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Japan Times
Features
Feb 27, 2005

Inquest service fuels ardor for 'democracy'

Earlier this month at a coffee shop near JR Matsudo Station in Chiba Prefecture, Tatsuhiko Ojima, 64, recalled how startled he was two years ago to receive a letter from the Matsudo branch of the Chiba District Court. It notified him he had to attend the court because he had been selected to serve a...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Feb 27, 2005

Where there's magic, there's Buddha

THE DHARMA OF DRAGONS AND DAEMONS: Buddhist Themes in Modern Fantasy, by David R. Loy and Linda Goodhew, foreword by Jane Hirshfield. Boston: Wisdom Publications, 2004, 155 pp., $14.95 (paper). David R. Loy and Linda Goodhew's "The Dharma of Dragons and Daemons" is subtitled "Buddhist Themes in Modern...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Feb 27, 2005

Dalek

One rarely hears the term "underground rock" used any more, since the breakdown of the traditional indie/major dichotomy has rendered any stylistic notions attached to the term pointless. However, the term underground hip-hop is still very much in use, probably because mainstream hip-hop is such a slave...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Feb 27, 2005

New truths from broken conventions: travel writing outside Japan

MUSASHINO IN TUSCANY: Japanese Overseas Travel Literature, 1860-1912, by Susanna Fessler. Ann Arbor: Center for Japanese Studies, The University of Michigan, 2004, 297 pp., + xii pp., 29 b/w illustrations, 2004, $65.00 (cloth). Japan has a long history of travel literature. From the 10th-century "Tosa...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Feb 27, 2005

Harvie S.: "Texas Rumba"

Several years ago, Harvie S. made the switch from a career as in-demand straight jazz bassist to playing Latin jazz exclusively. This high-energy live recording shows he made the right decision. Having long backed leaders such as Paquito D'Rivera, Arturo Sandoval and Chico O'Farrill, Harvie S. has Latin...
BASKETBALL / NBA / NBA REPORT
Feb 27, 2005

Isiah's plan to improve Knicks puzzling

NEW YORK -- On a day it might have been easier for the NBA to relocate franchises rather than move the multitude of traded players, Isiah Thomas almost did exactly the opposite of what he's been saying over the last couple weeks he wouldn't do.
Features
Feb 27, 2005

Workings of a watershed

One day, in just a few years' time, people all over Japan will begin to find unexpected official letters in their mailboxes. Perhaps anxious that they have done something wrong, or failed to make a payment, it will be with considerable tredipation that most seek out the contents.
COMMENTARY
Feb 27, 2005

Let trade cement Indo-Pakistani peace

ISLAMABAD -- After more than 57 years, an agreement by India and Pakistan to allow people within the divided state of Kashmir to cross the border by bus, beginning in April, is the most important confidence-building measure yet achieved in the two countries' yearlong peace process.
EDITORIALS
Feb 27, 2005

The British navy's pink carpet

'R um, sodomy and the lash" are the words Winston Churchill is popularly credited with using to sum up the traditions of Britain's Royal Navy. (A former assistant has said that Churchill never uttered the famous phrase but wished he had.) Either way, the idea that Her Majesty's naval forces have always...
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Feb 27, 2005

NHK's "Chikyu Fushigi Daishizen" sees green back in wasteland and more

There are few happy stories on the environmental front these days, but NHK will cover one of them on its nature program, "Chikyu Fushigi Daishizen (The Earth's Amazing Nature)" (NHK-G, Mon., 8 p.m.). Ashio Mountain in Gunma Prefecture has been bare for almost a century, the victim of sulfur-dioxide pollution...
Japan Times
Features
Feb 27, 2005

Preparing for justice that's seen to be done

Criminal hearings are open to the public, but the average person taking a seat in the public gallery would have a hard time understanding what goes on. The procedures are not only unclear, but they are also thickly clothed in legal jargon. What's more, many trials take months, or sometimes even years,...
Features
Feb 27, 2005

Judges 'on bended knee'

For the 21 years of his life as a judge, Akira Rokusha lived a closeted existence. From his home in an official residence alongside fellow judges and other courthouse employees, he was taken to the court in a special minibus, and he spent his days off reading and reviewing material related to his cases....
Features
Feb 27, 2005

