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JAPAN
Apr 4, 2004

Tanaka's daughter won't appeal

The daughter of former Foreign Minister Makiko Tanaka has decided not to appeal a high court ruling that rescinded an earlier injunction banning sale of a weekly magazine that featured an article about her divorce, her lawyers said Saturday.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Apr 4, 2004

A responsible attitude needed toward 'privacy'

Everybody knows what they mean when they say "privacy," but when it's used in a legal context the word turns squishy and slippery. For instance, it's difficult to grasp why Barbra Streisand sued a photographer last year for invasion of privacy because her estate appeared in two aerial pictures he took...
JAPAN
Apr 4, 2004

Ministry may sell 289,000 JT shares

The Finance Ministry is considering selling some 289,000 of its shares in Japan Tobacco Inc. by June, ministry officials said Saturday.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Apr 4, 2004

Oppressive flag of Pan Asian liberation

TENSIONS OF EMPIRE: Japan and Southeast Asia in the Colonial & Post-Colonial World, by Ken'ichi Goto. Ohio University Press, 2003, 349 pp., $24.95 (paper). The media has devoted considerable coverage to the Dr. Feelgoods of Japanese history who have vainly struggled to assert a vindicating and exonerating...
CULTURE / Music
Apr 4, 2004

DJ Spooky vs. Twilight Circus Dub Sound System : "Riddim Clash"

With Twilight Circus, hailed in reggae circles as the most happening of dubmasters, DJ Spooky has forged a record that is pure dub. It's full of wide open spaces, beats hang in the air, and echo effects almost shimmer as they dissipate.
BASEBALL / MLB
Apr 4, 2004

Valentine's Marines take over lead in PL

Former New York Mets players Benny Agbayani and Matt Franco combined for all five runs Saturday as the Chiba Lotte Marines downed the defending Japan Series champion Daiei Hawks 5-2 at Chiba Marine Stadium.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / CLOSE-UP
Apr 4, 2004

Robert Whiting: Outside the box

Back in 1972, a 30-year-old New Jersey native who had recently graduated from Tokyo's Sophia University was in New York City, trying to talk to anyone who would listen about politics and life in Japan. Nobody was interested.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Apr 4, 2004

D.D. Jackson

DD Jackson's muscular and frenetic keyboard style reminds listeners that the piano is, after all, a percussion instrument. He drums the piano as much as plays it, drawing out sounds that few other contemporary players can manage. While traditional-minded fans of lyrical piano will wince at his attack,...
COMMENTARY
Apr 4, 2004

Taiwan invasion scenario not so unlikely

HONG KONG -- It's unimaginable that China would ever go to war against Taiwan, right? Until recently, that's what I thought.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Apr 4, 2004

Pop Meiji romance revives tired legend of poor Okichi

BUTTERFLY IN THE WIND, by Rei Kimura. Amsterdam: Olive Press, 2003, 166 pp., with illustrations, $16.95 (paper). Poor Okichi -- carried away against her will to become concubine to the American consul in Japan, torn away from her handsome lover, stigmatized forever as "Tojin" Okichi, property of the...
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Apr 4, 2004

"News Station" becomes "Hodo Station" on TV Asahi and more

On March 26, TV Asahi's nightly news program, "News Station," ended after 18 1/2 years and 4,795 programs. Host Hiroshi Kume wrapped up the record run with a toast.
CULTURE / Music
Apr 4, 2004

Dead Kennedys: "Live at the Deaf Club"

March 1979. The relatively benign Jimmy Carter was in the White House, the Zen-liberal Jerry Brown, Jr., in Sacramento. It may have been over-reaching of San Francisco's most stridently political hardcore band, The Dead Kennedys, to characterize the West Coast as a Nazi police state in "California Uber...
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 4, 2004

Chance to pick up and move

WASHINGTON -- On May 1, the European Union will grow by 10 new members, mostly from Eastern Europe. In public, the optimism is great as is the gloating at overtaking the United States in population, gross domestic product and currency strength. In private conversations, however, there is great fear of...
JAPAN
Apr 3, 2004

Pension reform furor rumbles on

Two opposition parties boycotted Friday's plenary session of the House of Representatives to protest remarks made by Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi on pension reform.
JAPAN
Apr 3, 2004

Revolving door risk seen a year ago

Officials of the Land, Infrastructure and Transport Ministry said Friday the ministry compiled a document in February 2003 that recognizes the danger of automatic revolving doors -- but did nothing to improve safety standards.
JAPAN
Apr 3, 2004

Ishihara airs sea, port security report

Nobuteru Ishihara, minister of land, infrastructure and transport, presented a white paper Friday to the Cabinet that emphasizes crime prevention and counterterrorism in Japanese territorial waters and ports of entry.
JAPAN
Apr 3, 2004

Crackdown has publishers running scared

Yasunori Okadome last month suspended publication of his profitable monthly gossip magazine Uwasa-no-shinso (The Truth Behind Rumors), due to fears that a lawsuit could put him out of business for good.
JAPAN
Apr 3, 2004

Contentious magazine to remain unsold

Publisher Bungeishunju Ltd. said Friday it will not sell the remaining copies of a controversial edition of a weekly magazine, after the Tokyo High Court on Wednesday overruled a lower court's injunction barring publication of an article in the edition.
BUSINESS
Apr 3, 2004

Itochu forecasts 32 billion yen loss due to asset write-down

Trading house Itochu Corp. said Friday it will book a 125 billion yen charge to write down the value of fixed assets for fiscal 2003, joining a growing list of companies that have front-loaded an accounting rule change scheduled for fiscal 2005.

Longform

The volunteer lifesavers of Nishihama Surf Lifesaving Club never know what's in store at the start of their day.
It's no simple day at the beach for Japan's volunteer lifesavers