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EDITORIALS
Apr 3, 2003

Spy satellites for peaceful use

Japan last week put its first Earth-circling spy satellites in orbit, acquiring its own capability to gather intelligence information from space about conditions in other countries. There is little doubt, considering recent developments in and around North Korea, that these two satellites are designed...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Apr 2, 2003

Homes for seniors not all created equal

Matsudo Nissei's Garden of Eden is a private seniors' home located in a natural environment near Matsudo, Chiba Prefecture.
EDITORIALS
Mar 17, 2003

Human rights abuses behind bars

Human rights violations in prisons are nothing new. But what happened last year at Nagoya Prison is alarming. Six prison guards, including a deputy warden, stand accused of physical abuses that resulted in the death of an inmate and caused severe injury to another. On the first day of their trial earlier...
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST
Feb 22, 2003

Time proves relevant for aging Japan hands

"Oh really?" the girl says to me -- with the "r" stretched so painfully the word sounds as if it has been ripped from the back of her throat.
BASKETBALL / NBA / NBA REPORT
Feb 16, 2003

Hornets face penalty after shortfall in season ticket sales

NEW YORK -- By popular demand, this campground is employing new guidelines for the second half of the season: Making fun is out, making knowledge is in. Any hint of an association between the two is purely accidental.
JAPAN / KANSAI BEAT
Feb 7, 2003

Osaka survey follows ethnic lines

OSAKA -- While Osaka's foreign residents are divided on the need to provide information for medical services in foreign languages, they are in general agreement that schools should teach more about the history, language and culture of other countries.
BUSINESS
Jan 21, 2003

'02 bankruptcies second most on record

There were 19,458 corporate bankruptcies in 2002, the second-highest figure in the postwar period, Teikoku Databank Ltd. said Monday.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art / CERAMIC SCENE
Jan 8, 2003

Redeemers with feet of clay

Of the 14 ceramic objects designated as national treasures in Japan, the fact that no fewer than eight are chawan (tea bowls) is a clear sign of their importance in the culture.
JAPAN
Jan 4, 2003

Invisible menace threatens kids' health

Invisible chemical agents are threatening the health of schoolchildren across the country.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Dec 8, 2002

Expat writers shoot from the lip

FACES IN THE CROWDS: A Tokyo International Anthology, edited by Hillel Wright. Printed Matter Press: Tokyo, 2002, 254 pp., 2 yen,500/$25 (cloth) "Faces in the Crowds" is a hyperkinetic grab bag that brings work by a cross section of Tokyo's expat writers, and Japanese writers working in English, together...
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / GARDENS FOR ALL
Nov 28, 2002

Autumn chilly spell yields a spectacular cast of colors

This year, the autumn color has been truly magnificent in the Kansai region, primarily thanks to the Japanese maple. Every year, these trees are almost guaranteed to deliver wonderful yellow-and-red fall foliage, but this year the sudden drop in temperature in the first few days of November pushed into...
BUSINESS
Nov 26, 2002

Seiyu to sell financing unit to Lone Star

Major supermarket chain Seiyu Ltd. said Monday it will sell Tokyo City Finance Co. to the U.S. investment fund Lone Star Group on Friday.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Nov 20, 2002

Pedicabs try 'eco-trendy' revival

When the brightly colored vehicles debuted in Tokyo's fashionable Omotesando district in mid-October, they turned heads and passersby wondered if some special event was afoot.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / WILD WATCH
Nov 7, 2002

A venerable flash in the pan

Among Japan's amazing diversity of plants that can overwhelm a visitor from overseas, there are (thankfully) some familiar forms. Astonishingly, given the literally hundreds of thousands of plant species on Earth, some here will be familiar whether you hail from North or South America, from Europe, Africa,...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Oct 6, 2002

Tuning into the changing face of higher education

Japan's universities are at a crossroad. The notion has been voiced in some quarters for many years, but now -- by common consent -- the fact of the matter is impossible either to deny or to ignore.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / WILD WATCH
Oct 3, 2002

