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COMMENTARY
Feb 4, 2002

Price of pure market reform

"Kozo kaikaku"(structural reform) is the buzzword these days. But it isn't clear exactly what it means. Yet it is the "clincher" in newspaper articles, economic journals and TV comments by economists. The common belief here is that structural reform is in and by itself good. It is held as an article...
MORE SPORTS
Feb 4, 2002

Hingis captures fourth Toray Pan Pacific title

Top-seeded Martina Hingis became the first player to win four singles titles at the Pan Pacific Open after defeating third-seed Monica Seles 7-6 (8-6), 4-6, 6-3. Hingis, who had advanced to the finals six-straight years, first won the tournament in 1997. "I'm honored and flattered to have won four times,"...
BUSINESS
Feb 4, 2002

Dow tops Nikkei in latest sign of Japanese economic decline

The year was 1957. Russia launched Sputnik, Dwight D. Eisenhower was in the White House, Elvis swiveled his hips in "Jailhouse Rock" and the Dow and the Nikkei were at level pegging.
COMMENTARY / JAPAN IN THE GLOBAL ERA
Feb 4, 2002

English-language deficit handicaps Japan

LAUSANNE, Switzerland -- In 1984 I was invited to give a public lecture at Erasmus University in Rotterdam. I began by apologizing for the fact that I would not be able to deliver my lecture in Dutch. I went on to remark that had I been alive at the time of Erasmus, I would have given my lecture in Latin....
JAPAN
Feb 3, 2002

Kawaguchi, Ivanov plan talks to resolve islands dispute

Japan and Russia agreed Saturday to hold vice-ministerial talks in mid-March in Moscow to discuss the substance of a half century-long territorial dispute over four Russian-held islands off Hokkaido that Japan claims.
JAPAN
Feb 3, 2002

Koizumi, Ivanov agree on need for peace pact talks

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi and visiting Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov have agreed on the need for talks to continue to facilitate the signing of a peace treaty between the two countries, a Foreign Ministry official said.
COMMUNITY
Feb 3, 2002

Of nationhood and identity

Writer Ian Buruma was born in the Netherlands in 1951. He attended university in Japan and has spent a large part of his adult life in Asia. His nonfiction works include "The Wages of Guilt: Memories of War in Germany and Japan," "Behind the Mask," "A Japanese Mirror" and "Voltaire's Coconuts." Buruma...
COMMUNITY
Feb 3, 2002

Sake brewed with a feminine touch

SHIBATA, Niigata Pref. -- Orderly chaos might be a good way to describe the Ichishima Sake Brewery on this bone-chilling January morning.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Feb 3, 2002

A little bit of Martha in every rabbit hutch

Considering the state of the Japanese economy, the current popularity of penny-pinching advice in the media is hardly surprising. There seems to be a fundamental paradox at work here, in that advertisers prefer programs and articles which encourage the spending of money, while the advice given out these...
MORE SPORTS
Feb 3, 2002

Hingis-Seles final in store at Toray Pan Pacific Open

Martina Hingis can't recall the first time she faced Silva Farina Elia of Italy. Not because Hingis lost 6-3, 6-1, but because it happened in 1996 and the current No. 4 player in the world was only 15-years-old.
COMMUNITY
Feb 3, 2002

Mix a little something in your sake

Lining the back alleyways of the Minami district of Osaka there are dozens of small restaurants that just serve fugu -- blowfish -- world-famous for its potentially fatal flesh. Outside these shops there invariably rests a wooden board of some kind that is plastered with what appear to be decorative...
COMMUNITY
Feb 3, 2002

The long journey from rice to ambrosia

Sake is brewed -- and not distilled -- from rice. The alcohol content is initially about 20 percent, but this is usually watered down to about 16 percent, which is just a tad more than most wine. But sake is closer to beer than wine, at least in terms of how it is made.
LIFE / Food & Drink / BEST BAR NONE
Feb 3, 2002

A bar that's right on the Button

Ebisu hides many secrets -- especially at night. And Button -- a neat, two-story attic perched on top of a building near the Nishi-Ebisu fiveways -- is one of the area's most precious. And you know it the instant the elevator doors open onto the sixth floor.
COMMENTARY
Feb 2, 2002

