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LIFE / Food & Drink / NIHONSHU
Mar 17, 2002

Favorites that come widely recommended

The information in this column usually covers the gamut of sake nomenclature, types and brewing methods, as well as culture, history and the occasional oddities. But beyond the single recommendation in each column, rarely does it address the question, "So, uh, what are the good sake? What should I be...
LIFE / Lifestyle
Mar 17, 2002

The global village: small, but not always beautiful

The current No. 1 best seller in Japan is the cheery picture book "Sekai ga moshi hyakunin no mura dattara" ("If the World Were a Village of 100 People"; Magazine House), a retelling of a bit of "Netlore." Several years ago, the environmentalist Donella Meadows wrote a newspaper column on the global...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Mar 17, 2002

The tower and the story

On Christmas Eve, 1958, thousands of people poured through Hamamatsucho Station in Tokyo's Minato Ward to take in Japan's first postwar shot at a "public attraction." There was nothing particularly cute about it; no fearsome rides, or cuddly characters to have your photo taken with. What's more, visitors...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Mar 16, 2002

Researching business ops for African-Americans

They are packed and at the ready at the Westin Hotel in Tokyo's Yebisu Garden Place. Ready to return home to America. Ready to give me the remaining few minutes of their precious time before boarding the bus for the airport. Talk about a rush.
EDITORIALS
Mar 15, 2002

'Shunto' outlives its usefulness

Japan's traditional annual wage round, known as "shunto" (spring labor offensive), has collapsed for all practical purposes. As a union leader in the information sector points out, "This year marks a historic turning point for shunto." In fact, labor groups have given up customary wage demands, effectively...
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 15, 2002

Political winds still shape Chinese history

HONG KONG -- Historical revelations are rarely found in China's controlled presses. When they are, they have to be treated with care. Rewriting history remains part and parcel of Chinese politics. Chinese academics still get imprisoned for revealing documents that are in the public domain outside China....
EDITORIALS
Mar 14, 2002

Death of a warmonger

The death of Mr. Jonas Savimbi offers Angola its first real chance for peace in a decade. War has been a constant feature of Angola's history; Mr. Savimbi has been a key antagonist in the fighting. His death deprives UNITA, the rebel group he commanded since 1966, of its chief source of inspiration and...
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Mar 14, 2002

Evolution of intelligence

Woody Allen once famously said that the brain was his second favorite organ. And it is well-established that having a big one, as with Allen's "first favorite" organ (I'm guessing he wasn't referring to his liver), confers high status on its owner.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Mar 13, 2002

What names, things standing thus unknown, shall live behind me

William Shakespeare
BUSINESS
Mar 13, 2002

Banks told not to lower efforts

Banks should not become lax in their efforts to dispose of nonperforming loans, despite speculation that the risk of a financial crisis occurring this month has receded, Financial Services Minister Hakuo Yanagisawa said Tuesday.
EDITORIALS
Mar 12, 2002

Japan, Russia set to resume talks

Japan and Russia are set to resume the territorial talks under a precedent-breaking formula that may lead to the phased return of the Northern Territories, the group of islands off Hokkaido that the Russians have occupied since the end of World War II. A new round is expected to begin at a vice ministerial...
COMMENTARY
Mar 11, 2002

Reform takes back seat to economic values

HONOLULU -- Despite the hype, Japan's antideflation package has failed once again to impress the critics. This failure is remarkable given the international attention that has focused on the proposal, the vote of no-confidence that had been delivered by the markets and the pressure applied by the U.S....
EDITORIALS
Mar 11, 2002

Time to fasten the seat belt

The Lower House passage of the fiscal 2002 government budget on Wednesday represents a sort of victory for Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's administration. The vote ensures, by virtue of a constitutional provision giving priority to Lower House budget decisions, that the 81-trillion yen package clears...
COMMENTARY
Mar 10, 2002

Modern delusions of equality

LONDON -- Ask a total stranger about his or her sex life and, though he may be taken aback, he is likely to take it in stride. For what's so secret about sex? Ask a total stranger about his or her income, and she is likely to biff you for your impudence. Money is all secrets and lies.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Mar 10, 2002

