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Oct 26, 2002

Japan shares its antipollution expertise

The city of Kitakyushu has moved ahead of other municipalities in transferring Japan's industrial knowledge and technology -- including measures to combat pollution -- to developing countries.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Oct 26, 2002

Getting clubbed to keep up with the Satos

I have often thought I should "level up" my "life communication space" by joining one of the various clubs in my community, such as the pottery club or stained glass-making club. Although I would like to interact with my island community more, I hesitate because of the commitment. In Japan, people pursue...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / PERSONALITY PROFILE
Oct 26, 2002

Leiko Oshima

"Since the cradle," said Leiko Oshima, "I was destined to browse the world in search of cosmopolitan truth. I can't help being a 'thinking reed' as I live in the country of Pascal and Sartre."
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle / MATTER OF COURSE
Oct 25, 2002

Shared research yields ideas for schooling

When we first enrolled our son in Japanese school, there were occasions when he came home earlier than I'd expected. The first time, I happened to be at home. "Why were you dismissed early?" I asked my son. "I don't know," he shrugged. "The teacher said something, but I didn't understand."
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / GARDENS FOR ALL
Oct 24, 2002

Aliens add to autumn show

Autumn in Japan is a colorful season, and not only because of the famed koyo foliage of its trees. In gardens, fields and roadsides, too, flowers burst forth as if to celebrate the return of sensible weather after the long, sweaty rigors of summer. However, some of the best-known blooms of this fall...
COMMENTARY / JAPAN IN THE GLOBAL ERA
Oct 21, 2002

Contributing to the spread of democracy

LAUSANNE, Switzerland -- In a recent editorial, the Financial Times admonished the European Union and its member states, "(for) having consistently failed to grasp the broad historic significance of the fall of the Berlin Wall nearly 13 years ago." It is in fact an awesome event, the significance of...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Oct 20, 2002

When romancing medieval Japan, why stop at one?

ACROSS THE NIGHTINGALE FLOOR: Tales of the Otori (Book One), by Lian Hearn. Riverhead Books, 2002, 304 pp., $24.95 (cloth) For over a century, Asia has been a rich and enduring source of inspiration for fantasy and science fiction writers. Since James Hilton created the fantastic Himalayan utopia of...
COMMENTARY
Oct 19, 2002

Japan's tail-chasing economy

With the economy still moribund after Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's initial round of "structural reforms," we are now told that cleaning up the banking system will save the day.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle / JET STREAM
Oct 18, 2002

Conducting a whole tradition of music

When symphony conductor Stefan Nedyalkov first visited Tokyo as a child in 1977, he had a premonition. He awoke in his hotel room one morning, convinced that he would return to Japan someday and live here. He was 11 years old at the time and a member of the children's choir of Bulgarian National Radio....
EDITORIALS
Oct 13, 2002

Crucial by-election campaigns begin

A round of parliamentary by-elections set for Oct. 27 is seen widely as a prelude to the next general election. Voters are expected to pass judgment on the job performance of Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's administration for the past 18 months. Campaigning for Upper House elections in Chiba and Tottori...
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 12, 2002

Success of globalization rests on good business reputations

These are not good times for business ethics in the industrialized nations. In spite of a carefully honed reputation for professionalism and honesty, businesses in the United States, Japan and Europe have seen scandals and problems. In the U.S. it has been the overstatement of profits by and exorbitant...
COMMENTARY / WASHINGTON UPDATE
Oct 10, 2002

All bets off on upcoming U.S. midterm elections

WASHINGTON -- We are just a few weeks from election day 2002. Usually, in a midterm election, especially one just after the redistricting of Congress, it becomes apparent how the races are shaping up. Trends set in as candidates begin to pull away in competitive races. But not this year; just the reverse...
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 7, 2002

EU needs a common purpose

LONDON -- Since the original European Common Market was founded in the mid-1950s, the Continent sought a common economic role, to be followed by growing political integration. Now, there is general agreement on the first count that a new institutional framework is needed to give the community more political...
COMMENTARY / JAPAN IN THE GLOBAL ERA
Oct 7, 2002

Brainstorming to bring positive change

LAUSANNE, Switzerland -- In an article on the IMF/World Bank meeting in Washington last month entitled "A Washington gathering of incompetents," Gerald Baker, while lambasting policyma- kers in the United States and the European Union, handed the first prize for incompetence to Japan. "Every time it...
COMMENTARY
Oct 7, 2002

