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CULTURE / Film
Nov 7, 2001

Between the real and the surreal

A whiff of the absurd was in the air at the closing ceremony of the 14th Tokyo International Film Festival, held Sunday at Orchard Hall in Shibuya. It wasn't necessarily the presenters' hairdos and breathless patter, nor the new formal dress code imposed on the attending filmmakers. It wasn't even the...
BUSINESS
Nov 7, 2001

Sluggish sales sink Shiseido's profits

Cosmetics maker Shiseido Co. said Tuesday its consolidated pretax profits for the first half through Sept. 30 plunged 42.9 percent from the same period a year ago to 9.90 billion yen.
SOCCER / World cup
Nov 7, 2001

Troussier says Japan is ready

SAITAMA -- A day before Wednesday night's friendly against Italy at Saitama Stadium, Japan coach Philippe Troussier on Tuesday expressed satisfaction with his team's World Cup preparation.
BUSINESS
Nov 7, 2001

Sony expects rebound from resurgent mobile-phone division

Sony Corp.'s earnings will probably rebound in the second half of the business year after an anticipated improvement in the performance of its mobile phone division, Sony President Kunitake Ando said in a recent interview with Kyodo News.
JAPAN
Nov 7, 2001

Basic energy plan one step closer

A basic national energy policy moved a step closer to fruition Tuesday as the ruling coalition agreed to submit a relevant bill to the Diet during the current session.
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Nov 7, 2001

MLB contraction: Say it ain't so, Bud

Just about the time you are reading this, officials of Major League Baseball should be discussing an issue that has never come up before in our lifetime: contraction. You know the story; MLB commissioner Bud Selig has said folding two franchises, rolling back the majors from 30 to 28 teams, may be a...
BUSINESS
Nov 7, 2001

Household spending continues to decline

Average household spending declined an inflation-adjusted 3.7 percent in September from a year earlier to 283,390 yen for the sixth consecutive monthly fall, the government said Tuesday.
SOCCER / World cup
Nov 7, 2001

Chung wants Emperor at World Cup

South Korean World Cup Organizing Committee co-chairman Chung Mong Joon stressed the significance of a visit by Japan's Emperor to South Korea for the opening ceremony of next year's World Cup.
BASEBALL / MLB
Nov 7, 2001

CL and PL to open on March 30

The Central League will kick off its regular season for 2002 on March 30, holding its season opener on the same day as the Pacific League for the first time in eight years, the league said Tuesday.
BUSINESS
Nov 7, 2001

Toyota tops, Honda No. 2 in Japan sales

Toyota Motor Corp. and Honda Motor Co. dominated the list of best-selling vehicles on the domestic market in October, with Toyota's Corolla model taking the top spot for the 14th straight month, the Japan Automobile Dealers Association said Tuesday.
CULTURE / Art / NEW ART SEEN
Nov 7, 2001

Art in the midst of 'iniquity'

I live in Kabukicho -- the infamous tangle of sex clubs and mahjongg parlors located just north of Shinjuku Station's East Exit. There are a number of reasons why I live where I do: the hundreds of wonderful all-night Asian restaurants and supermarkets; the fact that I can walk from my apartment to the...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Nov 7, 2001

Putting the regions back in the spotlight

There is cultural life thriving outside Kanto and Kansai. As proof of this, if proof were needed, the new Iwate Museum of Art in Morioka City opened to the public last month. Its core collection -- of 20th-century prints, paintings and sculptures by artists born, trained or resident in the region --...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Nov 7, 2001

In search of simplicity

In turbulent times, we turn to the simple things of life with relief. But in fine art, simplicity is not easy, and it is a brave painter who spends his life depicting pots and pans, apples and pears.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / J-POPSICLE
Nov 7, 2001

Here, there and everywhere

Even though you may not recognize the name Tamio Okuda, you've probably heard his music. Okuda is the Svengali behind the extraordinarily successful female duo Puffy, and his love for and deep knowledge of '60s and '70s rock comes through loud and clear with every Beatles riff and classic chord pattern...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Nov 7, 2001

