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CULTURE / Books / POETRY MIGNETTE
Mar 18, 2001

Kan Mikami's 30 years of recording in a box

Kan Mikami has just released a CD box set to celebrate his 30-year recording history, here covered in 19 CDs.
CULTURE / Art
Mar 18, 2001

This way to youthful adventure

For a few wine-toasted moments, it almost felt like a New York City art night. Sure, Tokyo is half a world away, but there were three new shows up in a big old warehouse, critics and collectors floating about, photographers snapping the smiles on the faces of the beautiful people and, most of all, the...
COMMUNITY
Mar 15, 2001

Queuing for the exclusive

Harajuku, on any given Saturday, is filled with shoppers. On the main streets, the shops see a steady stream of customers move freely through their doors. In the back streets, however, the clientele is made to wait. The young people queue up -- for the privilege of buying basic street clothing off near-empty...
JAPAN
Mar 13, 2001

Obituary: Shoko Uemura

Noted Japanese-style painter Shoko Uemura died early Sunday morning of heart failure at a Kyoto hospital, one of his family members said Monday. He was 98.
JAPAN
Mar 13, 2001

Robots said more useful than pets

Kyodo News Electronic robots are gradually becoming familiar companions among some Japanese families and hospital patients, offering them entertainment and peace of mind.
CULTURE / Music
Mar 11, 2001

Discussing Dylan's recent concert

Just after Bob Dylan's March 3 concert at Tokyo International Forum, music maven and broadcast personality Peter Barakan met with entertainment writer Philip Brasor at a Tokyo coffee shop to reflect.
CULTURE / Art
Mar 11, 2001

How Klimt's Vienna changed the world

There are two paintings of artist's studios that say it all. The first is part castle, part Old Curiosity Shop, packed with statues, bearskins and whatnot, where a successful Viennese artist of the old school sits in gloomy splendor. The second is filled with light. There is no artist, but a woman's...
CULTURE / Film
Mar 10, 2001

A real woman is hard to find

The problem with "women's movies" is this: Too often, they make you think that the world out there belongs to men. Otherwise, how could they keep painting the same old pictures of women struggling to gain self-respect, raise children, find true love, bond witheach other, etc.? In the real world, women...
CULTURE / Art
Mar 10, 2001

I'm a loser bunny . . . so why doncha pay me?

On a busy sidewalk in Harajuku, a man dressed in a suit sits drinking from a hip flask of Scotch, surrounded by five pink, fluffy rabbits.
EDITORIALS
Mar 9, 2001

Wary in Washington

South Korean President Kim Dae Jung is in Washington this week to coordinate his views with those of U.S. President George W. Bush. There is concern in Seoul that the new administration is not as firmly behind Mr. Kim as was President Bill Clinton. Initial reports from their meetings suggest the fears...
SOCCER / J. League
Mar 9, 2001

Show me what you've got!

I'd like to greet all the players in the J. League and look forward to seeing the joy of football in Japan this year. I'd specifically like to welcome the new foreign players. My message to you, as well as to the Japanese players, is simply play your best, play football.
BUSINESS
Mar 9, 2001

Core machinery orders dipped 12% in January

Core machinery orders from Japanese businesses shriveled a seasonally adjusted 11.8 percent in January from the previous month to 966.9 billion yen after a 3.8 percent rise in December, the government said Thursday.
SPORTS / SPORTS SCOPE
Mar 8, 2001

'Samurai' blazing a trail in XFL

Being a pioneer has its rewards, but as many a sports trailblazer has learned over the years, going where no one else has gone before is not all glory. In fact, it can be downright tough.
JAPAN
Mar 8, 2001

Eyes in the sky to combat illegal dumping

UTSUNOMIYA, Tochigi Pref. -- Searching for garbage from space -- it sounds like a science fiction plot of questionable quality.
LIFE / Food & Drink / NIHONSHU
Mar 8, 2001

Life after sake's zing has gone

Just like wine, sake has a very short life span once the bottle has been opened. In fact, like wine, sake should be consumed soon after opening to ensure that delicate fragrances and flavors remain intact. Although this varies from sake to sake, in most cases the more delicate and refined the flavor...
CULTURE / Stage
Mar 7, 2001