Political reform the only option for China

HONG KONG -- China's late paramount leader Deng Xiaoping deserves much credit for trying to modernize the country and remove it from its Maoist ideological straitjacket. He emphasized pragmatism, not ideology. He put China on the path to a market economy. And, perhaps most important, he tried to lift...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Oct 6, 2002

Takafumi Goda: the man at the helm

As director of the university division of the higher education bureau at the Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Ministry, Takafumi Goda is at the helm of national policy on university education. Recently, one of his chief tasks has been to oversee long-awaited reforms to Japan's university...
COMMENTARY
Oct 6, 2002

A very busy month for Japanese politics

Last month, the political situation in Japan was roiled by three big events: Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's surprise visit to North Korea (Sept. 17); the confused leadership election in the Democratic Party of Japan (Sept. 23); and a Cabinet reshuffle (Sept. 30).
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Oct 6, 2002

Postmodern tales of the unexpected

"NEW JAPANESE FICTION," The Review of Contemporary Fiction, Summer 2002: Vol. XXII, No. 2. 262 pp., $8. Japanese literature, at least as it is known to those of us who cannot read it in the original, is in a position similar to that of Western classical music. Just as classical music lovers are likely...
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Oct 6, 2002

Down on the farm with the Tokio boys

According to research, currently the only TV show that men over age 45 can stomach, other than NHK's "Project X," is "The Tetsuwan Dash" (Nippon TV, Sundays, 6:55 p.m.). In the show, the boy band Tokio -- collectively and individually -- embark on large, time-consuming projects involving agriculture,...
EDITORIALS
Oct 4, 2002

Clarifying the whole truth

The government's investigation into the fate of Japanese nationals abducted by North Korean agents in the 1970s and 1980s has made some progress, although the findings include shocking details. Credit goes to an 11-member fact-finding mission that returned Tuesday from two days of difficult activities...
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle / JET STREAM
Oct 4, 2002

Finding inner silence in the shamisen

When Catriona Sturton first arrived in Japan in August 2000, she knew very little about Japan or its culture. Little did the 24-year-old assistant language teacher know that she would become a skilled shamisen player. But that is exactly what happened -- her musical performances were recently broadcast...
EDITORIALS
Oct 2, 2002

High-stake games on the Peninsula

For North and South Korea, the Asian Games that opened on Sunday in the South Korean port city of Pusan are not only an arena of competition, but also an opportunity for reconciliation. Following an earlier decision by Pyongyang to join the games, their teams paraded together under a single flag at the...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Oct 2, 2002

Arto Lindsay: He bangs

Arto Lindsay steps onto the stage. In his late 40s, he still retains the gawkiness of an adolescent boy, all long arms and legs. The image of a geek is completed by large horn-rimmed glasses and a pale complexion.
EDITORIALS
Oct 1, 2002

UNESCO's second chance

Eighteen years after withdrawing in a huff, the United States is rejoining the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. The move, announced by U.S. President George W. Bush in his recent U.N. speech, is a victory for the world and for Mr. Koichiro Matsuura, the Japanese diplomat...
JAPAN
Sep 30, 2002

Few Cabinet changes expected but Yanagisawa's fate in the air

Most of the main Cabinet ministers are expected to retain their posts in Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's reshuffle Monday, coalition sources said Sunday.
JAPAN
Sep 30, 2002

DPJ power struggle to continue

A former acting secretary general of the opposition Democratic Party of Japan said Sunday he will call for replacing party head Yukio Hatoyama in January if the re-elected leader fails to live up to expectations.
COMMENTARY
Sep 30, 2002

A theory that doesn't work

For the market economy to function effectively, equal opportunity must be guaranteed in all sectors of society. In today's Japan, however, there is no such guarantee. For example, the opportunity for a Japanese person to become a Diet member is far from equal, because many retiring Diet members have...
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 30, 2002

Peacemaking efforts deserve applause

CHIANG MAI, Thailand -- International public opinion seems focused almost exclusively on the issue of Iraq these days while other important regional developments are relegated to the back burner. Among the developments that deserve greater attention are the moves toward peace in Sri Lanka.

Longform

Totopa in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward was picked by consultants TTNE as the best sauna of the year.
Japan’s sauna movement: Relax, refresh, repeat