Ogata pushes aid for Afghanistan

Sadako Ogata, former U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, called Tuesday for Japan's financial support to help rebuild Afghanistan and stabilize neighboring countries.
BUSINESS
Nov 7, 2001

Lower House eases stock option law

The House of Representatives approved at a plenary session Tuesday an amendment to the Commercial Code aimed at easing regulations on granting and exercising stock options.
CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES
Nov 7, 2001

MC Solaar: 'Cinquieme As (Fifth Ace)'

In order for something to be exotic, there must first be an accepted cultural standard. In the case of the music of MC Solaar (Claude M'Barali), a Senegalese musician who relocated to Paris in 1990 and has since become the best-selling Francophone rapper in the world, the standard is American hip-hop....
JAPAN
Nov 7, 2001

Nakatani instructs SDF chiefs to dispatch 700 to East Timor

Gen Nakatani, director general of the Defense Agency, told the heads of Ground, Maritime and Air Self-Defense Forces on Tuesday to send some 700 service members to East Timor in March to assist with United Nations peacekeeping operations.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES
Nov 7, 2001

Empire State: 'Eternal Combustion'

If necessity is the mother of invention, then boredom is its long-lost uncle. Having grown bored with the present state of indie music, the experimentalist, postrock three-piece Empire State found inspiration by building their own instruments. Dr. Seuss-like contraptions such as "whirling xylo-cans"...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Nov 7, 2001

Iberian artist's intuition

An exhibition of silk-screen prints by Portuguese artist Jose de Guimaraes is showing till Nov. 22 at the Portuguese Embassy in Kojimachi.
BUSINESS
Nov 7, 2001

Hiranuma to pitch unified antiterror stand

Takeo Hiranuma, minister of economy, trade and industry, said Tuesday he plans to call for world unity to combat terrorism in a speech at the upcoming meeting of the World Trade Organization starting Friday in Qatar.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES
Nov 7, 2001

Cato Salsa Experience: 'A Good Tip for a Good Time'

Don't be fooled by the name. The only thing Cato Salsa Experience has to do with Latin American big-band dance music is that it makes you want to throw your jacket in the corner, take your partner by the hand and cut the rug until it's a tattered and torn smoking ruin.
JAPAN
Nov 7, 2001

35.7 billion yen wasted trying to ease traffic

Metropolitan Express Public Corp. sank 35.7 billion yen into an assortment of projects to fix chronic congestion on Tokyo expressways, only to find that the money did little to remove the bottlenecks, according to a government audit report Monday.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES
Nov 7, 2001

Belly dancin' the night away

W hether at hip, ambient club events, in evening classes, at gyms and sports halls, or at Middle Eastern restaurants, belly-dancing is experiencing a revival in Tokyo. It is tempting to dismiss this as an oriental cliche: either a titillating amusement for bored suburban housewives, or an exotic divertissement...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Nov 7, 2001

Prints make an impression

"The International Print Triennial in Kanagawa 2001" is running till Nov. 25 at the Kanagawa Kenmin Hall Gallery in Yokohama's Kannai district.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Nov 7, 2001

The boy is back in town

'Fantasma," released in 1997, was arguably the most internationally acclaimed Japanese pop record since Yellow Magic Orchestra's "Solid State Survivor." A sonic journey through musical history, from Bach to the Beach Boys, it became a fixture on critics' "best-of" lists that year its creator, Cornelius,...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Nov 7, 2001

Better living through recycling

In the world of haute couture, it is generally the design ideas that get recycled, not the clothes themselves. Barely has one decade ended before its trends resurface as retro chic: new clothes, same old look.
EDITORIALS
Nov 6, 2001

Northern Ireland's sleight of hand

A bit of political legerdemain has pulled the Northern Ireland peace process back from the brink of collapse. The creative solution to divisions within the province's Protestant community is only a temporary response, however; all supporters of the peace process must redouble their efforts to overcome...

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’