Search - 2002

 
 
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Dec 7, 2003

Traditions of fiction that can liberate and stifle

VIRTUAL LOTUS: Modern Fiction of Southeast Asia, edited by Teri Schaffer Yamada. Ann Arbor: The University of Michigan Press, 2002, 332 pp., $29.95 (paper). Though novels are not unknown in Southeast Asia, it is the short-story form that has been chosen here to represent the area. Neither novels nor...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Dec 7, 2003

Woman for the world

Back in 1957, a young woman of 23 with few qualifications, and little to sustain her but her courage and some money saved from waitressing, set off from her native England in pursuit of her dream to live and work for wildlife.
EDITORIALS
Dec 6, 2003

Go slow on troop relocation

The United States, in an attempt to realign its military forces abroad, is planning to relocate its troops in South Korea. However, talks between the two countries do not appear to be going smoothly. A recent meeting in Seoul between U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and South Korean Defense...
COMMUNITY
Dec 6, 2003

Folktales of days gone by fly off the gallery walls

There is so much energy bouncing around Ginza's Gallery Yougen that just to step inside is uplifting. There are the images on the walls -- 17 woodcut prints created to illustrate the book "Tales of Days Gone By," stories selected from 1,000 folktales compiled in the 12th century for the classic literary...
JAPAN
Dec 5, 2003

Tokushima inn warned for barring blind with guide dogs

The Justice Ministry's local chapter in Tokushima Prefecture issued a warning Thursday to a semipublic hot spring hotel in Ichiba for its refusal to allow two blind people to stay there with their guide dogs last month.
EDITORIALS
Dec 5, 2003

Wiretap charges clip highflier

Takefuji Corp., Japan's largest consumer finance company, is at the center of an unfolding wiretap scandal. Earlier this week, the Metropolitan Police Department arrested the company's founding chairman, Mr. Yasuo Takei, on charges of ordering his employees to wiretap a freelance journalist who had criticized...
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / OLD NIC'S NOTEBOOK
Dec 4, 2003

Alarm mars a runaway success story for salmon

In October, I spent some time in Vancouver. I have grown-up children there, as well as grandchildren and a lot of old friends, most of whom I met while working for the Environmental Protection Service. Even though I left Canada in 1978 to come to Japan and pursue the often dubious course of a writer,...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Dec 3, 2003

Balanced diet eludes kids of junk food age

Getting kids to eat their vegetables is not easy. And in fast-paced urban Japan, where both parents usually work and the landscape is dominated by convenience stores overflowing with junk food, the chore is ever more difficult.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Dec 3, 2003

In between art and life

"Gokann," the umbrella name given to three exhibitions of contemporary Finnish art now showing in Kyoto, is an accommodating term. The Japanese title was chosen for its multiplicity of meanings, all derived from typing in "g-o-k-a-n-n" on a computer then pressing the kanji-convert key. Those varied meanings...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Dec 3, 2003

Takefuji wiretapping scandal unfolds

More than a year after journalist Shunsuke Yamaoka first accused Takefuji Corp. of tapping his home phone, police have finally reached the top echelons of the country's leading consumer loan firm.
JAPAN
Dec 2, 2003

High court for intellectual property considered

The government is studying the creation of a high court devoted exclusively to creations of the mind.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Dec 2, 2003

Could fear derail bold tourism bid?

There's a great irony in the Japanese government's "action plan" to double the the number of tourists who come to these shores by 2010.
BUSINESS
Dec 2, 2003

Jittery JT to launch six new products next month

Japan Tobacco Inc. said Monday it will launch six new cigarette products simultaneously early next month in a bid to sustain revenue amid a rapidly shrinking market.
JAPAN
Dec 2, 2003

Crime rate sees a slight decrease

The number of reported crimes nationwide has edged down after seven consecutive years of record highs, National Police Agency chief Hidehiko Sato said Monday.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Dec 1, 2003

Kimpo, Haneda shuttles take off

Japanese and South Korean airlines began shuttle flights Sunday between Tokyo's Haneda airport and Seoul's Kimpo in a bid to boost tourism and exchanges between the two capitals.
BUSINESS
Dec 1, 2003

Amino sports drinks gaining strength

Reflecting higher health consciousness and an ever-rising number of fitness enthusiasts, sports drinks containing amino acids are continuing to enjoy brisk sales in Japan.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Nov 30, 2003

all systems GO!

In the game of go, there are no cards, no dice, no tricky moves like chess or complicated formulas to remember as there are in poker or mah jongg. And though in principle the game is simplicity itself, go is in a mathematical stratosphere all of its own.
JAPAN
Nov 29, 2003

Imprisoned Falun Gong member returns to Japan

A resident of Japan who had been detained in China for her activities in the Falun Gong spiritual movement thanked those who supported her Friday.
JAPAN
Nov 29, 2003

Probe ties WWII poison gas to 138 sites

Poison gas may have been abandoned at 138 sites in 41 prefectures at the end of World War II, according to the results of a nationwide study released Friday by the Environment Ministry.
JAPAN
Nov 29, 2003

Experts fear orbiter Nozomi will collide with, pollute Mars

Experts are growing anxious that Japan's beleaguered space probe Nozomi may contaminate Mars if it happens to collide with the Red Planet, possibly on Dec. 14.
BUSINESS
Nov 29, 2003

A chance to catch the latest meows

Toy maker Takara Co. on Friday launched what it claims to be a "cat translator," the latest in a series of gadgets aimed at aiding human-animal communications.

Longform

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