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JAPAN / 10 YEARS AFTER
Jan 21, 2005

Quake-preparedness a patchwork effort

The thicket of wood houses and small shops that line the warren of alleys just east of Tokyo's Sumida River in the Higashi-Mukojima 1-chome district has been deemed "highly dangerous" by disaster-preparedness authorities.
Reference / SO WHAT THE HECK IS THAT
Jan 21, 2005

Sugidama

Dear Alice,
JAPAN
Jan 20, 2005

Proposal presented at U.N. disaster reduction meet

KOBE -- A UNESCO-backed proposal that calls for the introduction of a $13 million tsunami early warning system for the Indian Ocean within one year was presented Wednesday at the U.N.'s World Conference on Disaster Reduction in Kobe.
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Jan 20, 2005

Examining the exotic ins and outs of marrying a foreigner

Elsewhere in the world, mixed marriages are no big deal. In Japan, however, the kokusai kekkon (international marriage) is still an issue tinged with exoticism and other-worldliness. Witness the enormous success of manga series "Daalin wa Gaikokujin" (My Darling is a Foreigner), and you'll see the point....
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Jan 19, 2005

With spring training near, end of line for George, Peta here?

With just 13 days remaining until the start of spring training, it appears George Arias and Roberto Petagine may have reached the end of the line in their productive careers in Japanese pro baseball.
JAPAN
Jan 19, 2005

Despite rash of counterfeiting, bank-note transition to take a year

The debut of new currency with anticounterfeit technology appears to have prompted people turning out fake old bank notes to rush to use them, but it will probably take about a year before all the old money is taken out of circulation.
JAPAN
Jan 19, 2005

Quake hit foreign community at its roots

Korea," said George Gibbons, a Kobe resident from Britain who recently retired as an official at Marist Brothers International School. While exact figures were not available, a Kobe official said the number of ethnic Korean residents has seen a slight increase over the past four years.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Jan 19, 2005

Castle of the truly absurd

One night in deep midwinter, K. arrives at an inn in a snow-covered village beneath a mighty castle which may or may not exist. K., played by Tetsushi Tanaka, claims he has been hired by the castle as a land surveyor.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jan 19, 2005

Not a whodunit but a whydunit

Coming last in a daylong round of media interviews, I was expecting my 40 minutes with Shinji Aoyama to be strained, as in "I'm so tired I can hardly stand." Instead, he came into the meeting room at Toho with a smile and a brisk manner, as in "I'm just getting warmed up." While he was obviously there...
MORE SPORTS
Jan 18, 2005

Federer blasts Santoro in first round

MELBOURNE, Australia -- Top-ranked Roger Federer quickly dispelled any thoughts that the new year might bring a letdown by the man who dominated men's tennis last year, blasting 54 winners to win his first-round match at the Australian Open on Monday over France's Fabrice Santoro 6-1, 6-1, 6-2.
JAPAN
Jan 18, 2005

Kobe remembers earthquake with candlelight vigil

KOBE -- This city on Monday morning marked the 10th anniversary of the January 1995 earthquake that resulted in the loss of 6,433 lives, with ceremonies paying tribute to reconstruction efforts and offering condolences and promises of further assistance to survivors of national and international disasters....
JAPAN
Jan 18, 2005

Visa ban lifted to boost Aichi expo crowds

The government may temporarily lift regional restrictions for issuing visas to Chinese tour groups, allowing visitors from any part of China to enter Japan during the 2005 World Expo in Aichi Prefecture, which will run from March 25 through Sept. 25, transport minister Kazuo Kitagawa said Monday.
JAPAN / History
Jan 18, 2005

List details deaths of 3,500 POWs held by Japan

A Japanese citizens' group recently released a list of about 3,500 Allied prisoners of war who died after being captured by the Japanese military during World War II, disclosing their names, nationality and cause of death.
EDITORIALS
Jan 17, 2005

