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COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Jun 15, 2002

The coming imperial hooligan regime

A couple of weeks before the beginning of the World Cup soccer tournament, I went into the local grocery store on my island. Yes, this tiny island has a grocery store -- with four aisles! (sorry, no salad bar). We don't need more than one store, because only 800 people live here on Shiraishi Island....
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES
Jun 12, 2002

Corey Harris: 'Downhome Sophisticate'

At one time, rural folks were thought to possess different priorities from people who lived in cities, a contrast that was made clear by the fact that "country music" was only played and listened to by people who actually lived in the country. These days, you're as rural as you want to be, whether you...
MORE SPORTS
Jun 11, 2002

Niigata, OSG move into S. League

Niigata Albirex and OSG Phoenix will join the top-tier Japanese men's basketball league for the 2002-03 season, replacing the Isuzu Giga Cats and the Bosch Blue Winds, the Japan Basketball League (JBL) said Monday.
JAPAN
Jun 9, 2002

Makeup therapist tries to boost patients' esteem, health

It is a skin-thin issue, but it could also be a matter of life-saving gravity. Such is the significance of "rehabilitation makeup" in the eyes of leading makeup therapist Reiko Kazuki.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jun 7, 2002

Russia war novel rightly paints Japanese as rational: translator

While working on a novel on the 1904-05 Russo-Japanese War, Ryotaro Shiba wrote in 1967 that one of the prime features he wanted to highlight was the "almost ridiculous optimism" shared by top political and military leaders in Japan during the Meiji Era (1867-1911).
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER
Jun 7, 2002

Slender shrew

* Japanese name: Togarinezumi * Scientific name: Sorex gracillimus * Description: The shrew is the archetypal small furry mammal, resembling the first mammals that ever existed. It has brown fur with a white underside, a long tail, small ears and eyes, and a pointy nose. Slender shrews are 6-7 cm...
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Jun 6, 2002

Looking at the bright side of Japan's cash woes

One of the most soul-destroying experiences of my life in Japan occurred back in 1986.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jun 5, 2002

Celebrate football's field of dreams

It's twenty minutes before England's opening World Cup game at Saitama Stadium and I'm sitting almost directly behind the goal, sacred posts that I'm hoping Michael Owen will tune his gold-plated radar into the moment he walks onto the pitch.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art / NEW ART SEEN
Jun 5, 2002

A Japan-Korea joint show that's wide of goal . . .

By this time, even the most blinkered of Tokyo's art enthusiasts will be aware that the planet's premier sporting event, the World Cup, is taking place in Korea and Japan. There is just no ignoring the newspaper and magazine coverage, the live television broadcasts and the hordes of dumbfounded soccer...
Japan Times
JAPAN / CUP COUNTDOWN
May 31, 2002

Hooligan phobia triggers siege mentality

KAWAGUCHI, Saitama Pref. -- Soccer fans hoping to stop for a cup of coffee on their way to or from World Cup games at Saitama Stadium won't be able to do so at Katsura cafe here. Whenever matches are being played -- and hooligans might be in the area -- the cafe will be closed.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER
May 31, 2002

Black soldier fly

* Japanese name: Amerika mizuabu * Scientific name: Hermetia illucens * Description: Black soldier flies look a bit like wasps, but they have no sting and are not interested in humans -- at least while we are alive. They are robust black flies about 15 mm long, with wings that lay over the body when...
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / WILD WATCH
May 30, 2002

Puzzling over monkeys' many ways of life

It was a faint and far-off sound, barely audible, like the distant rumbling of thunder. Something about it triggered memories, and I asked skipper Mike to cut our outboard motor. Even with the engine off and my hands cupped behind my ears, head turning like a radar dish, I was still not absolutely sure....
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES
May 29, 2002

Salif Keita: 'Moffou'

Salif Keita -- otherwise known as the Golden Voice of Mali -- has taken some jabs from world music purists in recent years for straying from his traditional African roots in collaborations with the likes of Vernon Reid of Living Color and the keyboardist Joe Zawinal. With "Moffou," Keita has dropped...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
May 29, 2002

Exposing the dark side of human nature

Man Ray was master of an art form for which he nonetheless professed "a certain amount of contempt": photography. His first love was painting, and he persistently denied the artistry of the medium that made him famous. But it is largely thanks to his photographic work -- explored in an impressive new...
BUSINESS
May 28, 2002

Koizumi sits while tax reform tug of war rages

As the government intensifies discussions toward compiling a fundamental tax reform blueprint next month, a new priority is emerging -- using tax breaks as a tool to revitalize the economy.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST
May 26, 2002

Waxing monstrously about the first Japanese I ever got to know

The first Japanese I fell in love with was a little taller than my wife.
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
May 26, 2002

Let the coverage begin!

