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Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jun 13, 2004

Ludacris

'Flow" is considered the basic skill of an MC but if you asked any rapper to define it they'd probably have a hard time. It has something to do with cadence, alliteration, internal rhyme and tone; but in the end it's about conveying the impression that the rapper has total command of the words being...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jun 13, 2004

Tokyo festival puts down roots

More than 20 years ago, pianist Kyoko Edo, composer Maki Ishii and musicologist Takashi Funayama put their heads together in a bar in Tokyo. While sipping their drinks, the three agreed that Tokyo needed a music festival along the lines of those held in Paris and Berlin each year. That was the beginning...
COMMENTARY
Jun 13, 2004

Personality could crown Gordon Brown

LONDON -- Britain is governed by an unhappy couple -- a pair of men whose relationship excites more attention than any other aspect of British politics.
Japan Times
Features
Jun 13, 2004

Front-line fighters

Squeezed between stacks of files and computer equipment in a two-room apartment in Tokyo's Takadanobaba area, Chizuko Ikegami and several volunteers are manning the phones. Round the clock, day in, day out, PLACE Tokyo receives calls from people desperately seeking advice after being diagnosed with...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives
Jun 13, 2004

Cops and citizens bid to blitz street sleaze

In an ideal society, various branches of the state interact to put criminals behind bars. Talk to those involved in law enforcement, though, and most will say there's only so much they can do without the cooperation of private citizens.
Features
Jun 13, 2004

Shaking off 'shame'

In a civilized society, people should not be scared to talk about their ailments -- especially when the illness may have been contracted from medical product infected with a potentially fatal virus.
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Jun 13, 2004

BBC documentary "How to Be a Prince" on NHK BS-1 and more

If you're stumped by Japan's pension system and ticked off by the fact that you'll now be paying more and receiving less, then you might want to tune in to this week's two-hour "Tuesday Special" (Fuji TV, 7 p.m.), which will explain things about the pension system "that no one has ever told you before."...
COMMENTARY
Jun 13, 2004

Freedom to end up different

MANILA -- Ideological fuzziness has become a hallmark of politics. Instead of accentuating ideological positions, politicians deliberately demonstrate vagueness. This, their advisers argue, prevents the politicians from alienating strategic interest groups crucial for victory in elections.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jun 13, 2004

Catching up with an indie-rock legend

In their first incarnation, Mission of Burma existed a mere four years, from 1979 to 1983. They were barely known outside of their hometown, Boston. They never sold more than a few thousand records.
Japan Times
Features
Jun 13, 2004

Sea changes on sex crime

Tokyo office worker Kyoko Igarashi, in her 20s and living alone, noticed that a man who'd been hanging around her neighborhood had started to loiter outside the door of her second-floor apartment -- just beyond the peep-hole.
COMMENTARY
Jun 13, 2004

The torture of losing moral high ground

LOS ANGELES -- John F. Kennedy was no saint as president -- and America is not God. But, indisputably, JFK did inspire countless people at home and around the world to aspire to a higher standard. When Kennedy implored Americans to "ask not what your country can do for you -- ask what you can do for...
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 13, 2004

European Parliament signals right turn

LONDON -- This weekend the European Union faces its five-year parliamentary makeover as voters across an enlarged union go to the polls. Results will be shaped by three impulses:
Features
Jun 13, 2004

Momentum building toward a transformed Japan

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Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Jun 13, 2004

Murakami's job guide for teens lights the pipe of dreams

In mid-May, NHK's nightly news feature "Closeup Gendai" looked at the current post-university recruitment situation from the viewpoint of the recruit. For the past decade, the main story with regard to this issue has been the difficulty of finding work as more and more companies restructured along nontraditional...
MORE SPORTS
Jun 12, 2004

Yamaguchi one stroke off pace

WILMINGTON, Del. -- Japan's Chiharu Yamaguchi fired a bogey-free 4-under-par 67 to grab a tie for second place, one shot off the pace in the first round of the LPGA Championship on Thursday.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / PERSONALITY PROFILE
Jun 12, 2004

Martin Katz

Recently Martin Katz came on a first visit to Japan. He brought to exhibit in Tokyo a collection of diamond jewelry valued at 10 billion yen. The collection included many pieces worn by Hollywood stars at the red-carpeted award ceremonies of the Oscars. Martin is widely known as the jeweler to whom Hollywood's...
COMMUNITY
Jun 12, 2004

Natural Healing Center valuable online resource

There is a misleading blonde blue-eyed softness about Sascha Hewitt. Actually she is as strong as on ox, which she ably demonstrates by lugging three heavy bags from her home in Tokyo's Shimo-Meguro to where we meet in Shibuya.
BUSINESS
Jun 12, 2004

Ashikaga Bank plans to cut 15% of workforce

Ashikaga Bank, now under temporary state control, said Friday it will eliminate 15 percent of its workforce by the end of fiscal 2006 as part of its new business improvement program.
BUSINESS
Jun 12, 2004

Overtime seen as factor in suicides related to work

More than half of the 51 workers recognized as having committed suicide due to work-related stress between fiscal 1999 and fiscal 2002 had been doing at least 100 hours of overtime a month, according to a report by a government research team.
SOCCER / PREMIER REPORT
Jun 12, 2004

France-England match an early treat for Euro 2004 fans

LONDON -- Hopefully, France's record over the last 12 months will have been kept a secret from England as the teams prepare to meet in Lisbon on Sunday.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Jun 12, 2004

The one-man national yacht movement

On my planet, the U.S., people change things at the grassroots level. In Japan, the root of the blade is often an "obaa-san" or "ojii-san," a single person out to change things. You can find these individuals all over Japan, conjuring up their own ways of making a difference in this country. I ran into...
BUSINESS
Jun 12, 2004

DVD makers look to cash in on Olympics

Major electronic manufacturers are putting new digital video recorders on the market to take advantage of an expected increase in demand before the Athens Olympics this summer.
BUSINESS
Jun 12, 2004

Consumer sentiment at highest level since 1991

Consumer sentiment in Japan hit its highest level in 12 years and eight months in May, showing that the export-led economic recovery is being noticed by consumers, according to a government survey released Friday.
EDITORIALS
Jun 12, 2004

A crucial vote for Iraq

The United Nations Security Council's vote to formally end the occupation of Iraq is a crucial step toward the restoration of sovereignty and stability in that troubled country. The decision is a milestone, but it is by no means a solution to Iraq's woes. In many ways, the real work begins now, with...
BUSINESS
Jun 12, 2004

Government still upbeat about economy: Takenaka

Economic and fiscal policy minister Heizo Takenaka indicated Friday that the government will maintain its upbeat assessment of the economy in its monthly report for June, due out next week.
BUSINESS
Jun 12, 2004

April industrial output upgraded

The government on Friday revised industrial production in April upward to a seasonally adjusted 3.5 percent expansion on a month-on-month basis from a preliminary 3.3 percent expansion.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 12, 2004

Conviction, vision led Reagan to greatness

WASHINGTON -- A great man has died, moving a piece of the present into history. It is a history that many of us have been part of and that shapes our future.
BUSINESS
Jun 12, 2004

Hong Kong, Shenzhen seek investors

Japanese companies should invest more in Hong Kong and the nearby city of Shenzhen because the two markets are in convenient locations for business and have good infrastructures, according to government officials from the two cities.

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?