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LIFE / Food & Drink / BEST BAR NONE
Nov 4, 2001

Not just another hole in the wall

Our last stop in Golden Gai takes us in deep -- deep into its heart and soul, deep into its geographical center. This is where you'll find the crumbling cinder-block row houses, which once dominated the area, still clinging to the narrow alleys that zigzag through Golden Gai's core. Whereas Tre Tre and...
LIFE / Lifestyle / MATTER OF COURSE
Nov 2, 2001

No fundraisers or bake sales? Sign me up!

I agreed to serve on the PTA of the Japanese elementary school my children attend, but on one condition: that I didn't have to do any fundraising.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / GARDENS FOR ALL
Nov 1, 2001

A wonderland wrought from one man's vision

In June this year I had the pleasure of visiting three wonderful gardens in California -- all of which I would strongly recommend for a leisurely and enjoyable visit. I will cover one apiece in this and two following articles.
BUSINESS / TAKING STOCK
Oct 30, 2001

Nikkei strong, looking stronger

Now that selling pressure has visibly eased, Tokyo share prices have firmed back to levels before the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States.
Events
Oct 30, 2001

House of noble poets displays treasures from ancient Japan

KYOTO -- Tucked away near the southeast corner of Doshisha University in Kyoto is the last surviving house of Japanese nobility. Home to the Reizei family, it is now occupied by 54-year-old Kimiko Reizei and her husband, Tamehito, head of Tamao Kai, a school that teaches traditional "waka" poetry.
LIFE / Travel
Oct 30, 2001

Where conflict meets contemplation

There is much to be said for Japan's provincial towns. As they rarely host more than a trickle of visitors, the spoils from tourism are never quite enough to disfigure them or completely vulgarize their heritage.
JAPAN
Oct 29, 2001

Postal unit fined for not declaring income

An affiliate of the Postal Services Agency failed to declare about 120 million yen in income over a three-year period up to March this year, informed sources said.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Oct 28, 2001

Isola blu: The upper crust of Ginza

Our appreciation of Isola's superb pizza is already a matter of record: "A work of art . . . As close to perfection as you will ever need to get," we said -- and we have no reason to revise our opinion. When it comes to the location, though, the Food File is far less effusive. Isola is such a long haul...
BUSINESS
Oct 25, 2001

Coalition finalizes bill adding to RCC's power

The ruling coalition finalized a bill Wednesday to expand the government-funded Resolution and Collection Corp.'s powers to clean up banks' nonperforming loans.
CULTURE / Art
Oct 24, 2001

A small bite of the Big Apple

For a sampler of art from New York, check out Nihonbashi's Onward Gallery.
CULTURE / Art
Oct 24, 2001

Life's odd journey and the wonder of Y

With the press conference and vernissage just hours away, workers were hurriedly making final adjustments to the Hara Museum's big new Tadanori Yokoo show when one of them turned to me and said, "You know, many curators were trying for this exhibition." At least that's what I thought she said. As Yokoo,...
CULTURE / Art
Oct 24, 2001

The sublime city and state of mind

Art history, like the military kind, is written by the victors. Thus Florentine Giorgio Vasari's encyclopedic "Lives of the Artists," published in 1550, is a propagandist's account of his home city's starring role in the artistic and intellectual phenomenon we now call the Renaissance.
BUSINESS
Oct 17, 2001

Ashikaga head to quit as losses mount

The president of Ashikaga Bank, a Tochigi-based regional bank, said Tuesday he intends to resign next year to take responsibility for projected heavy losses.
JAPAN
Oct 17, 2001

Koizumi leaves SDF bill behind, puts focus on economic revival

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi cleared his biggest political hurdle in the ongoing Diet session Tuesday as the Lower House special committee approved a bill enabling the Self-Defense Forces to provide noncombat support to any U.S.-led response to the Sept. 11 attacks.
JAPAN
Oct 9, 2001