Homing in on a sound of autumn

Thump . . . thud . . . and thump again. It's a perennial autumn sound -- the sound of falling fruit. Overripe on the branch, sometimes already rotting, apples, pears, persimmons and plums fall and burst, splattering strong-smelling juices that don't long go wasted.
EDITORIALS
Sep 22, 2002

Like it or not

You won't have learned it in English class, but if you have chatted with an English-speaking teenage girl lately, or, better yet, overheard her talking on the phone, you're sure to have encountered it. We're referring to that innocuous little word "like." Not the way the grammar books use it ("I like...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Sep 21, 2002

Abductee may have been executed after tutoring plane bomber

Yaeko Taguchi, one of the Japanese abductees whom Pyongyang admitted died in North Korea, may have been executed after serving her purpose as a language instructor for the female agent who blew a Korean Air jetliner out of the sky in 1987, relatives said Friday.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Sep 18, 2002

Trying to learn from failure suddenly all the rage

Isatsugu Sugahara, president of leading box-lunch caterer Tamagoya Co., runs his fingers across a stained, worn-out calendar, looking for a little circle he drew years ago. His fingers stop at May 12, 1982, the day his life changed forever.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / VINELAND
Sep 8, 2002

A rose by any other name

One of life's great pleasures is drinking a wine that is exactly right for that particular moment. As summer slowly winds to a close, many of us are in pursuit of one last weekend picnic or open-air meal on the balcony. Chilled soups, chicken, pasta and salads are naturals, but what to drink? Although...
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Aug 31, 2002

Fear and loathing in XXL Las Vegas

The combination of classic American kitsch and the Japanese love for it makes Las Vegas a mandatory stop on any Japanese person's tour of the U.S. This is how I find myself in Las Vegas now with two Japanese home stay students.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / VINELAND
Aug 25, 2002

Time to think pink again

A browse through the aisles of any fine wine shop can be a feast of colors to the discerning eye, albeit in two narrow parts of the spectrum. "White" wines range from crystal clear Rieslings to buttery-yellow Chardonnays, while "reds" can run the gamut from ruby-colored Pinot Noir to dark purple Mourvedre...
EDITORIALS
Aug 23, 2002

Time to act quickly on aging

In about 13 years, when the generation born in the first baby-boom period immediately after World War II reaches old age, Japan will become a full-fledged aged society. According to the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare, the elderly population aged 65 years or over will number 33 million and will...
BUSINESS
Aug 22, 2002

Mizuho reveals interest-setting rules to corporate borrowers

Mizuho Bank has begun divulging its in-house interest-rate guidelines to corporate borrowers in the hope of persuading them to pay higher interest rates, Mizuho officials said Wednesday.
EDITORIALS
Aug 18, 2002

Books in the wild

''Goe, little booke," wrote the English poet Edmund Spenser when he sent his "Shepheard's Calender" out into the world back in 1579 and inspired a flurry of contemporary authors to adopt the metaphor of books as children sent to seek their fortune. In a modern twist on an old idea, some enthusiastic...
JAPAN
Aug 3, 2002

New arrest in nuclear bribery case

The former president of a waste management firm was arrested Friday on suspicion of bribing a government official to obtain classified information relating to the nuclear power industry, police said.
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Aug 1, 2002

The extinction of bad memories

"In spite of severe headache, vomiting and disorder of micturition, he remained on duty for more than two months. He then collapsed altogether after a very trying experience, in which he had gone out to seek a fellow officer and had found his body blown to pieces, with head and limbs lying separated...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Jul 28, 2002

Look at her, she's dying to lose some weight

If there is still any question whether China has finally joined the so-called industrialized world, the current diet-aid scandal should put it to rest. Only an industrialized nation with a population that eats enough food on a daily basis to worry about extra kilos can support an industry dedicated to...
SPORTS / SPORTS SCOPE EXTRA
Jun 27, 2002

Observations from the other side

It's almost over now, and I have to admit it's been a lot less painful than anticipated.

Longform

Professional cleaner Hirofumi Sakurai takes a moment to appreciate some photographs in a Gotanda apartment whose occupant died alone.
The last cleanup: Life and death in a lonely Japan