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CULTURE / Books / THE BOOK REPORT
Mar 27, 2003

Libraries under attack

Are public libraries stealing the livelihoods of Japanese authors? So say writers and publishers as the number of books borrowed climbs while sales of books and magazines steadily decline.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Mar 27, 2003

Songwriting lawmaker blazes maverick policy trail

On Feb. 18, the day before his latest CD was set to hit store shelves, lawmaker Ichita Yamamoto met Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi at his official residence in order to hand him a copy of "Kaikaku no Uta" ("Song for Reform").
JAPAN
Mar 26, 2003

Complainants over ODA dam double

A further 3,900 residents of Indonesia's Sumatra Island on Friday will add their names to a lawsuit targeting the legitimacy of Japanese overseas aid, their lawyer said Tuesday.
BUSINESS / ON MANAGEMENT
Mar 25, 2003

The Rules of Clout: the whens and hows of granting favors safely

The story has passed its first blush now, and has faded in public memory into just another head-shaker about the apparently out-of-control lifestyles of CEOs. But the saga of how a star stock analyst, Jack Grubman, allegedly upgraded a stock as a favor for Sandy Weill of Citigroup, who in turn pressured...
COMMUNITY
Mar 23, 2003

From ancient to modern

As quintessentially contemporary as manga may seem, the oldest extant manga-style drawings actually date from the eighth-century zare-ga (play pictures), scrawled graffiti-like in the attic of the Horyuji Temple in Nara.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Mar 23, 2003

Lawyers: they're not all out for themselves

HUMAN RIGHTS IN JAPAN, South Korea and Taiwan, by Ian Neary. London, Routledge, 2002, 297 pp., $95 (cloth) It's not easy being a lawyer these days -- putting up with nasty jokes, scant respect and widespread suspicions that the public interest is way down on the list of priorities. Ian Neary reminds...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Mar 23, 2003

English text lays bare a secret

Fanc a trip to a not-so-secret but hitherto inaccessible part of Japan?
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Mar 22, 2003

Painter enhances nature to give ikebana new life

About to spend four days in Tokyo curating her students' work for an exhibition -- "Collaboration with Nature" -- at Sogetsu Kaikan in Akasaka, Liga Pang juggles cooking lunch and packing bags as we talk.
SOCCER / PREMIER REPORT
Mar 21, 2003

Drink culture still a major problem for English soccer

LONDON -- It has long been one of the mysteries of English football -- why does the national sport accept so much money from the product that has fueled so much hooliganism, which has caused so much trouble -- even deaths and destruction?
Japan Times
JAPAN
Mar 21, 2003

Panel advocates teaching patriotism

The Fundamental Law of Education should be revised to include the concept of patriotism and the importance of educating students about religion, a key government panel said in a report submitted Thursday.
JAPAN
Mar 21, 2003

'Daiken' waiver for Western-school grads on hold

The education ministry will freeze its plan to allow graduates of international schools taught in English to take entrance exams at government-funded universities without having to take "daiken" pre-admission tests, according to ministry sources.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Mar 20, 2003

Happiness and how to achieve it

We are all in search of it, and while some have it, many don't. The pursuit of it was even written into the American Declaration of Independence. We're talking about happiness, surely an ancient and universal human desire, a desire that arose in our brains when we arose on the Ethiopian savanna. But...
JAPAN
Mar 19, 2003

Mold threatening tomb's frescoes

A panel of experts agreed Tuesday to finalize by late May a report on emergency measures to remove black mold threatening the colorful frescoes of the Takamatsuzuka Tumulus in the village of Asuka, Nara Prefecture.
JAPAN
Mar 18, 2003

High school kids to be sent abroad

The education ministry unveiled a plan Monday in which 10,000 high school students will be sent overseas each year to study and 100 high schools will be selected to provide advanced English education by the 2005-2006 academic year.
MORE SPORTS
Mar 18, 2003

