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COMMENTARY
Jun 9, 2002

Labour's dearth of dissent

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JAPAN
Jun 9, 2002

Baby numbers hit all-time low in 2001

The number of babies born in 2001 was a record low 1.17 million, down 20,000 from 2000, a Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry survey found.
JAPAN
Jun 9, 2002

Kidnapped boy, 6, rescued; six held

Police on Saturday rescued a 6-year-old Chinese boy who had been kidnapped two days earlier from a store near his home in Tokyo's Adachi Ward and held for a 15 million yen ransom, and arrested six people.
SOCCER / World cup
Jun 9, 2002

Brazilians knock over China

SOGWIPO, South Korea -- And another one bites the dust. China's first World Cup adventure came to a shuddering halt here Saturday night when it was outclassed 4-0 by a Brazilian team that was clearly still holding something in reserve.
JAPAN
Jun 9, 2002

Victims of school massacre remembered

OSAKA — A memorial service was held Saturday in Toyonaka, Osaka Prefecture, for the eight children who were killed by an intruder who went on a stabbing spree a year ago at a local elementary school.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Jun 9, 2002

In step with the real Japan

We both confess to complete and utter madness, but we've been having a whale of a time -- and not only down in Shimonoseki, Yamaguchi Prefecture, where the International Whaling Commission had its recent roughhouse, and where we completely pigged out on kujira no niku (whale meat) before heading on to...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Jun 9, 2002

Japanese tradition that violates privacy rights

The current Self-Defense Forces scandal provides a glimpse into the mechanics of how such stories get reported. It appears that an insider at the Maritime Self-Defense Force sent information to the Mainichi Shimbun about personal data that an officer was compiling on people who made requests to the MSDF...
LIFE / Travel
Jun 9, 2002

Roughing it on the high seas

We struck off before dawn, finally. I was annoyed and tired of waiting. We dragged our kayaks down the ramp through the water and scraped into the sea. The air was damp and chill. I had just spent seven hours drinking beer and shivering on a plastic sheet spread on the concrete dock as I tried to get...
COMMUNITY
Jun 9, 2002

Seeing Japan from top to bottom

We both confess to complete and utter madness, but we've been having a whale of a time -- and not only down in Shimonoseki, Yamaguchi Prefecture, where the International Whaling Commission had its recent roughhouse, and where we completely pigged out on kujira no niku (whale meat) before heading on to...
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Jun 9, 2002

Winning always comes at a cost

The television audience-share for last Tuesday's World Cup match between Japan and Belgium climbed as high as 58 percent. As that was on a weekday, Sunday's Japan-Russia game on Fuji TV will probably be watched by even more Japanese people, so rival stations aren't even going to try to compete.
JAPAN
Jun 9, 2002

Makeup therapist tries to boost patients' esteem, health

It is a skin-thin issue, but it could also be a matter of life-saving gravity. Such is the significance of "rehabilitation makeup" in the eyes of leading makeup therapist Reiko Kazuki.
COMMUNITY
Jun 9, 2002

Kayaking on the high seas

We struck off before dawn, finally. I was annoyed and tired of waiting. We dragged our kayaks down the ramp through the water and scraped into the sea. The air was damp and chill. I had just spent seven hours drinking beer and shivering on a plastic sheet spread on the concrete dock as I tried to get...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Jun 9, 2002

The harbinger of a new era

JAPANESE RULES: Why the Japanese Needed Football and How They Got It, by Sebastian Moffett. London: Yellow Jersey Press, 2002, 207 pp., 10 pounds (paper) In elucidating the cultural context, symbolism and social implications of the world's most popular game as it has evolved from irrelevance to obsession...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / JAZZNICITY
Jun 9, 2002

Playing off the beaten track

Certain tensions in the jazz world were clearly evident at the 10th annual Yokohama Jazz Promenade on May 25th and 26th. The performers split into two camps: those focusing on instrumental virtuosity and those avoiding the staple four-beat ching-chick-a-ching-chick-a-ching rhythm. The plasticity of rhythm...
SOCCER / World cup
Jun 9, 2002

