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Japan Times
JAPAN
May 15, 2002

East Timor truth commission faces arduous task

After a lifetime dedicated to fighting for a free East Timor, Jacinto Alves will finally see his country move to full independence Monday, when the United Nations' transitional administration steps aside to make way for the country's first democratically elected government.
BUSINESS
May 15, 2002

Nippon Life, T&D to be UFJ agents

The UFJ financial group is expected to appoint Nippon Life Insurance Co. and T&D Financial Life Insurance Co. as agents tasked with carrying out paperwork and other administrative duties related to UFJ's sales of life insurance policies, industry officials said Tuesday.
Japan Times
JAPAN / WHALE WATCHING
May 15, 2002

Greenpeace tweaks strategy to wage more effective antiwhaling campaign

If there is one group that has vociferously carved out an antiwhaling niche -- globally, but especially in Japan -- it is Greenpeace.
BASEBALL / MLB
May 15, 2002

Hawks swoop to win historic game

Nobuhiko Matsunaka led off the ninth inning with a solo homer Tuesday and lifted the Daiei Hawks to a 5-4 "sayonara" win over the Orix BlueWave in the first Japanese professional baseball game played in Taiwan since World War II.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
May 15, 2002

Art macht frei

"Arbeit macht frei (Work brings freedom)" were the words famously written above the gates of the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp, where Austrian-born artist Friedl Dicker-Brandeis was murdered in a gas chamber on Oct. 9, 1944. Friedl's life, however, had been devoted to a different, truer precept:...
JAPAN
May 15, 2002

Prince to go to Cup opener in Seoul

The Cabinet on Tuesday approved a proposal for Prince Takamado, a cousin of Emperor Akihito, and his wife, Princess Hisako, to attend the opening ceremony of the World Cup soccer finals on May 31 in South Korea.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
May 15, 2002

Offspring of poetry's artistic polygamy

...
MORE SPORTS
May 15, 2002

Ogiwara hangs up his skis

Former world champion Kenji Ogiwara, who announced earlier this month he will retire from international competition, said Monday he will formally put an end to his 20-year career.
BUSINESS
May 15, 2002

Workers' confidence up for sixth month

Economic confidence among employees with jobs close to the consumer improved in April for the sixth month in a row, but pessimists still outnumber optimists, according to a government survey released Tuesday.
JAPAN
May 15, 2002

MOX retrieval ships getting closer

OSAKA -- Greenpeace reported Tuesday that two ships on their way to Japan from Britain to collect tainted mixed uranium-plutonium (MOX) fuel and return it to England have passed through the Panama Canal.
JAPAN
May 15, 2002

35% of firms monitor staff e-mail

Thirty-five percent of Japanese companies monitor the Internet browsing and e-mail records of their employees to ensure that company online facilities are not used for private purposes, according to a survey conducted by the Japan Institute of Labor.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art / NEW ART SEEN
May 15, 2002

Weird science, but great art

It's the old quantity-versus-quality problem. Though there are only a couple of private contemporary-art museums in Tokyo (the Watari-Um and the Hara), their shows are almost always good and focus on providing authoritative coverage of some of the domestic and international art scenes' most important...
COMMENTARY
May 15, 2002

EU's costly quest for world leadership

LONDON -- Nowadays the European Union and the United States seem to be locked in almost permanent quarrels. One moment it's bananas, then it's steel, land mines, the Kyoto Protocol on global warming, European defense arrangements and NATO. Then it's the question of whether there should be a permanent...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES
May 15, 2002

Cornershop: 'Handcream for a Generation'

Repetition is both the substance and the curse of pop music. It doesn't take much for even the most delicious hook to become a nagging bore once it's had a chance to pass a certain saturation point.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / J-POPSICLE
May 15, 2002

Misora's ship has come in

Die-hard fans of the late Hibari Misora -- the greatest enka diva ever -- may want to book passage on the "Queen Hibari Misora cruise," a unique, if somewhat morbid, maritime event being held June 12 and 13 to mark the 14th anniversary of Misora's death at the age of 52 after a prolonged illness.
BUSINESS
May 15, 2002

Shiokawa says economy has finally bottomed out

Finance Minister Masajuro Shiokawa on Tuesday said Japan's economy has hit bottom, citing improvements in exports, the price trend and the job situation.
BUSINESS
May 15, 2002

LDP approves two bills to break apart JNOC

The ruling Liberal Democratic Party gave the go-ahead Tuesday to two bills designed to effectively dissolve the debt-ridden Japan National Oil Corp. in March 2004.
JAPAN
May 15, 2002

Tourists heading abroad fall 9%

The number of Japanese tourists traveling abroad dropped a record 9 percent in 2001 from the previous year to 16.22 million, while tourists visiting Japan rose a marginal 0.3 percent to a record 4.77 million, the Land, Infrastructure and Transport Ministry said in a report Tuesday.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES
May 15, 2002

The Black Dog

I can feel the beast closing in, feel it out there making its moves. I'm standing in the center of this dingy apartment listening to the intense howl of the pre-attack silence, too scared to turn on the lights. I bolt the door. I screw shut the windows. I nail down the toilet seat. You never know from...
CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES
May 15, 2002

Sage Francis: 'Personal Journals'

The marriage between art and entertainment in music has always been a dubious one, with hip-hop no exception. That's what makes Sage Francis, the spoken-word poet and freestyle-rhyme champion, one of the medium's brightest hopes. Hailing from Rhode Island (not exactly a hip-hop mecca), Francis bagged...
CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES
May 15, 2002

Japan Blues Carnival

The term "living legend" fits Buddy Guy as accurately as anyone. A leader of Chicago's West Side blues school (as distinct from South Side blues), Guy began recording in the 1950s and has never stopped. Still, "Damn Right I've Got the Blues," released in 1991, somehow felt like a comeback, with a rejuvenated...
JAPAN
May 15, 2002

Pricey Chiyoda Ward offers housing subsidies

In stark contrast to Koto Ward's moves to curb its rising population, Chiyoda Ward last month began offering rent subsidies to eligible residents.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
May 15, 2002

Just a word in your ear

A visitor to "Sesshu -- Master of Ink and Brush" at the Tokyo National Museum, Ueno, stops in front of one of the paintings. She has just been told to do so by the audio guide she's holding in her hand, which then launches into a detailed explanation of the painting's historical background and notable...
SUMO
May 15, 2002

Maru, leading grapplers maintain perfect records

Yokozuna Musashimaru played the playground bully beating up Aminishiki on Tuesday but ozeki Kaio was flipped to his second loss of the Summer Grand Sumo Tournament.
JAPAN
May 15, 2002

Respirator errors left seven dead last year

Seven people died and two were left comatose in 11 accidents involving respirators at 10 medical institutions nationwide in fiscal 2001, according to a health ministry report released Tuesday.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
May 15, 2002

Still treading the boards after 1,100 years

To commemorate the 1,100th anniversary of the death of Sugawara no Michizane, the celebrated Heian-Period scholar-politician, the National Theater is presenting "Sugawara Denju Tenarai Kagami (Sugawara Certifies a Disowned Disciple to Perpetuate His Line of Calligraphy)." One of three bunraku masterpieces...

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’