Japanese

Easton -- Here along the banks of the Miles River, a house sits quietly apart. It is named for a haiku and patterned after geese in flight, and for its owners, it is a dream fulfilled: a house that draws its design from the traditional Japanese teahouse.The owners are a retired couple (who do not wish to be identified). The husband is a retired Marine colonel who spent several years stationed in Japan and during this time he was captivated by the teahouse."The teahouse architecture evolved out of the tea ceremony where the Japanese celebrate purity, refinement and withdrawal from material concerns," says Wayne Good, the Annapolis architect who designed the house.

TOKYO -- Japanese justice had its way with the country's leading political kingmaker yesterday.Shin Kanemaru formally admitted that he had accepted $4 million in illegal political contributions from the head of a mobster-connected trucking company. So he was fined almost $2,000.It was a slap on the wrist for the Liberal Democratic Party factional baron, whose support put Prime Minister Kiichi Miyazawa in office.But it smacked of a privileged deal with usually untouchable prosecutors. The fine also instantly set off a wave of public outrage that threatened to overwhelm both Mr. Kanemaru's grip on power and Mr. Miyazawa's already shaky Cabinet.

Suddenly they're everywhere.Hungry Japanese beetles are on the roses, on the ornamental plants, grapes, berries and fruit trees, in the vegetable garden.Entomologists say favorable weather conditions have made this a bountiful year for the half-inch long, brown and metallic-green bugs. Garden stores in some areas are doing a land-office business in beetle traps."We sell out of every one we can get our hands on," said John Warnken, assistant manager of Frank's Nursery and Crafts store in Owings Mills.

TOKYO -- "Man Marking -- We Support Ocean Spirit," a sign outside a tweedy men's clothing shop in Tokyo's glitzy Ginza shopping district says in English.Inside the shop, a clerk is puzzled that two visitors would ask what the sign means."I don't think it really has a meaning," says the clerk, Toshiko Nakamura, a bit tentatively. "I think it's more like -- a feeling."In this capital of commerce, where English is not so much a language as an industry, Ms. Nakamura has put her finger on what makes one branch of that industry profitable.

TOKYO -- Japan's "samurai ambassador" to Peru has been given the ritual chop, apparently for having the bad manners not to fall on his own sword.Ambassador Morihisa Aoki had been billed as a hero for his steely mettle in dealing with the guerrillas who blasted into his Lima residence Dec. 17 and captured hundreds of guests celebrating the Japanese emperor's birthday.Aoki also earned international admiration for his diplomatic cool and resilient humor at a news conference he delivered from a wheelchair within hours of the hostages' liberation April 22.But the chain-smoking ambassador has been under attack since the moment he set foot back in Japan, taken to task for the lax security that permitted the terrorists to seize the residence, for heavy drinking during his four months as a hostage, and especially for the sin that this culture finds least pardonable: arrogance.

LONDON -- It was a very British snub, filled with pomp, circumstance and anger as 1,000 veterans of Japanese prisoner of war camps turned their backs yesterday on a gilded royal carriage ferrying Japanese Emperor Akihito during his state visit to Great Britain.The veterans and civilian internees were seeking an apology -- and compensation -- over harsh treatment they endured in Japanese camps during World War II."Everyone says, 'It's 50 years, let it go.' But it's 50 years because the Japanese have procrastinated about this," said Arthur Titherington, 76, chairman of the Japanese Labor CampsSurvivors Association.

TOKYO - It was Friday afternoon, and Hisatoshi Nishide, a 36-year-old corporate financial planner in a black suit, was supposed to be at a bank meeting. Instead, Nishide lingered in a private reverie, his mind embraced by long, delicate arms of pink - the flower-encrusted branches of a "weeping cherry blossom" tree. "I feel my heart lightened," he said when asked his thoughts. "This part of nature has not changed. For a moment I get rid of the dark news. The Iraq news really depresses me."

When Japan fields its first World Cup lacrosse team in 1994, there will be plenty of "thank you's" handed out to the United States team.As a result of numerous lacrosse camps in the United States, the Japanese have learned the skills to be competitive on the international level.One of these U.S. camps currently is being held at the St. Paul's School for Girls. In its fourth year, the one-week camp is host to 26 Japanese women, who are from different areas and range in age between 19 and 21 years old."

TOKYO -- George Bush called his trip to Asia a success yesterday, but he looked a little lonely.None of the automakers was pleased.Not the ones he recruited from the Big Three American auto companies to join his trip to Asia in search of "jobs, jobs, jobs" for recession-weary U.S. workers.What they and U.S. government negotiators extracted from the Japanese after their 26,000-mile odyssey was less than a drop in the bucket, the executives said.Toyota, Nissan, Honda and Mitsubishi -- the Japanese manufacturers that have been killing them in the market -- weren't happy, either.

WASHINGTON -- Holy Toyota! Have the Japanese launched a secret attack against Maryland Rep. Helen D. Bentley?So say two small Maryland weekly newspapers. In recent articles, they cite sources claiming the Japanese are bribing Democrats to redistrict Japan-bashing Bentley out of office.Although the papers offer not a yen's worth of evidence, Bentley, R-2nd, says she's inclined to believe them.How else, asks Bentley, can one explain a plan which obliterates her district? "There has to be a real reason for it," she said yesterday.