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Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle / MATTER OF COURSE
Jul 31, 2003

Guest teachers build barrier-free minds

My 8-year-old wanted to use my computer. "I need to search the Internet for a picture of a kurumaisu," he said, in his usual blend of English and Japanese. Never mind that both his parents are American; he's lived in Japan since he was 5 and attends a Japanese elementary school. This qualifies him as...
EDITORIALS
Jul 30, 2003

Wanted: clear view of Japan Highway

In recent weeks, Japan Highway Public Corp. has come under intense scrutiny because of its financial status. The pivotal question is whether the corporation, set to go private in 2005, is solvent or not. The answer remains unclear. Two different sets of financial statements -- one "official," the other...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES
Jul 30, 2003

Alex Sipiagin

Jazz was one of the best-kept secrets of communist Russia, officially suppressed but actually flourishing in underground clubs, bootleg studios and on pirate radio stations. Fortunately for music fans, trumpeter Alex Sipiagin heard enough to become one of Russia's premier jazz players and to emigrate...
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 28, 2003

A Tibetan history lesson for China

CHIANG MAI, Thailand -- With India's recognition of the Tibet Autonomous Region as a part of China -- a corollary result of the recent talks in Beijing between Chinese and Indian leaders -- the region has ceased to be viewed as a historical buffer state between two Asian giants. This is of tremendous...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jul 27, 2003

Time, place of dispatch still hazy

Despite Diet approval of a bill to allow the dispatch of Self-Defense Forces personnel to Iraq on Saturday, the government continued to wrestle with exactly when and where the SDF should be sent.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / BEST BAR NONE
Jul 27, 2003

Yet another reason to head to Roppongi

Home is where the heart is, as they say. Well, the hottest new home for the after-office crowd in Roppongi, it would seem, is Heartland bar in the Roppongi Hills complex. This is where, as every evening unfolds, you will find a steady flow of both foreign and Japanese coworkers and friends dropping by...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Jul 27, 2003

Bottlers ride a 'purity' wave

Japanese people have for generations believed that whatever the times have in store, life's essentials such as water and safety would always be theirs for free.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / NATURE TRAVEL
Jul 27, 2003

Close-up with a Cathar

Back in the 12th century, some Christians began to question the status quo. They looked at the leading figures of the Roman Catholic world and they decided that the Church establishment was missing the point.
JAPAN
Jul 26, 2003

Cabinet questions opposition merger

Several Cabinet ministers questioned on Friday the planned merger between the two main opposition parties, with one likening it to the sudden breakup of a now-defunct opposition party in 1997.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Jul 26, 2003

Thinking to build a house? Think Foothill Homes

A house is just a building. A home is filled with the warmth and individuality of its inhabitants. Which is where Robert Neil Hugo comes into the picture.
JAPAN
Jul 26, 2003

Japan Highway to dismiss, sue whistle-blower

Japan Highway Public Corp. will dismiss a senior branch official for his recent allegation in a monthly magazine that Japan Highway President Haruho Fujii hid a financial report showing the corporation had a negative net worth, sources said Friday.
EDITORIALS
Jul 24, 2003

Danger lurks for unwary young teens

Central Shibuya, one of the trendiest districts in Tokyo, is a magnet for young people. "It's exciting like New York," says an American junior high school student on home stay here. But it is also a dangerous place for naive teenagers, as illustrated by last week's kidnapping of four school girls.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 24, 2003

Howard aims for leading regional role

SYDNEY -- A weeklong diplomatic flourish through East Asia behind him, Australian Prime Minister John Howard has no time to pause for breath before the next push into Australia's newfound activism in regional security, the South Pacific's most chaotic young nation, the Solomon Islands.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
Jul 24, 2003

Making a BEE line for 'green living' throughout Japan

School's out for summer, and just about everyone seems to be on the road heading for the beach, the mountains or the mall. Chances are, though, many of those drivers will spend most of their time caught up in traffic.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jul 22, 2003

