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Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Dec 31, 2003

A river of creativity runs through it

Art is breaking out all over Kamiyama in Tokushima Prefecture. Mysterious arrangements of rocks are appearing in the verdant hills of this northeastern Shikoku town. Small wooden huts -- equipped with artistic stamps and ink pads for visitors to document their passage -- are dotted about the town. An...
JAPAN
Dec 28, 2003

DBJ to tie loans to environment efforts

The governmental Development Bank of Japan will from next April offer a new loan with interest rates linked to recipient companies' commitments on environmental measures, DBJ officials said Saturday.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / PERSONALITY PROFILE
Dec 27, 2003

Rabinder Malik

Almost 10 years ago when Rabinder Malik celebrated his 60th birthday, his family and friends put on a surprise party for him. "Sixty persons came," he said. "That was awesome."
BUSINESS
Dec 25, 2003

Banks to receive green light to enter securities business

Banks are set to be allowed into the securities business following a recommendation Wednesday by a government panel that banks and other financial institutions be given the ability to act as sales agents for brokerage houses.
COMMENTARY
Dec 22, 2003

Time to revise unequal SOFA

A group of lawmakers of the governing Liberal Democratic Party is campaigning for the drastic revision of the Japan-U.S. Status of Forces Agreement. The group, headed by Lower House member Toshio Kojima, has come up with a proposal for revising SOFA in cooperation with a council of governors of 14 prefectures,...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Dec 21, 2003

Year's top commercials 'ad' up to great Japanese TV

Anyone who reads this column regularly probably believes that I find Japanese television completely worthless. It's not true; or, at least, not completely true. I think Japanese TV commercials are very good and often more representative of the hopes and dreams of the nation than the programming is.
JAPAN
Dec 20, 2003

Japan approves plan for missile defense

The government said Friday it will go ahead with plans to introduce a contentious U.S.-developed ballistic missile defense system to protect Japan from attack, such as from North Korea.
BUSINESS
Dec 19, 2003

December's assessment of economy echoes November's

The government left its assessment of the economy in December unchanged from November, with rises in exports and falls in bankruptcies offset by a deterioration in the employment situation.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Dec 14, 2003

Not letting the facts get in the way of a good 'documentary'

In the tributes to the Japanese diplomats who were killed two weeks ago, few people mentioned what they were actually doing in Iraq. Katsuhiko Oku was, among other things, encouraging Iraqis to watch NHK's popular drama series, "Oshin," which is being broadcast on Iraqi TV. The show, originally aired...
BUSINESS
Dec 13, 2003

Boards here in need of outsiders: U.S. headhunter

A leading U.S. executive search firm has found that Japan's corporate boards have a smaller number of external directors than any other nation.
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Dec 11, 2003

Lice of a feather grow together

Look at the history of modern global infections and you'll see a worrying pattern. For example, evidence of SARS, which killed 916 people worldwide this year, was discovered in civets and raccoon dogs sold live at Chinese food markets. Yuen Kwok-yung, head of microbiology at the University of Hong Kong,...
JAPAN
Dec 11, 2003

Ministry gets warmer in search for arsenic contamination source

Three locations around an arsenic-contaminated well in Kamisu, Ibaraki Prefecture, have the highest levels of the poison ever found in the area, the Environment Ministry said Wednesday.
JAPAN
Dec 11, 2003

Mixed signals sent on SDF Iraq duties

The government is giving unclear explanations about when Self-Defense Forces troops will be sent to Iraq and whether they will transport arms and ammunition for other forces in the U.S.-led coalition.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Dec 10, 2003

Imagine art for all people, living peacefully

Yoko Ono loves me. Or at least she said that she does in the e-mail interview we conducted as she crisscrossed the globe.
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
Dec 9, 2003

Inheritance, noise woes and pet travel

More on death tax More now on inheritance or death tax. Alastair had heard that "death tax" is very high in Japan and was wondering if this was the case.
BUSINESS / JAPANESE PERSPECTIVES
Dec 8, 2003

Think carefully before embarking on tax and pension system reforms

With the House of Representatives election over and the roster for the policy panel of the ruling coalition set, discussions on tax reform for the next fiscal year have finally gotten under way -- half a month later than average. I would like to mention some points we would like to emphasize on this...
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 7, 2003

Avoiding the pitfalls of Korea in Iraq

SEOUL -- Regrettably, the preference of U.S. policymakers to look to occupied Germany and Japan for policy guidance has blinded them to the pitfalls they are now facing in Iraq. Instead, they should be immersing themselves in the six-volume, thousand-page "History of the American Military Government...
BUSINESS
Dec 6, 2003

Cabinet endorses budget policies

In the face of a swelling fiscal deficit, the Cabinet on Friday endorsed basic policies for the fiscal 2004 budget, promising that the overall size of the budget and its core component -- general expenditure -- will not exceed those of fiscal 2003.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Dec 6, 2003

Drive! Hokkaido! -- turn left at the cow

I decided to "Drive! Hokkaido!" as the brochures say. When I left the Sapporo airport in my rental car, I was amazed at the surrounding scenery. Wow -- trees! I was so excited, I started barking (a trick I learned from years of driving with a dog in the car back home).
COMMENTARY
Dec 6, 2003

Keep doors open to refugees

LONDON -- If you're reading this on a plane or in a hotel, you're part of the problem. But even if you're sitting snugly, smugly at home, you may not be the solution.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 6, 2003

Sound reasons inspire unusual strikes

CHIANG MAI, Thailand -- News from France concerning the recent work stoppage by diplomats of the prestigious Quai d'Orsay is unusual, to say the least. Thousands of diplomatic officers, both in Paris and abroad, have abandoned their duties in protest of huge budgetary restrictions that have torpedoed...
CULTURE / Books / THE BOOK REPORT
Dec 4, 2003

Living on 3 million yen a year

Is there a conspiracy among Japanese politicians, economic experts and elite bureaucrats to destroy Japan's egalitarian postwar social and economic systems and replace them with an American-style, dog-eat-dog type of capitalism typified by a society of haves and have-nots? In his best-selling "Nenshu...
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...
BUSINESS
Dec 3, 2003

Companies pursue image boost via programs for disabled

Japanese corporations are steadily expanding their social action programs to support physically disabled people in an apparent bid to look better to foreign investors.
JAPAN
Dec 2, 2003

Limits eyed for toxic organic compounds

The Environment Ministry plans to regulate emissions of toxic chemical compounds from big factories in Japan, where they are believed to be seven times higher than levels in the United States, ministry officials said Monday.

Longform

Totopa in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward was picked by consultants TTNE as the best sauna of the year.
Japan’s sauna movement: Relax, refresh, repeat