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CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Apr 21, 2002

A force to be reckoned with

THE JAPANESE POLICE SYSTEM TODAY: A COMPARATIVE STUDY by L. Craig Parker, Jr.. London: M.E.Sharpe, 2001. 266 pp., $22.95 (paper) The Japanese police system has come under increasing pressure in recent years. Crimes have become more horrific, and the high level of professionalism generally ascribed to...
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST
Apr 21, 2002

Reality bytes across the Digital Divide

The latest fad in worldwide rifts is not East/West, North/South, Rich/Poor -- nor even Love Britney/Hate Britney. Rather it is the "Digital Divide" -- the gap between those who are prepared to live in our brave new world of information technology and those who are not.
COMMUNITY
Apr 21, 2002

Abode of the gods

An indentation on the peak of Sri Pada, a mountain in central Sri Lanka, is reputed by some to have been made when Buddha first set foot on Earth. The mountain is also said to be the place where butterflies go to die. Another legend has it that the world's highest mountains, the Himalayas, are inhabited...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Apr 21, 2002

A fresh spin on Okinawan tradition

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Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Apr 21, 2002

Peak attraction

When the cherry trees in the highlands of Nagano Prefecture start blooming, Hajimu Miyamoto of the Azumi Village tourist association begins to feel excited -- and a little nervous.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / THE WAY OF WASHOKU
Apr 21, 2002

Let us go fiddlehead foragin', but carefully

A fiddlehead, that small plant that grows in the Saint John River Valley in the spring, and which is said to be symbolic of the sun. — Alfred Bailey
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Apr 21, 2002

Getting on the right track

JAPAN BY RAIL, by Ramsey Zarifeh. Trailblazer Publications, 2002, 416 pp., $18.95/2 yen,900(paper) "Perfect timing," I thought when I picked up this guide book, barely two weeks before a trip I was planning out of Tokyo. I flipped to the index to look for my destination: Mashiko, a pottery town close...
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Apr 21, 2002

Tireless fighters and flightless invaders

Truth may not be stranger than fiction, but it's usually more dramatic, as proven in a series of best-selling memoirs by Mayumi Takeda. The 32-year-old writer has lived what some people have described as a "roller-coaster life," and Monday night on Nippon TV's "Super TV" documentary program, this life...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Apr 21, 2002

A superstar rises to the advertising occasion

I guess it's supposed to set up a connection between athleticism and potency, but I was still slightly taken aback last week while watching a broadcast on NHK of a major league baseball game. Behind home plate there was an advertisement for Viagra.
LIFE / Food & Drink / BEST BAR NONE
Apr 21, 2002

Whip me with your best shot

A frequent visitor to Tokyo for the past 20-plus years asked me whether I thought S/M was on the rise in Tokyo. The answer is both yes and no. Hardcore S/M bars have been discreetly operating throughout that period, but as with all specialty bars, they are controlled by a strict members-only door policy,...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Apr 21, 2002

And don't come back another day

ARTHRITIC JAPAN: The Slow Pace of Economic Reform, by Edward J. Lincoln. Washington, D.C.:Brookings Institution Press, 2001, 247 pp., $18.95 (paper) Japan's agonizingly slow attempts to resuscitate its ailing economy have left many observers bewildered. The policy failure is plain: the lowest growth...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Apr 21, 2002

Veteran lensman sets his sights high

After 30 years, Takashi Iwahashi hasn't lost any enthusiasm for his work. Even at age 57, he spends an average of 120 days a year on the world's mountain peaks and ridges, capturing their beauty on film.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Apr 21, 2002

Quiet after Otaru onsen storm

OTARU, Hokkaido -- Otaru Onsen Osupa is not a natural setting for the airing of great issues. It is a faded child's-birthday-cake of a building on a windswept highway skirting the Sea of Japan, some 5 km from the center of town. In the lobby are game machines and a fruit stall. Upstairs, last Thursday...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Apr 21, 2002

Climbers mixing business and pleasure

"From the walls of a building to the walls of the world."
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / VINELAND
Apr 21, 2002

Keep on the grass and don't forget the wine

During the red wine boom of the 1990s, wine-crazed folks in Japan glugged trendy, robust red wines all year round. Even in the midst of muggy summers, restaurant patrons could be seen stoically sipping Cabernet Sauvignon, thick and tannic as espresso. Few wine drinkers wished to be mistaken for frivolous...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / HOGAKU TODAY
Apr 21, 2002

The rewards of spring

Next month offers a wide selection of concerts, ranging from contemporary hogaku, Okinawan folk and protest songs to the finest of the classics. All are performed by veteran musicians. The following is a sample of what's on.
SOCCER / World cup
Apr 20, 2002

JFA sets bonuses for World Cup wins

Each of Japan's World Cup players will pocket a tournament bonus of 5 million yen if they get through the first round and 30 million yen if they win the quadrennial tournament, the Japan Football Association confirmed Thursday in Tokyo.
COMMENTARY
Apr 20, 2002

Comedy on the heels of traged

As the saying goes, "tragedy at first, followed by comedy." Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's dismissal of Foreign Minister Makiko Tanaka on Jan. 29 was a tragic event in the political world. The collapse of the Koizumi-Tanaka team, at the forefront of the government that emerged in April 2001 to tremendous...
BASEBALL / MLB
Apr 20, 2002

Fukui blasts one for Giants

On a night of superb pitching from both teams, Yomiuri's Keiji Fukui hit the game-winning home run in the top of the 10th to lift the Giants over the Hanshin Tigers 1-0 on Friday night at Koshien Stadium.
JAPAN
Apr 20, 2002

Plans revealed for Fulbright Program anniversary

Plans to mark the 50th anniversary of the birth of the Japan-U.S. Fulbright Program were released Friday in Tokyo.
JAPAN
Apr 20, 2002

Koizumi urged not to visit Yasukuni

The newly appointed South Korean ambassador to Japan on Friday indirectly urged Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi to abstain from visiting Yasukuni Shrine in August, a visit which strained Tokyo-Seoul relations last year.
JAPAN
Apr 20, 2002

Tokyo to provide site to treat chemical waste

The Tokyo Metropolitan Government announced Friday that it has decided to offer the national government a piece of reclaimed land in Tokyo Bay for the construction of a disposal facility for hazardous chemical waste, including PCBs.
JAPAN / KANSAI BEAT
Apr 20, 2002

NGOs target immigration center

OSAKA -- Amid concerns over allegations of human rights abuses at the West Japan Immigration Detention Center in Ibaraki, Osaka Prefecture, local nongovernmental organizations will form an immigration watchdog group later this month.
JAPAN
Apr 20, 2002

Upper House president quits

The president of the House of Councilors tendered his resignation Friday to take responsibility for an alleged payoff scandal in which his policy secretary reportedly received 64 million yen in connection with a public works project.
JAPAN
Apr 20, 2002

Next ambassador to Israel named by Foreign Ministry

Foreign Minister Yoriko Kawaguchi said Friday she will name Tadashi Imai, head of the ministry's Intelligence and Analysis Bureau, as the next ambassador to Israel.
JAPAN
Apr 20, 2002

FSA decides to investigate Mizuho over malfunctions

Financial Services Minister Hakuo Yanagisawa said Friday that the FSA will look into the computer problems afflicting the Mizuho financial group's two banks and determine what administrative action to take.

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’