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COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Mar 8, 2003

Amazing character goods made of pulp

With the current state of Japan's economy, many of us are wondering: Is this the end of heated toilet seats in public restrooms? Will we be expected to live our futures without free household cleaning sponges from the bank and individual trash bags on the buses and trains? Maybe.
JAPAN
Mar 5, 2003

Cabinet approves bill to relax refugee rules

The Cabinet on Tuesday approved a bill to scrap the 60-day limit on accepting applications for refugee status, government officials said.
JAPAN
Mar 5, 2003

Crackdown eyed on lock-pickers

People found in possession of lock-picking tools may face criminal charges if they cannot give a valid reason for having them, according to a bill approved by the Cabinet on Tuesday.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES
Mar 5, 2003

Dave Fiuczynski: "Kif"

As with the music of many virtuosos, it is possible to become overwhelmed by Dave Fiuczynski's electric-guitar technique and his unique tonal pallette. After the Law of Diminishing Returns sets in, many amazing aspects of his playing might fly past the ears of many listeners. Fortunately, "Kif," with...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Mar 2, 2003

The Great North

"It is Japan, but yet there is a difference somehow.'' -- Isabella Bird, 1878
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / PERSONALITY PROFILE
Mar 1, 2003

Mary Kilgarriff

Mary Kilgarriff says she grew up in a service-minded family in Ireland. "When I moved to Japan in 1990, I was struck by the absence here of the type of community service that I took for granted. I approached the Irish ambassador at that time, Jim Sharkey, and his wife, Sattie, and with their support...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Feb 28, 2003

Maruichi: Bettering the bistro

Maruichi is so intimate and unpretentious that it has chosen to call itself a bistro. But that gives the wrong impression entirely. You will find no red checkered tablecloths here, no tourist posters, Pernod ads or guttering candles jammed into empty wine bottles. Instead it espouses a quiet simplicity...
COMMENTARY
Feb 26, 2003

Trans-Atlantic arrogance defeats unity

LONDON -- One of the most depressing features of the past few weeks has been the arrogance displayed by political leaders. With some leaders, power goes to their heads. They are surrounded by sycophantic underlings and protected by posses of security guards. The media are bludgeoned by press offices...
BUSINESS
Feb 26, 2003

Gates courts LDP leadership over 'e-Japan' deal

In an unprecedented attempt to encourage the Japanese government to adopt Windows for a planned electronic government project, Microsoft Corp. founder and Chairman Bill Gates said Tuesday that he will reveal Microsoft's most tightly guarded secret -- the operating system's source code.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER
Feb 24, 2003

Burying beetle

* Japanese name: Yamatomon shidemushi * Scientific name: Nicrophorus japonicus * Description: Burying beetles are large insects, growing up to 20 mm long. They have large eyes, strong legs, powerful biting jaws and club-shaped antennae. These beetles are black, with distinctive orange markings on...
Japan Times
SOCCER / J. League
Feb 23, 2003

Kashima Antlers hold out to take tri-nations Champions Cup

The Kashima Antlers battled to a scoreless draw with South Korean K. League champion Seongnam Ilhwa and thereby clinched the inaugural A3 Mazda Champions Cup on Saturday afternoon at Tokyo's National Stadium.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Feb 23, 2003

Trade at your fingertips

The Japanese term for "do it yourself" is nichiyo daiku, which literally means "Sunday carpentry," though the usage of the term suggests an activity more related to recreation and leisure than making improvements or doing repairs.
JAPAN
Feb 21, 2003

Seething kin confront President-elect Roh

TAEGU, South Korea -- Angry relatives of victims of a subway fire attack confronted South Korean President-elect Roh Moo Hyun on Thursday as he visited the scene in Taegu city where 126 people died and up to 340 are missing.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Feb 20, 2003

Suzuki looking to get the jump on rivals with 490,000 yen car

Getting the jump on deflation, Suzuki Motor Corp. has taken the wraps off a 490,000 yen car.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Feb 19, 2003

A new home for world-class art

With the opening of "The Romantic Tradition in British Painting, 1800-1950," The Hyogo Prefectural Museum of Art seems set to take its place as an art institution of international standing.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Feb 19, 2003

