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Events
Dec 28, 2003

KANSAI: Who & What

Canadians invite people to Jan. 1 swim in Kobe: The Kansai Canadian Association is inviting people to take part in -- or simply watch -- a midwinter swim on Jan. 1 at Suma Beach in Kobe.
JAPAN
Dec 28, 2003

Chip firms lose holidays to demand

Several major Japanese microchip makers have told staff to give up their New Year holidays to meet a surge in demand resulting from spirited sales of digital home appliances, according to company officials.
JAPAN
Dec 28, 2003

Japan dispatches rescue teams to quake-hit Iran

Japan dispatched an emergency rescue team to Iran on Saturday in response to Tehran's request for help after a powerful earthquake struck the southeastern city of Bam on Friday, government officials said.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Dec 28, 2003

Vacationers pack stations and airports

Airports and bullet train stations were packed in Japan on Saturday with travelers leaving for the annual New Year's holiday period.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Dec 28, 2003

Burning passion in Shirley Hazzard's 'Great Fire'

THE GREAT FIRE, by Shirley Hazzard. Virago Press, 2003, 320 pp., £15.99 (cloth). As much as we may enjoy the pot-boilers and penny-dreadfuls we pick up to keep us company on the beach or on the bus, the pleasures they afford always pale when placed next to the real thing: literature. Literature, we...
JAPAN
Dec 28, 2003

Immigration controls to be stepped up at ports across Japan

The Justice Ministry is planning to step up immigration controls at local airports and seaports in fiscal 2004 by introducing teams of officers skilled at detecting fake currency and travel documents, ministry officials said Saturday.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Dec 28, 2003

If truth be told . . .

There was once a Chinese emperor who abolished time. Wei Ming decreed that day broke when the dawn sky flushed the color of his pet bullfinch's breast. Nighttime began whenever he retired from the audience chamber with his concubines, and was consequently rather longer.
JAPAN
Dec 28, 2003

DBJ to tie loans to environment efforts

The governmental Development Bank of Japan will from next April offer a new loan with interest rates linked to recipient companies' commitments on environmental measures, DBJ officials said Saturday.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Dec 28, 2003

The Lonesome Organist/Bobby Conn

The influential American indie label Thrill Jockey has a reputation for eclecticism, but it's mainly known as the home of Tortoise, Brokeback and all the other groups that make up the postrock Chicago Underground. Jeremy Jacobsen, aka The Lonesome Organist, sort of fits the mold, but as his moniker suggests...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Dec 28, 2003

Fear of modern terrorism

THE NEW TERRORISM: Anatomy, Trends and Counterstrategies, edited by Andrew Tan and Kumar Ramakrishna. Singapore: Eastern Universities Press, Regional Security Studies, 2002, 254 pp. (paper). If the contributors to this excellent survey of "the new terrorism" are correct, then the world needs to be prepared...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Dec 28, 2003

Satanicpornocultshop: "Anorexia Gas Balloon"

Osaka's Satanicpornocultshop has been described as a hip-hop band due to their cut-and-paste aesthetic, but one wonders if even that famously elastic genre has enough room to accommodate the absolutely gleeful musical abandon that surfaces on their sixth album, "Anorexia Gas Balloon."
EDITORIALS
Dec 28, 2003

Behind the veil in France

Sometimes when we read about a political decision being taken in another country, the response seems both easy and obvious. Chechen independence, an Iraqi trial for toppled leader Saddam Hussein, approval of the Kyoto treaty to slow global warming, disapproval of the Israelis' land-gobbling border fence:...
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 28, 2003

A firmer Japan in the tussle with China

SINGAPORE -- The ASEAN-Japan Summit in Tokyo on Sept. 11-12 came at a crucial moment in ties between Tokyo and the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations. Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi met with the ASEAN heads of state just as Japan is bottoming out from a decade of economic doldrums....
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 28, 2003

U.N. voice for 'civil society'

In his opening address in Beijing to the U.N. conference on the question of Palestine on Dec. 16, China's Deputy Foreign Minister Dai Bingguo paid particular at- tention to the role of civil society -- academic and business communities, nongovernmental organizations and others -- in appealing for peace...
COMMENTARY
Dec 28, 2003

Making U.S. voters happier, not safer

WASHINGTON -- "The capture of Saddam Hussein has not made America safer," declared Democratic presidential candidate Howard Dean, and denunciations have rained down upon him. But Dean obviously was correct: "The capture of Saddam does not end" the coalition's difficulties in Iraq.
JAPAN
Dec 27, 2003

Homegrown embryonic stem cells in offing

Beginning next month, a national institute will start providing domestically produced human embryonic stem cells -- a move likely to accelerate Japanese research into the production of tissue and organs for medical use.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Dec 27, 2003

Prefectures' satellite shops let Tokyoites tour Japan for lunch

Prefectural governments are offering busy Tokyoites a chance to experience their local products and cuisine -- if only for an hour or so -- and hope to encourage tourism in the process.
JAPAN
Dec 27, 2003

Jikei med school fires three doctors standing trial for malpractice death

Jikei University School of Medicine sacked three doctors Friday in connection with a botched prostate cancer operation in November 2002 that claimed the life of the 60-year-old male patient.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Dec 27, 2003

Stalled Tokyo-Pyongyang talks frustrate abductees

The five Japanese abductees who returned from North Korea in October 2002 are about to usher in their second year since their repatriation in a state of anguish, hoping their loved ones who were not allowed to leave North Korea will be able to join them soon.
JAPAN
Dec 27, 2003

Ministry urges overseas travelers to get insurance

The Foreign Ministry is urging Japanese planning trips overseas, including ministry bureaucrats, to take out travel insurance to cover damage they may incur as well as inflict.
JAPAN
Dec 27, 2003

Cloudy skies expected to greet 2004

With cloudy weather expected in many places across Japan at the year's end and at the outset of 2004, the chances of watching the sun come up on New Year's Day are slim, the Japan Meteorological Agency 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