Wherefore art? 'Shakespeare for Dummies'

Ever felt left behind when discussion turns to Shakespeare? Here's your chance to catch up.
CULTURE / Music / FUZZY LOGIC
Mar 6, 2001

High voltage rock 'n' roll

"I need oxygen," gasps singer Yuda, and there's little of that in Shimokitazawa's Yaneura live house tonight. One of the smallest venues in Tokyo is packed to the rafters to see Electric Summer, a band reaching for the stars and demonstrating they have the rocket fuel and never-say-die adventurous spirit...
BUSINESS
Mar 6, 2001

State may redefine 'deflation'

The central government is considering relaxing its definition of deflation amid continuing falls in consumer prices, government sources said Monday.
COMMENTARY / WASHINGTON UPDATE
Mar 5, 2001

Bush works on tax cuts while Clinton dodges more controversy

WASHINGTON -- "Beauty and the Beast" was on television Monday night -- the movie, not the continuing news saga of our current president and the most recent former one. That show seems to be a never-ending saga.
EDITORIALS
Mar 5, 2001

Mr. Bush focuses on the home front

The speech U.S. President George W. Bush delivered to a joint session of Congress last Tuesday was disappointing because it said little about the basic strategy the new U.S. administration intends to follow in the area of foreign policy and security. The speech focused on domestic and economic policies,...
JAPAN
Mar 4, 2001

NPO fosters solar power solution to fix transport problems for aged

KOBE -- The lack of interest in solar power among residents of Kobe's Uozaki district does not discourage Mana Enomoto from giving detailed explanations of the benefits of this clean energy source.
CULTURE / Art
Mar 4, 2001

Into the dark maw of Kabukicho

There are a few Tokyo districts sufficiently unique and well-known to stand independent in their respective identities, glamorous Ginza, chic Shibuya and rockin' Roppongi being among the most obvious examples.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 3, 2001

South Korea's media and transparency

SEOUL -- As so often, one opinion stands against another: South Korea's opposition party has leveled an accusation against the government that by launching a tax investigation of the media it is in effect waging a war against the press. The government retorts that the tax investigation is a routine matter,...
JAPAN
Mar 3, 2001

Lawmaker's firm punished for illegal subcontracting job

The Infrastructure Ministry on Friday punished a construction firm owned by Mamoru Nishida, a former home affairs minister, for making 385.5 million yen from an illegal subcontracting job, ministry officials said.
CULTURE / Music / HOGAKU TODAY
Mar 3, 2001

New frontiers for hogaku

Music in Japan tends to be highly categorized. Ongaku is the Japanese generic term for music, but most Japanese understand it to refer to Western music (the word yogaku is more specific). Hogaku (Japanese music) indicates both Japanese music in general or, more specifically, the music of the Edo Period....
CULTURE / Stage
Mar 3, 2001

Wake us for the next dance

The abundance of new dance and theater available in Tokyo during the months of February and March is a sure indicator of just how profoundly new work in this city depends on grants and other handouts from funding bodies. These budgets, such as they are, must be used by the end of the fiscal year, and...
BUSINESS
Mar 3, 2001

Coalition eyes stock-revitalization package, job-creating steps

The government and ruling coalition are devising tax-incentive and other measures as an emergency package to turn around the nosediving stock market and thaw the frozen real estate market, coalition officials said Friday.
CULTURE / Books
Mar 2, 2001

Ex-OL, self-described everyman take Naoki prize

The winners of the Naoki literary prize for the second half of 2000 have been announced. This time, both winners -- "Planaria" by Yamamoto Fumio and "Vitamin F" by Shigematsu Kiyoshi -- are short-story collections, as were three of the other four short-listed works.
BUSINESS
Feb 28, 2001

Finance chief backs further stimulus

Finance Minister Kiichi Miyazawa said Tuesday he supports a proposal to compile another stimulus package to support Japan's fragile economic recovery.

Longform

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