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EDITORIALS
Dec 23, 2002

Pay cuts demand job security

It has been a long time since the word "shunto" -- the spring labor offensive -- stood for its traditional meaning. With the domestic economy caught in a deflationary spiral, the idea of winning across-the-board wage concessions from management on top of regular pay increases no longer holds water. So...
COMMENTARY
Dec 23, 2002

Fix the U.S.-ROK alliance

HONOLULU -- Now that the South Korean presidential elections are over, it's time for outgoing President Kim Dae Jung to take the necessary steps to ensure a proper legacy. No, I am not talking about his "sunshine policy" of engagement with North Korea. His bold, if only partially successful, efforts...
BASEBALL / MLB
Dec 22, 2002

Giants outfielder Shimizu holds out

Yomiuri Giants outfielder Takayuki Shimizu refused an offer for a 72 million yen salary raise to 180 million yen Friday after coming within one hit of a Central League record this year. Shimizu, who as the Yomiuri leadoff man had 191 hits and a .314 average, hopes for an annual salary of 200 million...
MORE SPORTS
Dec 22, 2002

Shibui ready to hit Nagoya road

Yoko Shibui, who finished third in the Chicago Marathon in October, said Saturday she plans to run in Nagoya in March in a bid to earn a place in the women's marathon at next year's World Championships in Paris.
MORE SPORTS
Dec 22, 2002

Secom still alive in run for final 8

Secom kept alive its, albeit slim, hopes of reaching the last eight of the 55th Company Clubs Rugby Football Championship with a 26-19 win over Coca Cola West Japan at a cold, wet and miserable Chichibunomiya Stadium in Tokyo on Saturday.
MORE SPORTS
Dec 22, 2002

Hingis pulls out of Toray Open

Defending champion Martina Hingis, who is recuperating from ankle surgery, has withdrawn from the Toray Pan Pacific Open, organizers said Friday.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 22, 2002

From bluster to the risk of catastrophe

HONOLULU -- The United States and North Korea have once again reached an impasse in their long distance negotiations through the press. The North Koreans have demanded that the U.S. sign a nonaggression pact as part of a settlement of disputes on the Peninsula.
MORE SPORTS
Dec 22, 2002

Tokuyama edges past Penalosa

Masamori Tokuyama retained his World Boxing Council super flyweight title Friday with a 12-round split decision over Gerry Penalosa of the Philippines.
BASEBALL / MLB
Dec 22, 2002

Nori buffaloes Mets

OSAKA -- Amid widespread speculation he was on the verge of signing a deal with the New York Mets, slugger Norihiro Nakamura announced Saturday he has instead opted to play for the Kintetsu Buffaloes for a 12th season.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Dec 22, 2002

Trial judge completes the vicious circle in curry-poisoning case

Exactly four years ago in this column, I wrote that, egged on by the media, which had already tried and convicted Masumi Hayashi for murder in the Wakayama Curry Poisoning Incident even before she was arrested, "the police . . . proudly announced that they have enough circumstantial evidence to convince...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Dec 22, 2002

The Christmas business

Japanese marketers are well aware that Christmas ranks second in popularity only to New Year's -- above even the Bon holiday in August, when people flock back to their hometowns to pay respect to their ancestors.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / PLAY BUTTON
Dec 22, 2002

Exploring musical compositions' demarcation lines

What is the difference between a track and a song? To the average listener, nothing -- the terms are often used interchangeably.
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Dec 22, 2002

Looks at stolen lives, loot and . . . bases

As Japan's Major League Baseball broadcaster by default, NHK will certainly have its hands full next year when Hideki Matsui makes his MLB debut. It may be a logistic nightmare airing all Ichiro Suzuki and Matsui games, but it pays off in the end with lots of viewers.
COMMENTARY
Dec 22, 2002

Abductee hysteria in Japan

That old saying about democracies being their own worst enemies is getting a good workout in Japan's abductee dispute with North Korea. By any standards, North Korea's willingness to release five Japanese abducted in the 1970s following Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's Sept. 17 breakthrough visit to...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Dec 22, 2002

