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JAPAN
Oct 31, 2004

Confusion reigns over Iraq hostage

The government was thrown into confusion Saturday over the fate of a Japanese man who had been taken hostage by militants in Iraq threatening to kill him unless Japan withdraws its ground troops from the country.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Oct 31, 2004

Todd Snider: "East Nashville Skyline"

Leaving Seattle six CDs ago to travel the country writing songs, Todd Snider has steeped his craft in a wealth of experience. As he sings on "Age Like Wine," the opener to "East Nashville Skyline," he's gone through, "Seven managers, five labels/a thousand picks and patched cables/three vans, a band/a...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Oct 31, 2004

Sweeping view of socio-economic change and continuity in China for a half-century

HUMANISM IN CHINA: A Contemporary Record of Photography, edited by Wang Huangsheng and Hu Wugong. Guandong: Lingnan Meishu Chubanche, 2003, 488 pp., $40 (paper). China is a society in the midst of sweeping socio-economic convulsions that are rapidly and drastically altering the lives of its citizens....
EDITORIALS
Oct 31, 2004

Resounding victory for Afghanistan

Mr. Hamid Karzai, the interim leader of Afghanistan, has won that country's first presidential ballot. The election is a momentous accomplishment for Afghanistan, a country that has been torn by war for decades. Mr. Karzai's win is a victory for him personally, but it is also an incalculable victory...
JAPAN
Oct 31, 2004

NHK union to demand president's resignation over scandals

An NHK union will demand the resignation of President Katsuji Ebisawa to take responsibility for worsened business conditions due to scandals including alleged embezzlement by a former chief producer, members said Saturday.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Oct 31, 2004

At-home dads

Kazuyuki Yamamura is a tall, good-looking man in his 30s, who was also good at his job. In fact, not so long ago he bought a house for himself, his wife and their kindergarten-age daughter in a leafy suburb of Tokyo. Then, unexpectedly, his company found itself in choppy financial waters -- and he was...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Oct 31, 2004

Pierre Dorge's New Jungle Orchestra

Denmark's love affair with jazz is one of Europe's most intense. Besides offering a safe haven in the past to American jazz musicians such as Chet Baker, the country has always had a thriving jazz scene of its own. For the last quarter century, guitarist Pierre Dorge's New Jungle Orchestra has been a...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Oct 31, 2004

Playtime pioneer

On a cloudy morning a couple of weeks ago, 26 noisy 3-year-olds at the Kamimeguro Nursery in Tokyo's Meguro Ward were cheerfully throwing themselves into their exercise class in the hall. One after another, the little boys and girls challenged themselves to leap a vaulting horse, jump a rubber rope,...
JAPAN
Oct 31, 2004

Kanebo tabs spinoff head for president

Struggling textile maker Kanebo Ltd. has decided to name Takehiko Ogi, an outside board director of Kanebo Cosmetics Inc., a firm spun off from Kanebo in May, as its president, sources close to the reshuffle said Saturday.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Oct 31, 2004

Jim White: "Drill a Hole In That Substrate and Tell Me What You See"

Polymaths are a dime-a-dozen on today's pop scene, but Jim White has a topical edge owing to his Pentecostal upbringing. Having veered into a music career after stints as a pro surfer and fashion model, White was almost 40 when David Byrne signed him to his Luaka Bop label. Byrne, who is famously partial...
JAPAN
Oct 31, 2004

Police warn of fraud cases related to quakes

The National Police Agency has instructed prefectural police nationwide to be on the alert for cases of earthquake-related fraud after several attempts to wring money from people were reported in the last couple of days.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Oct 31, 2004

M. Ward finds his voice

Almost every pop musician starts out trying to sound like somebody else, and if he's lucky he ends up sounding like nobody but himself. This truism becomes less tenable with the passage of time and the gradual exhaustion of new musical ideas. Even a field as huge as "American folk-rock" is reducible...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Oct 31, 2004

Niigata temblor registered 7

The first of a series of powerful earthquakes that hit Niigata Prefecture on Oct. 23 registered the strongest intensity of 7 on the Japanese seismic scale, equivalent to the 1995 Great Hanshin Earthquake that killed more than 6,400 people, the Meteorological Agency said Saturday.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Oct 31, 2004

Papa's parenting barriers begin to fall

As well as the ever-present danger of cars speeding around narrow roads and the hassle of lugging strollers up and down staircases, parents in Japan with babies in tow have long had to struggle with public restrooms the size of telephone booths.
COMMENTARY
Oct 31, 2004

In defense of a liberal agenda

MANILA -- Today, hardly another political term is as misapprehended and misrepresented as is "liberal." A case in point is the United States in the runup to the presidential elections. For partisan reasons, the Republicans and the so-called neoconservatives have gone on a rampage to discredit liberalism....
MORE SPORTS
Oct 31, 2004

Niida pounds out scrappy victory

Japan's Yutaka Niida retained his WBA minimumweight title Saturday, beating Venezuela's Juan Landaeta.
JAPAN
Oct 31, 2004

U.S. troops here turning out in droves to vote

From the flight deck of the USS Kitty Hawk to the barracks of Camp Zama, this week's U.S. presidential election has a special resonance for America's troops abroad.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Oct 31, 2004

Daylight robbery -- and we accept it

Last February, the Tokyo municipal government adopted a policy to discourage key money reikin and lease renewal fees koshinryo in rental agreements. The policy is long overdue since key money and renewal fees are tenant-gouging practices sanctioned by nothing more than habit.
JAPAN
Oct 30, 2004

Assets held by Cabinet members average 77.07 million yen

The assets held by 11 state ministers newly appointed in September's Cabinet reshuffle averaged 77.07 million yen when the ministers assumed their posts, according to documents disclosed Friday.
JAPAN
Oct 30, 2004

Obituary: Gyo Hani

Gyo Hani, former managing editor of The Japan Times and president emeritus of Jiyu Gakuen, died of stomach cancer at his Tokyo home on Thursday, his family said. He was 73.
JAPAN
Oct 30, 2004

Murderer now faces death penalty

The Tokyo High Court sentenced a 38-year-old man to death Friday for kidnapping and murdering a 16-year-old girl and pocketing 230,000 yen in ransom, overturning the life sentence imposed by a lower court.
JAPAN
Oct 30, 2004

Officials to check up on North aid

The Foreign Ministry said Friday it will send four officials to North Korea on Tuesday to check whether 125,000 tons of food aid from Japan has been properly distributed.

Longform

Sumadori Bar on Shibuya Ward's main Center Gai street targets young customers who prefer low-alcohol drinks or abstain altogether.
Rethinking that second drink: Japan’s Gen Z gets ‘sober curious’