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Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES
Feb 27, 2002

Epoca de Ouro: 'Cafe Brasil'

Brazil has produced more than its fair share of indigenous popular music, but the most basic is choro, which in Portuguese literally means "sobbing." That isn't to say all choro songs are designed to make the listener break down in tears. It has more to do with the ensemble sound, a kind of contrapuntal...
JAPAN / WEEKEND WISDOM
Feb 24, 2002

Skeptical astrophysicist constructs 'green' home his own way

KYOTO -- For most people, tearing down a perfectly good house to build a new one may not seem all that environmentally friendly.
COMMUNITY
Feb 24, 2002

Overseas and under pressure

For people moving to a foreign country, the simplest daily activities can become a nightmare.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 21, 2002

At last, Washington trashes junk science

WASHINGTON -- Back in December 2000, U.S. President Bill Clinton and Vice President Gore were busy fellows -- what with dishes to pack, furniture to ship and an election to contest. So busy were they that they neglected to read some of the fine print in a cascade of administration-ending paperwork. One...
JAPAN
Feb 21, 2002

Lifetime employee laments end to her dream of promotion

Setsuko Tanao, an employee at Nomura Securities Co., has fought for gender equality in the workplace since joining the firm's Osaka branch as a high school graduate in 1961.
COMMENTARY / WASHINGTON UPDATE
Feb 21, 2002

Silver lining in Enron scandal: campaign finance reform

WASHINGTON -- It may look like Enron Corp. is the only game in town, but that would be far from the truth. A lot is going on these days, although Enron certainly has taken a big chunk of the capital's attention. There are hearings galore and press conferences in between. To what end? Good question. This...
BUSINESS
Feb 21, 2002

Wire making firms promise unions to avoid staff cuts

The management of Furukawa Electric Co., Sumitomo Electric Industries Ltd. and four other leading electric wire makers promised in recent negotiations with their labor unions that they would make "utmost efforts" to avoid job cuts, union officials said Wednesday.
Japan Times
SPORTS / SPORTS SCOPE
Feb 21, 2002

'Rainbow Warrior' talks rugby, politics, life

Francois Pienaar is best known as the man who unified a nation.
BUSINESS / ON THE FRONT LINE
Feb 20, 2002

Nikkei signals spring rebound not in cards

The Nikkei average, which hit an all-time high of 38,915.87 on the final trading day of 1989, has been languishing at around 10,000 in recent months.
BUSINESS
Feb 20, 2002

Japanese firms study fiber-optic e-commerce system

Leading Japanese telecom and technology companies said Tuesday they have begun joint research on a new electronic commerce system using high-speed fiber-optic networks.
COMMENTARY / JAPAN IN THE GLOBAL ERA
Feb 18, 2002

No surprise investors shun 'homely' Japan

LAUSANNE, Switzerland -- For a nation to be competitive in the global era, above all it has to be attractive. That, argues my colleague Stephane Garelli, author of the annual IMD World Competitiveness Yearbook (WCY), is the ultimate criterion in determining how nations compete in the global era. Attractiveness...
JAPAN
Feb 18, 2002

Bush arrives in Tokyo, keeps hard line on 'axis'

U.S. President George W. Bush arrived in Tokyo on Sunday afternoon for his first visit to Japan since his inauguration last year, on the first leg of a six-day tour of East Asia that will also take him to South Korea and China.
EDITORIALS
Feb 17, 2002

Open food-supply system needed

Five months have passed since the first case of mad cow disease (bovine spongiform encephalopathy) was confirmed in Japan. The use of meat and bone meal, which is suspected to have transmitted the disease, has been banned, and testing for all cows has been introduced. But Japanese livestock farmers,...
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 17, 2002

North Korea through different prisms

SEOUL -- In his State of the Union address, U.S. President George W. Bush has managed to disappoint South Korea and enrage North Korea at the same time by lumping the latter with the likes of Iraq and Iran. As the president begins a Northeast Asian rain-check sojourn with stops in Tokyo, Seoul and Beijing...
JAPAN
Feb 17, 2002

Environment activists plan chilly reception for Bush

While the government prepares to roll out the red carpet for U.S. President George W. Bush as he arrives today in Tokyo for his inaugural visit, a collection of nongovernmental groups are planning a less warm welcome.
JAPAN
Feb 17, 2002

Serious crimes by teens rising: poll

Many teenagers and adults believe the number of serious crimes committed by teenagers is on the rise, according to a government survey on juvenile delinquency released Saturday.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Feb 17, 2002

Was she used -- or were Makiko's tears deemed too dangerous?

