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Japan Times
JAPAN
Nov 7, 2001

Imperial eyes shielded from reality of homelessness

The homeless at Ueno Park were up early Monday, with hundreds of the park dwellers quietly disassembling their tents and packing their belongings onto carts soon after dawn.
CULTURE / Art / NEW ART SEEN
Nov 7, 2001

Art in the midst of 'iniquity'

I live in Kabukicho -- the infamous tangle of sex clubs and mahjongg parlors located just north of Shinjuku Station's East Exit. There are a number of reasons why I live where I do: the hundreds of wonderful all-night Asian restaurants and supermarkets; the fact that I can walk from my apartment to the...
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 6, 2001

Fighting for independence in the shadow of a Goliath

ALMATY, Kazakstan -- The phone calls started last May, after the body of an ethnic Uighur activist was found strangled and dumped in a water reservoir.
COMMUNITY
Nov 4, 2001

It's a paradise for bikers in Japan

Maybe I'm losing it. With temperatures dropping and the first frost just around the corner, thoughts of winter sports and steaming cups of hot chocolate are starting to dance through most people's minds. But I've still got motorcycles wheelying through mine.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Nov 4, 2001

In love with the Harley legend

It's Sunday afternoon in Tokyo's Setagaya Ward, and the local Harley-Davidson shop, American Street, is playing host to a stream of visitors in black leather jackets.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Nov 3, 2001

Japanese relieve stress in strange ways

Westerners typically take a vacation to relieve stress. We might go to the Caribbean, lie on the beach, read trashy novels and sip cocktails. Not so the Japanese.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Nov 1, 2001

Kimono makers target the young

Mariko Moriwaki, 39, a Web editor at publisher Shogakukan Inc., draws a lot of attention from visitors to her office.
CULTURE / Art
Oct 31, 2001

The gift of Ghibli

When I first heard that Hayao Miyazaki was planning a museum in Mitaka dedicated to the films that his Studio Ghibli animators and he had created over the years, I imagined animation cels framed on beige walls. Save for dedicated fans, it wasn't the most thrilling prospect for a Saturday afternoon, especially...
JAPAN
Oct 30, 2001

Two people die, five hurt in Kabukicho massage parlor fire

Two people were killed and five others, including a firefighter, were injured in a Monday morning blaze in the Kabukicho entertainment district of Shinjuku Ward, Tokyo, the Tokyo Fire Department said.
BUSINESS
Oct 25, 2001

Supermarkets down, department stores up

Supermarket sales fell in September from a year earlier for the 34th straight month, but department stores saw increased business for the first time in three months, industry groups said Wednesday.
CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES
Oct 24, 2001

The Pattern: 'Immediately'

Phew, what a relief. Radiohead have left the country, so we can now stop sucking our thumbs and feeling sorry for ourselves and instead lighten up and have fun again. So it's off to the record shop and, what's this here sharing a listening post with The Strokes? Something called The Pattern? Anything...
LIFE / Food & Drink / BEST BAR NONE
Oct 21, 2001

This size fits all

West Shinjuku is a showcase of sleek, modern high-rises. East Shinjuku, by contrast, is a low-rise mishmash of department stores and restaurants, which are gradually replaced by movie theaters and hostess clubs the farther north one moves. And if you find yourself surrounded by street hawkers instead...
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Oct 21, 2001

Tune in, there are big things on the horizon

The cult of dieting takes on new meaning in Nippon TV's fall comedy serial "Kangei! Danjiki Goikko-sama," literally, "Welcome, Honorable Party of Fasters" (Saturday, 9 p.m.). The series is set at Rakuraku-jin, a Buddhist temple that accepts civilians who want to do the ascetic thing.
CULTURE / Art
Oct 17, 2001

Beauty beheld in the past imperfect

Are the Japanese alone in their admiration of the imperfect? This is one of several questions arising from an odd exhibition now on at Tokyo's Shoto Museum of Art in Shibuya, a pleasant but puzzling "curiosity shop" selection of arts and crafts, ranging from colorful screen paintings to bamboo baskets....
Events
Oct 16, 2001

Ecotourism campaign spotlights Shiga area

MAIHARA, Shiga Pref -- In an effort to draw more visitors to this area, the Shiga Prefectural Government is running a one-month ecotourism campaign.
COMMUNITY
Oct 14, 2001

High-flying ad man comes down to earth in Shikoku

Eleven years ago, Toshihito Takahashi was a high-flying advertising copywriter with a leading Tokyo agency, one of the select few whose work regularly appeared on the nation's TV screens.
CULTURE / Books
Oct 14, 2001

Flash points along the road to recognition

ASIAN AMERICAN DREAMS: The Emergence of an American People, by Helen Zia. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2000, 319 pp., $26.00 (cloth) The book to read to get up to speed on Asian and Pacific Island Americans (APAs) is Helen Zia's "Asian American Dreams." Part personal memoir, part history, part...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Oct 14, 2001

The bistro jazzed up to perfection

It's a hard job, as they say -- not that we're complaining. But if there is a down side, it's that the Food File's constant, restless search for new foraging grounds makes it nigh on impossible for us to revisit any of our great new discoveries, let alone keep tabs on all those tried-and-true, all-time...
BUSINESS
Oct 11, 2001

Starbucks perks on Nasdaq debut

OSAKA -- Starbucks Coffee Japan Ltd. made a superb debut Wednesday on the Nasdaq Japan stock market as investors scooped up shares of the high-profile firm.
CULTURE / Film
Oct 10, 2001

There's more than one way to kill a vampire

Dracula 2000 Rating: * * Japanese title: Draculea Director: Patrick Lussier Running time: 99 minutes Language: English Showing at Marunouchi Piccadilly 2 and others
Events
Oct 2, 2001

Nation's cable music man turns his attention to broadband

OSAKA -- Music, as we're often reminded, is a universal language. In Japan it is also ubiquitous.
JAPAN
Sep 20, 2001

Land prices post 10-year slide

Land prices fell in the year to July 1 for the 10th consecutive year, reflecting the prolonged economic downturn, according to a government survey released Wednesday.
BUSINESS
Sep 14, 2001

State maintains dismal view of economy

The government on Thursday left its dismal view of the Japanese economy unchanged for the second straight month but slashed its outlook for the global economy due to the U.S. slowdown.
CULTURE / Film
Sep 12, 2001

Welcome to my worst nightmare

Kemonogare -- Orera no Saru to Rating: * * 1/2 Director: Hideaki Sunaga Running time: 107 minutes Language: Japanese Now showing
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....
LIFE / Food & Drink / BEST BAR NONE
Sep 9, 2001

Poetry in motion

"On a dark desert highway, cool wind in my hair . . ."
Events
Sep 4, 2001

Fukushima area's face-lift puts it back on Osaka map

OSAKA -- Once a backwater in the shadow of Osaka's highly developed Umeda district, the area around Fukushima station is slowly being transformed from a slightly run-down neighborhood of cheap ramen shops to a gentrified area of French restaurants and Internet cafes.

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?