'Genji': the long and the shorter of it

The Tale of Genji, by Murasaki Shikibu, translated by Royall Tyler. Viking, 2001, 1,174 pp., $60 (cloth) In the February 2002 issue of the monthly journal Eureka, Fusae Kawazoe gives a rundown of translations of Murasaki Shikibu's "The Tale of Genji" -- not only into foreign languages, but into modern...
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST
Mar 10, 2002

Hey, thank you for the delicious feast, baby

"If I should meet thee, After long years, How should I greet thee?"
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 9, 2002

Poverty and disease: our deadliest enemies

Consider this: More people died of AIDS on Sept. 11 (and every day since) than died during the terrorist attacks in New York, and over 8,000 people die from diseases every day that are easily preventable by vaccinations.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 8, 2002

Propaganda fuels Muslim anti-Semitism

NEW YORK -- It was, by all accounts, a heinous conclusion to a barbaric crime. The Pakistani kidnappers of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl forced him to state that he was a Jew and his mother and father were Jews. Then, having laid out their legal case, the killers slit his throat and beheaded...
LIFE / Lifestyle / MATTER OF COURSE
Mar 8, 2002

Getting used to accentuating the negative

Whatever you do, don't say anything nice about your child at parents' meetings
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 7, 2002

Sectarian strife spells trouble for BJP

MADRAS, India -- Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee's government may fall if the troubles concerning the controversial plan to build a Hindu temple at a site formerly occupied by a mosque escalate further.
COMMENTARY
Mar 7, 2002

Zimbabwe: 11th hour questions

LONDON -- The situation in Zimbabwe goes from bad to worse. Sunday's presidential election approaches amid a crescendo of violence and intimidation, with the army, the state police and the thugs of the ruling Zanu-PF political party rampaging through every region of this enormous and once-rich Central...
EDITORIALS
Mar 6, 2002

Shady politico-bureaucratic ties

A Foreign Ministry investigation of influence-peddling by Liberal Democratic Party legislator Muneo Suzuki has revealed an appalling pattern of politico-bureaucratic collusion. A report released Monday indicates that Mr. Suzuki, a self-styled foreign policy guru, behaved like a "shadow foreign minister"...
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Mar 5, 2002

The trauma of unwanted pregnancy

1. Marie's story Only two people know about Marie's abortion. One is her ex-boyfriend, by whom she became pregnant 12 years ago, and one is her husband. Her parents, her brother and her friends know nothing of the fact that as a 19-year-old she took a plane to London from Dublin to terminate her pregnancy....
COMMENTARY
Mar 4, 2002

Research needs cutting edge

Since Japan has already decided to reorganize national universities into public corporations in fiscal 2004, it would be useless now to discuss the pros and cons of the plan. I happen to feel the plan will do neither harm nor good.
EDITORIALS
Mar 4, 2002

Creating new demand is the key

An antideflation package put together last Thursday by the government and the Bank of Japan has disappointed everyone. Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi himself has acknowledged that it includes "no quick remedies." A key policymaker in the ruling coalition has described it as a "patchwork of stopgap...
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Mar 3, 2002

It takes a lot of work to fool a fish

One late summer afternoon, in the village of Oshino, Yamanashi Prefecture, I was sitting by a stream against the backdrop of Mount Fuji, my fly-fishing rod at my side. On a gentle breeze, a large mayfly came along and started fluttering on the water. It soon fell, getting its wings wet while trying to...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Mar 2, 2002

Diplomat-poet shares center stage with Parker 51

If the Indian ambassador to Japan, Aftab Seth, ever loses his pen, the world may come to an end. His world, that is.
BUSINESS / ON THE FRONT LINE
Mar 2, 2002

Dollar may test 140 yen level by end of year

The dollar could snap out of its current range between 132 yen and 135 yen in mid-March and test the 140 yen line toward the close of fiscal 2001.
EDITORIALS
Mar 1, 2002

Seeds of change

If you have ever visited Britain, or just dropped by one of Tokyo's popular British pubs, you might have tasted fish and chips flavored with salt and maybe a dash of vinegar. This classic takeout has been a favorite of the British working class for as long as anyone can remember. It came as a bit of...
BUSINESS
Mar 1, 2002

Market awaits followup to policy package

The much-awaited government package of measures to fight deflation has been unveiled, but the market's reaction has been muted as the content settled well within the range of expectations.

Longform

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