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COMMENTARY / World
Aug 1, 2003

Terrorists find new haven in a quiet corner of Asia

SINGAPORE -- The failed mutiny by 300 Philippine Army soldiers, which gripped Manila's financial district for 21 hours on Sunday, highlighted the intricate problem of security and terrorism in Southeast Asia.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / WILD WATCH
Jul 31, 2003

Busy by astonishing design

Earlier this year, I watched a number of bumblebees droning back and forth over the ground cover in mountain forest near my home in Hokkaido. They were seemingly oblivious to me. Occasionally one would land, and disappear beneath the leaf litter, or go down a mouse hole or into a crevice, only to emerge...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jul 30, 2003

Drawn to the simple life

The French artists of the Barbizon School effectively colonized the small village of the same name in the mid-19th century; some 100 artists watched -- and painted -- every step taken by the few hundred peasants as they went about their daily tasks. However, an earlier group of German and Austrian artists...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Jul 20, 2003

Need to leave Japan?

YOU KNOW YOU'VE BEEN IN JAPAN TOO LONG . . . , by Bill Mutranowski. Tuttle Publishing, 2003, 120 pp., $14.95 (paper). Many foreigners will tell you that if you plan to stay in Japan long term then "for sanity's sake, get out of the country at least six times a year!" It is one of those warnings that...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Jul 20, 2003

Scents of slimness

For most people, losing weight is about as easy as climbing a mountain on all fours. It's tough work. But for those who still want to try shedding calories (however daunting that might seem), there are any number of dieting methods and theories -- from simply exercising to becoming vegetarian; from eating...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Jul 13, 2003

We can work it out

"Naze hatarakunoka (Why Do We Work?)";
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Jul 12, 2003

'Luxury Travel Show' hits town, aiming for TV

Varun Sharma is tall, handsome, immaculately dressed, and can talk the hind leg off a donkey. He is also a truly gentle man in displaying genuine concern for the bell "boy" at the new Marunouchi Four Seasons, who turned out to be a young woman of such tiny, fragile proportions that he feared for her...
JAPAN
Jul 7, 2003

Kim Jong Il's sushi chef pens tell-all book

A Japanese chef who prepared sushi for North Korean leader Kim Jong Il for 13 years has recently published a book that claims to give a firsthand account of Kim's luxurious lifestyle.
JAPAN
Jul 5, 2003

Immigration procedures to be faster for foreign visitors

The government will speed up entry procedures at immigration for foreign visitors and support training for tourism personnel to attract more sightseers to Japan, government sources said Friday.
JAPAN
Jul 4, 2003

Alarming surge seen in fatty-liver ailment

Nonalcoholic steatohepatitis, an inflammation of the liver associated with the accumulation of fat in the organ that is similar to a condition found in people who drink too much alcohol, is setting off alarm bells in Japan.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jun 24, 2003

Simpler may be better but it's Tu-Ka's only choice

The head of Japan's fourth-biggest mobile phone company is banking on the old maxim that simpler means better.
SOCCER / PREMIER REPORT
Jun 20, 2003

Ferguson had enough of Beckham circus

LONDON -- So where did it all go wrong for David Beckham and Sir Alex Ferguson?
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Jun 8, 2003

Empowered by consumerism

THE NEW JAPANESE WOMAN: Modernity, Media, and Women in Interwar Japan, by Barbara Sato. Durham, N.C.: Duke University Press, 2003, 241 pp., $19.95 (paper). Barbara Sato's excellent analysis of changes in gender discourse and women's identity in the 1920s recasts the landscape of 20th-century women's...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
May 25, 2003

Anthropology through the lens

GUNMA: Life and People. by Greg Davis. Tokyo: IPJ, 2002, 107 pp., 5,000 yen (cloth). Greg Davis had lived in Japan since 1970, working as a photojournalist throughout Asia. His sudden death on May 4 of liver cancer at the age of 54 is a major loss to his profession and those whose lives he touched all...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
May 18, 2003

Living the papermaker's art

Tsutomu Kono's life is all wrapped up with washi, the handmade Japanese paper made of pure, natural fiber.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / WILD WATCH
May 1, 2003

