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CULTURE / Music
Sep 30, 2001

Going off the beaten track

Relaxed is not a term one would usually associate with Ken Ishii. As Japan's premier techno producer and DJ, he has created a sleek, cutting-edge repertoire that is bristling with tension.
JAPAN
Sep 29, 2001

Parents of fire victim seek redress

The parents of one of the 44 people who died in the Sept. 1 fire in Shinjuku Ward, Tokyo, have filed a request to classify their son's death as a work-related disaster, sources close to the case said Friday.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Sep 28, 2001

Sesame Street for better English learning

The creators of "Sesame Street" are developing new content and materials to make the highly successful children's television program more useful for Japanese children learning English.
CULTURE / Film
Sep 26, 2001

Living on songs and a prayer

Duets Rating: * * * Director: Bruce Paltrow Running time: 112 minutes Language: English Now showing
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Sep 23, 2001

The city within

There are three things that stir the heart of every true Tokyoite: sento (public baths), mazelike roji (alleys) and matsuri (festivals). Over the last couple of decades, all three have been gradually fading from the city scene, though there are still pockets in the megalopolis where they can be found...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Sep 23, 2001

Living in the past, with pleasure

A short walk along a twisting, narrow stone path branching off a busy road through Tokyo's Yanaka district brings you to the warm glow of a small andon lamp, its paper shade mounted on a wooden frame.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Sep 23, 2001

Dream weavers of a bygone era

When made up for work, Norie is perhaps as close to the classic image of Japan as you could wish. Clad in a colorful yet demure kimono, wooden sandals and a jet-black wig that provides a striking contrast to the white makeup lavished on her fine features, she looks like a doll.
JAPAN
Sep 22, 2001

Vivre's demise will leave a gap in Osaka

OSAKA -- The bankruptcy of the Osaka-based Mycal group earlier this month sent shock waves through the business and financial worlds.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / PERSONALITY PROFILE
Sep 22, 2001

Minako Suzuki

When she was a little girl, Minako Suzuki used to like "dreaming of being someone else." Many little girls play similar pretend games. In Minako's case, her pretending led her professionally and as a volunteer to the world of entertainment.
JAPAN
Sep 20, 2001

Obituary: Mami Yonemori

Mami Yonemori, a former TV anchorwoman who later formed the trio known as Dora, died of an undisclosed cause earlier this month, acquaintances said Wednesday. She was 34.
CULTURE / Music / J-POPSICLE
Sep 19, 2001

Prepared for blastoff

The title of British pub-rocker Nick Lowe's 1978 album "Pure Pop for Now People" aptly describes the sound of Tokyo-based band The Cymbals. The trio's music is bright, intelligent, catchy and easy on the ears -- but with enough of a rock punch to avoid saccharine overkill.
COMMUNITY
Sep 16, 2001

Divination business thriving, for the foreseeable future

Head bowed, eyes closed, silently intoning my birth date and a prayer-like plea for good fortune; I feel a little silly, but I'm doing as I've been told.
BUSINESS
Sep 15, 2001

GameCube console released, takes on rival PlayStation2

Nintendo Co. released its GameCube video game console on the Japanese market Friday, mounting a challenge to the PlayStation2 console produced by Sony Computer Entertainment Inc.
LIFE / Travel
Sep 11, 2001

Escape urban chaos to old Thailand

NONTHABURI, Thailand -- In the eyes of Sulak Sivaraksa, Thailand's most caustic social critic, Bangkok has become "a third-rate Western city." Monster malls, condos, fast-food franchises, discos and billboards for Western clothes and appliances have gradually eroded the city's Asian look and atmosphere....
JAPAN / WEEKEND WISDOM
Sep 9, 2001

Takarazuka chief pins group's success on Japan's decline

The success of the extravagant, all-woman Takarazuka theatrical troupe over the past decade owes a great deal to Japan's economic decline since the bubble economy of the late 1980s burst, according to Shinji Ueda, president of the Takarazuka Revue Co.
CULTURE / Books
Sep 9, 2001

