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Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / THE WAY OF WASHOKU
Nov 25, 2001

A hodgepodge that really hits the spot

It's a cold evening and the salarymen are stopping off on their home from a long day of work at open-air stalls to down a cup or two of warm sake and a few pieces of oden — slowly simmered daikon, hard-boiled eggs and tofu, among other things.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / BEST BAR NONE
Nov 25, 2001

I'd like to teach the world to karaoke

If, like me, you cannot sing, karaoke is a curse. One of the first things I learned to say in Japanese was, "If I sing, all your customers will leave."
JAPAN
Nov 25, 2001

Creator of the Z car returns with his revived brainchild

Yutaka Katayama has witnessed Japan's automobile industry grow from the ashes of devastation in World War II to become the best in the world by the end of the 20th century.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / NIHONSHU
Nov 25, 2001

Hey, that's a sake of a different color

When you think about it, the realm of sake flavor profiles and types can be perceived as, well, a bit narrow. From the sweetest to the driest, from the roughest to the cleanest, we are not exactly talking about major bandwidth.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Nov 25, 2001

'Prince of Knitting' spins a good yarn

KYOTO -- Being male and knitting for a living has earned Mitsuharu Hirose the reputation of being somewhat "strange." Parading about on television in women's knit tops and makeup probably played a part as well. But that doesn't needle Hirose one little bit.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / CHANNEL SURF
Nov 25, 2001

Only the garbage knows

One of the things all single-episode TV mysteries have in common besides being single-episode TV mysteries is ridiculous titles. The title of this week's "Monday Mystery Theatre" (TBS, 9 p.m.) is "Obasan Kaicho Murasaki no Hanzai Seiso Nikki: Gomi wa Koroshi wo Shitte Iru," which translates as "Middle-aged...
MORE SPORTS
Nov 25, 2001

Kurofune outclasses field by seven lengths

The home team sent the foreign competition packing as it swept the top seven places in the second running of the Japan Cup Dirt at Tokyo Racecourse on Saturday. Favorite Kurofune continued to rewrite the books as he led the field of 16 over the wire by seven lengths in a record time of 2 minutes, 5.9...
BUSINESS
Nov 25, 2001

Fuji Bank's Maeda to take charge at Mizuho

Mizuho Holdings Inc., the holding company for the world's largest banking group, the Mizuho Financial Group, is planning to reshuffle its top management next April and will name Terunobu Maeda as its new president, banking industry sources said Saturday.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Nov 25, 2001

When film told it like it was

THE BENSHI -- Japanese Silent Film Narrators, edited by the Friends of Silent Films Association, with essays by Tadao Sato and Larry Greenberg, and an interview with Midori Sawato. Tokyo: Urban Connections, 2001, 172 pp. with photographs, 1,500 yen (paper) Despite its name, no silent film was, of course,...
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 25, 2001

Income disparity vs. growth

U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan reminded the world recently that the battle against terrorism might have displaced front-page news, but it has not solved pressing problems such as poverty and HIV/AIDS. The international community remains formally committed to the goal of reducing the level of poverty...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Nov 25, 2001

Failed chemistry experiments in the media lab

Two weeks ago, a friend faxed me an article from the weekly news magazine Aera about a new advertising trend called "collaboration CF," which is the selling of two different companies' products in one TV commercial. I had already read about collaborations two days earlier in advertising critic Yukichi...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Nov 25, 2001

What she's doing in Japan: a novel with heart

ASH, by Holly Thompson. Stone Bridge Press, 2001, 292 pp., $16.95 (paper) Don't read "Ash" if you're a jaded expatriate pining for a ticket home. Don't give a copy to an idealistic friend considering the Japan Exchange and Teaching Program. Above all, don't lend it to Japanese acquaintances keen to discover...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Nov 25, 2001

