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JAPAN
Sep 25, 2001

MSDF fleet awaits mission

The Defense Agency will dispatch a state-of-the-art Aegis destroyer and three other Maritime Self-Defense Force ships from Nagasaki Prefecture's Sasebo Base to the Indian Ocean, possibly as soon as Thursday, to support U.S. activities following the terrorist attacks it suffered, government sources said....
JAPAN
Sep 24, 2001

Temperatures push new heights in Tokyo

Tokyo is becoming more of a jungle every year -- meteorologically speaking. As metropolitan temperatures continue to climb annually, there are signs that temperate Tokyo is becoming more tropical.
JAPAN / MUSEUM MUSINGS
Sep 24, 2001

Baseball still the stuff of boys' dreams

The eyes of the boys from Okachimachi Junior High School in Tokyo light up as they grip the bats of professional Japanese baseball stars.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Sep 23, 2001

Dream weavers of a bygone era

When made up for work, Norie is perhaps as close to the classic image of Japan as you could wish. Clad in a colorful yet demure kimono, wooden sandals and a jet-black wig that provides a striking contrast to the white makeup lavished on her fine features, she looks like a doll.
BUSINESS
Sep 22, 2001

Transport ministry unveils its draft of privatization plan

Under strong pressure from the reformist Koizumi Cabinet, the Land, Infrastructure and Transport Ministry unveiled a draft plan Friday to privatize six controversial road- and housing-related semigovernmental corporations.
ENVIRONMENT
Sep 20, 2001

Cranes make a song and dance about it

CHENGDU, China -- Japan and China share an age-old love for cranes. In recent years there have been many exchanges and co-operative projects between these countries, working toward the protection of cranes.
CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES
Sep 19, 2001

Bob Dylan: 'Love and Theft'

You can tell how much the critical establishment needs Bob Dylan by the praise heaped on his last studio album, 1997's "Time Out of Mind," which contained five excellent songs, five pretty good ones and one 161/2-minute bore. Music critics decided the album was all about death, and as this was, after...
Events
Sep 18, 2001

Slice of U.S. pie reveals dreams aren't in the sky

KYOTO -- In 1996, Akiko Hirano was finally ready to fulfill her dream of earning a diploma at a U.S. university. So the 47-year-old boarded a flight to Connecticut to chase a higher education.
JAPAN
Sep 18, 2001

Koizumi wants SDF to support U.S. action

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi on Monday instructed Cabinet members to study the possibility of drawing up a new law that would allow the Self-Defense Forces to give logistic support to the U.S. should the Americans follow through with military threats made after last week's terrorist attacks.
COMMUNITY
Sep 16, 2001

Can blood type determine character?

If you're a recent arrival to Japan, don't worry if a new friend asks "What's your blood type?" Your inquisitor is unlikely to be a vampire. Here, blood type is believed to tell a lot about a person in just a letter or two: A, B, O or AB.
CULTURE / Books
Sep 16, 2001

The ideology of Japanese identity

MULTIETHNIC JAPAN, by John Lie. Harvard University Press, Cambridge University Press, 2001, 248 pp. $35 Japan and many of its observers have avoided the confusion and contention associated with diversity by assuming, asserting and elaborating a monolithic, monoethnic Japan that jostles uncomfortably...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Sep 15, 2001

Finding market niches to make really good books

Ivan Vartanian makes books. He is not a publisher, nor a commonplace packager. Rather he identifies a niche in the market, lines up the most suitable backing, and then physically puts the book together himself under the company name Goliga Books. All within the constrains of a tiny apartment in Tokyo's...
BUSINESS
Sep 14, 2001

Nissan, Renault make integration effort

Nissan Motor Co. and Renault SA said Thursday they will launch a joint organization later this month to study ways to integrate their information systems as they move toward joint worldwide automotive operations.
CULTURE / Art
Sep 12, 2001

Artist sees hospital life through a glass darkly

From Parisian alcoholic Maurice Utrillo to Japan's own polka-dot diva Yayoi Kusama, I would guess that the list of artists who have actually lived in mental institutions is just about as long as the list of painters (Picasso, Dubuffet) who regularly hung around them looking for inspiration, searching...
CULTURE / Books
Sep 9, 2001

A long-term relationship that works

PARTNERSHIP: The United States and Japan 1951-2001, edited by Akira Iriye and Robert A. Wampler. Tokyo: Kodansha International, 2001, 333 pp., 3,800 yen (cloth). On Sept. 8, 1951, Japan and the United States, along with 47 other governments, signed a peace treaty that officially ended the Pacific...
COMMUNITY
Sep 9, 2001

Still healthy, after all these years

FUKUOKA -- Passing your twilight years in Japan used to entail long days of contemplation and an austere diet of tofu. Sound dull? The good news is that doctors these days recommend an active social life for a happy, healthy old age. The bad news is, according to medical practitioner Magoe Ando, you'll...
CULTURE / Books
Sep 9, 2001

This is the season of our national discontent

Last week's edition of Aera (Sept. 3) looked at the current "Age of Discontent," while Bungei Shunju published a special issue in August on ways to find happiness. Both themes currently feature on the shelves of Japanese bookstores as well.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives
Sep 9, 2001

Katsuya Takasu, holding back the years

Katsuya Takasu regards his body as a vehicle to carry his mind. So what he had done to his face two years ago was, as he puts it, "just like fixing an old jalopy."
LIFE / Food & Drink / VINELAND
Sep 9, 2001

Home is where the harvest is

If you yearn to glimpse a vineyard in autumn, consider visiting one in Japan. In several prefectures, quality-minded vintners are exploring the grape varietals, cultivation techniques and microclimates needed to produce first-class wines.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / PERSONALITY PROFILE
Sep 8, 2001

Misako Fedorowicz

SHREWSBURY, England -- This country town of Shropshire in the British Midlands is characterized by its crowding, crooked, black-and-white 16th century houses, clustered within a horseshoe loop of the River Severn. Narrow passages known as shuts link winding streets that keep distinctive names acquired...
JAPAN
Sep 8, 2001

Tokyo fails to stem suspected oil exploration

After two hours of nothing but the vast expanse of the East China Sea, a steel structure topped by a streak of flame and a helicopter pad appears on the horizon, growing rapidly in the window of a Maritime Self-Defense Force P-3C patrol plane.
BUSINESS
Sep 7, 2001

LDP formulates employment measures

The Liberal Democratic Party has drafted a set of employment measures to help those rendered jobless by corporate restructuring, officials said Thursday.
JAPAN
Sep 7, 2001

Lens maker shines brightly in economic gloom

When Yasuo Ikuta saw the light focused by his unique lens erupt in a streak of smoke on a paved road about a decade ago, he was stunned by its potential.
BUSINESS
Sep 5, 2001

Nippon Steel expands ties with POSCO to include IT

Nippon Steel Corp. has said its strategic business alliance with South Korea's Pohang Iron & Steel Co., or POSCO, will be extended into such areas as information technology and resource development to strengthen their presence in the global market.
JAPAN
Sep 5, 2001

Ministry to examine risk of eating contaminated whales

The health ministry has decided to examine the health risks associated with consuming contaminated whale meat from small whales captured along Japan's coast, ministry sources said Tuesday.

Longform

An ongoing shortage of rice has resulted in rising prices for Japan's main food staple.
Why Japan is running out of rice — and farmers to grow it