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Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Oct 2, 2002

Arto Lindsay: He bangs

Arto Lindsay steps onto the stage. In his late 40s, he still retains the gawkiness of an adolescent boy, all long arms and legs. The image of a geek is completed by large horn-rimmed glasses and a pale complexion.
CULTURE / Music
Sep 29, 2002

Music of the J-people

Japanese pop music is crap. So say many of my friends, especially the non-Japanese ones. They reach that conclusion after noticing that the charts are full of chipmunk-voiced idols who are long on looks and short on talent -- and whose shelf lives are only slightly longer than sushi.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / NATURE TRAVEL
Sep 24, 2002

A cape designed by God with wine in mind

Rule No. 1 for a Cape Wine Route tour is: Find someone else to do the driving.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Sep 22, 2002

Shinsekai Saikan: Old school from the New World

Shinsekai Saikan (or Xinshijie Caiguan, to give it the proper Pinyin reading) has plied its trade at the Jinbocho Crossing since 1946 -- so long, indeed, that it's become one of the neighborhood landmarks. The name may be "New World Restaurant," but this is definitely an establishment of the old school....
Japan Times
JAPAN
Sep 21, 2002

Woman left off list of abductees probably nurse

The Japanese woman abducted to North Korea who was not on Tokyo's official list of 11 is probably a nurse from Sado Island in Niigata Prefecture who vanished along with her mother in 1978, sources said Friday.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Sep 15, 2002

'Socialism' goes shopping at Vuitton free-for-all

As an economic power, Japan is the ideal that the rest of Asia aspires to, but it isn't merely Japan's vast material wealth that everybody envies. There's a social aspect to Japan's success that many see as even more desirable.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / NIHONSHU
Sep 15, 2002

Sake-shopping picks that really hit the spot

There exists, where you would least expect it, a marvelous oasis for sake shopping. Yoshiike department store, just outside Okachimachi Station and just across from the entrance to Ameyokocho, has a fantastic selection of sake and a plethora of sake utensils to go with it.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Sep 14, 2002

Silver, socks make Afghan refugees independent

Shahnaz Akhtar arrived in Tokyo from Pakistan on Sept. 3, a guest of Global Village's Fair Trade Co. in Jiyugaoka, which distributes and sells leather and silver work and embroidered, woven and knitted goods crafted by Afghan refugees under her guidance. The purpose in being here? "To gather information...
Japan Times
JAPAN / THE OKINAWA FACTOR
Sep 13, 2002

Okinawa's free-trade zones failing to attract companies

GUSHIKAWA, Okinawa Pref. -- The Acrorad Co. factory in Okinawa's Nakagusuku Free Trade Zone looks out on more than 100 hectares of empty lots.
BUSINESS
Sep 11, 2002

Industrialists see zero GDP growth in fiscal 2002

Leading corporate managers expect the nation's gross domestic product to post zero growth in fiscal 2002, the Japan Business Federation (Nippon Keidanren) said Tuesday, quoting the results of a recent survey.
JAPAN
Sep 10, 2002

Four injured in kabuki theater blaze

OSAKA -- Four men were injured Monday morning when a fire gutted a closed-down historic kabuki theater in a main entertainment district here, police said.
COMMUNITY
Sep 8, 2002

London's black-cab elite

My Tokyo taxi driver loses the ability to speak for a second or two, then gushes: "They're simply the best. They're professionals. They do that test . . ."
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 5, 2002

Say no to global trade in education

The Ministry of Education will consider revising legislation governing the recognition of foreign universities in Japan as a wedge for opening Japan's education market to foreign institutions.
CULTURE / Art
Sep 4, 2002

Designed to dazzle: a lacquerware celebration

The quintessential Japanese aesthetic is that of wabi sabi, a beauty associated with things that are simple, rustic, unpolished or even plain rundown. It is perhaps surprising, then, that this aesthetic is so little in evidence at an extensive exhibition at the Tokyo National Museum of one of Japan's...
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Sep 2, 2002

Historic Tsumago: a time capsule of Edo living

Build a good tourist trap, and the world will beat a path to your door. This seems to have been the thinking in the small town of Tsumago in southwestern Nagano Prefecture. Facing rural decay in the late '60s, the townspeople decided to do something about it. They reached for their one real asset the...
CULTURE / Film / CLOSE-UP
Sep 1, 2002