Kazuko Shiraishi does it her way

KAZUKO SHIRAISHI: Let Those Who Appear. Translated by Samuel Grolmes and Yumiko Tsumura. New Directions, 2002, 49 pp., $12.95 (paper). I've met the poet Kazuko Shiraishi three times, on each of her visits to New York. Shiraishi made her latest trip to this city in the spring of 2002, to mark the publication...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Dec 22, 2002

A little something for the god

GRACIOUS GIFTS: Japan's Sacred Offerings, photographed by Gorazd Vilhar, text by Charlotte Anderson. Tokyo: Shufunotomo-sha, 1999, 128 pp., 172 color plates, 4,000 yen (cloth) All religions encourage gifts. From Catholic prayer boxes to Protestant collection plates, from the donation repositories of...
LIFE / Travel / NATURE TRAVEL
Dec 22, 2002

Historic Zanzibar, as exotic as it sounds

First of two parts Zanzibar! Just eight letters, but what a wealth of romance they sum up!
LIFE / Travel / NATURE TRAVEL
Dec 22, 2002

Historic Zanzibar, as exotic as it sounds

First of two parts Zanzibar! Just eight letters, but what a wealth of romance they sum up!
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Dec 22, 2002

Home sweet family Christmas

It's almost Christmas, and children all over the world are getting more excited with each passing day, dreaming and chattering about what presents will await them on Christmas morning.
BASEBALL / MLB
Dec 21, 2002

Fukudome signs; Uehara holds out

The Chunichi Dragons on Thursday signed outfielder Kosuke Fukudome, who beat Hideki Matsui to win the Central League batting title, to a new one-year deal for a 122 million yen annual salary with an 80 million yen increase.
COMMENTARY
Dec 21, 2002

Asia can learn from Europe

SINGAPORE -- Ever since Asian policymakers and analysts began thinking about their part of the world as a collective of nations -- as a "region" -- they have made one thing clear: Asia is a unique place and Europe's experience on this matter just does not apply. That thinking has dominated discussions...
EDITORIALS
Dec 21, 2002

Continuity and strain in South Korea

The election of Mr. Roh Moo Hyun as South Korea's next president promises continuity in Seoul. His victory is a triumph for departing President Kim Dae Jung, who launched Mr. Roh's Grand Millennium Party and inaugurated many of the policies that Mr. Roh inherits. Mr. Roh's pledge to continue Mr. Kim's...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Dec 21, 2002

World of Gorgles and other prehysterical things

Any visitor this weekend to the Hirabayashi coffee shop opposite Yokosuka's Shioiri Station in Kanagawa Prefecture might be excused for thinking they had wandered onto another planet. They would be right. Until Monday, it is Clara Birnbaum's world: her World of the Gorgles.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Dec 21, 2002

You call that twig a Christmas tree?

The Japanese have adopted Christmas with great zeal, in the same manner they have adopted other Western things such as Snoopy and Disney. The holiday -- with glittery trees, sparkly lights and fairy-tale songs -- is irresistible to the Japanese. This, along with the "If it blinks I want it!" mentality,...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / PERSONALITY PROFILE
Dec 21, 2002

Tiopira Te Huia

Tiopira Te Huia says he does as his heart dictates.
MORE SPORTS
Dec 20, 2002

Strong field for Osaka Marathon

OSAKA -- Kenyan defending champion Lornah Kiplagat and Japan's Mizuki Noguchi, winner in Nagoya in her marathon debut in March, head the list of 20 invitees to next month's Osaka International Women's Marathon, organizers said Wednesday.
SOCCER / PREMIER REPORT
Dec 20, 2002

Liverpool fans experiencing knee-jerk reaction to team's woes

LONDON -- The phone lines to Liverpool radio stations have been red hot this week. The knee-jerk reaction in the wake of one point from the last 18 has been that Gerard Houllier has lost the plot and Phil Thompson must go.

Longform

Sociologist Gracia Liu-Farrer argues that even though immigration doesn't figure into Japan's autobiography, it is more of a self-perception than a reality.
In search of the ‘Japanese dream’