Book Bites

TOKYO CONFIDENTIAL: Titillating Tales From Japan's Wild Weeklies, edited by Mark Schreiber. The East Publications, 2001, 257 pp., 1,400 yen (paper) Grown men in diapers? Couples going all the way in the back seats of Tokyo taxi cabs? Mothers stalking their daughters? Companies that rent out wedding guests?...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Nov 25, 2001

A spark that ignited social change

ORGANIZING THE SPONTANEOUS: Citizen Protest in Postwar Japan, by Wesley Sasaki-Uemura. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 2001, 293 pp., $27.95 (paper) The events accompanying the revision of the U.S.-Japan Security Treaty in 1960 aroused strong emotions among those involved, making it difficult for...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Nov 25, 2001

Japan's designers show they're going places

Sitting under the glare of the runway lights for three weeks of fashion shows, watching model after model sashaying up and down the catwalk, isn't such a bad way to spend time. It's kind of like traveling.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / PLAY BUTTON
Nov 25, 2001

Where the twains meet and swing

Certain musical phrases, combinations of notes, chord changes and rhythms appear consistently in the folk music of Hungary, Turkey and China.
BUSINESS
Nov 25, 2001

BTM to close 50 outlets, lay off staff

The Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi plans to close around 50 of its 310 outlets nationwide -- some 15 percent of the total -- and lay off 3,500 staff by the end of March 2005 to cut costs, bank sources said Saturday.
EDITORIALS
Nov 24, 2001

Find the mad-cow infection route

The specter of mad cow disease (bovine spongiform encephalopathy) continues to haunt the nation despite official assurances of safety. On Wednesday another cow tested positive at a meat inspection center in Hokkaido, even as the source of infection in the first case, confirmed in September in Chiba Prefecture,...
JAPAN
Nov 24, 2001

Obituary: John Nason

John Nason, an American educator who as a college president helped release more than 3,000 Japanese-American students interned during World War II, died Nov. 16 in Kennett Square, Pa., a newspaper reported Thursday. He was 96.
JAPAN
Nov 24, 2001

149 artisans, tech wizards get awards

The Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry has announced the names of 149 people to be given awards as contemporary artisans and technicians for their excellence in traditional handicrafts and industrial technology.
JAPAN
Nov 24, 2001

Is safety net failing kids in legal trouble?

A 19-year-old who fled the Kurihama Juvenile Training School last year was literally running out of options.
JAPAN
Nov 24, 2001

Chogin investigation deepens

A former head of the failed Chogin Tokyo credit union, already under arrest on obstruction charges, is now suspected of embezzling 1 billion yen from the company, sources close to the case said Friday.
COMMENTARY
Nov 24, 2001

German lessons for Korea

SEOUL -- Koreans have come to cherish Germany's experiences, as many see this country's unification saga as an important, if not the most important, point of reference. Korea's unification will probably be more difficult and complex than Germany's unification in October 1990. Koreans have one major advantage,...
BUSINESS
Nov 24, 2001

Nonfinancial firms suffer steep falls in profit for first half

Nonfinancial companies listed on the first section of the Tokyo Stock Exchange incurred huge profit falls in the first half of the 2001 business year, reflecting the deepening information technology slump, according to a private research institute.
COMMENTARY / WASHINGTON UPDATE
Nov 24, 2001

U.S. civil liberties a needless war casualty

WASHINGTON -- Support for U.S. President George W. Bush and his handling of the war effort remains high, and the military success will help maintain this support level. Bush is testing his popular support regularly here at home as he pushes to implement his conservative legislative agenda, which is meeting...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Nov 24, 2001

South Korean author protests mayor's 'sangokujin' remark

When Shinjuku Ward Mayor Takashi Onoda referred to "sangokujin" in a speech on Nov. 13, Shin Sugok could not believe it.

Longform

Sociologist Gracia Liu-Farrer argues that even through immigration doesn't figure into Japan's autobiography, it is more of a self-perception than a reality.
In search of the ‘Japanese dream’