Feathered friends of the forest

In a passive way, plants have got birds sussed. They use them, abuse them (ever seen a thrush drunk on fermenting apples?) and mess with their digestive systems. Birds are willing pawns, though; brightly colored flowers and gaudy berries send a simple signal to the bird brain that shouts -- energy! ...
JAPAN
Apr 30, 2003

TELL struggles amid foreigner influx

Tokyo English Life Line, a telephone counseling service for non-Japanese that celebrated its 30th anniversary this month, sees a need for such services increasing in line with the growing number of foreigners living in Japan.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Apr 24, 2003

Getting serious about tourism -- finally

Japan is finally getting serious about attracting some foreign visitors to its shores.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Apr 20, 2003

Mixing models to match clothes

Ten days to go before the catwalk show and designer Sugimoto Chiyuki faces a critical decision. Who will show off the clothes he has spent the last six months creating for these Tokyo Collections?
Japan Times
JAPAN
Apr 18, 2003

Journalist offers renewable energy as solution to wars fought over oil

OSAKA -- Humans may someday cease to fight over oil when the sun becomes our main source of energy, according to 64-year-old German journalist Franz Alt.
ENVIRONMENT / WILD WATCH
Mar 20, 2003

If you go down to the woods . . .

As I enter the wood, I cast a glance to the arching canopy above, my ears ever alert for the sounds of the season. I have observed this wood through the turning of the years, and as I step inside between the towering trees once more, I recall seasons past.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Mar 16, 2003

Hard-hitting Bangkok PI knows how to Thai one on

ASIA HAND, 1992, 277 pp.; COLD HIT, 1999, 330 pp.; MINOR WIFE, 2002, 297 pp.; by Christopher G. Moore. Heaven Lake Press, Bangkok (all three books priced at $11.95) Canadian novelist Christopher G. Moore, a former law instructor from British Columbia, has been described as "The Hemingway of Bangkok."...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Mar 12, 2003

Charlie Watts: The beat goes (40 years) on

Rolling Stones drummer Charlie Watts, 61, has sunk into a deep leather chair in a huge hotel room in Toronto. In the corner hundreds of jazz CDs cover the walls. The table is strewn with old snapshots. Watts coughs and straightens his brown jacket.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / WILD WATCH
Mar 6, 2003

Fun guys can always find long-lasting allies

A coworker of mine in the Galapagos takes great delight in corny cracks and groan-inducing jokes, but as learning aids they are indeed memorable. Take his way of teaching the partnership involved in the lichen lifestyle and where they live. With apologies to Ron Sjostedt (and whoever he gleaned it from)...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Mar 2, 2003

Transsexual out to change family registry law

Last month, several transsexuals petitioned some 20 Diet members for legal changes that would allow people who have undergone sex-change operations to switch their gender on official registries.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Mar 2, 2003

Where are the Ainu now?

A people without the knowledge of their past history, origin, and culture, is like a tree without roots. -- Marcus Garvey (1887-1940)
Japan Times
JAPAN
Mar 1, 2003

Flood of opinions solicited for water forum

OSAKA -- Water is everyone's business, and so it is perhaps only natural that preparations for the Third World Water Forum -- which starts later this month in the Kansai region -- include activities to raise awareness and get the public more involved.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Mar 1, 2003

Seven riddles suggest a secret city beneath Tokyo

During the Gulf War in 1991, Shun Akiba was one of only two foreign journalists reporting from Baghdad, along with Peter Arnett of CNN. With such experience and expertise, it would be reasonable to imagine him in great demand right now. Wrong.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Feb 23, 2003

Making home your own

That wall must go. The same thought nagged Mariko Maruoka every evening while she cooked dinner for her family. The dividing wall that ran between kitchen and dining area served no useful purpose.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Feb 23, 2003

A little space can go a long way

If you are renting a small apartment, your clothes, books, magazines and CDs -- things that are supposed to enrich your life -- can also be a burden as they gradually erode your limited space.

Longform

Construction takes place on the Takanawa Gateway Convention Center in Tokyo, slated to open in 2025.
A boom for business tourism in Japan?