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SOCCER / PREMIER REPORT
Sep 26, 2004

Mourinho's method wins many games, not many friends

LONDON -- Returning from Chelsea's 3-0 Champions League win over Paris Saint-Germain in France last week this correspondent was the last passenger to leave the team's plane. A police officer at Gatwick Airport asked: "Did they win?"
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Sep 26, 2004

"Studio One Funk"

American influences in Jamaican music have always been unmistakable -- the R&B and jazz backdrop to ska, the soul influences in rocksteady and reggae, and today the hip-hop gangsta posturing in contemporary ragga. In this collection, drawn from the vaults of the prolific Studio One label, attention is...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Sep 26, 2004

Howl of Los Lobos stronger than ever

For 30 years, East L.A.'s Los Lobos has made a habit of crossing borders. One look through their discography reveals the Latin rock quintet's frequent movement between Mexican folk and American R&B, with regular stops along the Mississippi for funk and blues. Recent albums have even showed a moody, experimental...
Japan Times
Features
Sep 26, 2004

Disillusioned bard of a bygone Japan

In the century that has passed since the death of Lafcadio Hearn on Sept. 26, 1904, the Japanese people have studiously formulated and maintained a myth -- and they have done it with all the tools and vigor of nostalgia at their disposal.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Sep 26, 2004

Short and deep: Matsuo Basho's parallels of poetry

BASHO'S HAIKU: Selected Poems of Matsuo Basho, translated and with an Introduction by David Landis Barnhill. Albany: State University of New York Press, 232 pp., $23.95 (paper). Matsuo Basho (1644-1694) raised the haiku from a transient pastime to an enduring literary genre. He was among the first to...
SUMO
Sep 26, 2004

Kaio closes in on Emperor's Cup

Ozeki Kaio took a major step toward the Emperor's Cup on Saturday with a convincing win over Wakanosato, while Asashoryu was handed his third straight loss on the next-to-last last day of the Autumn Grand Sumo Tournament.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Sep 26, 2004

The Black Keys: "Rubber Factory"

Though The Black Keys have been pegged as being part of the current garage-blues revival, they consider themselves a rock act, and Dan Auerbach has more in common with Jimi Hendrix than with any other past-master singer-guitarist. Of course, Hendrix was primarily a bluesman, too, but his flashy vocal-instrumental...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Sep 26, 2004

Who knows if it is teaching or torture?

I WOULDN'T WANT ANYBODY TO KNOW: Native English Teaching in Japan, edited by Eva P. Bueno & Terry Caesar. JPGS Press, 2004, 252 pp., 2,500 yen, $25.00 (paper). Tall stories are clearly better than short ones, at least in the world of publishing. A whole industry has grown out of the perceived, often...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Sep 26, 2004

Japan's abandoned kids live with the label

The murders of 4-year-old Kazuto Hayashi and his 3-year-old brother Hayato by an acquaintance of their father two weeks ago in Tochigi Prefecture has sparked outrage over Japan's insufficient child-welfare system. Though local police and child-welfare officials were aware the two boys were being beaten,...
COMMENTARY
Sep 26, 2004

Blame supply-side policies

Toyoo Gyohten was the senior Ministry of Finance (MOF) official handling international affairs back in the early '70s, and a source of wisdom to those of us trying to understand Japan's financial maze. He now heads Japan's Institute for International Monetary Affairs. In a recent address to the Aspen...
Japan Times
Features
Sep 26, 2004

Glimpsing the essence of Hearn's Kamakura

Apropos Hearn's "Glimpses of Unfamiliar Japan," Basil Hall Chamberlain, the Meiji Era Japanologist, wrote: "Never perhaps was scientific accuracy of detail married to such tender and exquisite brilliancy of style."
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Sep 26, 2004

"Sunday Present" on TV Asahi and more

Lately, a lot of attention has been focused on the problem of waste left behind on mountains by alpinists and hikers. Mount Everest is said to be almost a dump and Mount Fuji a national disgrace. However, the problem of trash and environmental pollution afflicts even smaller peaks.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Sep 26, 2004

Kora Jazz Trio: "Kora Jazz Trio"

This trio of kora (African harp), piano and percussion must rank as the most unusual in jazz, African jazz and even African music. It's made up of three West African virtuosos who have each led successful careers of their own for several decades. Senegalese pianist Abdoulaye Diabate played with Salif...
Japan Times
Features
Sep 26, 2004

