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JAPAN
Feb 16, 2008

Bangladesh tries to shake corrupt image

DHAKA — Ever since its hard-won independence from Pakistan in 1971, Bangladesh has struggled to shake off something just as unwelcome as foreign rule: its image as an impoverished and politically corrupt backwater.
Japan Times
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Feb 8, 2008

Do your Valentine's duty

Let's cut right to the chase. This country has no shortage of love, as the multitudes of Valentine's Day daters next week will attest. What it needs are marriages — marriages and children! — and then maybe the trickling total fertility rate (1.32 in 2006) will edge back up to the threshold at which...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Feb 8, 2008

Lee gives Japan hope for united front against North

The inauguration of a new South Korean administration this month will bring Tokyo, Seoul and Washington closer to a unified position on how to deal with North Korea, while Japan's concerns that it might be left behind by the U.S. diminish as Pyongyang delays disclosing its nuclear programs, experts and...
BUSINESS
Feb 1, 2008

Tainted 'gyoza' fiasco to hit industry, food prices

The widespread poisonings reported Wednesday involving pesticide-tainted frozen "gyoza" dumplings made in China will probably hit Japan's frozen food producers and importers hard, as sales predictably fall and costs to ensure food safety rise in the coming months.
Japan Times
JAPAN / ALSO OUT THERE
Jan 23, 2008

Mobage-town a rising-star site of mobile users, but filters loom

Just when mobile phone users may have thought the worldwide proliferation of video games and social networking services into the popular culture left little room for radical new tacks, the combination of the two has opened up new avenues.
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Jan 13, 2008

Loads of talent on the foreign side for Buffaloes this season

The 2008 foreign contingent on the Orix Buffaloes is looking good to me, and it seems to be getting better as we inch toward the opening of spring camp on Feb. 1.
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Dec 16, 2007

Readers chime in about Giants 'jinx'

A couple of readers sent me their opinions about the subject of last week's column: the supposed "Giants jinx." It seemingly afflicts foreign players who play in Japan for one team, then cannot reach agreement on a new contract, so they move to the Yomiuri Giants, only to find bad luck, coincidental...
COMMENTARY
Dec 15, 2007

Can Kim do the right thing?

HONG KONG — The six-party talks hosted by China on North Korea's nuclear-weapons program have reached a critical stage, and signs are that while the disabling of the nuclear reactor at Yongbyon is going well, the overall denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula may be in jeopardy.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink
Dec 7, 2007

Osaka restaurant presents modern kushiage fare

Kushiage (skewers of breaded and deep-fried seafood, meat and vegetables) is a popular specialty of the Osaka region, and the typical kushiage joint usually involves old-fashioned wooden counters, multiple rounds of beer and a smoky, after-work izakaya vibe. So A, a stylish little restaurant in Osaka's...
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Nov 25, 2007

Salvation Skype's out for a state of despair

I must confess this Sunday. No, I am not about to blurt out my sins. I would rather keep those to myself, thank you. The confession today is out of total despair. Despair for this country we are living in: Japan.
Reader Mail
Nov 22, 2007

New expression of xenophobia

Responding to Susan Menadue-Chun's Nov. 15 letter, "SPRs have suffered enough," I wish to emphasize that, in my Nov. 11 letter, I was posing a rhetorical question rather than advocating that "Special Permanent Residents," including those with ties to pro-North Korea groups, be subject to the new...
EDITORIALS
Nov 20, 2007

A symbolic summit

The trip had to be made. It is traditional for a Japanese prime minister to make his first overseas trip to the United States, to affirm relations with the country's only ally. With reports of tensions growing in the bilateral security relationship, Mr. Yasuo Fukuda's visit to Washington last week took...
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Nov 17, 2007

Hospitals — just no place for prudery

Two weeks ago I would have said that very few people in this world had ever seen my private parts. Now, I can say plenty have — mostly doctors and nurses.
Reader Mail
Nov 13, 2007

Smart terrorists won't be stopped

Regarding the Nov. 8 article "Will entry checks cross the line?": Would 9/11 not have happened if all foreigners entering the United States had been fingerprinted? Is the list of 750,000 "terror suspects" compiled by the U.S. to be given credence? Does knowing someone who knows someone who may be a terrorist...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Nov 5, 2007

PCs getting pushed aside by other, powerful gadgets

Masaya Igarashi wants ¥20,000 headphones for his new iPod Touch, and he's torn between Nintendo Co.'s Wii and Sony's PlayStation 3 game consoles. When he has saved up again, he plans to splurge on a digital camera or flat-screen TV.
Japan Times
LIFE / CLOSE-UP
Nov 4, 2007

Sue Palmer: The kids are not OK, top educator warns

To a growing legion of educated, enlightened and empowered mothers in Japan and abroad, Sue Palmer's advice on how to bring up children might sound — if not heard in context — too old-fashioned, too alarmist or even maybe too naive to prepare their loved ones for the rapidly changing, fiercely competitive...
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Sep 30, 2007

Bilingual blanks are nothing to kobosu your guchi about

Last week in this column, I addressed the trials and tribulations of bringing up a child to be bilingual — both for parents and children. As anyone who has been down that road knows, it's what Japanese people would call shinan no waza (an arduous task).
JAPAN
Sep 27, 2007

U.S. won't forget abduction issue: Hill

During a brief visit to Tokyo on Wednesday, the top U.S. negotiator with Pyongyang avoided commenting on what conditions the U.S. would consider in removing North Korea from its list of state sponsors of terrorism.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
Sep 26, 2007

Turning waste into rich resources

Visit Calcutta, even briefly, and you soon learn the rules of the road — or rather that there aren't many, if any. You will also meet some of the planet's most resourceful people, from street children to scientists who are masters of making very little go a long way.
Japan Times
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Sep 25, 2007

Pachinko seeks to shed shady image as market shrinks

Filled with noise, bright lights and cigarette smoke, the attraction of the pachinko parlor is hard for many to fathom.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle
Sep 25, 2007

Running circles round the Emperor

Some people run it, some cycle it, some simply walk it. Any way you do it, the route around the Imperial Palace has become Tokyo's best-known track.
Japan Times
LIFE / Language
Sep 23, 2007

Japanese: A language in a state of flux

Languages are never static. They change and evolve with people over time. They also interact with other languages, and through an endless cycle of loaning and borrowing of words, ideas and concepts are shared, exchanged and nurtured across national and cultural boundaries.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Sep 21, 2007

Seigetsu: Great balls of cedar promise good sake

It's the constant conundrum we all face when we arrive in a strange city or wander into an unfamiliar neighborhood. Among the profusion of restaurants and bars, how can you tell which ones are any good? One rule of thumb that has stood us in good stead here over the years: keep your eyes peeled for sakabayashi....
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Sep 20, 2007

Faces of the screen queen

The screening of "I'm Not There" at the Toronto Film Festival earlier this month left many in the aisles whispering "Academy Award" in reference to just one member of the ensemble cast — Cate Blanchett.

Longform

Dangami House is a 180-year-old former samurai residence of the Kato clan, who ruled over Ozu, Ehime Prefecture, until the Meiji Restoration.
A house, a legacy and the quiet work of restoration in rural Japan