Park tests new transit system

AWAJI ISLAND, Hyogo Pref. -- At first glance, the buses that carry visitors around the Awaji Farm Park look like any others.
LIFE / Travel / ON THE ARCHIPELA-GO
Oct 8, 2001

Adventures in wine country

For many years, Hakushu village, tucked away in Yamanashi Prefecture, was the venue for a colorful international festival featuring avant-garde performances by musicians, dancers and other artists.
LIFE / Food & Drink / VINELAND
Oct 7, 2001

From plonk to classics, Shinanoya has got it all

For wine fans, the Daita neighborhood in Tokyo's Setagaya Ward is a worthy destination. This part of town is home to one of Tokyo's most impressive wine stores. Shinanoya Shokuhin Co. has existed for 50 years. By 1998, the wine and spirits department at Shinanoya Supermarket was outgrowing its shelf...
CULTURE / Books
Oct 7, 2001

A lonely struggle for recognition

LEGACIES OF THE COMFORT WOMEN OF WORLD WAR II, edited by Margaret Stetz and Bonnie B.C. Oh. M.E. Sharpe: Armonk, NY, 2001, 230 pp., $55 (cloth) More than 50 years after the end of World War II, the question of whether or not the Japanese government bears responsibility for forcing tens of thousands...
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / PERSONALITY PROFILE
Oct 6, 2001

Hideo Takeda

In 1956 the College Women's Association of Japan held in Tokyo its first print show. Since then in an unbroken sequence the show has been an annual event, prestigious for the artists participating, felicitous for admirers and collectors of contemporary Japanese print art. For this year's show, CWAJ received...
JAPAN
Oct 4, 2001

Survey on nursing-fee reductions planned

The Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry will survey municipalities that are reducing or waiving premiums for nursing-care insurance for low-income senior citizens, ministry officials said.
ENVIRONMENT / WILD WATCH
Oct 4, 2001

Marveling at mammalian masters of flight

I have dreamed of flying since childhood, and perhaps that is why I am obsessed with flying creatures. As ground-hugging humans, we readily identify with our fellow terrestrial mammals, assuming, easily enough, that being earthbound is a natural state for life on earth. But, think again. Even among the...
CULTURE / Art
Oct 3, 2001

Missing links steal the show

Imitation may be the sincerest form of flattery, but it is also a dubious honor. For some 15 years, until his death in 1610, Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio's brooding and beautiful works scandalized Church and patrons alike, and left a generation of followers -- and copycats -- in his wake.
CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES
Oct 3, 2001

Ray Wylie Hubbard: 'Eternal and Lowdown'

The 1970s produced an amazing crop of Texas singer-songwriters, though few have survived without some, shall we say, "life experiences." Transforming the pain and confusion of such experiences into self-revelatory, tight-rocking songs is what the Texas troubadour tradition is all about.
JAPAN
Oct 2, 2001

'Tankan' shows mood darkening across the board

Business sentiment among large manufacturers fell for the third consecutive quarter amid increased fears of a global economic downturn, according to a key economic survey released Monday by the Bank of Japan.
JAPAN
Oct 2, 2001

Miyazaki opens animation museum in Mitaka

Popular film director Hayao Miyazaki opened the Ghibli Museum of animation in Mitaka, western Tokyo, on Monday, greeting visitors eager to see his latest creations.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Sep 30, 2001

Love, love them do

Ask Kyoshi Matsushita about "Beatlemania" and he's far more likely to wax lyrical about Lucanidae, Silphidae, Scarabaedae and Dorcus titanus than John, Paul, George and Ringo.
CULTURE / Books
Sep 30, 2001

Postwar Japan finds a voice

SILENCE TO LIGHT: Japan and the Shadows of War, Manoa 13:1, edited by Frank Stewart and Leza Lowitz. Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press, 2001, 217 pp. Manoa, published by the University of Hawai'i, is a twice-yearly journal of Pacific Rim writing and graphic art, with each issue devoted to a particular...

Longform

An ongoing shortage of rice has resulted in rising prices for Japan's main food staple.
Why Japan is running out of rice — and farmers to grow it