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JAPAN
Mar 21, 2004

Iraq Governing Council head to visit

The chairman of Iraq's Governing Council will come to Tokyo on Tuesday for security and reconstruction talks, Japanese government sources said Friday.
Events
Mar 21, 2004

KANSAI: Who & What

Almond blossoms on view in Kobe: Toyo Nut Co., a food company based in Higashi-Nada Ward, Kobe, is opening its garden to the public through March 25 to show almond trees in bloom.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Mar 21, 2004

Subway-attack anniversary marked

Tokyo subway workers marked on Saturday the ninth anniversary of Aum Shinrikyo's deadly sarin nerve gas attack on the train system, observing a moment of silence and offering flowers at stations.
JAPAN
Mar 21, 2004

Publisher appeals injunction order

Tokyo publisher Bungeishunju Ltd. filed an appeal Saturday with the Tokyo High Court against a lower court's ban on the publication of a weekly magazine aimed at addressing concerns over privacy violation.
EDITORIALS
Mar 21, 2004

Farewell to 'Sesame Street'

There are some American icons we would not miss too much if they were to disappear tomorrow. Starbucks, McDonald's, Britney Spears: Despite their popularity here, they all have perfectly adequate local equivalents. Japanese would still be able to drink coffee, eat hamburgers and listen to annoying pop...
Features
Mar 21, 2004

The memory and spirit live on

The memory of John Manjiro lives on in many ways in many places. Symbolizing his life and historical significance, there is a statue of him looking out over the Pacific, octant in hand, at Cape Ashizuri in Tosa Shimizu, Kochi Prefecture, Shikoku, near his Nakanohama birthplace.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Mar 21, 2004

Jolly good show, Hidaka-san

At the entrance to the headquarters of concert-promoter Smash is an original poster for the Sex Pistols' "God Save the Queen" single. When the group did a reunion tour of Japan several years ago, Smash President Masa Hidaka had them autograph it.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Mar 21, 2004

Of Montreal: "Satanic Panic in the Attic"

Many bands belonged to the now defunct Elephant 6 indie collective, but Of Montreal was definitely the most interesting. Leader Kevin Barnes is one of those snotty kid geniuses who releases everything that pops into his head, and while much of it is tripe, the good stuff is so good that the inconsistency...
Japan Times
Features
Mar 21, 2004

In the words of John Manjiro . . .

Whaling: When they got close to the whale, the harpooner skillfully threw his harpoon at the vital part on the whale's back. However, whales have different temperaments: Some dive straight to the bottom; some rush through the waves. . . . The whale eventually returns to the place where it had been harpooned....
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Mar 21, 2004

A different kind of matrimony

TWINKLE, TWINKLE, by Kaori Ekuni, translated by Emi Shimokawa. New York: Vertical Inc., 2003, 172 pp. $19.95 (cloth). This is an excellent translation of Kaori Ekuni's 1991 novel, "Kira Kira Hikaru," a popular best seller that was made into a very good film by Joji Matsuoka the following year.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Mar 21, 2004

The claustrophobia of a criminal mind

NO REASON FOR MURDER, by Ayako Sono. ICG Muse Inc, 2003, 422 pp., 3,000 yen (cloth). Reading crime stories can be a claustrophobic experience. Entering the criminal mind is not unlike squeezing into the airless tunnels of a rodent.
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Mar 21, 2004

TV Asahi presents "Kinkyu Kensho Special" and more

One of the biggest news stories of 1987 was the bombing of a Korean Airlines flight over the Indian Ocean. Two North Korean agents posing as Japanese citizens were believed to be responsible for the bombing. One committed suicide before he could be arrested in Bahrain. The other, a young woman named...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Mar 21, 2004

Various artists: "Beat of the Moment"

The title cut of the new Felicity sampler -- a jazzy drum 'n' bass joint effort by newish Japanese pop group Spangle call Lilli line and electronica outfit Spanova -- elicits a series of responses: familiarity (haven't I heard this before?), confusion (but where?), and finally amazement (oh my God, it's...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Mar 21, 2004

