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Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Sep 2, 2001

Reflections on Buddhist soul food

I have always believed cooking is more religion than art. We expect our artists to entertain us and elicit emotion. What we ask most of all of our chefs and our spiritual leaders, however, is that they soothe us.
JAPAN / 50 YEARS SINCE SAN FRANCISCO
Aug 30, 2001

American-style peace redefines Japanese palate

Fortunately, the GIs had something in their pockets and backpacks that led to instant friendship with total strangers: the Hershey chocolate bar.
LIFE / Food & Drink / BEST BAR NONE
Aug 26, 2001

Bring it on home

O-bon is a mysterious Japanese holiday, which falls somewhere between the beginning and middle of August, as determined by the heaves and sighs of the cosmos each year. It is said to be a time when the spirits of one's ancestors return to roost (especially if one leaves a strategically placed eggplant...
LIFE / Food & Drink
Aug 26, 2001

Sips of high-grade tranquillity

In parts of Asia, tea is more than a mere beverage: It is a social lubricant, a sacrament of complex rituals and a vital part of national identity. Throughout history, farmers and philosophers alike have treasured a steaming cup of cha. While there is some evidence of tea's health benefits, there is...
CULTURE / Film
Aug 22, 2001

How one white girl found her groove

Save the Last Dance Rating: * * * Director: Thomas Carter Running time: 113 minutes Language: English Now showing How are your hips these days? Do they rotate, swivel, slither like a separate appendage you can just detach and unleash onto the dance floor? If the answer is "huh?" then see "Save the...
JAPAN
Aug 18, 2001

'Beetlemania' taking Japan by storm

The Japanese children's pastime of catching stag beetles during the sultry summer months appears to be turning into outright "beetlemania," given the reported surge in overseas poaching of the six-legged black diamonds for sale in Japan.
BUSINESS
Aug 15, 2001

Increasingly good massage chairs gain popularity

OSAKA -- Demand for electric massage chairs is steadily growing as more and more people seek attention akin to the touch of a professional masseur in the comfort of their own homes.
SOCCER / J. League / ON THE BALL
Aug 14, 2001

World Cup volunteers require effective training

The Japanese World Cup Organizing Committee recently announced the results of volunteer applications for next year's World Cup.
COMMUNITY
Aug 12, 2001

If the shoe fits . . .

Good shoes are no good if they aren't a good fit. Everyone knows that, of course, but most people have at least once bought a fine pair of footwear only to consign it to a cupboard because wearing the shoes was just too painful.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 9, 2001

Koizumi: a sheep in wolf's clothing

LONDON -- "I am resigned to not seeing a visible economic recovery for two or three years," said Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi last month. He had just won a resounding election victory despite his tough-love talk about the need for economic pain to pull the country out of its long slump....
CULTURE / Film
Aug 8, 2001

Siegfried finds a home on streets with no name

In an industry where self-advertisement is practically a prerequisite, filmmaker Siegfried is amazingly reticent about his personal background. From his refusal to disclose his last name to his disdain of promotional tours and interviews, Siegfried is and remains a mystery.
CULTURE / Film
Aug 8, 2001

Are the fishing fools running out of line?

Tsuri Baka Nisshi 12 Rating: * * 1/2 Director: Katsuhide Motoki Running time: 111 minutes Language: JapaneseOpens Aug. 18 Some sequels make sense, but a "3" or "4" after the title of a Hollywood movie is generally a good reason to stay away unless you happen to be feeling charitable toward a studio...
CULTURE / Art
Aug 8, 2001

Teddy bears dress for success

The great attraction of the Mona Lisa is the ambiguity of her expression. This allows the viewer to imagine, construct or project their own feelings onto the woman's face. This quality, which Da Vinci was only able to create by skillfully blurring the corners of the Mona Lisa's eyes and mouth, is perhaps...
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Aug 5, 2001

A trattoria that's simply delizioso

Delizioso Italia is a pretty unimaginative (and possibly ungrammatical) name for a restaurant. But there's very little else that feels out of place here. It's not a clone of the cheap-chic Capricciosa concept but a fine and friendly trattoria that turns out some highly enjoyable cucina.
BUSINESS
Aug 3, 2001

