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Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / J-POPSICLE
May 29, 2002

And the 'nice try' award goes to . . .

It is my sad duty to report that the inaugural MTV Video Music Awards Japan, held May 24 at the Tokyo International Forum, was a less than spectacularly successful affair.
EDITORIALS
May 28, 2002

Sustainable usage is key for IWC

The International Whaling Commission's 54th annual gathering concluded last Friday in the traditional whaling port of Shimonoseki, Yamaguchi Prefecture. Once again it sent a signal to the world that the forum is not ready for compromise. The meeting left U.S. and Russian indigenous peoples without a...
SOCCER / THE BALD TRUTH
May 28, 2002

God and Japan try to copy Latvian recipe

What with France relying on a Japanese referee to beat South Korea 3-2 and plucky Latvia winning the Eurovision Song Contest, it was a truly controversial weekend.
BUSINESS / ON MANAGEMENT
May 28, 2002

Post-Enron dilemma: share value vs. honor

"Nobody goes down with the ship anymore," complained a pundit recently. "Whatever happened to the idea of personal integrity?" he opined.
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM NEW YORK
May 27, 2002

Doing one's duty in a desperate situation

NEW YORK -- In April, when a young Palestinian woman blew herself up, killing and wounding many Israelis, White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said, "The president condemns this morning's homicide bombing."
COMMENTARY / World
May 26, 2002

Candidate of Kim's party in tough race

SEOUL -- Roh Moo Hyun, the recently anointed presidential candidate of Kim Dae Jung's Millennium Democratic party, or MDP, for December's elections, has been on a roll this spring. A relative political unknown, he succeeded in toppling his party's front-runner for the nomination, Rhee In Je, while generating...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
May 26, 2002

Victor Segalen: searching out the strange to find a way home

VICTOR SEGALEN AND THE AESTHETICS OF DIVERSITY: Journeys Between Cultures, by Charles Forsdick. Oxford University Press, 2000, 242 pp., 40 pounds (cloth) In 1919, 41-year-old Victor Segalen was found dead in a Breton forest, a copy of Shakespeare beside him, the pages opened to "Hamlet." Thus ended the...
JAPAN
May 25, 2002

Japan still seeks to settle consulate discrepancies

Japan will seek further talks with China and South Korea over the case of five North Koreans whose attempt to seek asylum at a Japanese consulate in China was frustrated by local police, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi said Friday.
JAPAN
May 25, 2002

Special committee to review refugee policy

Justice Minister Mayumi Moriyama said Friday a special committee to discuss the issue of refugees will be created next month under a private advisory group.
BUSINESS
May 24, 2002

Seiyu shareholders go for Wal-Mart deal

Shareholders of Seiyu Ltd. approved the retailer's plan to come under the wing of Wal-Mart Stores Inc. of the United States, allowing the world's largest retailer to take a stake of up to 66.7 percent in Seiyu.
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
May 24, 2002

We dig chimp culture

Most of what we know about ancient cultures comes from what they've left behind. Archaeology tells us, for example, about daily life in England before the Romans came and put an end to bad sanitation, and about intellectual life in Europe before the Dark Ages put an end to learning. We even know that...
COMMENTARY / World
May 23, 2002

Don't sweat three warships

During the Persian Gulf War, I wrote that "average Americans would think friendlier and more respectful thoughts about Japan if it were able to contribute soldiers -- standing side by side with Americans in the sands of Arabia -- than if it contributes a billion or more dollars." Now, Japanese sailors...
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
May 23, 2002

When it comes to giving money, just go with the flow

In answer to the reader in Mita-ku enraged with having to 'pay out' money for so many of the activities that at home she takes as freely granted (parties, weddings, funerals), best remember perhaps that everything has its price.
JAPAN
May 22, 2002

Duskin admits using antioxidant for dumplings

OSAKA -- Duskin Co., which runs the Mister Donut chain in Japan, on Tuesday reported to the Osaka Prefectural Government on its use of an unauthorized antioxidant for producing dumplings, as was disclosed Monday.
Japan Times
JAPAN / KANSAI BEAT
May 22, 2002

Hooligan hype threatens to get out of hand

OSAKA -- Does Osaka really want lots of foreign visitors to come for the World Cup?
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
May 22, 2002

