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CULTURE / Stage
Feb 16, 2005

Tale of the spy who loved Brandt

"Democracy" is an iconic buzzword of our times. What Webster's dictionary defines as "government in which the people hold the ruling power either directly or through elected representatives" is routinely held out, particularly by the current leader of the world's foremost military-industrial complex,...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art / CERAMIC SCENE
Feb 16, 2005

Former prime minister's pride of pots

"On a sunny day I go to the fields, and, when it rains, I read. Simple enough, isn't it?" Sounds like the words of a cute obachan out in the countryside, but these are the words of former Prime Minister Morihiro Hosokawa who now leads a quiet, secluded life.
MORE SPORTS
Feb 15, 2005

Kitajima entered in three events

Athens Olympic double gold-medalist Kosuke Kitajima will be entered in three breaststroke events at the national short course championships later this month, the Japan Swimming Federation said Monday.
BUSINESS
Feb 15, 2005

DoCoMo data leak swells to 24,600

NTT DoCoMo Inc. said Monday the phone numbers and other personal data of about 24,600 of its clients have been leaked.
EDITORIALS
Feb 15, 2005

Keeping to the PKO principles

With the signing of a peace agreement in Sudan, ravaged by more than 20 years of civil war, the government is weighing plans to have the Self-Defense Forces (SDF) participate in U.N. peacekeeping operations (PKO). Japan has received an informal request for cooperation from U.N. Secretary General Kofi...
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Feb 15, 2005

Compromised NHK needs closer scrutiny

As someone who toiled for several years inside NHK during the early 1990s, it is bemusing to see the simplistic criticism of the quasi-official broadcaster by the Japanese media.
BUSINESS
Feb 15, 2005

Current account surplus hits record high

Japan's current account surplus rose 17.9 percent in 2004 from a year earlier to a record 18.59 trillion yen.
BUSINESS
Feb 15, 2005

Nonresidents buy record 15 trillion yen in stocks, bonds

Nonresident investors remained net buyers of Japanese stocks and bonds in 2004 for the second straight year, with net purchases reaching a record 14.99 trillion yen, the Finance Ministry said Monday.
BUSINESS
Feb 15, 2005

BOJ's English Web site popular

Demand for English-language information about the Bank of Japan has grown in recent years.
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
Feb 15, 2005

Insurance, selling your home and pet care

Insurance query Isn't health insurance in Japan different from "kaigo hoken?" And, is it true that if a permanent resident with a legitimate visa stops paying the health insurance premiums that basically nothing can be done? In other words, the "kuyakusho" will eventually remove the person's name from...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / VIEWS FROM THE STREET
Feb 15, 2005

When is it OK to stretch the truth?

C.C. Sheffield Actress/Model, 22 It's okay to lie sometimes, when the result is going to be better than if you told the truth. For example, if your friend asks if she looks fat and she is fat. Tell her she's not.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 13, 2005

A laggard plan to end African poverty

LONDON — Last weekend the finance ministers of the Group of Seven industrialized countries met in London. British Finance Minister Gordon Brown tried to bounce his colleagues into setting up the largest aid program the world has ever seen: an International Finance Facility (IFF). He called it a new...
CULTURE / Music
Feb 13, 2005

Julius Hemphill Sextet: "The Hard Blues, Live in Lisbon"

Julius Hemphill died in 1995 but his revolutionary approach to saxophone lives on in this all-sax sextet dedicated to his music. Hemphill is best known as co-founder in the 1970s of the World Saxophone Quartet, a group who managed the rare trick of remaining resolutely, some might say stridently, avant-garde...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Feb 13, 2005

Japan makes great genres, but . . .

THE MIDNIGHT EYE GUIDE TO NEW JAPANESE FILM, by Tom Mes and Jasper Sharp, foreword by Hideo Nakata. Berkeley: Stone Bridge Press. 366 pp., 151 b/w photos, $22.95 (paper). The authors of this very interesting new compendium on recent Japanese cinema would agree, I think, that the "new" in their title...
Japan Times
Features
Feb 13, 2005

Go! Go! Kingyo!

If you go down to Roppongi tonight, you're sure of a few surprises. Not least, in Tokyo's favorite party zone renowned for its glitz and sleaze, you're guaranteed a world tour of ethnic restaurants, along with enough bars, dance clubs and strip joints to satisfy every taste.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Feb 13, 2005

Keeping it all in the community

Ten years ago a loosely knit group of friends started hanging out on a regular basis at a local community center in East L.A. They had no money (and still don't by any reckoning), but they cared about their community, and counted on it for inspiration and support. The cultural diversity of East L.A....
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM NEW YORK
Feb 13, 2005

Iraq election exposed two faces of China

HONG KONG -- One unintended consequence of the Jan. 30 election in Iraq was that it exposed the hypocrisy and shortsightedness of China's policy toward Hong Kong and reunification with Taiwan. China not only expressed support for the rushed national election in its controlled press; it also donated $1...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Feb 13, 2005

A brass band perfect for any occasion

One of the enduring images of New Orleans is the jazz funeral, a long procession of mourners walking toward the cemetery with a full-piece brass band playing along behind. On their most recent release, "Funeral for a Friend," the Dirty Dozen Brass Band re-creates this jazz funeral with gusto. Perhaps...
MORE SPORTS
Feb 13, 2005

Ogino gets first callup in 7 years

Masaji Ogino, a national team member at the Barcelona Olympics, is among the 22 players named to the national team for the World League men's volleyball tournament, the Japan Volleyball Association said Friday.
EDITORIALS
Feb 13, 2005

Dead man moonwalking

Pity Michael Jackson. Of course, that's after checking off a long list of other justifiable reactions to the sad, clown-like figure whose trial on child molestation and other charges is now getting under way in California with all the solemnity of a circus. Amazement, impatience, sympathy, repugnance,...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Feb 13, 2005

Pushing the boundaries of the Tokyo tribunal

BEYOND THE "JUDGEMENT OF CIVILIZATION": The Intellectual Legacy of the Japanese War Crimes Trials, 1946-1949, by Kei Ushimura, translated by Steven J. Ericson. Tokyo: LTCB International Library (No. 14), 2003, 336 pp., unpriced (cloth). This is a provocative examination of the Tokyo war crimes tribunal...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Feb 13, 2005

Little progress on Japanese gender equality

Last weekend the Cabinet Office released the results of its latest gender-roles survey, which it has been carrying out irregularly since 1979. About 3,500 adult men and women offered their opinions about who should be in charge of the home and who should do the breadwinning. The results were reported...
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Feb 13, 2005

Learn if your pet loves you in TV Tokyo's "Pochi-Tama" and more

Does your pet love you? It may sound like a pointless question, but this week the pet variety program "Pochi-Tama" (TV Tokyo; Fri., 7 p.m.) will offer a test that pet owners can take to determine the degree of affection that their dogs and cats feel toward them.
CULTURE / Music
Feb 13, 2005

Dan Hicks

He turned 63 last December, but even back in the 1960s and early '70s, Dan Hicks could have been mistaken for a middle-aged hipster, more interested in clever, sexy wordplay and jazzy harmonics than in rockin' or jammin', which is more unusual than it sounds. As the drummer for the short-lived psychedelic...

Longform

An illustration features the Japanese signs for "ganbare" (good luck) and the Deaflympics, which will be held between Nov. 15 and 26.
A century of Deaf sport finds its moment in Tokyo