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JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Dec 5, 2002

GM crops get good press? Surely not

Everyone from religious scholars to British lords seems to have an opinion on genetically modified foods -- whether it is that they are "Frankensteinian" or that they are creations revealing the promise of biotechnology in the service of humanity.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / WILD WATCH
Dec 5, 2002

Vital links in a flyway chain

Amazingly, we continue to take fresh water for granted. This precious resource is vital for our survival and that of a vast array of other species, from microscopic creatures and aquatic insects, to fish and hordes of birds. In Lake Baikal in Siberia, at 1,737 meters the deepest lake in the world, there...
COMMENTARY
Dec 5, 2002

French moderates end feuds

PARIS -- Six months after last spring's presidential and general elections, the French political landscape is undergoing a deep transformation:
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital / NAME OF THE GAME
Dec 5, 2002

It's a bird, it's a plane, it's ... dull

"Superman: Shadow of Apokolips," a new game from Atari for PlayStation2, is an utterly forgettable 3-D adventure game in which Metropolis' man of steel vanquishes familiar foes.
LIFE / Digital
Dec 5, 2002

Digital cameras get pocket-sized right

Those who bought their first digital camera several years ago spent upwards of 100,000 yen on bulky hunks that shot mediocre photos at best.
LIFE / Digital
Dec 5, 2002

Amazon.co.jp offers e-shopping in English

Foreigners in Japan wanting to shop online have long had two unappealing options -- pay the outrageous shipping charges to order from e-shops abroad or muddle through Web sites in Japanese.
Japan Times
SOCCER / World cup
Dec 4, 2002

Ronaldo rises again

YOKOHAMA -- In case there was ever any doubt that it is the best team in the world, Real Madrid made it official on Tuesday night in Yokohama, beating South American champion Olimpia of Paraguay 2-0 to capture the Toyota Cup in front of a crowd of 66,070.
EDITORIALS
Dec 4, 2002

IOC stumbles but moves forward

The International Olympic Committee, at a general meeting in Mexico last week, discussed a proposal to drop three sports -- baseball, softball and the modern pentathlon -- from the 2008 Beijing Games, but in the end decided to postpone a decision until after the 2004 Games take place in Athens. IOC members...
COMMENTARY
Dec 4, 2002

The high price of Saudi oil

WASHINGTON -- The U.S.-Saudi relationship is again engulfed in controversy. Did a Saudi princess, and wife of the Saudi ambassador to the United States, give money to two of the 9/11 hijackers? Yet again, both governments are paying a high price for their unnatural friendship.
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Dec 4, 2002

Are Petagine and the Giants a good fit?

Having lost superstar slugger Hideki Matsui to free agency and the major leagues, the Yomiuri Giants have acquired Roberto Petagine, the runnerup to Matsui in this year's Central League home run derby. The Giants have thus plugged Matsui's hole in their lineup with another Triple Crown threat, but three...
BASEBALL / MLB
Dec 4, 2002

Nagashima to manage Japan squad in Athens

Former Yomiuri Giants skipper Shigeo Nagashima was named manager of the Japanese national baseball team on Monday in the run-up to the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Dec 4, 2002

The world out there

It is a few minutes before rehearsal.
COMMENTARY
Dec 4, 2002

Japan slams the door on stolen artwork

HONOLULU -- Stolen art is big business. According to Interpol, the traffic in stolen art is worth about $5 billion a year, about as much as the illegal trade in arms and drugs. Accurate estimates of the trade are hard to come by, but this figure is almost certainly low. After all, how does one value...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES
Dec 4, 2002

Christine 23 Onna: "Acid Eater"

Before you listen to "Acid Eater," you might want to gather a few fetish items; this experience is worth externalizing. Start with a surfboard, a spacesuit and a videocassette of Barbarella.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art / NEW ART SEEN
Dec 4, 2002

The secret language of janitors

Although it is my pleasure to cover contemporary art by living artists in this column, I hope readers will give me leave to discuss a dead one this week, because the Henry Darger exhibition at the Watari-Um Museum of Art is just too fantastic an event to ignore.
CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES
Dec 4, 2002

"Red Hot" AIDS charity compilations: "Red Hot + Riot"

Tribute albums tend to disappoint because multiartist formats are by nature inconsistent. "Red Hot + Riot," the latest in the decade-old series of "Red Hot" AIDS charity compilations, is a glorious exception. If it's more exciting than any tribute album of recent memory, then it must have something to...
CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES
Dec 4, 2002

Carolyn Leonhart with the David Hazeltine Trio

Female vocalists often incite bickering in the world of jazz. To compare one singer to another will draw nothing but smirks or scoffs from those dedicated to their own divas. However, for those interested in lovely singing, Carolyn Leonhart's Japan dates this month should be welcome relief. As a relative...
CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES
Dec 4, 2002

Aphex Twin: "Out From Out Where"

Techno music is never short on energy, but with artists now letting their laptop algorithms call the shots, electronica often comes up dreadfully short on actual human emotion. Richard D. James (aka Aphex Twin) best displays this embrace of the cold, clinical side of the sampler. Most of his ambient...
SOCCER / J. League / ON THE BALL
Dec 3, 2002

J. League experiencing minor changes

The 2002 J. League season was completed on Nov. 30 after Jubilo Iwata won the league title for the third time by sweeping the two stages, and Sanfrecce Hiroshima and Consadole Sapporo both got relegated to Division Two.
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
Dec 3, 2002

Can tourists get themselves working visas?

There is a Japanese saying that goes "when you stand in front of the lighthouse you often miss the light."
COMMENTARY
Dec 3, 2002

Japan must do its part in war

The Japanese government, acting under a special antiterrorism law, decided Nov. 19 to extend Japan's logistic support for U.S. forces for six months through next May. The decision calls for dispatching a transport ship and an escort destroyer to deliver heavy machinery from Thailand to Qatar for airfield...
COMMUNITY
Dec 3, 2002

Lighting up the lives of the world's refugee kids

Refugees International Japan will hold the opening ceremony for its annual "Light up the Life of a Refugee Child" campaign on Thursday, Dec. 5, from 12:00-12:45 p.m. The campaign will continue daily from 11:30 a.m.-6 p.m. until Wednesday, Dec. 11th (excluding Sunday).
EDITORIALS
Dec 3, 2002

Saudi Arabia's Faustian bargain

Ties between the United States and Saudi Arabia have come under increasing strain since the terror attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. Suspicions about Saudi contributions to Islamic fundamentalist organizations and the kingdom's connections to international terrorism have raised questions about the durability...
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 3, 2002

Deserter would likely face court-martial

HONOLULU -- Amid the swirl of diplomatic maneuvering among the United States, Japan, South Korea and North Korea stands the strange case of Sgt. Charles Robert Jenkins, who is accused of having deserted from the U.S. Army in South Korea in 1965 to defect to North Korea.
MORE SPORTS
Dec 3, 2002

Fighters go to war in K-1 Final

Seven of the world's top K-1 fighters and top Japanese fighter Musashi are set to battle it out at the K-1 World Grand Prix Final on Saturday, Dec. 7 at the Tokyo Dome.
COMMUNITY
Dec 3, 2002

Ex-pat rugby teams remember a friend

The two top ex-pat rugby sides in Tokyo, the Tokyo Crusaders and the Yokohama Country and Athletic Club, play one another on Dec. 7 for the MacFadyen Cup at the YCAC's ground in Yamate.

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’