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CULTURE / Art
Aug 15, 2001

A 'subversive' finally brought in from the cold

In 1953, Kansuke Yamamoto wrote: "The surreal exists within the real. Tireless experimentation with new photography leads to the creation of a new beauty."
JAPAN / WEEKEND WISDOM
Aug 12, 2001

Copying Kyoto is way to revitalize Japan, fashion critic says

KYOTO -- If Japan wants to revitalize the sluggish economy and turn its prospects around, there are plenty of indications that Kyoto's way of life as well as its way of doing business are the answer, according to Hiromi Ichida, a fashion critic who has lived in the ancient capital for more than half...
CULTURE / Art / CERAMIC SCENE
Aug 8, 2001

Treasures to be hoarded

Here's an odd request: have a look in my closet.
CULTURE / Film
Aug 1, 2001

. . . And then there's angst

Ghost World Rating: * * * * 1/4 Director: Terry Zwigoff Running time: 111 minutes Language: EnglishNow showing If you're lucky, you made it all the way through high school as one of the in-group, one of the "normal" kids. The next least-bad fate was to not fit in, but remain convinced that somehow...
JAPAN
Aug 1, 2001

Prize-winning ninja novelist Futaro Yamada dies at 79

Futaro Yamada, whose unique, romantic and exciting ninja novels sent tidal waves through the Japanese literary world, died of pneumonia at a Tokyo hospital Saturday, his family said Tuesday. He was 79.
COMMENTARY
Jul 31, 2001

Making decentralization work

In a recent report, a state panel urged the central government to transfer more tax-collection power to local governments and help them secure their own tax revenues. I have no objections to the proposal, made by the Decentralization Promotion Committee in its final report to Prime Minister Junichiro...
EDITORIALS
Jul 29, 2001

A monument in the sand

Over the past quarter century, a dream has slowly been taking shape on the edge of the Mediterranean in the fabled but faded Egyptian city of Alexandria. This autumn, the world will finally get a chance to take the measure of that dream.
CULTURE / Art
Jul 18, 2001

Painting all the layers of knowledge and color in the Buddhist universe

'There is no room for originality in thangka painting," says Yumyo Miyasaka. "The iconography, the colors, even the way you hold the brush -- everything must be done just so." Self-expression is not the goal here; the pictures are an aid, a tool for meditation. The self is what you are trying to lose....
CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES
Jul 18, 2001

The Beta Band: 'Hot Shots II'

The Beta Band is one of those cool artsy bands and if you like them then you must be pretty "cool" too. At gigs -- which are always attended by stacks of graphic designers, artists and French people -- home videos are played of band members doing really weird stuff like eating birthday cakes and falling...
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Jul 15, 2001

For those about to tapa . . .

In Spain tapas are much more than just food, they're a way of life. There's even a verb -- to "tapa," as it were -- to describe the act of progressing from one tapas bar to another until the wee hours, balancing your intake of alcohol with a succession of light snacks -- always standing up, of course....
ENVIRONMENT / GARDENING FOR ALL
Jul 12, 2001

Foreign plants are right at home in Japan

I have always been interested in the natural origins of plants. Where does a particular plant come from? How and when did it come to this country? Geographic botany investigates the distribution of plants around the world.
CULTURE / Art
Jul 11, 2001

Kusuma's demonic dots, in glorious monochrome

Two years after the triumph of "Love Forever," the large-scale American-curated retrospective that earned Yayoi Kusama long-overdue recognition here at home, Japan's premier visual artist is back with an intimate and wonderful Tokyo gallery show.
CULTURE / Art
Jul 11, 2001

Where dreams of the future met the feminine zeitgeist

According to a song popular during World War l, every cloud has a silver lining. In the case of that exercise in mechanized butchery, the silver lining may have been the improvement in women's social position. With so many men going off to fight and die in the trenches, women played a key role by replacing...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Jul 8, 2001

High-rise to the occasion

When talking about dancing at the Apollo, Americans who grew up in New York during the golden age of jazz tend to wax nostalgic. A smile might spread across their faces as they recall swinging to the sounds of Louis Armstrong and Chick Webb.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Jul 8, 2001