New order in court

May 21, 2004, was an epoch-making day for Japan; it was the day the Diet passed a law to introduce a new criminal court system that will involve ordinary citizens in the administration of justice for the first time in postwar history.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Feb 27, 2005

Lay judges could put many fears of the legal system to rest

In a survey carried out by the Cabinet Office last December, 81 percent of respondents said they supported the death penalty, with 53 percent saying they believe serious crimes would increase without it. The Justice Ministry has repeatedly pointed to public support for capital punishment as a main reason...
Japan Times
Features
Feb 27, 2005

Schools in saibanin front line

One morning late last month, Public Prosecutors Ryuji Hatano and Kunio Ooyama were immersed in an alleged robbery case in court. But the court was in a classroom.
BASEBALL / MLB
Feb 26, 2005

Yahoo buys rights to Hawks' stadium

Yahoo Japan Corp. said Friday the company has officially purchased the naming rights to the home stadium of the Softbank Hawks in Fukuoka, formerly known as the Fukuoka Dome.
SOCCER / PREMIER REPORT
Feb 26, 2005

Late kickoff not the reason for hooligan trouble any time

LONDON -- If the matter was not so serious it would almost be funny.
MORE SPORTS
Feb 26, 2005

Takeda likely to remain head of JOC

Tsunekazu Takeda is expected to be reappointed as president of the Japanese Olympic Committee this spring as he received a unanimous vote of approval from the selection panel on Friday.
MORE SPORTS
Feb 26, 2005

Younger Schu happy with Toyota

Ralf Schumacher is confident he made the right decision in joining Toyota for the upcoming Formula One season.
EDITORIALS
Feb 26, 2005

Moment of reckoning for the alliance

When U.S. President George W. Bush began his second term, he said fixing relations with Europe would top his diplomatic agenda. A fence-mending trip to Europe has revealed how hard that will be. Both the United States and Europe must decide the purpose of their relationship and whether the trans-Atlantic...
BUSINESS
Feb 26, 2005

Sankyo, Daiichi Pharmaceutical to merge in October

Sankyo Co. and Daiichi Pharmaceutical Co. said Friday they have reached a basic agreement to integrate their business operations in October, creating Japan's second-largest drugmaker.
BUSINESS
Feb 26, 2005

Mad cow panel prodded to reach decision on tests

Farm minister Yoshinobu Shimamura urged a government panel Friday to draw a conclusion quickly on whether to terminate the blanket testing for mad cow disease, in order to lift Japan's 14-month-old import ban on U.S. beef.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 26, 2005

Disaster poses Yudhoyono's biggest test

SINGAPORE -- Two months after a tsunami ravaged Aceh and parts of North Sumatra province, a joke making the rounds in Jakarta says the initials of In- donesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and Vice President Jusuf Kalla, or SBY-JK, stand for Sudah banyak yang jadi korban ("Never have there been...
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Feb 26, 2005

Insurers race to get into medical policies as population ages

The risk of getting sick may soon be more important than the risk of dying, according to the life insurance industry.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Feb 26, 2005

The woes of the misunderstood 'gaijin'

I've been a nonnative speaker of Japanese for 12 years now. I'll go weeks without speaking a word of English, since where I live, I'm the only "gaijin." But after several years of consistent hard work, I have trained the 700 people on my island to understand my gaijin Japanese. We are almost at the point...
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST
Feb 26, 2005

Srcwenig anorud wtih the ruels

"I hvae jsut had a rvelaiton," I tlel my wfie, tihs tmie not in our Tkoyo hmoe, but in "Colmun Lnad," wehre the cnovnetinos of dilaog can be bnet at wlil.
BUSINESS
Feb 26, 2005

Allies moving to sell stakes in NBS to Fuji TV

Tokyo Electric Power Co., Kodansha Ltd. and Mitsubishi Electric Corp. have applied to sell their shares in Nippon Broadcasting System Inc. to Fuji Television Network Inc. to support the network's takeover bid for the radio broadcaster, officials of the three firms said separately Friday.

Longform

Juzo Itami’s “Tampopo” was released Nov. 23, 1985, and though it wasn’t a hit at the time, it has gained a cult following in the years since.
Eat, slurp, love: 'Tampopo' turns 40