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BASEBALL / MLB
Nov 6, 2002

Nakamura to become free agent

Kintetsu Buffaloes slugger Norihiro Nakamura declared free agency Tuesday and is considering several options, including a possible move to the Japan Series champion Yomiuri Giants.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES
Nov 6, 2002

Mekons: "OOOH!"

Many bands will admit to being politically minded, but the Mekons are one of the few who put their politics ahead of their music. It's not so much that the band, formed by art students in Leeds, England, in the late '70s, want to advance an agenda, but rather that they believe art and commerce are inseparable...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art / NEW ART SEEN
Nov 6, 2002

Feminist charts no-woman's-land between peaceniks and the SDF

On Sept. 3 and 4 this year, soldiers at a Ground Self-Defense Force base in Kumamoto Prefecture in Kyushu were joined by an improbable guest: Japan's premier feminist and antiwar artist, Yoshiko Shimada.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Nov 6, 2002

Lemper takes lyrical leap

NEW YORK -- "I don't find inspiration in harmony, but in the darker corners of life," says actress and cabaret singer Ute Lemper at her home in New York City, where I caught up with her last week. On Nov. 9, she will be singing at the Akasaka Act Theatre in Tokyo, which will be the entertainer's fourth...
JAPAN
Nov 6, 2002

Tepco in hot seat as inspectors move in

The Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency launched special safety inspections Tuesday at Tokyo Electric Power Co.'s three nuclear plants as part of punitive administrative steps over recent revelations it tried to coverup faults in its reactors.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES
Nov 6, 2002

The Polyphonic Spree: "The Beginning Stages Of . . ."

Smile. Go ahead, it's good for you. That's right, smile now. Can you do it? If you're finding an impromptu grin difficult, pick up the first album by The Polyphonic Spree, "The Beginning Stages Of . . .," and wash away any gloom for at least 68 minutes.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES
Nov 6, 2002

Chris Potter: "Traveling Mercies"

Chris Potter's "Traveling Mercies," the followup to his highly acclaimed "Gratitude" album, is in many ways better, but in all ways more adventurous. "Gratitude" paid saxophone debts to the past with tunes dedicated to Charlie Parker, John Coltrane and Wayne Shorter, but on the new release, Potter is...
JAPAN
Nov 6, 2002

Alleged killer says he stalked lawmaker

A rightwing extremist arrested over the murder of Lower House member Koki Ishii has told police that he staked out the victim's office and home for several days, intending to kill the lawmaker as soon as the chance arose, investigative sources said Tuesday.
JAPAN
Nov 6, 2002

Five-day week sees busier schools

Since the five-day school week was introduced in April, students have become busier in class, 87 percent of teachers said in a recent poll, and 49 percent of the teachers said they spend more time at their school due to unfinished work.
EDITORIALS
Nov 6, 2002

Mr. Sharon on his own

I srael's "Unity" government has collapsed. The marriage of the Likud and Labor parties ended when Labor Party members followed their leader, Defense Minister Benjamin Ben-Eliezer, out of the Cabinet in a dispute over the budget. While the stated reason for the departure was fairness to the poor and...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Nov 6, 2002

A message of tolerance set in stone

History is never short on irony. The Indian subcontinent, now one of the world's most unstable nuclear hotbeds, once cradled a religion founded on nonviolence. And what is today a breeding ground for sectarian fundamentalism was the birthplace of a rich artistic heritage that drew deeply on the tolerant...
CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES
Nov 6, 2002

Orchestra Baobab: "Specialist in All Styles"

No matter how good "Specialist in All Styles" sounds -- and it sounds very good -- perhaps nothing can compete with "Pirates Choice," Orchestra Baobab's treasure chest of Afro-Cuban cool that was recorded in 1982 and reissued earlier this year. Recorded live in the studio with no overdubs, "Pirates Choice"...
JAPAN
Nov 6, 2002

Defense chief gives missile program with U.S. push toward development

Defense Agency chief Shigeru Ishiba said Tuesday he hopes to see a bilateral missile defense initiative with the United States enter the development phase soon.
BUSINESS
Nov 6, 2002

Execs expect to adopt IP phones: poll

More than half of small businesses expect to adopt discount Internet Protocol phones in the near future, according to a survey released Tuesday by a developer of information technology equipment.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Nov 6, 2002

Blanche the tormented focus of a fractured world

In this production of "A Streetcar Named Desire," the classic Tennessee Williams drama of human relationships, gone are all the hues and shades of human relationships bar one -- the relationship of its "heroine," Blanche DuBois, to the fragmented and fragmenting world she inhabits. As staged by director...
JAPAN
Nov 5, 2002

Serious temblor shakes Kyushu

An earthquake with an estimated magnitude of 5.6 hit wide areas of Kyushu and parts of western Japan on Monday afternoon, the Meteorological Agency said.
EDITORIALS
Nov 5, 2002

Extensive debate on the Constitution

A Lower House constitutional research panel last week released an interim report summarizing nearly three years of its discussions. The voluminous document covers a wide range of subjects, including the Emperor system, roles of the Self-Defense Forces and basic human rights. However, it leaves open the...
BUSINESS
Nov 5, 2002

Two major bank groups look to cut bonuses 10%

Mizuho Financial Group and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp. have proposed that their labor unions accept cuts in winter bonuses of up to 10 percent on a year-on-year basis, industry sources said Saturday.
BUSINESS
Nov 5, 2002

'Chuhai' producers continue to ride explosion

The market for "chuhai" cocktails is exploding in size, and producers are waging ad campaigns emphasizing low prices and quality ingredients such as fruit juice.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Nov 5, 2002

Scavengers' woes in Manila retold

More than two years after a tragedy at a garbage dump in Manila that took the lives of more than 230 Filipinos, many people living in and around the site still earn a living by scavenging there, a Japanese aid worker said Monday.
Japan Times
SOCCER / J. League
Nov 5, 2002

Antlers outsmart Reds to capture Nabisco Cup

A 59th-minute goal by midfielder Mitsuo Ogasawara handed the Kashima Antlers a deserved 1-0 victory over the Urawa Reds in the Nabisco Cup Final in front of 56,064 fans at Tokyo National Stadium on Monday.

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’