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CULTURE / Books
Apr 22, 2001

Okinawan writers provide a breath of fresh air

SOUTHERN EXPOSURE: Modern Japanese Literature from Okinawa, edited by Michael Molasky and Steve Rabson. Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press, 362 pp., $27.95 (paper). Okinawa consists of just .6 percent of the total landmass of Japan and contributes 1 percent to the population, according to the introduction...
CULTURE / Music
Apr 22, 2001

Anmitsu dishes up some hot licks

In junior high school, going to shamisen lessons was something Yuka Annaka and Kumi Kindaichi hid, even from their friends. "There was this image that it was something our grandparents did," says Kindaichi. "Other kids reacted like it was strange. I didn't talk to anybody about it all through junior...
CULTURE / Music
Apr 22, 2001

Musicians take it back to the bridge

It's Saturday night, and the basement rock 'n' roll club Penguin House in Koenji is packed to bursting. As late-coming guests crowd down the stairs, the performer, Dai Yamamoto, takes the stage and tunes up his instrument.
CULTURE / Stage
Apr 22, 2001

Yukio Ninagawa: Now that's the fighting spirit

In the theater world, director Yukio Ninagawa is a living legend. Practicing his craft for more than 30 years and in the international spotlight for 20, he has yet to exhaust his renowned creativity and energy.
CULTURE / Music
Apr 22, 2001

Where to go to hear hogaku

With the gradual extinction of the old Japanese yose vaudeville theaters in the postwar era, regular venues for enjoying hogaku have become hard to find.
CULTURE / Music
Apr 22, 2001

Nurturing the next generation of traditional musicians

Many observers attribute the steep decline of Japanese traditional music in the 20th century in large part to the fact that Japan's school system teaches Western music intensively and hogaku almost not at all. That situation is due to change as the Education Ministry introduces new guidelines, effective...
CULTURE / Art
Apr 22, 2001

You will read this -- now

Tokyo recently witnessed the latest stage of an arresting visual campaign -- the sudden appearance around town of black, white and red posters and stickers featuring the iconographic face of pro-wrestler Andre the Giant and the ominous message "Obey" printed below.
CULTURE / Music
Apr 22, 2001

Killing the Buddha -- form vs. content in hogaku

Nagauta shamisen players and singers line up in perfect rows across the kabuki stage, facing the audience while singing deeply expressive music with deadpan faces.
JAPAN
Apr 21, 2001

Researchers decode genome of highly-resistant bacterium

Japanese researchers said Friday that they have produced the world's first complete genetic sequencing of a bacterium which is a major source of human infection and one of the most resistant organisms in hospital-acquired infections.
BUSINESS
Apr 21, 2001

Polyester fiber imports face antidumping probe

The government will launch an investigation Monday to decide whether antidumping duties should be imposed on polyester staple fiber imported from South Korea and Taiwan, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry announced Friday.
JAPAN
Apr 21, 2001

Reform of state health care advances

The Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry said Friday that it will close an additional 15 state-run medical facilities and privatize 17 others over the next five years.
JAPAN
Apr 21, 2001

Diet members, proxies visit Yasukuni Shrine

Tokyo's Yasukuni Shrine hosted 86 Diet members and 97 proxies for other legislators Friday during a special memorial service dedicated to Japan's war dead.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / PERSONALITY PROFILE
Apr 21, 2001

Jane Best Cooke

In Queen Elizabeth II's New Year's honors list, Jane Best Cooke was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire. She was awarded this distinction in recognition of her contribution to the promotion in Japan of British culture, and to a wide range of charitable and international friendship activities....
JAPAN
Apr 21, 2001

'Metal fatigue' threatens LDP's power: Nakasone

The decline in the power of the Liberal Democratic Party is a key reason behind the string of short-lived administrations over the past decade, according to former Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone.
BUSINESS
Apr 21, 2001

Mitsui to buy up Brazil mining firm

Trading house Mitsui & Co. said Friday that it will acquire all the shares of Caemi Mineracao e Metalurgia SA (CMM), a leading Brazilian mining firm, with an eye to selling half later to another Brazilian firm.
COMMENTARY
Apr 21, 2001

U.S. must seek three-way balance in Asia

LOS ANGELES -- China is about to get a new U.S. ambassador. But will it get a new U.S. China policy?
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 20, 2001

Shame on the government

The Mori administration and the Foreign Ministry in particular have been taking an ambiguous attitude toward a request for a Japanese visa from former Taiwan President Lee Teng-hui. I must criticize this attitude categorically.
BUSINESS
Apr 20, 2001

Necktie makers prepare import curb plan

Necktie producers on Thursday approved a proposal to begin investigating necktie imports as the first step in asking for an emergency curb on imports of Chinese-made products.
COMMUNITY / THE PARENT TRIP
Apr 20, 2001

Thievery and redemption: a normal Sunday

I am seduced by a late-flowering sprig of cherry blossom in the morning. Number Two Son -- all of 6 years old -- thoughtfully snags my nose with it as he lays it on my pillow. Feelings of undying gratitude are quickly spiked by concern about provenance. Not our garden, not the neighbors', not the nearby...
JAPAN
Apr 19, 2001

Upper House resolves to pursue Kyoto pact

The House of Councilors unanimously resolved in a plenary session Wednesday to strive for international agreement on ratifying the 1997 Kyoto Protocol aimed at curbing global warming.
BUSINESS
Apr 19, 2001

Dollar will not test 130 yen while economy OK

The dollar has taken a breather, slipping slightly against the yen. I predicted in this column a month ago that the dollar would hit 130 yen in a month or two. My prediction has turned out to be wide of the mark. Having hit 126 yen early this month, the dollar is now hovering around 123 yen.
BUSINESS
Apr 19, 2001

Chemical giants set merger target for 2004

Sumitomo Chemical Co. and Mitsui Chemicals Inc., which last year announced plans to merge under a joint holding company in October 2003, have agreed to let the holding firm absorb all entities in their groups by April 2004 to become a single company, company officials said Wednesday. The merger will...
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 19, 2001

Mideast raids fuel fear of regional conflict

BEIRUT -- It has long been feared that the Palestinian intifada would widen into a regional confrontation, and that South Lebanon would be the flash point from which it does so. With Israel's first deliberate attack on a Syrian military target in Lebanon since its 1982 invasion of the country, that confrontation...
BUSINESS
Apr 19, 2001

Singapore and Japan to hold new trade talks

Japan and Singapore will hold a second round of negotiations on a bilateral free-trade agreement for four days starting Tuesday in Tokyo, the Foreign Ministry said Wednesday.
LIFE / Digital
Apr 19, 2001

Has the Japanese market for video games peaked?

Sega closed several Japanese arcades last year, including a few of its flagship Joypolis entertainment centers. And according to Sega Enterprises President Hideki Sato, Sega's two biggest competitors in the arcade market, Taito and Namco, are about to close many of their arcades as well.
JAPAN / INTERNATIONAL RATIONALE
Apr 19, 2001

Top foreign fashion brands take direct approach

As consumer spending woes continue to weigh on Japan's sluggish economy, foreign apparel makers have expanded their business by taking a more direct approach.
EDITORIALS
Apr 18, 2001

Mr. Mori's year in review

A new prime minister of Japan will take office later this month, following the election of a new Liberal Democratic Party president next Tuesday. It does not matter that Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori has not yet publicly announced his resignation. His exit has been a foregone conclusion for some time....

Longform

The building of new high-rise residential buildings has some alarmed that they could empty and fall into disrepair as Japan's population shrinks.
The high cost of letting Japan's condos crumble