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Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Apr 21, 2006

Keeping rock simple

Jad Fair is the most unlikely of rock heroes. In his 40s, yet with the tall and gangly body of an adolescent and the naive blue eyes of a child, he looks like a preternaturally wide-eyed manga character.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Apr 21, 2006

L'Artemis: Panache and great value on a plate

Picture this. A substantial fillet of salmon fills the center of the plate, its flesh glinting a delicate pink and adorned with a dab of sour cream and a frond of dill. To one side a small mound of lightly steamed spring vegetables: young peas still in their pods; nanohana (rape greens); a thin wedge...
JAPAN
Apr 20, 2006

After a bad winter, experts try to come up with a snow plan

A government panel of experts has come up with an outline of recommendations on how to deal with heavy snow, which caused 150 deaths this winter season.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Apr 20, 2006

"Jack McLean & Carly Fischer -- Are You Here?"

Tokyo Nakaochiai Gallery Closes May 28
EDITORIALS
Apr 19, 2006

An unhealthy blast from the past

The ruling coalition has agreed to include a clause on patriotism in a bill that will revise the Fundamental Law of Education for the first time, although Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi has not decided when to send the bill to the Diet. The 1947 law, although drafted under the leadership of the Occupation...
JAPAN
Apr 18, 2006

Koike back after outworking men

Environment Minister Yuriko Koike, resuming her official duties Monday after recovering from acute pneumonia, said she had "worked too hard" because women are not recognized in the political community unless they work 10 times as hard as men.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 16, 2006

Myths and misconceptions on Chernobyl

LONDON -- The 20th anniversary of the Chernobyl nuclear accident of April 26, 1986, is prompting a new wave of alarmist claims about its impact on human health and the environment. As has become a ritual on such commemorative occasions, the death toll is tallied in the hundreds of thousands, and fresh...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Apr 16, 2006

Unlike with the French, a lack of fight spells future gloom for Japan's workers

While traveling through Europe recently I tried to get a handle on the controversy surrounding France's now abandoned First Job Contract (CPE) law, which was meant to make it easier for companies to hire young people. However, those same young people thought the law would make it easier for companies...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Apr 14, 2006

Sigur Ros warm to a wider world

When Sigur Ros proclaimed from their remote, treeless, volcanic island in 2000 that they would "change music forever, and the way people think about music," there was something mythical about their otherworldly sound and the made-up language of their lyrics that had some listeners actually believing...
JAPAN
Apr 13, 2006

Japan raps Iran over enrichment

The government said Wednesday it would be "extremely deplorable" if Iran has successfully enriched uranium and joined the club of nuclear powers, as Tehran claimed the day before.
JAPAN
Apr 12, 2006

Efforts on six-party talks still snagged

Diplomatic negotiations to restart the stalled six-party talks over North Korea's nuclear weapons programs continued Tuesday in Tokyo, but there was little visible progress as negotiators from five countries failed to persuade North Korea to come back to the table.
JAPAN
Apr 11, 2006

City mergers seen tailing off as the initial excitement fades

The number of villages, towns and cities has fallen by 40 percent to 1,820 in the seven years since the so-called Heisei Era annexation was begun in 1999 as a means of strengthening local governments.
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
Apr 11, 2006

Cheese, yoga and knitting

We're well aware that Tokyo is not the be all and end all of the country, but it's hard to get information useful to the foreign community when we are all so scattered. This is why the following two mails are so welcome. Thanks guys.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / WALKING THE WARDS
Apr 7, 2006

Getting animated in Suginami

Suginami Ward may be known as a bed town, but the residents are restless. Butting up against Musashino and Mitaka cities and sharing a "west wing" location with Setagaya Ward to the south and Nerima Ward to the north, what appears to be a quiet residential area has always been a hotbed of activism.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Apr 7, 2006