When utopia went to hell

Although the 1920s and early 1930s were turbulent years indeed in the new Soviet Union forged out of 1917's October Revolution, despite civil war, famine, purges and mass deportations, many still clung to the dream of a workers' paradise promised by the revolutionaries who overthrew the Czarist regime....
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Feb 16, 2003

Don't be too quick to jump on the bondwagon

Two weeks ago, post offices and financial institutions began taking orders for new Japanese government bonds targeted exclusively at individuals and set to go on sale March 10. Post offices immediately booked sales for all 50 billion yen worth of bonds they were entrusted with, and the remaining 280...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Feb 15, 2003

Shiga 'eco-village' lures many disciplines

HIKONE, Shiga Pref. -- Rooftop solar panels provide energy and heat water. Rainwater is collected and used for washing and toilets. Kitchen waste and leaves are composted into fertilizers for crops. People work on farms and community businesses.
Japan Times
JAPAN / PREFECTURAL FARE
Feb 15, 2003

Taste, color of Tokushima arrive in Tokyo

One weekday afternoon in January, an elderly woman dropped by Tokushima Ai-ai Plaza in Tokyo's Minato Ward just to pick up a package of boiled and dried baby sardines and fish paste.
BUSINESS
Feb 13, 2003

Unions plan to rally around seniority-based pay increases

The "shunto" spring wage talks got under way Wednesday with several major automotive unions submitting demands related to job security and wages.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER
Feb 11, 2003

Stick insect

* Japanese name: Nanafushi * Scientific name: Phraortes elongatus * Description: Stick insects belong to the order of insects called Phasmida, which derives from phasma, the Latin word for phantom. It's easy to identify a stick insect, but it is seeing it in the first place that is difficult, because...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Feb 8, 2003

'Bereavement industry' in flux

Most of the businesses providing funeral and other services pertaining to the dead are mom-and-pop operations catering to local needs.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Feb 8, 2003

The Canadian eco-angle for using fur in fashion

I first talk with Paula Lishman in Ontario, where she lives in the earth-integrated house that husband Bill built. Married 34 years, she describes him as "a true Renaissance man"; his Web site explains just why.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Feb 7, 2003

Sonamu: Fare to put some hair on your chest

You think it's been cold here this winter? You should try spending some time over on the Korean Peninsula. Those bitter gales from Siberia take no prisoners. Not to worry -- as long as you're somewhere with under-floor ondol heating and plenty of that chili-laden food, you'll survive. You may even enjoy...
COMMENTARY
Feb 6, 2003

Love beneath the headlines

LONDON -- France is in everybody's bad books. In Washington, France has been dismissed -- along with Germany -- as "Old Europe," paralyzed by traditional views and unable to come to terms with the security imperatives of the global age. In London, anti-French feeling has been building up in official...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES
Feb 5, 2003

The Lakatos Ensemble

Roby Lakatos was born into a Gypsy violin dynasty begun in the 18th century by Janos Binari, a man known as the "King of the Gypsy Violinists" and the "Hungarian Orpheus" to two of his admirers, Franz Liszt and Ludwig van Beethoven. Lakotas has recently applied those inherited traditions to the world...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES
Feb 5, 2003

Roy Gaines: "Roy Gaines In the House"

Far from the smoky city clubs where electric blues grew up, some of the best blues is now heard at outdoor summer festivals. The Lucerne Blues Festival in Switzerland is one of the best, and German label CrossCut Records captured many intense sets of lesser-known but serious blues bands in the summer...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Feb 5, 2003

Slip into Wonderland in a museum of marvels

The Koishikawa Annex of Tokyo University Museum is currently hosting an eye-catching exhibition, "Microcosmographia: Mark Dion's Chamber of Curiosities." The brainchild of New York-based contemporary artist Mark Dion, the show runs until March 2.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Feb 5, 2003

Mitsubishi robot seen as family friend

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. unveiled a robot Tuesday that it claims will become a future house-sitter, caretaker, nurse and family friend.

Longform

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