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Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Aug 5, 2001

The big day

When 645 guests descended on Tokyo's New Takanawa Hotel last month to celebrate the marriage of 46-year-old former pop idol Hideki Saijo to Miki Makihara, a 28-year-old "office lady" he'd been dating since the fall, the starstruck media gushed at length over the "super gorgeous" event.
JAPAN
Aug 2, 2001

DisneySea set for September grand opening

URAYASU, Chiba Pref. -- Tokyo DisneySea, the latest addition to the Disney amusement kingdom, entertained the media Wednesday ahead of a public opening set for Sept. 4.
BUSINESS
Aug 2, 2001

Yoshinoya's eastern stores join 'gyudon' price war

The nation's largest operator of restaurants serving "gyudon" -- rice topped with seasoned beef -- said Wednesday it cut the price of its regular-size gyudon to 280 yen from 400 yen at its eastern Japan outlets, a price matched the same day by one of its rivals.
BUSINESS
Aug 1, 2001

Unemployment hovers at 4.9%

The nation's seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was unchanged at 4.9 percent in June from the previous month, matching the record for the third time this year, the government said Tuesday in a preliminary report.
LIFE / Food & Drink / THE WAY OF WASHOKU
Jul 29, 2001

Hit the sweet spot with eel on the grill

Hunting up and down side-street stalls during the annual Gion Festival, I was looking for one thing. Okonomiyaki pancakes, griddle-fried yakisoba noodles and even little charred yakitori chicken skewers are fine for your average summer festival, but wasting your time on such trivialities at this Kyoto...
ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER
Jul 27, 2001

Racoon dog

* Japanese name:Tanuki * Scientific name: Nyctereutes procyonoides viverrinus * Description: Tanuki look a bit like fat foxes, with short legs and black and gray fur. They grow up to 60 cm long and have distinctive stripes of black fur under their eyes, a bit like pandas. * Where to find them:Standing...
CULTURE / Film
Jul 25, 2001

Lost and found in a dream

Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi (Spirited Away) Rating: * * * * * Director: Hayao Miyazaki Running time: 125 minutes Language: JapaneseNow showing Hayao Miyazaki and his Studio Ghibli animators had their biggest-ever triumph with "Mononoke Hime (The Princess Mononoke)," an eco-fable set in premodern...
LIFE / Food & Drink / THE WAY OF WASHOKU
Jul 22, 2001

Gently add mom's miso, while stirring in humility

Last week while the kami-san was ringing up a customer's bill, I happened to glance down at the scrawled notepad where she keeps track of a table's order — a list of all the food and drink consumed.
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Jul 22, 2001

A many-splendored world of tofu

Tofu is cooling, tofu is healthy and, best of all, tofu is cheap. And suddenly this sultry summer season, tofu is also totally trendy. Just like Shigezo Syoutou, in fact. Such is its popularity, it took us three attempts to snare a reservation at this laid-back basement dining-bar, despite the location...
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Jul 21, 2001

Ruin yourself in extravagance with food

Today I will give you a tour of Osaka, Japan's third largest city that doubles as the nation's largest pachinko parlor. If you've ever wondered what it's like to walk around inside one of those pachinko game machines, I suggest taking a walk through Umeda or Nanaba at night. With all the neon and blinking...
CULTURE / Film
Jul 18, 2001

Ms. Tokyo takes a trip to reality

Koko ni Iru Koto Rating: * * * 1/2 Director: Masahiko Nagasawa Running time: 115 minutes Language: JapaneseNow showing The TV trendy drama was a bubble-era phenomenon, with its stories about the love troubles of beautiful young singles working at glamorous "katakana jobs" (such as "event planner"...
CULTURE / Music / J-POPSICLE
Jul 18, 2001

Taking the F-beat pulse

A favorite expedient of music-writer types is to write about a given city's "sound," lumping all the music that comes out of the city under one neat, convenient heading. We then explain what constitutes that sound and why it is The Next Big Thing, in an effort to establish ourselves as arbiters of what's...
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....
COMMUNITY / THE PARENT TRIP
Jul 13, 2001

Whatever can go wrong . . .

Writers of how-to articles about traveling with kids usually talk about Baby's ears popping in airplanes and keeping little Junior and Sis amused on long drives so they don't refight the Macedonian War in the back seat. Older kids, these writers seem to assume, can take care of themselves, when they...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Jul 8, 2001

Love town where time stands still

OSAKA -- Osaka Mayor Takafumi Isomura repeatedly says he wants to turn the city into an international tourist destination. But camera-toting foreigners snapping pictures of Tobita, one of its oldest and most famous neighborhoods, are probably not what either he or the local business community have in...
SOCCER / J. League / ON THE BALL
Jul 3, 2001

Time for Japan to take a lesson from Seoul

"Are you from Japan?"
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 2, 2001

French success has economists wondering

LONDON -- For Americans who work long hours, get only two weeks holiday a year, and live under a system that defines job security as a socialist vice, the apparent success of the French experiment is a puzzle and an affront.
JAPAN
Jun 27, 2001

Cuban dancer teaches salsa to promote cultural exchange

Swinging in from half a world away, Alberto Romay, a Cuban dance instructor based in Tokyo, is bringing a taste of the Caribbean country's culture closer to the people of Japan.
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Jun 24, 2001

Condiment of champions

To celebrate its 50th anniversary, TBS will broadcast a 24-hour special, "Fight TV 24," starting at 8 p.m. Saturday.
LIFE / Food & Drink / THE WAY OF WASHOKU
Jun 24, 2001

Hiyashi somen: the cool slurp of summer

On a hot summer day nothing refreshes like cold, wet noodles. Japan eats a rice-based diet most of the year, but in the summertime, to lighten the hot-weather menu and relieve pressure on dwindling rice storage from the previous fall, the population turns to cold noodles.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Jun 24, 2001

Natural urban chaos in the worst-case scenario

Last Sunday night I settled down to watch one of my favorite TV shows, "Tokumei Research 200X" (NTV, 7:58 p.m.), quite unprepared for what I was about to learn. If you've never seen this particular information program, it is built around the fictional Far East Research Center, a shiny mission control...
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Jun 24, 2001

A simmering passion for oden

If MSG is the Viagra for flaccid taste buds, then katsuo dashi is the complex natural chemistry of full-force pheromones at the raging height of the rutting season. It awakens, stimulates and arouses those parts of your palate that the other flavors just don't reach.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Jun 17, 2001

Gourmet meals on wheels

Chris Takahashi spent years making dishes for some of the world's most fussy eaters -- New Yorkers. On returning to his home country a few years ago after 27 years away, instead of trying to slot into some kind of salaried position in a society where he felt completely lost, he decided to do what he...
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Jun 17, 2001

On a mission from Korea

Kimchi is not just a daily food for Koreans, it's a potent symbol of national identity. Hence the outcry when the news broke of Japanese companies marketing ersatz versions not made according to the traditional process. This was sacrilege on the same order of trying to pass off carbonated grape juice...
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 Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Jun 17, 2001

Saikabo: On a mission from Korea

Kimchi is not just a daily food for Koreans, it's a potent symbol of national identity. Hence the outcry when the news broke of Japanese companies marketing ersatz versions not made according to the traditional process. This was sacrilege on the same order of trying to pass off carbonated grape juice...
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...
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / PERSONALITY PROFILE
Jun 16, 2001

Gordon Shin Guy

"This country is so vast, with a spectrum from game parks to beaches and everything in between. There's so much to do outdoors, and nature is all around you. You can go walking up Table Mountain, go swimming, mountain-biking, picnicking, wine-tasting. You're not governed by the weather, as more than...

Longform

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