Wright the dealer, not the builder

FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT AND THE ART OF JAPAN, by Julia Meech. New York: Japan Society/Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 2001, 304 pp., 229 illustrations, including 89 color plates. $49.50. Toward the end of his long and successful career as an architect, Frank Lloyd Wright remembered Japan, the scene of so much of...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Jul 1, 2001

1910 Exhibition remembered

THE BRITISH PRESS AND THE JAPAN-BRITISH EXHIBITION OF 1910. Edited by Hirokichi Mutsu. With a preface by Yonosuke Ian Mutsu and an introduction by William H. Coaldrake. Production: The University of Melbourne: Curzon Press, London. 212 pp., with b/w illustration. Unpriced. This is an enlarged and...
COMMUNITY
Jul 1, 2001

If you can't stand the heat . . .

It's that time of year again.
BUSINESS
Jun 30, 2001

Panel drafts debt-waiving guidelines for troubled corporate borrowers

A panel of debtors and creditors on Friday drafted a set of guidelines for debt waivers in an effort to raise transparency in a system accused of distorting market principles.
BUSINESS
Jun 28, 2001

Yen awaits reform showtime

A series of imminent events seem likely to presage future developments on the currency market.
JAPAN
Jun 27, 2001

Green drive may boost economy

More efficient use of resources and better waste policies could boost the economy as well as reaping manifold environmental benefits, according to an inaugural white paper on waste-reduction approved by the Cabinet on Tuesday.
CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES
Jun 27, 2001

Maria Muldaur

Maria Muldaur's 1973 debut album remains, for better or worse, the template for all those eclectic SoCal songbird collections by people like Linda Ronstadt and Valerie Carter; albums that included a little jazz, a little blues, one or two country songs (written by Dolly Parton, usually) and a familiar...
CULTURE / Art
Jun 27, 2001

Unleashing the power of color

The keynote of the ongoing exhibition at the Yasuda Kasai Museum in Shinjuku is the brilliance and vividness of color.
BUSINESS
Jun 26, 2001

Panel approves prepaid car recycling fees

A government advisory panel approved a plan Monday to introduce a prepaid system for car recycling fees, a move intended to reduce the illegal dumping of used cars.
JAPAN
Jun 23, 2001

Late lawmaker left 3.54 billion yen

Tokuma Utsunomiya, a longtime lawmaker who died July 1 at the age of 93, left roughly 3.54 billion yen in taxable assets, according to a recent notice issued by a local tax office.
JAPAN
Jun 23, 2001

Report urges capture of insulator CFCs

A system is urgently needed to prevent ozone-depleting gases contained in insulation material being released into the atmosphere, the Environment Ministry said Friday.
JAPAN
Jun 22, 2001

Koizumi's reform blueprint promises pain before gain

A key panel headed by Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi on Thursday unveiled a sweeping reform program aimed at fixing the bad debt-crippled economy in two to three years.
BUSINESS
Jun 21, 2001

Diet paves way for public entities reform

The Diet on Wednesday enacted a law aimed at reforming public corporations and government-authorized nonprofit bodies.
CULTURE / Art
Jun 20, 2001

A Chinese treasure-trove of beauty

The most astounding piece in the ongoing exhibition of Chinese ceramics, art and objects at Shibuya's Shoto Museum is the large, partially glazed ceramic camel, expressively molded, that greets visitors as they enter.
CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES
Jun 20, 2001

'Tribute to Louis': Nicholas Payton

Nicholas Payton's new release, "Tribute to Louis" (Verve), paints the colors, shapes and textures of Louis Armstrong's tunes on a great big, brand-new canvas. The largish ensembles Payton put together on the CD re-energize Armstrong's earlier, blues-based work from the '20s and '30s on songs such as...
JAPAN
Jun 15, 2001

Transfer more tax authority to local governments: panel

A state panel on decentralization urged the central government Thursday to transfer more authority to local governments to secure their own tax revenues.

Longform

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