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EDITORIALS
Jun 20, 2008

A North Korean about-face

North Korea has promised to begin a "reinvestigation" of the fate of Japanese nationals abducted by its agents and to hand over the four remaining members of the nine leftists who hijacked a Japan Airlines jet to Pyongyang in 1970 along with two wives of the leftists.
JAPAN
Jun 15, 2008

Japan brings North back to bargaining table

In-mid April, a senior Foreign Ministry official in charge of Asian affairs looked confident. Although bilateral talks with North Korea had been suspended for more than half a year, the official predicted Pyongyang would have no choice but to come back to the bargaining table to discuss the abduction...
JAPAN
Jun 14, 2008

Pyongyang to reopen abduction probe

Pyongyang has promised to reopen its investigation into the missing Japanese its spies abducted, and Tokyo will partially lift economic sanctions in response.
SPORTS / SPORTS SCOPE
Jun 6, 2008

Noguchi should carry flag for Japan at Beijing Games

Koji Murofushi is a gifted athlete. The reigning Olympic champion in the men's hammer throw, he's achieved widespread notoriety in Japan just like his father, Shigenobu, the longtime national record-holder in the discipline, before him.
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball / NPB NOTEBOOK
May 31, 2008

Sweeney stepping up his game for Fighters

If there's a job to be done, chances are Brian Sweeney is your man.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST
May 24, 2008

Not going anywhere in Tokyo

The only things that stands perfectly still in this city of ceaseless motion are its statues. Not that most Tokyoites notice them. But I do.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
May 6, 2008

As parent firm posts record profits, Berlitz teachers strike back

Question: How do you get to be on the Forbes list of the world's billionaires? You might inherit your wealth, take risks and get lucky, or work for it. For Soichiro Fukutake, owner of Berlitz's parent company Benesse, it's a case of "all the above."
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / FREEWHEELIN' ACROSS JAPAN
Apr 18, 2008

Salvation sought in Sendai

Second of two parts
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / FREEWHEELIN' ACROSS JAPAN
Apr 11, 2008

Dreams of the 'One-Eyed Dragon'

As usual, I check into the Sendai City Hotel on Bansui Dori, one of the best deals in town: It sits on the edge of the Kokubuncho entertainment district, has a Christian church opposite for easy penance if things get out of hand, and newly-refurbished single rooms start from a comfortable ¥3,500. The...
BUSINESS
Apr 5, 2008

P&G, IBM most 'woman-friendly'

The Japanese units of overseas companies topped the list of firms in the country with the best working environment for women, according to a survey conducted by monthly magazine Nikkei Woman released Friday.
JAPAN
Mar 27, 2008

When natural beauty just isn't cutting it . . .

Ines Ligron is the ultimate Miss Universe insider, and she does not believe much in secrets. One of her favorite stories is of a contestant who could have won but opted for last-minute cosmetic surgery, and thus was barely able to lift her arms when she went before the judges.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Mar 7, 2008

Spain Iberico Bar Mon-Naka: Iberico comes to Monzen-Nakacho

It took a puzzlingly long time for Japan to catch on to the pleasures of the taperia. It should be a perfect fit since, after all, the exquisite Iberian custom of slowly whiling away the evening with tapas and drinks, one dish and one glass at a time, is so close in spirit to the izakaya tradition.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / WILD WATCH
Feb 20, 2008

Nature tour turns sour as we see 'endangered' prey killed

A great white mass, a broken blanket of sea ice, was moving south down the Sea of Okhotsk carried on currents and blown by winds from the north. From the flank of Mount Mokoto it appeared like a mirage, a whitened margin to the sea's northern horizon, but from the much closer range of the cliff tops...
EDITORIALS
Feb 19, 2008

North Korea's progress falters

A year has passed since the six-party talks concluded an agreement in February 2007 on a deal that would end North Korea's nuclear-weapons programs in stages. But the denuclearization process has failed to progress as expected. In October 2007, North Korea agreed to "disable" its facilities at its Yongbyon...
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...

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