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COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST
Jun 5, 2004

Taking the long road to nowhere

Out on the straight freeways of higher enlightenment, many an astute Japan watcher has tied the cautious, noncommittal qualities of Japanese personality to various cultural and linguistic features, such as tightknit group society and ambiguous language structure.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Jun 1, 2004

'No sex please, you're teachers'

"I feel offended that anyone would tell me who I can or can't hang out with," says Brendan (not his real name), one of 6,000 foreign language instructors employed by Nova Corp. in Japan.
SOCCER / J. League
May 30, 2004

First victory for Reds in Nabisco Cup

Holders Urawa Reds swept aside Oita Trinita 3-0 away on Saturday to record their first win in the group stage of the Nabisco Cup.
Japan Times
Features
May 30, 2004

Sommelier serves up a vintage haunt

Shinya Tasaki is Japan's best-known sommelier. Regularly featured on television, in newspapers and magazines, he runs his own French restaurant, as well as a wine bar and a school for sommeliers.
Features
May 30, 2004

Anyone for a cocktail?

A shochu-based Bloody Mary with nam pla (a fish-based Thai sauce) and fresh coriander? You have got to be joking. But no, Bob Sliwa is not -- and he insists that such strange cocktail combinations can be real winners.
JAPAN
May 29, 2004

Locals take crime-prevention into their own hands

At the beginning of May, six security company workers started late-afternoon patrols of the Isezaki-cho district of Yokohama's Naka Ward.
JAPAN
May 29, 2004

Locals take crime-prevention into their own hands

At the beginning of May, six security company workers started late-afternoon patrols of the Isezaki-cho district of Yokohama's Naka Ward.
JAPAN
May 28, 2004

Alien animal, plant species targeted

The Diet enacted a new law Thursday that bans the import and breeding of designated nonindigenous animals and plants that damage Japan's native ecological systems and agricultural crops.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER
May 27, 2004

Wood-boring beetle

* Japanese name: Ubatamamushi * Scientific name: Chalcophora japonica * Description: This beetle belongs to a group called the Buprestids. They are bullet-shaped and are often metallic-colored, though this species has brown and black stripes running the length of the body, which is flecked with gold....
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
May 26, 2004

The hits that the house band built

Standing in the Shadows of Motown Rating: * * * 1/2 (out of 5) Director: Paul Justman Running time: 108 minutes Language: English Currently showing [See Japan Times movie listings] Musicians are always getting screwed. If it isn't their record label cheating them out of royalties, the...
Japan Times
Features
May 23, 2004

Japan's deadly game of nuclear roulette

Of all the places in all the world where no one in their right mind would build scores of nuclear power plants, Japan would be pretty near the top of the list.
Japan Times
Features
May 23, 2004

Power and the People

North Korea is not the only country casting a long nuclear shadow over Japan and America. The citizens of both nations are right now under threat from precarious atomic programs -- ones which are being forced on them by their own governments.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
May 23, 2004

Foreign markets fail to grasp soul of anime

If, as many people claim, Japanese pop culture is sweeping the globe, then anime is the hand that wields the broom. A number of recent big-budget Japanese animated features, including Mamoru Oishii's "Innocence," currently in competition at Cannes, have attracted funding from Hollywood without the usual...
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
May 21, 2004

Osaka's west side story

In the cult-film classic "Death Ride to Osaka," there is a scene in which tough Tokyo yakuza drag a Western hostess kicking and screaming out the door. The hostess has just been banished from the bright lights of Tokyo's Ginza to the foul backwater of Osaka.
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital / NAME OF THE GAME
May 20, 2004

Bigger isn't always better

When I visited the Pokemon Center near Tokyo Station recently, the line into the store wrapped all the way around the block. There was a one-hour wait to get in. When I asked if the store was always this packed, a clerk said, "It's usually much more crowded."
Features
May 16, 2004

A guide by any other name

We don't know when she was born, or when she died -- was it April 9, 1812, at age 25, or perhaps Dec. 20, 1884, aged nearly 100? We don't even know her real name, but the Shoshone woman who accompanied Lewis, Clark and the Corps of Discovery has a fair claim to being the most celebrated woman of color...
CULTURE / Music
May 16, 2004