The beautiful game becomes art

Soccer commentators, in their hyperbolic struggle to convey the excitement of the sport, sometimes refer to it as an art. This analogy isn't totally offside, as there's no denying the aesthetic element of a sport requiring so much strength, speed and coordination. But what happens when the kinetic art...
JAPAN
May 21, 2002

Nichibenren to investigate handling of asylum seekers

The Japan Federation of Bar Associations (Nichibenren) said Monday it will investigate the removal of five North Korean asylum seekers by Chinese police from the Japanese Consulate General in Shenyang, China, with an eye to pressuring the government to make greater efforts to protect human rights.
EDITORIALS
May 20, 2002

Regrets and resolutions

The Foreign Ministry's latest annual report reads partly like a litany of resolutions. That is only to be expected given the series of incidents and scandals that have hit the foreign service over the past year or so. Naturally, the blue book, as the report is commonly known, calls for a string of steps...
COMMENTARY / JAPAN IN THE GLOBAL ERA
May 20, 2002

Parochialism produces few world leaders

LAUSANNE, Switzerland -- Following the appearance of one of the recent articles in this series on Japan in the global era, a colleague of mine, Dominique Turpin, who has been doing research on Japanese industry for some 20 years, came into my office and said, "Jean-Pierre, when are you going to start...
ENVIRONMENT
May 19, 2002

What the label doesn't say

Scandals about deception in product labeling have been in the news of late, with both the expiry dates and the origins of dairy and meat products called into question. While not as big a news item, the labeling standards for whale meat take deception to further, murkier depths -- and to dangerous ones....
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
May 19, 2002

A lost textile art gains ascendancy

THE WORLD OF ROZOME: Wax-Resist Textiles of Japan, by Betsy Sterling Benjamin. Kodansha International, 2002, 224 pp., $49.95 (paper) If the art of "rozome" (wax-resist dyeing) were a moon in the sky, it would be full and glowing brightly. Having waned in importance as a textile-patterning process at...
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT
May 19, 2002

Whaling: A live issue over death

Whales dolphins and porpoises, the aquatic mammals collectively called cetaceans, number less than 80 species, or fewer than 2 percent of all mammals. They are, however, probably the most talked about and written about of all wild animals -- despite being some of the most poorly understood creatures...
SOCCER / World cup / COHOSTING
May 18, 2002

Beyond the limits of normalcy

Can Japan and South Korea work together to put on the 2002 World Cup?
JAPAN
May 17, 2002

73% use Net at work for nonwork

Some 73 percent of Japanese workers have used the Internet for personal purposes in the workplace, according to a recent survey by research firm Macromill Inc. The survey shows only 27.5 percent of the respondents said they have never used the Internet for personal reasons at work.
COMMENTARY / World
May 17, 2002

Rude awakening for East Timor

JAKARTA -- The world's youngest democracy will have to stand on its own feet from Sunday. On this day East Timor will become the first newly independent nation of the 21st century. After more than 400 years of colonial rule by Portugal, 25 years of Indonesian occupation and over two years under U.N....
Japan Times
JAPAN / KANSAI BEAT
May 17, 2002

Osaka homeless fear evictions

OSAKA -- For Kazutoshi Nishimura, a 61-year-old homeless man who, in his own words, is retired and living on a park bench near Nagai Park, the approach of the World Cup soccer finals in June is a case of deja vu.
EDITORIALS
May 16, 2002

Lessons from the Shenyang incident

Japan and China have been locked in a diplomatic row over an incident May 8 in which Chinese police guards seized and removed five North Korean asylum seekers from the compound of the Japanese Consulate General in Shenyang, northeastern China. On Wednesday, however, it appeared that concerns over the...
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
May 16, 2002

Expansion in Japan unlikely

Dear Wayne Graczyk: I'm writing to express support for the move of the Nippon Ham Fighters to Sapporo. I think this would be good not just for the Fighters and the city of Sapporo, but for all of Japanese baseball.
BUSINESS / ON THE FRONT LINE
May 16, 2002

U.S. pickup fuels hope for Japan recovery

There is little dispute that a solid pickup in U.S. consumer spending has bolstered evidence that the economic recovery is gaining momentum.
COMMUNITY / How-tos
May 16, 2002

Lifelines

Hello there! My name's Ken Joseph Jr.

Longform

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