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COMMENTARY
Mar 9, 2003

Bush will need a quick victory over Iraq

HONOLULU -- Last week U.S. President George W. Bush laid out his vision for the Middle East. For the most part, the text read like any other: It was a stump speech designed to drum up support for "regime change" in Iraq.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 9, 2003

Glimpses of Indochina life 330 years ago

CHIANG MAI, Thailand -- Against the current drama of the Iraqi issue, other national and regional developments seem to fade out of focus. One such "minor event" that is heading toward oblivion concerns the tiny landlocked country of Laos. At the beginning of the year, unexpected news from there made...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Mar 9, 2003

Sandwich bars spread thick and fast

Can two slices of bread with a filling in between take on a box full of bite-size eats?
EDITORIALS
Mar 9, 2003

Written in stone and light

Poised on the edge of a war of their own seeking, Americans have not forgotten the event that, in their leaders' minds, at least, brought them to this point: the three-pronged attack of Sept. 11, 2001. While the plans to invade Iraq proceeded, so did the competitions to design fitting monuments to the...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Mar 9, 2003

Yayori Matsui's legacy lives on -- as intended

Last weekend, a memorial gathering was held in Waseda for Yayori Matsui, the former Asahi Shimbun reporter and women's rights advocate, who died in December from liver cancer at the age of 68. A proper funeral service had been held two months earlier at the Shibuya church founded by Matsui's minister...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Mar 9, 2003

Kissaten culture still on the boil

At 3 p.m. precisely, a staffer in meikyoku kissa Lion in Shibuya quietly announces the start of today's "concert." Silence descends as she places a record on the player. A gray-haired customer puffs on a cigarette at his corner table.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Mar 9, 2003

Dropping out and tuning in to the rhythm of nature

SANTOKA: Grass and Tree Cairn, translated by Hiroaki Sato. Vermont: Red Moon Press, 2002, 74 pp., $14.95 (paper) No matter how deep one's faith or religion is, one may experience feelings of resignation and defeat as well as the loss of compassion for others and oneself.
LIFE / Food & Drink / BEST BAR NONE
Mar 9, 2003

Women of all types get the golden touch

Gold Finger is a fantasy party for women -- and women only. The event remains faithful to the formula that the organizer, Chiga, first encountered 15 years ago at the Fridge in London.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Mar 9, 2003

Get down with 'da beat

For the black slaves brought from Africa to America and Europe, the beat was a necessity -- it was in their blood. But the heart of their tribal rhythm, the drums, were forbidden in the aftermath of the Stono Rebellion in 1739. This revolt that occurred in South Carolina ended with more than 20 white...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / JAZZNICITY
Mar 9, 2003

All of it . . . why not hear all of it?

"You took the part/That once was my heart/So why not take/All of me?"
Japan Times
JAPAN
Mar 9, 2003

Demonstration against war in Tokyo attracts thousands

About 40,000 people gathered in Tokyo's Hibiya Park on Saturday to protest a possible war against Iraq, organizers said, claiming it was the largest demonstration in Japan since the 1980s.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Mar 9, 2003

The total cafe lifestyle

Options for a place to sit down with a nice cup of coffee or tea have expanded in Japan in recent years, but the favored haunts of the young and trendy are neither cozy kissaten nor chain outlets such as Starbucks and Tully's. They're cafes.
JAPAN
Mar 9, 2003

Japan backs revised U.N. resolution against Iraq

Japan expressed support Saturday for a revised draft resolution submitted jointly by the United States, Britain and Spain to the United Nations Security Council that sets March 17 as the deadline for Iraq to rid itself of weapons of mass destruction.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Mar 9, 2003

All eyes on Russia's Far East

RUSSIA'S FAR EAST: A Region at Risk, edited by Judith Thornton and Charles E. Ziegler. Seattle: National Bureau of Asian Research, University of Washington Press, 2002, 498 pp. (paper). The Russian Far East is a land of contradictions. It is a vast territory of 6.2 million sq. km., roughly one-third...
EDITORIALS
Mar 8, 2003

