 1946. Nonetheless, in the fashion of those times, his surname was given to two major Russian cities and their accompanying...
JAPAN
Nov 11, 2000

Economic development key for Mideast: Jordan envoy

The new Jordanian ambassador to Japan, Samir Issa Naouri, emphasized Friday that economic development would be a more effective way to solve problems in the Middle East.
JAPAN
Nov 9, 2000

Ruling bloc eyes bill to cut state-funded corporations

The three ruling parties agreed Wednesday to submit to a bill to the Diet next week to slash the number of state-funded special corporations by the end of fiscal 2005 as a means of streamlining the administration, party officials said.
LIFE / Food & Drink / NIHONSHU
Nov 9, 2000

More the merrier at Shinjuku's Zonbun

Shinjuku can be daunting, to say the least. Especially when you are in a group, looking for a place to hang and eat and drink. Where to begin looking can be as problematic as finding a place the whole group can fit. Add the prospect of everyone enjoying good sake, and you might as well throw in the o-shibori....
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Nov 9, 2000

Now is the season of our great content

It's all too easy to take for granted a restaurant of the caliber of Les Saisons. Ensconced within the venerable portals of the Imperial Hotel, it is plush, self-assured and runs with the same effortless reliability as a well-tuned Bentley sports car. You just know that an evening at table is going to...
EDITORIALS
Nov 7, 2000

Falling through the cracks

Twenty-five million people around the world have been forced to leave their homes as a result of conflict or natural disasters. Yet as a result of a legal quirk, these individuals -- unlike the 13 million others whose flight takes them across international boundaries -- have no special status and enjoy...
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 4, 2000

Tax evasion vs. official misbehavior

Globalization is widely seen as contributing to clear increases in economic growth. Yet many governments view this development as a poisoned chalice. Politicians and bureaucrats fear that eliminating exchange controls and removing barriers to capital flows will lead to extensive revenue losses from tax...
SOCCER / World cup
Nov 3, 2000

FIFA likely to get 2002 tax exemption

The Japanese government plans to exempt soccer's world governing body FIFA from taxes on profits from commercial projects related to the 2002 World Cup, mostly by utilizing existing taxation measures, government sources said Thursday.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Nov 2, 2000

English teaching comes home to roost as foreign corporations invade Japan

When I was teaching English to Japanese business people in the late '80s, the main purpose was to prepare them for overseas assignments. In many cases, the students were not management people, but technicians and blue-collar workers. They were being sent to the U.S. or Europe to train employees in factories...
COMMENTARY
Oct 23, 2000

LDP is up to its old tricks

The current 150th Diet session is in unprecedented chaos over an electoral reform bill to revise the Upper House voting system. The bill would change the roster system for candidates nominated in the proportional-representation segment of the Upper House polls. Currently, parties predetermine the ranks...
CULTURE / Music
Oct 21, 2000

A cool wind blowing in from the north of Japan

Of all Japan's own instruments, the shakuhachi, a simple five-hole, end-blown flute made from the root end of a bamboo stalk, has achieved the greatest success beyond these shores.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Oct 19, 2000

Glittering prizes on the Ginza

There's a new tenant on Ginza's shopping street, a new jewel.

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