Japan controls its destiny

YOKOHAMA -- Japan will stick to its own brand of soccer in seeking a win against Russia in Sunday's crucial Group H game in Yokohama, Japan coach Philippe Troussier said Saturday.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / NIHONSHU
Jun 9, 2002

A taste of pure gold

This year's National New Sake Tasting Competition, or Zenkoku Shinshu Kampyoukai, just wrapped up in Hiroshima. This historically and culturally significant event has been held since 1910, and Japan is the only country in the world that runs such a competition for the indigenous alcoholic beverage.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Jun 9, 2002

Words that rode on the high notes

KABUKI PLAYS ON STAGE: Volume I -- Brilliance and Bravado, 1697-1766, edited by James R. Brandon and Samuel L. Leiter. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 2001, 192 pp., profusely illustrated, $48 (cloth) This is the first volume in a monumental four-volume series that brings together the texts of...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Jun 9, 2002

In publishing, the modern girls have it

World Cup fever may have taken over the Japanese media, but the bookstores are full of books on language and education. The sales of books for learning English are perhaps connected to spring and its association in Japan with the beginning of the academic year and the hiring of new employees by the corporate...
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST
Jun 9, 2002

The walls that connect us

"Good fences make good neighbors." Which means -- if we extrapolate this bit of Robert Frost wisdom a little further -- Japan should have some of the best neighbors in the world.
LIFE / Travel
Jun 9, 2002

In step with the real Japan

We both confess to complete and utter madness, but we've been having a whale of a time -- and not only down in Shimonoseki, Yamaguchi Prefecture, where the International Whaling Commission had its recent roughhouse, and where we completely pigged out on kujira no niku (whale meat) before heading on to...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / BEST BAR NONE
Jun 9, 2002

What's red, red and very, very sexy?

Red is an electric color. It incites bulls to charge and people to revolt. It is the color under which more than one country (and soccer team) rallies. It is the color of lust and passion. Red is provocative, but the emotion it evokes depends on the person and, sometimes, on the time of day.
JAPAN
Jun 9, 2002

Rakuten eyes full shopping via mobiles

Rakuten Inc., operator of Japan's largest Internet shopping site, Rakuten Ichiba, plans to make its full online shopping service available on mobile phones by the end of the year, company officials said Saturday.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Jun 9, 2002

Welcome to the great out-of-doors

Every year around this time we get the same plaintive inquiries: "Isn't there anywhere half decent in this city where you can eat outdoors?" And, as always, the answer is "yes -- and no."
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / THE WAY OF WASHOKU
Jun 9, 2002

Yasai no Yoshino-ni: Now here's some real food for thought . . .

This past week I tagged along with veteran New York Times food writer Elizabeth Andoh to Hakuun'an, a Buddhist vegetarian restaurant and teahouse associated with Manpukuji Temple near Uji City in Kyoto Prefecture. Manpukuji is the head temple of the Obaku sect of Zen Buddhism, Japan's third largest after...
SOCCER / World cup
Jun 8, 2002

Swedes bring down Super Eagles

KOBE -- Sweden moved one step closer to the next round after rallying to a 2-1 win over Nigeria in their Group F clash on Friday afternoon at Kobe Wing Stadium.
SOCCER / World cup
Jun 8, 2002

England, Beckham get even

SAPPORO -- Sometimes sport has a way of exacting revenge in the sweetest way possible. In 1998 England bowed out of the World Cup to Argentina on penalties. David Beckham returned home in shame after being sent off following a red card for a tempestuous kick at an opponent. On Friday night in the Sapporo...
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 8, 2002

Palestinian reform paradox

BEIRUT -- Following the hammer blows of the Palestinian intifada and Israeli repression, Palestinian reforms are the great new prescription for Middle East peacemaking, which is to be directed by an international conference.

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’