Abandoned misfit who found peace in prose and his new land

In the West, Lafcadio Hearn is largely unknown outside of small circles of Japanophiles and aficionados of Gaelic writers.
COMMENTARY
Sep 26, 2004

Curtain falls on China's 'strongman' era

HONG KONG -- The decision by 78-year-old former President Jiang Zemin to step down as head of the Chinese Communist Party's Central Military Commission in favor of 61-year-old Hu Jintao, his successor as party and state leader, is a milestone in China's political development, marking as it does the completion...
BUSINESS
Sep 25, 2004

SMFG extends validity period for UFJ merger proposal

Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group Inc. said Friday it has extended to June 30 the period in which its proposal to UFJ Holdings Inc. that the firms merge via a one-to-one share exchange ratio will remain valid.
EDITORIALS
Sep 25, 2004

Iran should clear nuclear doubts

I ran has two months to prove that it has nothing to hide about its nuclear programs. Last weekend, the governing board of the International Atomic Energy Agency passed a resolution calling for an immediate halt to the country's uranium enrichment-related activities. The unanimous resolution said Tehran...
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Sep 25, 2004

New PlayStation enjoys limelight

CHIBA -- The country's largest video game show kicked off its three-day annual run here Friday, with a record 117 firms showcasing their latest products and nearly 500 new game titles unveiled.
BASEBALL / MLB
Sep 25, 2004

Fighters keep playoff hopes alive

Shinji Takahashi and Angel Echevarria both hit two-run homers Friday as the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters moved a step closer to the Pacific League playoffs with a 7-4 win over the Orix BlueWave.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Sep 25, 2004

Oil issue possible thorn in global industry's side

High oil prices might become "a symbol of uncertainty" in the global economy if they fail to retreat from near record-high levels, according to Makoto Utsumi, president of Japan Credit Rating Agency Ltd.
SUMO
Sep 25, 2004

Asashoryu stumbles again

Kaio remained in sole possession of the lead Friday after a hard-fought win over fellow ozeki Chiyotaikai, while yokozuna Asashoryu was upset again at the Autumn Grand Sumo Tournament.
BUSINESS
Sep 25, 2004

Comcast to get Matsushita software

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. said Friday it has agreed with Comcast Corp., the largest U.S. cable television operator, to supply core software to be used for cable television Internet services in the United States.
MORE SPORTS
Sep 25, 2004

Rakuten applies to create new club

Tokyo-based Internet services company Rakuten made a formal application Friday to Japan professional baseball to create a new team.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Sep 25, 2004

Look at the moon! Hiraite, chong, chong

My next-door neighbor Kazu-chan was standing in my "genkan." "Amy, I've signed you up to take part in the dance performance on Respect for the Aged Day." This national holiday was observed on Monday, but our island celebrated it on Thursday, the autumnal equinox.
BUSINESS
Sep 25, 2004

Winter bonus to climb 4% on average

This winter's employee bonus will average 672,000 yen -- up 4.4 percent from a year earlier -- for 278 major Japanese companies that struck deals with unions over the spring and summer, a private research institute said Friday.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / PERSONALITY PROFILE
Sep 25, 2004

Joan Burk

This year, the Association of Foreign Wives of Japanese celebrates its 35th anniversary. Founder Joan Burk says she has a special bond with the unique organization. "I think of AFWJ as my baby," she wrote from her present home in Canada. "I will always be interested in everything about AFWJ and its members....
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Sep 25, 2004

New Center for Creative Arts up and running

Anyone passing the South Korean Embassy in Tokyo's Moto Azabu in recent months may well have wondered about the flag reading "RBR -- New Center for Creative Arts" flying from the building opposite. Also the steady flow of visitors -- every age, color, race and creed.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 25, 2004

Subtle changes under Hu

HONOLULU -- The ascent of Hu Jintao to the third of the top three posts in China's hierarchy will most likely cause subtle changes in Beijing's relations with the United States and with China's neighbors North Korea, South Korea, Japan, and Southeast Asia -- but not on the sensitive issue of Taiwan.

Longform

A store clerk tries to cool things down in front of their shop by spraying a hose.
Is extreme weather changing the way Japan shops?