Everest-cleanup leader finds Fuji even taller order

After three years of annual cleanup expeditions on Mount Everest, alpinist Ken Noguchi is focusing this summer on Japan's highest peak.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jul 20, 2003

Osaka braces itself for festival fallout

OSAKA -- Osaka's annual Tenjin Matsuri festival, held in late July every year, draws tens of thousands of visitors and is considered one of the country's largest and most popular summer events. But this year, city officials are worried that once the party is over, the streets will look like a rock star's...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jul 20, 2003

Mutated beats for postmod grooving

Scott Herren is many things to many people. To some, he is Delarosa & Asora, the purveyor of jagged, techno dissonance. To others, he is Savath & Savalas, a mutating musical project that navigates electronica, postrock and Spanish folk with equal ease. At the moment, however, Herren's hip-hop outlet,...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Jul 20, 2003

Need to leave Japan?

YOU KNOW YOU'VE BEEN IN JAPAN TOO LONG . . . , by Bill Mutranowski. Tuttle Publishing, 2003, 120 pp., $14.95 (paper). Many foreigners will tell you that if you plan to stay in Japan long term then "for sanity's sake, get out of the country at least six times a year!" It is one of those warnings that...
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM MOSCOW
Jul 20, 2003

'Potter': the order of parents

MOSCOW -- It is normal for a parent to distrust the things kids like. Having heard enthusiastic reports about some new product, be it a toy, computer game or movie, an average parent issues a suspicious grunt, thinking that it is probably overpriced, stupid and aggressive, and that the kid will never...
EDITORIALS
Jul 20, 2003

Driving Jesus crazy

Sooner or later, there had to be a backlash against the largely American phenomenon of preempting political debate by injecting "Jesus" into whatever social or political argument happened to dominate the hour. The fad started several years ago and quickly found favor among a surprisingly broad swath...
BUSINESS
Jul 19, 2003

'Competitive' NTT fees promised

Telecommunications minister Toranosuke Katayama said Friday his ministry will maintain a policy of ensuring that the interconnection fees Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corp. charges other carriers for access to its lines will remain competitive.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Jul 19, 2003

Cosmo fashion takes over the classroom

Some of the biggest changes in Japan over the years have taken place in the world of academia. Over 10 years, for example, my university classroom has changed from reserved, plain-dressed girls who used to hide behind their bangs to a group of miniskirted, sexy, breasty teens who wiggle and jiggle their...
SPORTS / SPORTS SCOPE
Jul 18, 2003

Matsui at midseason: Top scout likes what he sees

With the second half of the major league season set to get underway on Friday, I thought now would be a good time to get an expert's opinion on the progress of the New York Yankees rookie outfielder Hideki Matsui.
EDITORIALS
Jul 17, 2003

Opening of labor market delayed

Japan is running in the fast lane of information technology, yet it has been relatively slow in one vital area: employment of foreign IT engineers. Part of the reason seems to lie in the nation's deep-seated reluctance to open the labor market wider to foreigners.
JAPAN
Jul 17, 2003

Play on Constitution's birth now timely

Since its birth in 1947, the Constitution has always been a target for revision, primarily because it was drafted by Americans rather than Japanese.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jul 17, 2003

Tsujimoto to face fraud charges

Tokyo police will establish a criminal case against former Social Democratic Party lawmaker Kiyomi Tsujimoto on suspicion of fraud by skimming government salaries for her policy secretaries, according to investigative sources.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jul 16, 2003

'Manifesto' replaces slogans in election wordplay

Now that there is a fall election in the air, once again politicians are couching their platforms with the buzzword "manifesto."
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jul 16, 2003

Not fade away

If Jim Morrison were alive, he'd turn 60 in December. His band, The Doors, will be playing in August at Summer Sonic; or, actually, keyboardist Ray Manzarek (64) and guitarist Robbie Krieger (57) will. The other surviving member, drummer John Densmore, has sued the pair for using the name without his...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jul 16, 2003

Hard beats from an open mind

An unspoken hero of dance music will unpack his box of tricks in Tokyo this week.

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