Afghanistan faces danger of donor fatigue

ISLAMABAD -- International pledges worth more than $3 billion from donors at the Tokyo conference called last month to discuss the reconstruction of Afghanistan are unprecedented. Never before has Afghanistan been the beneficiary of such a substantial largesse.
MORE SPORTS
Feb 2, 2002

Seles moves into semis of Pan Pacific tourney

Monica Seles, the 28-year-old who sat at the top of women's tennis in the early 1990s, showed plenty of power and speed in Friday's breath-taking 7-6 (11-9), 7-6 (11-9) victory over up-and-comer Alexandra Stevenson in the Toray Pan Pacific Open quarterfinals.
JAPAN
Feb 2, 2002

Nago mayor race seen as base litmus test

Many in Tokyo and Washington will be keeping a close eye on a mayoral election Sunday in Okinawa that is likely to affect a matter of long-standing concern between the two governments.
JAPAN
Feb 2, 2002

E-symposium to focus on Sept. 11

The Japan Center for Preventive Diplomacy and The Japan Times will jointly sponsor an electronic symposium on the theme of "The Future of Conflict Prevention in the post-September 11 World," from Feb. 6 to Feb. 14. Supported by the Sasakawa Peace Foundation, the online symposium again promises to be...
COMMENTARY
Feb 1, 2002

Truth and consequences

The forced resignation of Foreign Minister Makiko Tanaka says a lot about Japan's sloppy politics and its emotional inability to focus on the rights and wrongs of a dispute.
JAPAN
Feb 1, 2002

37,000 pesky crows live in Tokyo area, study finds

A Tokyo Metropolitan Government study has found that about 37,000 crows are living in the area, and local officials are taking stronger measures to address public complaints about their growing numbers.
JAPAN
Feb 1, 2002

UNU forum targets mountain abuse

Mountains are being ravaged by human activities and action needs to be taken to ensure that these troves of biodiversity and natural resources are not sacrificed on the altar of development, according to a forum held Thursday at the United Nations University in Tokyo.
JAPAN
Feb 1, 2002

Cinemas raked in record 200 billion yen last year

Movie box offices in Japan rang up 200 billion yen last year for the first time ever, thanks mainly to the record-breaking performance of the animation "Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi" ("Spirited Away").
MORE SPORTS
Feb 1, 2002

Anna's pal Rios just 'having a little fun'

Much has been written on these pages over the past few days about the comments by Marcelo Rios regarding the current state of women's tennis. Rios, the former No. 1-ranked men's player in the world, put himself in the firing line by saying at last week's Australian Open that women's early-round matches...
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle / LEARNING BY HEART
Feb 1, 2002

Kids learn from embracing the differences

The first thing you notice about the students at Musashino Higashi Secondary Vocational School is their uniforms. No matter the subject -- be it gymnastics or computer science -- the learning is done in a light-blue tracksuit.
BUSINESS
Jan 31, 2002

Public funds won't help banks, Mizuho exec says

A fresh injection of public funds would hamper, not help, Japan's banks, a banking official tapped to be the next president of the Mizuho Holdings Inc. banking group said Wednesday.
JAPAN
Jan 30, 2002

Ministries working on food safety agency

The farm ministry and the health ministry are negotiating the establishment of a food safety agency in fiscal 2002, ministry officials said.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES
Jan 30, 2002

Jan Garbarek and the Hilliard Ensemble: 'Mnemosyne'

The collaboration between saxophonist Jan Garbarek and the a cappella vocal quartet Hilliard Ensemble is an avant-garde blend of modern European jazz and early music. On "Mnemosyne," their recent collaboration, the origin of their songs extends back to the second century B.C. with a Greek hymn to Delphic...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jan 30, 2002

A real sound and light show

Ever go to an exhibition and think, "Hey, I can do that"? If the passivity of being an art gazer is getting you down, you might want to join the kids enjoying the latest innovation at the Urawa Museum of Art, a hands-on drawing room.
SOCCER / World cup
Jan 30, 2002

Get your Japan friendly tickets

Tickets for Japan's first World Cup warmup against the Ukraine, slated for March 21 (kickoff at 6 p.m.) at Nagai Stadium in Osaka, will go on sale Feb. 6-11 for anyone registered at FamilyMart's ticket service, "Famima club."

Longform

Pedestrians commute through Shibuya Station in central Tokyo, an area that is almost never devoid of people.
As the rest of Japan shrinks, Tokyo grows