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Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
May 30, 2004

Prayer in the house of music

It is common for Japanese classical musicians to study in Europe, but Hisayoshi Inoue is a rarity. With only a diploma from a public junior high school, Inoue journeyed to Vienna in 1979, at age 16, to pursue his piano studies, and ended up staying there 24 years.
EDITORIALS
May 30, 2004

Unsung heroism

The Abu Ghraib prison scandal, still far from over, has prompted a lot of reflection and a fair degree of consensus in the United States. Some, like U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, may quibble over whether the treatment meted out to Iraqi prisoners constituted "abuse" rather than "torture,"...
JAPAN
May 30, 2004

TSE president slapped with pay cut

The Tokyo Stock Exchange has decided to penalize its president, Takuo Tsurushima, with a pay cut over a business improvement order issued to the bourse by the Financial Services Agency, TSE officials said Saturday.
Features
May 30, 2004

Anyone for a cocktail?

A shochu-based Bloody Mary with nam pla (a fish-based Thai sauce) and fresh coriander? You have got to be joking. But no, Bob Sliwa is not -- and he insists that such strange cocktail combinations can be real winners.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
May 30, 2004

PJ Harvey: "Uh Huh Her"

These days, when inspiration strikes, musicians can utitilze the flexibility and affordability of home-recording technology. Polly Jean Harvey, whose songs are the aural equivalent of manic-depressive episodes, goes the whole DIY hog on her latest album, not only playing all the instruments (except drums)...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink
May 30, 2004

How shochu got its groove back

A young woman was seated at the counter, her long hair tumbling down to her shoulders and resting softly on her beige jacket. In a matching skirt and heels, her long slim legs were revealed. Classy and elegant, she looked like she was ready for a glass of Dom Perignon.
JAPAN
May 30, 2004

Okinawa chief wants SOFA seen as national issue

Okinawa Gov. Keiichi Inamine called Saturday for national attention on Okinawa's wish to revise the Japan-U.S. Status of Forces Agreement.
COMMENTARY
May 30, 2004

Taming the culture of blame

LONDON -- An independent judiciary has long been taken for granted in Britain. It has been regarded down the ages as one of the majestic bastions of British liberties and a necessary pillar of the free democratic state.
COMMENTARY / WASHINGTON UPDATE
May 30, 2004

Bush could use a streak of good news

WASHINGTON -- It has not been a good two months for President George W. Bush. In mid-March, the president's men took the rubber band off their enormous roll of cash and went to work with media designed to present a softer, gentler, yet strong president while painting their prospective opponent, Sen....
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
May 30, 2004

The Streets: "A Grand Don't Come for Free"

The music of The Streets could be seen as validating those who drink, take drugs, eat burgers and chips, chase girls, gamble and fight. Maybe it does. But no one who does all those things all the time could make something as well-observed, witty and moving as this album. Then again, it is definitely...
JAPAN
May 29, 2004

LDP election pledges to criticize Koizumi

In a rare move, the Liberal Democratic Party's campaign pledges for the upcoming House of Councilors election will feature criticism of the decentralization efforts of Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, according to party sources.
MORE SPORTS
May 29, 2004

Japan's Olympic hopes disappear

Japan saw its hopes for a berth at the Athens Olympics evaporate on Friday after it fell to its fourth straight defeat in a 3-0 loss to Canada in the men's final qualifying tournament for this summer's games.
JAPAN
May 29, 2004

Court hands NCB execs suspended terms

The Tokyo District Court on Friday sentenced three former executives of the defunct Nippon Credit Bank to suspended prison terms for window dressing financial statements to conceal 160 billion yen in bad loans.
JAPAN
May 29, 2004

Koizumi employment record in 1970s called into question

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi has effectively admitted that he was only nominally employed at a Yokohama-based real estate company in the early 1970s -- even though he was registered as a member of a public pension system designed to serve full-time corporate employees.
BASEBALL / MLB
May 29, 2004

Rhodes lifts Giants over BayStars

Tuffy Rhodes drove in the go-ahead run with a double to right field in the eighth inning Friday to lift the Yomiuri Giants to a 7-5 win over the Yokohama BayStars.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
May 29, 2004

Miyajima to Oshima: sailing back in time

"The Inland Sea is a dangerous one unless the ship has a pilot of the greatest skill and one who thoroughly knows the channels," wrote my great-grandfather on his passage through the sea in 1900.
JAPAN
May 29, 2004

Japan to cover cost of Soga's family reunion

The government will pay travel and other expenses for repatriated abductee Hitomi Soga to reunite in a third country with her American husband and their two daughters, who are now in North Korea, a top spokesman said Friday.
EDITORIALS
May 29, 2004

Reinstating a jury system

Japan is set to introduce a new criminal trial system by the end of this decade, in which professional and lay judges will deal with major cases on an equal footing. A judicial reform bill calling for the creation of the saiban-in (citizen judge) system passed the Upper House last week, making it certain...
JAPAN
May 29, 2004

LDP election pledges to criticize Koizumi

In a rare move, the Liberal Democratic Party's campaign pledges for the upcoming House of Councilors election will feature criticism of the decentralization efforts of Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, according to party sources.
BUSINESS
May 29, 2004

Major life insurers show improvement

Japan's nine major life insurers are looking healthier thanks to stock-related gains made from the 47 percent jump in Tokyo stock prices during fiscal 2003, according to earnings reports released as of Friday.

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?