Films, Zen, Japan

Donald Richie is regarded as the leading Western authority on Japanese film. He first came to Japan in 1947 as a civilian typist for the U.S. Occupational forces -- an intelligent, restless 22-year-old in search of purpose.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / CLOSE-UP
Sep 1, 2002

Films, Zen, Japan

Donald Richie is regarded as the leading Western authority on Japanese film. He first came to Japan in 1947 as a civilian typist for the U.S. Occupational forces -- an intelligent, restless 22-year-old in search of purpose.
COMMENTARY / World / GUEST FORUM
Aug 31, 2002

Reactions to 9/11 as scary as the attacks

For my friend Azusa, it was supposed to be a long-waited vacation in New York City. Despite a big autumn typhoon, her Continental Air flight to Newark took off from Narita on time at 4 p.m. and she began to doze off, expecting a long flight to the East Coast as usual.
COMMENTARY
Aug 27, 2002

Build alternative to Yasukuni

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's visit to Yasukuni Shrine in April inflamed Beijing, casting a chill on Japan-China relations. The row forced Koizumi to cancel a visit to Beijing he had planned for this fall to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the normalization of Japan-China diplomatic relations....
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / OLD NIC'S NOTEBOOK
Aug 25, 2002

Down but not out: lessons learned in Ethiopia

Here we go again. Ten years on from the great environmental meetings and agreements made at the first Earth Summit in Rio, and the second Earth Summit is about to start in Johannesburg.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / VINELAND
Aug 25, 2002

Time to think pink again

A browse through the aisles of any fine wine shop can be a feast of colors to the discerning eye, albeit in two narrow parts of the spectrum. "White" wines range from crystal clear Rieslings to buttery-yellow Chardonnays, while "reds" can run the gamut from ruby-colored Pinot Noir to dark purple Mourvedre...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Aug 21, 2002

Trance music: Taking it to the next level

When deep into the music at a trance party, most people dance a sort of mechanized primal stomp, working their arms like pistons and clomping their feet. Although these maneuvers may look awkward, they are a natural reaction to the music's rigidly 4/4 industrial-sounding beats, which, though sublime...
COMMENTARY
Aug 20, 2002

Forum breaks new ground

The recent meeting of the ASEAN Regional Forum, or ARF, the Asia Pacific's premier track for security dialogue, has been applauded as a watershed for the institution -- and rightly so. The group's pledge to fight international terrorism breathed new life into the forum. But the real significance of this...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / NIHONSHU
Aug 18, 2002

Drinking without thinking

Although more than half the fun at sake pubs is being an active participant in choosing what you drink, there are times when you don't want to make that effort. There are times when what you want is simply to chat, or even -- heaven forbid -- to talk business. On days like this, Gin no Kura can take...
JAPAN
Aug 15, 2002

Prime Osaka plot haunted by legacy of death

OSAKA -- In the Bon holiday period, when tradition has it that spirits return from beyond, visitors to temples and shrines in central Osaka pray not only for deceased relatives, but also for those who perished 30 years ago in a tragedy that still haunts local residents.
COMMUNITY
Aug 15, 2002

Where the hair salons are only slightly more modern than the food rationing

Ever been to a cake shop that operates a rationing policy?
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES
Aug 14, 2002

Linda Thompson: "Fashionably Late"

In 1972, shortly after she married former Fairport Convention guitarist Richard Thompson and became pregnant, the sometime folk and commercial jingle singer Linda Peters began suffering from a rare psychological disorder called hysterical dysphonia. "You open your mouth and nothing comes out," is how...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / BEST BAR NONE
Aug 11, 2002

FBI -- why not give it a shot?

Fifteen years ago, Shokuan-dori was a dark no man's land trapped in the vacuum between Kabukicho and Shin-Okubo. The latter, at that time, was an area buzzing with life as it gained momentum as headquarters for Tokyo's non-Japanese Asian foreigners. But it wasn't until several years later that a few...
JAPAN
Aug 10, 2002

Communities are offered cash to reduce pollution

The Environment Ministry plans to tackle global warming by paying community groups for their reductions in carbon dioxide emissions, ministry officials said Friday.

Longform

Visitors to Kyoto walk along a street near Kiyomizu Temple in April. A popular tourist spot, Kyoto has seen what locals feel to be an overwhelming amount of tourists in 2024.
Is Japan ready for 60 million tourists?