This week, there will be lots of television activity to help soccer enthusiasts prepare for the World Cup, which starts Saturday.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
May 26, 2002

Enough to make Spanish eyes smile

In case you hadn't noticed, Spanish food is big right now -- or at least that's what the vernacular magazines would have us believe. This, of course, is not the first time it's been touted as the next big thing. But somehow a critical mass of popularity was never achieved, and Spain's culinary profile...
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER
May 24, 2002

Wolf spider

* Japanese name: Komori-gumo * Scientific name: Pardosa astigera * Description: Wolf spiders are dark brown, predatory and fast-moving spiders measuring 7-10 mm long. Females may continue to grow after they are sexually mature. They do not spin webs like many spiders. They have eight eyes, in pairs:...
COMMENTARY / World / GUEST FORUM
May 23, 2002

Marines on Okinawa are worth keeping

Thirty years after reversion to Japan, the U.S. Marine bases on Okinawa remain a contentious issue. Periodic calls for their reduction or elimination may be good politics, and offer academics and other commentators the satisfaction that they are taking a "progressive" stance on the issue.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES
May 22, 2002

Theo Bleckmann and Ben Monder

Vocalist Theo Bleckmann only occasionally sings in an identifiable language, a trait that reinforces the impression that he is of another world, a messenger graced with an ethereal sense of beauty and a childlike fascination for exploring the unknown. His style is evocative and beckoning rather than...
CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES
May 22, 2002

Vicente Amigo

Flamenco guitarist Vicente Amigo has "duende," that mysterious Iberian quality similar to "soul" that inspires the most passionate expressions of Spanish culture. This week he brings it to Tokyo for two performances accompanied by fellow flamenco musicians and dancers from Spain, along with backing from...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art / NEW ART SEEN
May 22, 2002

From the edges of 'reality'

At the most basic level of classification, most paintings can be assigned to one of two broad but fairly clear-cut categories: representational or abstract. This is to say that what appears on the canvas has generally evolved either from people, places or things found in the real world; or from ideas...
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / PERSONALITY PROFILE
May 20, 2002

Nilima Seth

"Divine!" Nilima Seth stood in front of a noh mask on her wall. "Don't you feel the vibes?" she asked, reverence in her tone. "What does it say to you?"
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT
May 19, 2002

Where kujira cuisine is a matter of course

Eating at Taruichi can be a bit daunting. First there's the decor. For those not cowed by the dried, meter-long whale's phallus dangling overhead, the next challenge is the menu.
JAPAN / Media
May 19, 2002

'Sakura' -- or 'E.T. Comes to Japan'

One of the staples of Japanese daytime television for more than four decades has been the NHK Renzoku Terebii Shosetsu (serialized television novel), broadcast six days per week, Monday through Saturday, from 8:15 to 8:30 a.m. Begun in 1961, each "novel" runs for 26 or 52 weeks.
ENVIRONMENT
May 19, 2002

How deep does our knowledge go?

The group of animals we call cetaceans represent but two-thirds of the orders of "whales" that have ever existed.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER
May 17, 2002

Long-armed shrimp

* Japanese name: Tenaga-ebi * Scientific name: Macrobrachium nipponese * Description: Long-armed shrimp are accurately named. They are crustaceans in the family that includes lobsters and crabs, all of which have 10 pairs of legs. In the long-armed shrimp, the first five pairs are the walking legs,...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES
May 15, 2002

Cornershop: 'Handcream for a Generation'

Repetition is both the substance and the curse of pop music. It doesn't take much for even the most delicious hook to become a nagging bore once it's had a chance to pass a certain saturation point.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
May 15, 2002

Just a word in your ear

A visitor to "Sesshu -- Master of Ink and Brush" at the Tokyo National Museum, Ueno, stops in front of one of the paintings. She has just been told to do so by the audio guide she's holding in her hand, which then launches into a detailed explanation of the painting's historical background and notable...

Longform

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