The sixth Press and Human Rights Committee Conference, held at the end of January by the Asahi Shimbun, focused on the problem of gender discrimination in the media. In a full-page feature promoting the event in the Feb. 10 issue of the newspaper, three participants started out by blasting Prime Minister...
COMMENTARY
Feb 16, 2002

Enron's pain will lead to future gain

WASHINGTON -- With the rubble still smoldering from Enron's bankruptcy, the U.S. Congress is attempting to score points by interrogating the international energy company's managers. Former CEO Jeffrey Skilling faced rough going before a congressional hearing; only by invoking the Fifth Amendment did...
BUSINESS
Feb 16, 2002

McDonald's logs '01 sales decline on mad cow scare

Ltd. said Friday it suffered a sharp decline in unconsolidated profits in 2001 due to falling hamburger sales after the mad cow disease outbreak in September. The fast food operator also announced that as part of a drive to reverse this trend it has agreed with Pret A Manger, a London-based sandwich...
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
Feb 14, 2002

Call for a 'paradigm shift' to eco-economy

As Japan's economy sputters to a halt, the rest of the world looks on incredulously, wondering if this nation is up to the task of an overhaul.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art / NEW ART SEEN
Feb 14, 2002

Art appreciation as commodity fetishism

For the next three months, the Tokyo Opera City Gallery is devoting its large exhibition space to "JAM: Tokyo-London." Born of a cross-cultural happening in England in 1996, this second installment of JAM focuses on art, fashion and music. Premiered at the Barbican Gallery in London last summer and now...
JAPAN / CLOSE NEIGHBORS
Feb 14, 2002

Lawmakers' views of past still plague relations

An education ministry panel's approval last April of a history textbook, which critics denounced as attempting to glorify Japan's wartime past, drew a quick response from South Korean politicians.
JAPAN
Feb 13, 2002

JobTimes goes online

A new online recruiting site opens its doors today, targeting university students and people searching for employment in a bilingual environment.
COMMENTARY
Feb 11, 2002

Fixing the Foreign Ministry

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi paid a high price for sacking Makiko Tanaka as foreign minister — a free fall in his Cabinet's popularity ratings. The debacle highlighted three major problems involving the Foreign Ministry:
COMMENTARY / JAPAN IN THE GLOBAL ERA
Feb 11, 2002

Argentina's decline holds lessons for Japan

LAUSANNE, Switzerland -- A J.P. Morgan analyst in Tokyo was quoted by The Globalist (Dec. 21) as saying, "Japan now faces the choice: either restructure its economy or become the Argentina of the 21st century -- a spent power." One would not have imagined even just a very few years ago that Japan and...
JAPAN
Feb 11, 2002

Shonan merger plan races clock, though some balk

With its gently arching coastline overlooking Enoshima Island in Sagami Bay and a distant view of Mount Fuji and the Hakone mountain range, the Shonan area in Kanagawa Prefecture triggers memories of songs and movies about the picturesque area.
COMMENTARY
Feb 10, 2002

Pakistan turns the other cheek to India

ISLAMABAD -- Pakistan has decided against a knee-jerk reaction to India's test last month of the Agni missile, which has become another addition to the arms race in South Asia.
JAPAN
Feb 9, 2002

WWF warns of mass extinction by 2100

If greenhouse gas emissions continue to climb, ecosystems within a century may recede at speeds greater than 1 km a year, raising the specter of mass extinctions of plant and animal species in globally important nature areas, according to a World Wide Fund for Nature report.

Longform

Totopa in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward was picked by consultants TTNE as the best sauna of the year.
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