Research to ameliorate disaster

Jan. 17 marks the 10th anniversary of the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake, which took the lives of more than 6,400 people. In the past decade, Japan's earthquake countermeasures have changed enormously. Its earthquake observation system has become more sophisticated. Together with general observation...
COMMENTARY
Jan 17, 2005

Japan seizes the moment

HONOLULU -- Japan has put itself at the forefront of international relief efforts in the wake of the devastating Dec. 26 earthquake and tsunami. Tokyo is acting both out of concern for the victims and to forward its own political-diplomatic strategy. Japan's reaction has demonstrated the role that Tokyo...
MORE SPORTS
Jan 16, 2005

Zico's deal renewed

The Japan Football Association said Friday it has renewed the contract of national team coach Zico until mid-December 2005 to keep the Brazilian at the helm for the Asian final-round qualifiers for the 2006 World Cup in Germany.
JAPAN
Jan 16, 2005

EU backs Japan in core farm group

Mariann Fischer Boel, European commissioner for agriculture and rural development, has backed Japan's entry into a core group in farm trade liberalization talks under the World Trade Organization, Japanese government officials said Saturday.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Jan 16, 2005

Single thirtysomethings under the spotlight

Last weekend, Nihon TV broadcast a two-hour program based on Junko Sakai's bestselling book "Makeinu no Toboe (The Howl of the Loser Dog)," a piece of nonfiction. The show, however, was a standard trendy drama, meaning long on ritzy real-estate and product placements, short on situations that resemble...
Japan Times
Features / WEEK 3
Jan 16, 2005

A cheapskate let loose in Tokyo paradise of print

Jinbocho in Tokyo's Chiyoda Ward is Japan's treasure trove of used books.
Japan Times
Features / WEEK 3
Jan 16, 2005

Wota lota love

The 90-minute event on the eighth floor of an electronics shop in Tokyo's Akihabara district one recent Sunday afternoon was unlike anything you'd expect to encounter in the bubble-gum world of Japanese teen fashion.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 15, 2005

Notion of an 'independent' missile defense is snake oil

According to press reports, Japan intends to mount an "independent" missile defense so as not to violate a constitutional interpretation that prohibits Japan from engaging in collective self-defense. Thus Japan would refrain from shooting down missiles that pass over Japan but are targeted at "other...
MORE SPORTS
Jan 15, 2005

Ono making speedy recovery

Japan midfielder Shinji Ono, who underwent endoscopic surgery on an injured left ankle, started rehabilitation Friday and is making a quicker than expected recovery, soccer officials said.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Jan 15, 2005

Student summit: food safety a growing concern

While his two brothers followed their father into local government service, Akimi Fujimoto took a different path. "My father had two working lives, as a government official and helping my mother farm our land in Niigata. There was no way I ever wanted a desk job."
JAPAN
Jan 14, 2005

Roh says Emperor is welcome but Koizumi feels time not ripe for visit

SEOUL -- South Korean President Roh Moo Hyun said Thursday his country would welcome a visit by Emperor Akihito, despite the sensitive issue of Japan's past colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula.
JAPAN
Jan 14, 2005

State urged to spend tsunami-relief aid to protect, treat needy children

International and nongovernmental organizations urged the government Thursday to use its tsunami-relief aid to help children suffering from posttraumatic stress and to prevent them from becoming victims of human-trafficking.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Jan 13, 2005

Jakuemon: A man for the ladies

NAKAMURA JAKUEMON IV: The Art of Onnagata Acting, by Rei Sasaguchi, photos by Yutaka Umemura, Akira Iwata, Fumio Watanabe. Designed and published by Rei Sasaguchi, 2004, 116 pp., 3000 yen (cloth). This very interesting, beautifully designed book is an essay on the art of onnagata, the kabuki actor playing...

Longform

Wealthier women in the prewar era had been the targets of various media-related health campaigns that mistakenly encouraged them to avoid everything from riding bicycles to reading novels when their monthly cycles came around.
Menstruation in Japan: Breaking the silence, slowly