Alarm bells ring in Iran

Conservatives claimed victory in local elections held throughout Iran last week. Hardliners are rejoicing over the results -- not only did they win the ballots, but the turnout also suggests that reformers have lost heart. Warnings of a backlash are not without foundation, but the hardliners' control...
JAPAN
Mar 8, 2003

Millions suffering from sleep disorder: expert

About 2 million Japanese are believed to suffer sleep apnea, a disorder in which sleep is repeatedly interrupted due to obstructed breathing, an expert said Friday.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Mar 8, 2003

Minds seen wandering in Diet

Lawmakers on the back benches chat with one another, another dozes off while yet others have simply skipped the committee session altogether
JAPAN
Mar 8, 2003

Study finds 4 million glaucoma sufferers; checkups urged

The Japan Glaucoma Society has said that an estimated 4 million people in this country suffer glaucoma, an eye disease that causes a decrease or complete loss of vision, and urged improved checkups.
JAPAN
Mar 8, 2003

Miura wants district court to look into assault rap

Encouraged by the recent Supreme Court acquittal over the death of his wife in 1982, Kazuyoshi Miura said Friday he will file a request with the Tokyo District Court to re-examine a separate charge of assaulting her earlier that year.
BUSINESS
Mar 8, 2003

Mizuho ups capital base target

The Mizuho Financial Group expects to pad its capital base by 1.2 trillion yen through the issuance of preferred shares, up from the initially planned 1 trillion yen, as more domestic corporate investors than expected have offered to buy shares, Mizuho sources said Friday.
BUSINESS
Mar 8, 2003

Trade minister sees stable oil prices

Oil prices in Japan will remain stable if a threatened U.S.-led war against Iraq ends swiftly, according to Takeo Hiranuma, minister of economy, trade and industry.
BUSINESS
Mar 8, 2003

Takenaka denies wrongdoing in banker meeting

Financial Services Minister Heizo Takenaka on Friday denied he violated Cabinet guidelines by meeting with the chiefs of U.S. investment bank Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group Inc., as reported by a magazine.
JAPAN
Mar 8, 2003

Bribe-taking mayor gets suspended term

Yoshishiro Kimura, a former mayor of Ishioka, Ibaraki Prefecture, was sentenced Friday to a suspended prison term for taking 2 million yen in bribes in 1999 while he was still in office.
JAPAN
Mar 8, 2003

Embassy officials told to leave Iraq

Japanese Embassy officials in Iraq were ordered Friday to leave the nation amid heightening tension over a possible U.S.-led military attack.
JAPAN
Mar 8, 2003

Revised personal info bills win approval

The government approved a set of bills Friday for protecting personal information, paving the way for them to clear the current Diet session, after making major revisions to avert criticism that the legislation would restrict freedom of the press.
BUSINESS
Mar 8, 2003

SESC probes stock-price allegation

The Securities and Exchange Surveillance Commission is investigating Nikko Salomon Smith Barney Ltd. on suspicion of manipulating stock prices while setting up an exchange-traded fund last year, industry sources said Friday.
JAPAN
Mar 8, 2003

University exam furor to continue

The education ministry will continue debating whether to let Korean, Chinese and other non-Japanese students at ethnic schools automatically qualify to take national university entrance exams as it has done for students from Western-style schools, education minister Atsuko Toyama said Friday.
BUSINESS
Mar 8, 2003

MHI seals China gas plant deal

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. said Friday it has received a bulk order for gas turbines and other equipment for China's first large-scale power plants fired by natural gas.
JAPAN
Mar 8, 2003

Ministry plans to cut public pension benefits

The Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry unveiled a plan Friday under which public pension benefits would be cut by an average 0.3 percentage point per year through fiscal 2025, in line with the shrinking labor force.

Longform

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