Kiwi pair hopes to put Kyushu rugby on map

Japan's new professional rugby league, the Top League, may not kick off until Sept. 13 but the 12 clubs involved are all in the process of finalizing their squads and coaching staffs for the inaugural season.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Mar 16, 2003

Weapon of wonder: The craft of katana and the art of killing

Yokota, at the foot of Mount Sentsuzan in the Izumo region of Shimane Prefecture, is home to one of Japan's best-known mythological tales.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Mar 16, 2003

A struggle against tyranny

Composed more than 2,000 years ago and first devised for performance in religious festivals, the dramas of Ancient Greece have never lost their powerful relevance. When, for example, a pair of New York-based actresses hit on the idea of a global theatrical protest against war with Iraq, they devised...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Mar 16, 2003

Kindred spirits on a journey into sound

The angelic voice of Canadian chanteuse Jane Siberry has graced a stunning series of CDs over the past 20 years. Since the early 1980s, she has released her own recordings and contributed songs to numerous compilations. Perhaps most famously, the lovely "Calling All Angels" was included on the soundtrack...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Mar 16, 2003

Yoji Yamada

A director since 1961, with 77 films to his credit, Yoji Yamada, 71, is a Japanese film industry icon. His "Tora-san" series, about a wandering peddler who is forever falling in love, but never gets the girl, generated 48 hit installments -- and made Yamada the most successful Japanese director of his...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / PERSONALITY PROFILE
Mar 15, 2003

Renato Brandao

"Theater is and has always been the most important force in my life," said Renato Brandao. "It has a life-transforming, mystical power. It says that you can improve yourself, you can enlarge your horizons, you don't have to be bound by today's limits. I felt victimized when I was young, and it gave me...
EDITORIALS
Mar 14, 2003

Wage system headed for change

Corporate restructuring in Japan is creating inexorable pressure to implement wage restraints. This is evident in increasing efforts to change the traditional seniority-based wage system. Even more significant, these moves are apparent even among companies that are doing well despite the prolonged economic...
JAPAN
Mar 13, 2003

Ministry's college exam plan hit by ruling bloc

The three ruling parties agreed Wednesday to protest the education ministry's decision to give graduates of schools certified by Western education groups automatic qualification to take national university entrance exams while excluding students from other international schools.
JAPAN
Mar 9, 2003

International schools to win equal status

The government plans to treat international schools like private domestic schools starting in April and give preferential tax treatment to donors to such schools, government officials said Saturday.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Mar 9, 2003

Sandwich bars spread thick and fast

Can two slices of bread with a filling in between take on a box full of bite-size eats?
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Mar 9, 2003

Kissaten culture still on the boil

At 3 p.m. precisely, a staffer in meikyoku kissa Lion in Shibuya quietly announces the start of today's "concert." Silence descends as she places a record on the player. A gray-haired customer puffs on a cigarette at his corner table.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Mar 9, 2003

Get down with 'da beat

For the black slaves brought from Africa to America and Europe, the beat was a necessity -- it was in their blood. But the heart of their tribal rhythm, the drums, were forbidden in the aftermath of the Stono Rebellion in 1739. This revolt that occurred in South Carolina ended with more than 20 white...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Mar 9, 2003

The total cafe lifestyle

Options for a place to sit down with a nice cup of coffee or tea have expanded in Japan in recent years, but the favored haunts of the young and trendy are neither cozy kissaten nor chain outlets such as Starbucks and Tully's. They're cafes.
JAPAN
Mar 8, 2003

University exam furor to continue

The education ministry will continue debating whether to let Korean, Chinese and other non-Japanese students at ethnic schools automatically qualify to take national university entrance exams as it has done for students from Western-style schools, education minister Atsuko Toyama said Friday.
BASEBALL / MLB
Mar 8, 2003

Matsui's father confident son can play in majors

Some words of caution from Hideki Matsui's father: His son will adjust to the big leagues, but it may take a little time.

Longform

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