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CULTURE / Art
Jun 6, 2001

Diva serves up rare delights

A one-time teen model turned cyberdiva cum wannabe guru, she is no less than Japan's most celebrated artistic export, represented by the finest galleries in New York and Paris.
CULTURE / Art
Jun 6, 2001

Fantasy master's real-life concerns

An exhibition of 50 works by fantasy artist Kirk Reinert opens June 8 at Shinjuku Muse in Tokyo.
BUSINESS
Jun 5, 2001

Matsushita to market car-nav with detachable screen

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. said Monday it will launch a portable car-navigation system with a detachable display on July 1.
JAPAN
Jun 5, 2001

Ethnic Koreans get home spin on history

OSAKA — "Imperial Japan pillaged our country and instituted a cruel, repressive colonial regime. This went beyond acquiring food, resources and labor, and developed into a policy of obliterating the Korean people from the face of the Earth."
BUSINESS
Jun 5, 2001

Toyota launches Brevis luxury sedan

Toyota Motor Corp. said Monday it has begun marketing what it calls an active-lifestyle luxury sedan and hopes to sell 2,500 units.
JAPAN
Jun 5, 2001

Poison toads threaten rare Iriomote cats

The endangered Iriomote wildcats on Okinawa Prefecture's Iriomote Island face a new threat from an invasion of poisonous marine toads, the Environment Ministry said Monday.
LIFE / Travel
Jun 5, 2001

Sparks fly in Mexico's city of artists and artisans

SAN MIGUEL DE ALLENDE, Mexico -- Having grown up in Los Angeles, where only the sanest of fireworks were legally sold, I was taught that colorful sparks shooting up higher than 30 cm would surely make someone pay for their reckless abandon. How happy I was to discover here that it's not necessarily true....
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Jun 3, 2001

Kihachi China moves uptown

When Kihachi China moved a few blocks across Ginza last November, it was not just a change of address -- it signified a definite change of status. The old premises, hidden away behind Printemps, were smart but lightweight. The new restaurant is a mere five minutes' stroll away -- just around the corner...
JAPAN
Jun 2, 2001

Greece hopes renewal of air links will spur bilateral ties with Japan

An agreement reached between Japan and Greece earlier this week to improve air links by code sharing will hopefully spur bilateral ties, Grigoris Niotis, Greek deputy foreign minister, said in Tokyo on Friday.
ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER
Jun 1, 2001

Japanese rat snake

* Japanese name: Aodaisho
COMMENTARY / World
May 31, 2001

Smokers' deadly paradise

For Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist Hal Boyle, it wasn't too difficult to tell a man from a woman. "If it always offers you a cigar, it's a man," he quipped. "If it always is asking for a cigarette, then waits for a light, it's a woman."
SPORTS / SPORTS SCOPE
May 31, 2001

Drop your drawers and give me 20 (ml, that is)

Mark Heppelle is a 37-year-old Canadian currently living in Japan with his wife and two kids where he runs a small English school. But that's not his only source of income. Heppelle also has a rather unique sports-related job, the results of which can be seen almost daily on sports pages across the globe....
CULTURE / Art
May 30, 2001

Inside angle on the subcontinent

From the scowl of a Calcutta street kid to the prayer-locked, wrinkled face and hands of Mother Theresa; from the quiet orange of a Taj Mahal sunrise to the bustle of a Delhi bazaar -- it seems the full breadth of India's people and places live in the photographs of Raghu Rai.
JAPAN
May 27, 2001

Roland creator follows his own tune to international success

OSAKA -- From its humble beginnings almost 30 years ago, Roland Corp. today is one of the world's top electronic musical instrument manufacturers. In fact, nearly any musical performance features the ubiquitous brand name somewhere on stage.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
May 27, 2001

Cosmetics companies give themselves a makeover

Truth in advertising has never been a strong concept in Japan, but no one flouts it as boldly as the cosmetics industry, which is understandable, since makeup itself is a form of deception. One company's antiwrinkle cream is said to "prevent aging," an obvious impossibility, while the manufacturer of...
BUSINESS
May 26, 2001

Youth favors new Fuji chief

Kyoji Takenaka, the incoming president of Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd., is determined to make the company a full-fledged global player with "premium brand" vehicles.
BUSINESS
May 26, 2001

Lower House OKs bill to reform pension plans

The Lower House on Friday approved a new defined-benefit pension bill that will drastically reform the corporate pension system.
ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER
May 25, 2001

Spring cicada

* Japanese name: Haruzemi * Scientific name: Terpnosia vocua
JAPAN
May 24, 2001

Koizumi must deliver before hoopla fades

Staff writers Reformist Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi seems to know too well that what counts is his image.
ENVIRONMENT / GARDENING FOR ALL
May 24, 2001

Just plant grass, and mow it for 400 years

The Hosokawa family is deeply rooted to the history and development of Kumamoto. Hosokawa Tadatoshi (1586-1641) was granted the domain of Kumamoto (540,000 koku) by Shogun Tokugawa Iemitsu in 1632 and started work on the gardens which became Suizenji Jojuen in the same year.
CULTURE / Stage
May 23, 2001

Dankikusai passes torch to a new generation

For the month of May, the Kabukiza Theater in Tokyo is presenting a special program celebrating the Dankikusai (Danjuro-Kikugoro Festival). The afternoon program features "The Tale of Genji, Part II" in three acts, and the evening program includes two strikingly intense plays, "Gappo's Abode" and "Ise...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
May 20, 2001

Yoshimoto's talent for comedy

There was a time when parents in Osaka used to scold their kids by threatening, "I will send you to Yoshimoto!" if they were fooling around. Today, though, Yoshimoto Kogyo Co. has become Japan's largest entertainment agency, and most parents would be happy if their children worked for it. Its tarento...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
May 20, 2001

The importance of being Osakan

"Osaka? You think Osaka is the same as Tokyo?"
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
May 20, 2001

Ten weddings and a quiz show

'Timeshock" was one of the original Japanese quiz shows, an uncomplicated but tense trivia contest that kept viewers glued to their screens in the '60s and made its voluble host, the late Jiro Tamiya, a superstar. The heart of the show was the intense one-minute barrage of questions that the contestants...
ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER
May 18, 2001

Pipistrelle bat

*Japanese name: Abura komori *Scientific name:Pipistrellus abramus
BUSINESS
May 16, 2001

New condos for sale in Tokyo on decline

The number of new condominiums put up for sale in the Tokyo metropolitan area in April fell 27.9 percent from a year earlier to 5,763, down for the first time in two months, a private research institute said Tuesday.
CULTURE / Art
May 16, 2001

A vision of humanity that transcends culture

"Waterside Garden I" (2001) by Noriko Yanagisawa The current show at Tokyo's Hillside Forum features works by print artist Noriko Yanagisawa.
LIFE / Travel / NATURE TRAVEL
May 15, 2001

History and old home comforts in Zambia

Every mud hut in Songwe Village Lodge is named after a chief. Our hut, for example, is called Shichichele.

Longform

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