This is the season of our national discontent

Last week's edition of Aera (Sept. 3) looked at the current "Age of Discontent," while Bungei Shunju published a special issue in August on ways to find happiness. Both themes currently feature on the shelves of Japanese bookstores as well.
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Sep 9, 2001

For your regular viewing pleasure

Those who believe young people don't have proper peer models should check out TBS's "Sekai Ururun Taizai (World Sojourn)," which, every Sunday at 10 p.m., features a young celebrity traveling to a distant corner of the globe and living with a local family while learning a local skill or craft.
JAPAN
Sep 6, 2001

Trash outside game parlor rendered fire door useless

A mountain of garbage on the landing outside a mah-jongg game parlor destroyed in a fatal fire early Saturday was blocking a fire door, stopping it from automatically closing when fire alarms went off, police investigating the blaze said Wednesday.
JAPAN
Sep 5, 2001

Lethal gases blamed for Shinjuku inferno deaths

Most of the 44 people who died from a fire in a building in Tokyo's Shinjuku Ward at the weekend are believed to have died less than two minutes after inhaling carbon monoxide or hydrocyanic acid gas, investigators said Tuesday.
CULTURE / Music
Sep 2, 2001

Foot-stompin', heart-stoppin' stuff

Carlinhos Brown is a phenomenon. Since the 1996 release of the highly acclaimed "Alfagamabetizado," he has been a prominent figure on the world music scene and compared to everyone from Prince, for his intriguing mix of musical styles, to Bob Marley, for his charismatic stage presence. At his show Aug....
JAPAN
Sep 2, 2001

Tokyo hoping to double number of foreign tourists

The Tokyo Metropolitan Government hopes to more than double the number of foreign tourists visiting Tokyo to 6 million a year within five years and is considering building a casino to attract visitors, officials said.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Sep 1, 2001

In Dog Heaven, pee on the Pearly Gates

There is much talk these days about the first tourists to the moon and Mars. Everyone wants to be the first to go. Except me. I'm not interested in going to the moon or Mars. I have a hankering to go someplace much farther away and much more exciting. I want to be the first person to go to Dog Heaven....
JAPAN
Aug 27, 2001

SMAP member Inagaki released from jail

Goro Inagaki, a member of the pop group SMAP who was being held by police on suspicion of obstructing and injuring a police officer, was released Sunday afternoon.
BUSINESS
Aug 27, 2001

Consolidated taxation slated for wholly owned subsidiaries

The Finance Ministry has decided to introduce a consolidated taxation system for companies and their wholly owned subsidiaries in fiscal 2002, ministry sources said Sunday.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 25, 2001

Scandals have Chirac on the defensive

LONDON -- August is the month when, traditionally, the French forget about the cares of everyday life as they head for long holidays at home or abroad. But, this year, the most eminent of them as had a far from relaxing time. Just nine months before he faces an uphill re-election battle, President Jacques...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Aug 25, 2001

Where there's a will (to return), there's a way

Endre Hules is fretting about his kids. "I never imagined it would be so hard to leave them with a baby sitter. I feel incomplete."
COMMENTARY
Aug 25, 2001

Japan should borrow more

In a small rural valley where I spend weekends, peace has been destroyed for almost a year by the roar of several large machines trying furiously to convert a few hectares of swamp and abandoned farmland into usable rice paddies. The project is heavily subsidized by the government.
JAPAN / 50 YEARS SINCE SAN FRANCISCO
Aug 25, 2001

Focus sharpens on Japan-U.S. economic relations

Staff writer While Japan and the United States exited the 20th century as the world's two largest economic powers, Tokyo and Washington had little to celebrate when they crossed the threshold into the new century.
BUSINESS
Aug 22, 2001

Survey shows one in five companies doles out shareholder sweeteners

One in five publicly traded companies hands out gifts to shareholders, mainly in the form of its own goods and services, according to a Daiwa Securities Co. survey.

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.