Ryuan, Kaikaiya: izakaya mood swings

We were in the mood for eating Japanese -- nothing too fancy, but somewhere modern, with a sense of style, to match the elevated state engendered by strolling under the Meguro-gawa blossoms. We couldn't get into our favorite watering holes alongside the river. So we decided to try our luck at Ryuan [formerly...
Japan Times
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Apr 7, 2006

Flamenco dances with betrayal

Aida Gomez, the young and brilliant new star of flamenco, returns to Japan with her latest self-choreographed production of Georges Bizet's "Carmen" as well as her famed "Salome." Her run of performances starts April 14 in Tokyo.
JAPAN
Apr 4, 2006

China told to come clean on defense costs

is the reason why China's image, for the most part, comes out (to the international community as) negative," Miyamoto said, adding that he hopes to urge China to take steps toward more disclosure of its defense spending and convince the country that such a move would be to its own benefit. Miyamoto meanwhile...
COMMENTARY
Apr 3, 2006

Protectionism has returned to Europe

LONDON -- The big idea was that Europe would do away with economic nationalism, sweep away frontiers and stand as a shining example to the rest of the world of free trade and open markets. That was the dream. The reality is turning out rather differently.
BUSINESS
Mar 31, 2006

Japan, U.S. strengthen ties to fight piracy

Japan and the United States agreed Thursday to enhance bilateral cooperation on the protection of intellectual property rights by exchanging information so they can address piracy problems in third countries, most notably China.
JAPAN
Mar 31, 2006

23,800 rights abuses tallied in Japan

The number of human rights violations reported to the Justice Ministry's regional legal affairs bureaus across Japan reached a record-high 23,800 in 2005, up 4 percent from the previous year, a ministry tally showed Thursday.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art / NEW ART SEEN
Mar 30, 2006

Getting down to just art

In the development of contemporary art scenes in Asian countries over recent years, a strong tendency has been for artists to buck the yoke of tradition and steer well clear of anything that might remotely resemble their nation's folk art -- unless of course their intention was to mock it.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 30, 2006

Canberra-Jakarta ties sink

SYDNEY -- Fragile relations between Indonesia and Australia have taken a nosedive, again, and Canberra is concerned that any sudden venting of anger in Jakarta may wreck years of painstaking efforts at building up mutual good will. The Indonesian ambassador has been recalled from Canberra "for consultations."...
JAPAN
Mar 30, 2006

Change to allow foreign political funds

Running for office doesn't come cheap. Politicians need money for posters, vans, venues for speeches and meals for volunteers. The problem for aspirants to office is that political donations are falling, and corporate money in particular is dwindling fast.
JAPAN
Mar 28, 2006

Japan, ASEAN ink agreement on integration fund

Foreign Minister Taro Aso and Malaysian Ambassador to Japan Marzuki Mohammad Noor signed an agreement Monday for Japan to establish a fund to help promote the Association of Southeast Asian Nations' efforts toward integration.
EDITORIALS
Mar 28, 2006

Skating on thin ice

Shizuka Arakawa's Olympic triumph and the media hype surrounding women's figure skating belies the grossly inadequate training environment that Japan's top skaters face and the escalating training costs they shoulder in the absence of meaningful support from the government or corporations.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WORDS TO LIVE BY
Mar 28, 2006

Takao Tsue

Takao Tsue, 80, is the Honorary Chief Priest of Osaka City's Imamiya-Ebisu Shrine, famous for the Toka Ebisu festival held every January, which attracts over 1 million people over three days. According to legend, the shrine was established in AD 600 by Shotoku Taishi, and written records show that Tsue's...
COMMENTARY
Mar 27, 2006

No more tax money to U.S.

The administration of Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi has played down Japanese public sentiment against the U.S. military presence, believing that most people approve of it in general but object when their own community is affected.
JAPAN
Mar 26, 2006

Lawmakers reveal global cultural heritage preservation bill

A nonpartisan group of lawmakers will draft a bill to help restore cultural heritage lost in Afghanistan, Iraq and other war-torn areas, the lawmakers said Saturday.

Longform

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