search

 
 
JAPAN
Jun 24, 2001

Ito named Venezuela ambassador

The Foreign Ministry will appoint Masateru Ito, current ambassador to Honduras, as ambassador to Venezuela, effective immediately. Ito, 59, has been posted in Honduras since June 1998, ministry officials said Friday.
JAPAN
Jun 24, 2001

Kin of murdered students to get cash compensation

Each family of the eight children killed in the June 8 slaughter at the state-run Ikeda Elementary School in Osaka Prefecture will likely be paid 25 million yen in compensation by a governmental mutual aid provider, the provider said Saturday.
JAPAN
Jun 24, 2001

Teacher confesses to faking knife attack

A kindergarten teacher who claimed Tuesday that she was stabbed by an unidentified woman has admitted that she inflicted the cuts herself, according to investigators. Police looking into the case said the 23-year-old female teacher at Takachiho Kindergarten in Tokyo's Suginami Ward said she made up the...
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 24, 2001

More than words are needed in Myanmar

Myanmar is no longer a closed-door country and people who have an interest in it and its people now enjoy much greater access than in the past. Information that would have remained secret in the past quickly becomes public knowledge in today's global village. The old adage "Honesty is the best policy"...
JAPAN
Jun 24, 2001

Japanese exam more popular, JETRO reports

The Japan External Trade Organization held its sixth annual business Japanese language test in 15 countries Saturday, with a record 2,800 candidates taking the test.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Jun 24, 2001

All in a (24-hour) day's work

I've barely sat down with Ken Joseph Jr. and taken a sip of my coffee when his cellphone rings.
COMMUNITY
Jun 24, 2001

An A-Z of helping out

Many foreign residents in Japan with a genuine desire to take part in volunteer activities probably stumble at the same hurdle: where to find out what options are available. "The Volunteering Directory," compiled and published by the nonprofit organization Foreign Executive Women, holds the answer.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Jun 24, 2001

Reaching out to the world

Japan is often criticized for simply doling out large sums of money to international relief and development activities and rarely contributing human resources. There are, however, more than a few Japanese who become actively involved in international cooperation as overseas volunteers.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Jun 24, 2001

Born donors offer gift of life

People can engage in voluntary work and make donations from a young age, but Takumi Shimizu had an unusally early head start: He made a potentially life-saving donation before he was a day old.
Japan Times
JAPAN / WEEKEND WISDOM
Jun 24, 2001

U.S. woman aims to help deaf Japanese empower themselves

Virtually everyone who has visited a foreign country is aware of the difficulties of communicating in a foreign language.
JAPAN
Jun 24, 2001

Tokyo election hopefuls have final say

Political leaders pulled out all stops Saturday in campaigning for today's Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly election, which will give the first indication of whether Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's popularity will bolster his Liberal Democratic Party.
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Jun 24, 2001

Condiment of champions

To celebrate its 50th anniversary, TBS will broadcast a 24-hour special, "Fight TV 24," starting at 8 p.m. Saturday.
BASEBALL / MLB
Jun 24, 2001

Fighters blank Marines 3-0

Nippon Ham's rookie hurler Hayato Nakamura threw a six-hit shutout, leading the Fighters to a 3-0 victory over the Lotte Marines Saturday at Chiba Marine Stadium.
LIFE / Food & Drink / THE WAY OF WASHOKU
Jun 24, 2001

Hiyashi somen: the cool slurp of summer

On a hot summer day nothing refreshes like cold, wet noodles. Japan eats a rice-based diet most of the year, but in the summertime, to lighten the hot-weather menu and relieve pressure on dwindling rice storage from the previous fall, the population turns to cold noodles.
COMMUNITY
Jun 24, 2001

Old specs reveal a brighter future

Got glasses? Eyeglasses, that is. When you use them, they are one of the most necessary things in your life. When you're done with a pair, though, what can you do with them? If you are not planning to use them for an aspiring avant-garde art project or frying bugs in the hot summer sun, they could be...
CULTURE / Music
Jun 24, 2001

That's declassified innovation

There are several reasons to admire the Kronos Quartet, and, unquestionably, the primary reason is their extraordinary talent. But I'd like to add two more: their musical and professional integrity, and their belief in music as a spiritual quest.
LIFE / Travel
Jun 24, 2001

Spanish city puts its foot down on dog-do plague

MADRID -- To keep them clean, most cities have their own army of street cleaners. More meticulous cities employ leaf blowers and tree-branch cutters. Madrid goes so far as to employ its own force of dog-poop cleaners.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Jun 24, 2001

Help is on the way

At the mega-corporation Fuji Xerox Co., Ltd. there is a standing offer to all employees: the option of taking three months to two years of unpaid leave for "social welfare" volunteer activities.
CULTURE / Books
Jun 24, 2001

When reason became treason in China

JAPAN'S IMPERIAL DIPLOMACY: Consuls, Treaty Ports and War in China 1895-1938, by Barbara Brooks. University of Hawaii Press, Honolulu, 2000, 272 pp., $55. Why did Japan suddenly lurch from being a good international citizen in the 1920s to becoming a regional rogue in the 1930s? Usually Japan's Asian...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Jun 24, 2001

Soft toys are us

Lightweight soft toys made of colorful fabrics are not only fun for small children to play with, but they are safe as well. They won't break even though children throw them around and won't hurt if they hit them.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Jun 24, 2001

Natural urban chaos in the worst-case scenario

Last Sunday night I settled down to watch one of my favorite TV shows, "Tokumei Research 200X" (NTV, 7:58 p.m.), quite unprepared for what I was about to learn. If you've never seen this particular information program, it is built around the fictional Far East Research Center, a shiny mission control...
LIFE / Food & Drink / BEST BAR NONE
Jun 24, 2001

In loving memory of Miguel

When Esteban Mauricio Paredes arrived in Tokyo from Ecuador 12 years ago, he felt lucky to score an apartment through a friend. He didn't feel so lucky, however, when he received a gas and electricity bill for the previous tenant. It wasn't so much money, but anyone who has arrived in Tokyo looking for...
COMMENTARY
Jun 24, 2001

In diplomacy, two tracks is better than one

There is a better than even chance that this is the only article you will ever read about the Asia Pacific Roundtable that was held earlier this month in Kuala Lumpur. That's a pity. Not only because the meeting has some history behind it -- this year marked the 15th annual get-together -- or because...
JAPAN
Jun 24, 2001

Draft bans creating embryos for cloning

The science ministry has released draft guidelines for a new law that would ban the creation of embryos that could lead to human cloning but allow noncloning research on human and animal embryos.

Longform

The students at Mitaka Municipal No. 7 Junior High School have access to various cooling devices for when they play sports.
Japan's extreme heat is causing a rethink of school sports