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JAPAN
Jul 12, 2004

DPJ finds favor with unaffiliated voters

More than half of the unaffiliated voters who cast ballots in Sunday's House of Councilors election threw their support behind the Democratic Party of Japan, according to Kyodo News exit polls.
COMMENTARY
Jul 12, 2004

Bush goes to work with the whitewash

WASHINGTON -- Former U.S. President Bill Clinton's commitment to doing the popular thing politically was legendary. He has met his match, however. If anything, President George W. Bush is even more devoted to turning everything to his political advantage.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 12, 2004

Death-penalty debate rages anew in India

MADRAS, India -- India is once again hotly debating capital punishment. This time the discussion has been provoked by the death sentence given to Dhananjoy Chatterjee, who was convicted of raping and murdering a 14-year-old schoolgirl. Indian President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam has stayed Chatterjee's hanging...
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 12, 2004

Moderate Islam's voice must be heard

CHIANG MAI, Thailand -- The fact that every day a new "armchair" terrorism expert appears can be viewed as a welcome sign, for it shows that there is growing alertness to the new challenge of our times. Terrorism experts continue to argue over the best ways to confront unimaginable threats, but frequently...
JAPAN
Jul 11, 2004

Dental group donation set to result in charges

Prosecutors are set to establish a case against a former Liberal Democratic Party lawmaker and two others on suspicion of embezzlement disguised as a political donation, according to informed sources.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Jul 11, 2004

It's best to be aware of this big trucking problem

The crimes of Mitsubishi Motors Corp. have made the media a little more attentive to vehicles that blow up. In the past several weeks, it seems an awful lot of MMC products have spontaneously combusted. Whenever they do, it's reported in the newspapers, and the frequency of such reports (at least four...
EDITORIALS
Jul 11, 2004

New pieces to a 9-year-old puzzle

Police investigations into the shooting of the nation's police chief more than nine years ago reached a major milestone last week with the arrests of four men, including a former police officer. Around 8:30 a.m. on March 30, 1995, a gunman fired several shots at Mr. Takaji Kunimatsu, then director general...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Jul 11, 2004

Classic love-tragedy finds new blood

Noh, contemporary classical music and calligraphy -- each is an artistic form with its own appeal.
JAPAN
Jul 11, 2004

Party leaders make final campaign pitches

Leaders of the major parties made their final pitches Saturday ahead of the House of Councilors election, with Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi calling on voters to support his reform efforts amid dismal forecasts for the ruling Liberal Democratic Party.
JAPAN
Jul 11, 2004

Aum reportedly asked cop to case site before NPA chief was shot

A former police officer under arrest in connection with the 1995 shooting of the chief of the National Police Agency was asked by a senior female Aum Shinrikyo member to survey the shooting site five days before the attack, according to investigation sources.
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Jul 11, 2004

TV Asahi series "Matthew's Best Hit TV" and more

For many people, Matthew Minami has come to represent the wacky, incomprehensible nature of Japanese TV with his brief, colorful appearance in "Lost in Translation." Some probably believe he was simply invented for the movie, but his TV Asahi series, "Matthew's Best Hit TV," is in fact one of the most...
Japan Times
LIFE
Jul 11, 2004

Believe it ... or not

Japan's vast hoard of war booty known as Yamashita's Gold was long thought to be buried in caves in the Philippines. But in their book 'Gold Warriors,' Sterling and Peggy Seagrave sensationally claim that the treasure trove was secretly recovered -- and continues to oil the wheels of politics in Japan...
JAPAN
Jul 11, 2004

Japan to provide 8.4 billion yen for pipeline study

Japan is ready to provide Russia with 8.4 billion yen to help it study the feasibility of a pipeline project sought by Tokyo, sources said Saturday.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Jul 11, 2004

A French kiss from Monte Carlo ballet

The annual archipelago-length steamroll tour by New York's famous all-male classic ballet parody troupe, Les Ballets Trocadero de Monte-Carlo, which is in the middle of its 20th visit to these shores right now, has probably stolen some of the limelight from its namesake, Les Ballets de Monte-Carlo, which...
SPORTS / SPORTS SCOPE
Jul 11, 2004

Hero Wilkinson aims to come back bigger, better, fitter, stronger

It's often said that professional athletes are the only people in the world who actually have to look for a job once they retire.
SOCCER / J. League
Jul 11, 2004

Ono, Takahara tabbed

The Japan Football Association has named a 30-man provisional list of players for the men's team for next month's Athens Olympics, which features European-based "over-age" players Shinji Ono and Naohiro Takahara.
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM MOSCOW
Jul 11, 2004

Exile in America inspired a revolution

MOSCOW -- George Balanchine was an exile thrice. The first time came without his consent and even without his prior knowledge, as his family went from its native Georgia in the Caucasus to the capital of Russia, St. Petersburg, before he was born.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jul 11, 2004

Andy Bey: "American Song"

The best vocal jazz release yet this year, Andy Bey's "American Song" reconceives jazz standards in passionate new forms. Reinventing classics is no easy business, but Bey knows how to deliver a song with unadorned sincerity and a savvy sense of vocal improvisation.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jul 11, 2004

Yasuaki Shimizu

While most ambient music evokes a place or an ambience figuratively, (Brian Eno's "Music for Airports" was, after all, not composed for a departure lounge), Yasuaki Shimizu's latest musical challenge was to create music that worked on both a literal and metaphoric level. His current release, "Seventh...
COMMENTARY
Jul 11, 2004

Japan can't compete with a burning Iraq

LOS ANGELES -- Before too long, Asia might get weary of being declared by self-appointed Occidental experts as the new center of the political universe. For one thing, the notion is hardly novel in Asia. But, then again, it might as well enjoy the limelight so long denied this most pivotal region on...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Jul 11, 2004

Bedroom poetry beckons

EROTIC HAIKU (bilingual), edited and translated by Hiroaki Sato, illustrated by Emi Suzuki. Tokyo: IBC Publishing, 2004, 114 pp., 1200 yen (paper). Since Eros was the god of love, in the sense of sexual desire, so "erotic," the dictionary explains, means "arousing or concerned with this." The cover of...
BASEBALL / MLB
Jul 10, 2004

Giants owner eyes new competition to replace Japan Series

Yomiuri Giants owner Tsuneo Watanabe on Friday unveiled an idea for a competition that would replace the Japan Series championship if Japanese professional baseball is realigned into a one-league system through mergers between teams.

Longform

Figure skater Akiko Suzuki was once told her ideal weight should be 47 kilograms, a number she now admits she “naively believed.” This led to her have a relationship with food that resulted in her suffering from anorexia.
The silent battle Japanese athletes fight with weight