Carrefour nixes store-opening plan

Carrefour Japan Co., the Japanese unit of major French retailer Carrefour, has canceled plans to set up shop in the failed Sogo Co.'s department store in Tokyo's Sumida Ward, industry officials said Thursday.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Jul 29, 2001

The added cost of convenience

If you've got a rumbling in your tummy but little time or money, what could be better than a bento (boxed lunch) from the nearest convenience store?
COMMUNITY
Jul 22, 2001

When we had heroes

They were voices in the silence, stars in the night they showed the way and they showed what was right
CULTURE / Stage
Jul 18, 2001

Soaring spectacle crowns classic kabuki triple bill

He's known as the champion of Super Kabuki, but for his two-part summer program at the Kabukiza Theater in Tokyo this month, Ennosuke Ichikawa is staging regular-style productions of a new one-hour play, "Kaka Saiyuki," and "Shunkan," adapted from part of Chikamatsu Monzae- mon's 1719 bunraku play "Heike...
EDITORIALS
Jul 15, 2001

What's in a domain name?

As children, we were told that names could not affect us. Words were not instruments of power; sticks and stones were. "What's in a name?" Shakespeare scoffed. "A rose by any other name would smell as sweet." As we grew up, though, we learned better. The act of naming, or controlling the assignation...
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Jul 8, 2001

Corporate warriors suit up for revolution

With the Upper House elections looming and the previously overlooked "urban salaryman" vote attracting special attention, NHK has decided to address the issue with a special 21/2-hour discussion Saturday titled "Japan's Salaryman Revolution" (NHK-G, 7:30 p.m.).
LIFE / Food & Drink / THE WAY OF WASHOKU
Jul 1, 2001

I love you, I knead you

Lounging in a cool tatami room with a gentle breeze carrying the billows of mosquito incense and dreaming of downing several plates of freshly handmade udon noodles, one could easily waste away the sixth and seventh moons of summer. The Japanese east of Nagoya have their soba (buckwheat noodles), but...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Jul 1, 2001

Innovative strategies that get the message across

The pointlessness of election campaigns in Japan is dramatically exemplified by the sound trucks screaming the names of their respective candidates over and over. The stupidity of election campaigns in Japan is audaciously exemplified by something that happened in my own neighborhood last week prior...
LIFE / Food & Drink / VINELAND
Jul 1, 2001

Another shade of white

During the red wine boom of the '90s, one shade of white prevailed: Chardonnay. Most often produced in a big, rich, oaky international style, it was the heaviest, "reddest" white wine on the scene.
JAPAN
Jun 29, 2001

Court rules serial killer Miyazaki sane

The Tokyo High Court on Thursday upheld the death penalty for Tsutomu Miyazaki, 38, for the abduction and murder of four girls in a 1988-1989 serial killing spree that shocked the nation.
LIFE / Travel
Jun 26, 2001

Down the Devil's Washboard

When evening falls on Miyazaki, a scarlet and indigo sky drops behind the phoenix palms that line many of the city's roads. You might think you were strolling through a middle-class quarter of Cairo or Marbella.
JAPAN / OF SOUND MIND
Jun 23, 2001

Crime suspects' mental state rarely checked deeply

Whenever people with psychological problems are arrested for brutal crimes, public attention focuses on whether they can be held criminally liable.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Jun 17, 2001

A la cart

Masaru Tanaka's yatai has been open for business at the same roadside spot in central Tokyo almost every evening for the past 40 years or more.
JAPAN
Jun 16, 2001

Town touting mythical snake find; is 'rare' creature really a cash cow?

MIKATA, Hyogo Pref. — The recent discovery of an unusual reptile in this small skiing town is being touted by some as the first recorded capture of the mythical "tsuchinoko," a legendary snakelike creature first documented in the eighth century.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Jun 16, 2001

Keen to breathe life into 'o-shodo' beyond Kyoto

Anyone who considers calligraphy a quietly restrained form of expression should see Michiko Isoda in action. She sits on a "zabuton" cushion, loads a brush with ink and, with a sure but delicate hand, raises it vertically above the paper on her desk. She stills her body, concentrates her breathing, then...

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?