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COMMENTARY / WASHINGTON UPDATE
May 23, 2002

Intelligence that got the U.S. nowhere

WASHINGTON -- "What did they know and when did they know it?" That is a paraphrase of the critical question that dogged Richard Nixon through the dreadful days of Watergate. Now, the same question is being asked again. What did the intelligence community know about the threat of terrorists -- specifically,...
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / GARDENS FOR ALL
May 23, 2002

Dallying where daimyo strolled

Next time you find yourself in Okayama Prefecture, down by the beautiful Seto Inland Sea in western Honshu, you could do worse than allow some time to visit Shuraku-en Park, a well-known historical garden in the Sanyo district of Tsuyama.
LIFE / Digital
May 23, 2002

Net making inroads on World Cup

South Korea has already won the World Cup, virtually.
EDITORIALS
May 22, 2002

A middle way to whaling

Whaling is an emotionally charged, politicized issue. It is also highly nuanced. Unfortunately, its details are often lost amid the sound bites and oversimplifications of polarized rhetoric.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
May 22, 2002

Generous with their talents

Nestled among the markets, cafes and residential manshon of northern Nogizaka in Tokyo's Minato Ward is a tiny studio theater called Studio Akasaka Playbox.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
May 22, 2002

The goodness of small things

The stage of "Masurca Fogo" represents choreographer Pina Bausch's aesthetic world. And what a wide world it is: The 22 dancers are drawn from far and wide, and the music ranges from Brazilian samba and Portuguese fado, to k.d. lang and Duke Ellington.
SOCCER / J. League / ON THE BALL
May 21, 2002

Fans getting feisty at World Cup ticket no show

With the World Cup getting ever closer, soccer fans are getting increasingly worried about the whereabouts of their tickets.
Japan Times
JAPAN / KANSAI BEAT
May 21, 2002

High-flying Tigers pitch for orphans

NISHINOMIYA, Hyogo Pref. -- With the Hanshin Tigers having their best start in years this season, the pride of the Kansai area has been the center of public and media attention.
COMMENTARY
May 21, 2002

Overhaul the foreign service

The police intrusion into the Japanese Consulate General in the northeastern Chinese city of Shenyang on May 8 has revealed, both here and abroad, the sorry state of Japanese diplomacy.
SOCCER / World cup / COHOSTING
May 21, 2002

Struggling to shake off the demons

After solving the issue of what the 2002 World Cup would be called in Japanese -- by removing the two countries' names -- FIFA no doubt hoped that the organization of the tournament would proceed without any further hiccups.
JAPAN
May 21, 2002

Nichibenren to investigate handling of asylum seekers

The Japan Federation of Bar Associations (Nichibenren) said Monday it will investigate the removal of five North Korean asylum seekers by Chinese police from the Japanese Consulate General in Shenyang, China, with an eye to pressuring the government to make greater efforts to protect human rights.
COMMENTARY / JAPAN IN THE GLOBAL ERA
May 20, 2002

Parochialism produces few world leaders

LAUSANNE, Switzerland -- Following the appearance of one of the recent articles in this series on Japan in the global era, a colleague of mine, Dominique Turpin, who has been doing research on Japanese industry for some 20 years, came into my office and said, "Jean-Pierre, when are you going to start...
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?"
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
May 20, 2002

Kobe beef's secret: nice alcoholic cows

As we enter the barbecue season, that tiny lovely sliver of a season stuck between "o-hanami" and the rainy season, the question on everyone's mind is: What is Kobe beef? And what could make Kobe beef so special that people willingly pay over 10,000 yen for a steak?
BUSINESS / JAPANESE PERSPECTIVES
May 20, 2002

Tax reform will offer Japan realistic chance to revitalize economy

The government's Council on Economic and Fiscal Policy is scheduled to set the direction for tax reform by the end of June. Since its establishment last year, the council has set out guidelines for structural reform in fiscal, social security and other fields, but not much has been discussed about the...
COMMENTARY / World
May 19, 2002

Ending the outrage of child marriages

NEW DELHI -- For a country that boasts the 21st-century trappings of a space program, nuclear energy and state-of-the-art communications, child marriage is a shocking sociological phenomenon. Every day children in India are marched to community halls and forced into lifelong relationships that hold little...
JAPAN / WEEKEND WISDOM
May 19, 2002

Maverick metal molder happy solving big boys' problems

Masayuki Okano is living proof that building a better mousetrap gets the world to beat a path to your door.
ENVIRONMENT
May 19, 2002

What the label doesn't say

Scandals about deception in product labeling have been in the news of late, with both the expiry dates and the origins of dairy and meat products called into question. While not as big a news item, the labeling standards for whale meat take deception to further, murkier depths -- and to dangerous ones....
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
May 19, 2002

The inns and outs in the life of okami

O ne of the subsections of TV Tokyo's large selection of food-travel programs is the "Bijin Okami" special. Bijin okami, which translates as "beautiful mistress of the house," are women who run inns and hotels in resort and hot-spring areas. They are usually married to the owners of the establishments...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / THE WAY OF WASHOKU
May 19, 2002

Time is ripe for the taste of Old World fruit

The flowers of an eggplant, like the wisdom of a parent, will never mislead you. — Japanese proverb
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / BEST BAR NONE
May 19, 2002

Something close to home

Some of Tokyo's best little bars are hidden on tiny back streets in quiet residential neighborhoods. They are the kind of bars that one only discovers by living nearby -- or being taken there by someone who does. So when a friend called suggesting an outing to one of his favorite bars on the outskirts...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
May 19, 2002

Repent of Western ways to see the light

A BURDEN OF FLOWERS, by Natsuki Ikezawa. Kodansha International, 2001, 239 pp., 2,400 yen (cloth) A story of two Japanese siblings' rejection of Western values, one eloquent on the dangers of being "too Cartesian in your thinking, too tied up in Western rationalism," is hardly an obvious candidate for...
SOCCER / World cup / COHOSTING
May 18, 2002

Beyond the limits of normalcy

Can Japan and South Korea work together to put on the 2002 World Cup?
COMMENTARY
May 17, 2002

Japan at its inconsistent worst

Japan's overheated reaction to the May 8 North Korean refugee incident at the Japanese consulate-general in Shenyang, northeast China, is worrying.
JAPAN
May 17, 2002

Diplomats to be held 10 more days

Veteran Russian affairs expert Masaru Sato and fellow Foreign Ministry employee Akira Maejima, under arrest on suspicion of misusing ministry funds, will be kept in detention until May 25, the Tokyo District Court said Thursday.
LIFE / Lifestyle / MATTER OF COURSE
May 17, 2002

Language help lets foreign students fit in

You'd think my sons were the first gaijin kids ever to attend a Japanese elementary school, judging from the surprised responses we get from people. But there are lots of foreign children in Japanese schools, and their numbers are growing. Unfortunately, most schools aren't equipped to teach newcomers...

Longform

Atsuyoshi Koike, the president and CEO of Rapidus, says there is a “sense of urgency” when it comes to Japan’s efforts in manufacturing semiconductors. “We have to make sure we are successful,” he says.
Atsuyoshi Koike’s big game: Fourth down and 2 nanometers to go