Paradise to asylum, the city for storytellers

SHANGHAI STATION, by Bartle Bull. New York: Carroll & Graf Publishers, 2004, 340 pp., $26 (cloth). A full listing of novels and short stories set in the International Settlement of Shanghai between the first and second world wars, and then again up to China's 1949 revolution, would fill a book in itself....
Japan Times
JAPAN
Mar 21, 2004

Peace movement revives for protests on Iraq war

Tens of thousands of people took to the streets around Japan on Saturday, the first anniversary of the start of the U.S.-led war on Iraq, to call for the end of the occupation and the withdrawal of Self-Defense Forces troops.
Japan Times
Features
Mar 21, 2004

One of a kind

The year was 1841. Japan was still the closed country it had been for two centuries by order of the feudal Tokugawa Shogunate; for a Japanese to go abroad, or return from abroad, were capital offenses. The arrival of U.S. Commodore Matthew C. Perry's four black-hulled steamships in Edo Bay -- and the...
COMMENTARY / WASHINGTON UPDATE
Mar 21, 2004

Bush morphs into a scrappy candidate

WASHINGTON -- Mid-March is a time of significant anniversaries:
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Mar 21, 2004

'Mister' is a god, but he's not immortal

Former Village Voice media critic Tom Carson once wrote an essay in which he blasted the style imperative subscribed to by American men's magazines. These publications had invested so heavily in a certain male image that they couldn't imagine anything else. "You want to strike terror in the hearts of...
JAPAN
Mar 21, 2004

Deal reportedly reached on U.S. military suspects

Japan and the United States are expected to agree soon to U.S. officials being present during interrogations of U.S. military personnel suspected of serious crimes such as murder or rape, negotiation sources said Saturday.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 21, 2004

New coalitions of the willing seek change

While I was in London in January, The Guardian newspaper ran a front-page story about an independent evaluation of some of Britain's leading international charities that tried to help southern Africa avoid a food crisis in 2002-2003. The evaluation concluded that the charities had overstated the seriousness...
MORE SPORTS
Mar 21, 2004

Fighters whip Giants in Sapporo

Fernando Seguignol hit a two-run homer in the fifth inning Saturday to lead the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters to a 10-4 win over the Yomiuri Giants in a preseason game at Sapporo Dome. Playing before a crowd of 41,000, the Fighters also got homers from Angel Echevarria, Michihiro Ogasawara, Makoto Kaneko...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Mar 21, 2004

Nothing lost in translation of mum music

It's important to say the band's name correctly: mum, which is always written without an initial capital letter, is pronounced "moom." The band itself is from Iceland, and the name has no meaning.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Mar 21, 2004

Junior Senior

Danish duo Junior Senior may be difficult to describe, but their message is unmistakably clear: Get on the freaking dance floor. Their debut, "D-D-Don't Don't Stop the Beat," was last year's best party album, brimming with tracks that read like cheerleading chants: "Move Your Feet," "C'Mon," "Dynamite,"...
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / NATURE TRAVEL
Mar 21, 2004

Little reason to gush about showy Sun King's fountains and gardens

King Louis XIV's finance superintendent, Nicholas Fouquet, decided to build himself a cha^teau on a grand scale. No expense was spared. The finest architects of the day were summoned and put to work. Landscape designers, too. And when the Cha^teau Vaux-le-Vicomte was finally complete, well, it was only...
Japan Times
SOCCER / J. League
Mar 21, 2004

Gral's double lifts Jubilo

Brazilian striker Rodrigo Gral scored his first league goals of the season as Jubilo Iwata came from behind to beat Nagoya Grampus Eight 3-1 away in the J. League first division on Saturday.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Mar 21, 2004

Wrong ways to a Shanghai potboiler thriller

SHANGHAI, by Donald G. Moore. Lincoln, Nebraska: iUniverse Inc., 2003, 218 pp., $24.95 (cloth). ROBERT LUDLUM'S THE ALTMAN CODE, by Robert Ludlum and Gayle Lynds. New York: St. Martin's Paperback, 2004, 496 pp., $7.99 (paper). Brand-name thriller "Robert Ludlum's The Altman Code" is part of a growing...
JAPAN
Mar 20, 2004

Avian flu genes match South Korea's

The genes of Japan's avian flu virus are almost identical to those of South Korea's, the farm ministry said Friday.

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