Avril under the skin of consumers

Walking out of Shibuya Station on May 12, you couldn't help but be aware that Avril Lavigne's second album, "Under My Skin," had just gone on sale. There she was, belting out her new single, "Don't Tell Me," up there on the big screen above the 109 Building. Tsutaya had a booth set up with Avril's kohl-eyed...
Features
May 16, 2004

On the trail of manifest destiny

Two hundred years ago this week, Meriwether Lewis, William Clark and their Corps of Discovery set out to explore the American West. Sunday TIMEOUT asks what the expedition, its leaders and the Shoshone woman who was their guide still mean to us today
BUSINESS
May 14, 2004

Honda launches nonguzzler luxury eight-seater van

Honda Motor Co. launched an eight-seat minivan Thursday, following in the footsteps of industry rivals in the increasingly competitive market for large luxury minivans.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER
May 13, 2004

Mudskipper

* Japanese name: Tobihaze * Scientific name:Periophthalmus sp. * Description: Mudskippers are fish with eyes on the top of the head (not at the sides like in most other fish) and with front (pectoral) fins that are more like legs than fins. They are olive-brown in color, have sharp teeth and large...
CULTURE / Film
May 12, 2004

Jeonju film fest spotlights indies

The fifth Jeonju International Film Festival, held April 23-May 2, was again distinguished by an innovative and eclectic array of contemporary cinema. Held in the Korean provincial capital of Jeonju (Cheonju), it continues to offer opportunities for viewing a variety of international films not seen elsewhere....
Features
May 9, 2004

When wrong can be right

At the beginning of "Showgirls," suspicious that a kind seamstress might be physically attracted to her, aspiring chorine Nomi (Elizabeth Berkley) asks: "Are you hitting on me?" The Japanese subtitle reads: "Are you making fun of me?"
Features
May 9, 2004

Lost in translation on Japanese screens

Unlike the countries that tend to dub foreign movies, Japan has been mainly using subtitles for more than 70 years. No one knows exactly why, but some say the Japanese simply enjoy hearing the original voices of the actors and the sounds in the background. Most now take it for granted that going to the...
Japan Times
Features
May 9, 2004

Bridging cultures with books

Whether their parents read them fairy tales by Hans Christian Andersen and the Brothers Grimm, or even encouraged them to explore Lewis Carroll's Wonderland, most Japanese have been exposed to overseas literature from an early age, and many go on to discover the likes of Tolkien, L.M. Montgomery, Michael...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
May 9, 2004

Steve Kimock: more than a feeling

A friend of mine calls improvisational guitarist Steve Kimock "The Master," constantly marveling at his shimmering harmonics, dynamic swings and musical "feel." What does Kimock have to say to this straightforward sort of hero worship? (Think Wayne's World's "We're not worthy!")
Features
May 9, 2004

Language aide's value went way beyond words

Being an interpreter involves a lot of time and hard work, but the job's many rewards often include a chance to get close to the action.
Features
May 9, 2004

Translators' icon with rhythm writ large in his lexicon

When people decide to read a book by a foreign author, they may be drawn by what they know of the writer, or by an intriguing title. But for many Japanese readers, the attraction is that a book was translated by Motoyuki Shibata -- and will therefore likely be to their taste as well as his.
Japan Times
Features
May 9, 2004

Simultaneously interpreting both language and culture

Nelson Mandala, Eisaku Sato, Margaret Thatcher, Kakuei Tanaka and Bill Clinton are different in so many ways, but these leading politicians all have one thing in common -- their interpreter, Tatsuya Komatsu.
MORE SPORTS
May 5, 2004

Tachibana, Takeda maintain lead

Reigning world silver medalists Miya Tachibana and Miho Takeda held onto their overnight lead and advanced to the duet final with the top score in the free routine at the Japan Open on Tuesday.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art / NEW ART SEEN
May 5, 2004

Hara solo gives Rika Noguchi liftoff

Sometimes, for whatever reason, a "buzz" develops around an art exhibition, and soon everybody is talking about it. I'm still not sure exactly why, but there was a real buzz at the vernissage for "I Dreamt of Flying," a new Rika Noguchi show comprising about 40 photographic prints that is now showing...

Longform

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