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Features
Feb 27, 2005

Workings of a watershed

One day, in just a few years' time, people all over Japan will begin to find unexpected official letters in their mailboxes. Perhaps anxious that they have done something wrong, or failed to make a payment, it will be with considerable tredipation that most seek out the contents.
Features
Feb 27, 2005

New order in court

May 21, 2004, was an epoch-making day for Japan; it was the day the Diet passed a law to introduce a new criminal court system that will involve ordinary citizens in the administration of justice for the first time in postwar history.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Feb 26, 2005

The woes of the misunderstood 'gaijin'

I've been a nonnative speaker of Japanese for 12 years now. I'll go weeks without speaking a word of English, since where I live, I'm the only "gaijin." But after several years of consistent hard work, I have trained the 700 people on my island to understand my gaijin Japanese. We are almost at the point...
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Feb 23, 2005

Foreign stars to battle Japan stars in March 14 charity game

Kudos: To Bobby Valentine, Trey Hillman, Tsutomu Ito, Kazuhiko Ushijima and all the players who will participate in the Pro Yakyu Charity Game at Tokyo Dome on Monday, March 14.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / VIEWS FROM THE STREET
Feb 22, 2005

What should banks do about cashcard skimming?

Haruko Iwasaki Accountant, 22 Credit cards have insurance, but cash cards don't. The Japanese banks just say to customers that they will keep their, but they can't promise to protect it.
EDITORIALS
Feb 20, 2005

In praise of a 'billy sook'

With spring just around the corner, what images pop into the mind? Naturally, you're thinking cherry blossoms and daffodils, spring lambs and fluffy chickens, dolls and kites, eggs and chocolate. But some of you will also be thinking rabbits, and you are in luck, because next month brings the publication...
BUSINESS
Feb 18, 2005

Cell phone firms losing battle against junk mail

Cell phone users in Japan are being swamped with junk e-mail despite all-out efforts by telephone companies to combat the nuisance.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Feb 17, 2005

Centrair chief brimming with confidence

Central Japan International Airport, opening today near Nagoya, will serve as a key center for the exchange of people, commodities and information between Japan and the rest of the world, said Yukihisa Hirano, president of the new airport's operating company.
CULTURE / Stage
Feb 16, 2005

Tale of the spy who loved Brandt

"Democracy" is an iconic buzzword of our times. What Webster's dictionary defines as "government in which the people hold the ruling power either directly or through elected representatives" is routinely held out, particularly by the current leader of the world's foremost military-industrial complex,...
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Feb 15, 2005

Compromised NHK needs closer scrutiny

As someone who toiled for several years inside NHK during the early 1990s, it is bemusing to see the simplistic criticism of the quasi-official broadcaster by the Japanese media.
BUSINESS
Feb 15, 2005

Current account surplus hits record high

Japan's current account surplus rose 17.9 percent in 2004 from a year earlier to a record 18.59 trillion yen.
BUSINESS
Feb 15, 2005

Nonresidents buy record 15 trillion yen in stocks, bonds

Nonresident investors remained net buyers of Japanese stocks and bonds in 2004 for the second straight year, with net purchases reaching a record 14.99 trillion yen, the Finance Ministry said Monday.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Feb 13, 2005

Japan makes great genres, but . . .

THE MIDNIGHT EYE GUIDE TO NEW JAPANESE FILM, by Tom Mes and Jasper Sharp, foreword by Hideo Nakata. Berkeley: Stone Bridge Press. 366 pp., 151 b/w photos, $22.95 (paper). The authors of this very interesting new compendium on recent Japanese cinema would agree, I think, that the "new" in their title...
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM NEW YORK
Feb 13, 2005

Iraq election exposed two faces of China

HONG KONG -- One unintended consequence of the Jan. 30 election in Iraq was that it exposed the hypocrisy and shortsightedness of China's policy toward Hong Kong and reunification with Taiwan. China not only expressed support for the rushed national election in its controlled press; it also donated $1...
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 9, 2005

Howard Baker will be missed

The image of ambassadors has changed greatly over the years. Until the mid-20th century, ambassadors were said to be "dwellers among the clouds" -- a Japanese phrase for the nobility. This metaphor showed what ordinary people thought of nobles. To the commoners busy with their daily work, the privileged...
BUSINESS
Feb 9, 2005

Japan closer to lifting ban on U.S. beef

Japan moved a step closer to partially lifting a ban on U.S. beef imports after a government panel on Tuesday accepted U.S. assurances that a specific grade of U.S. beef would be free of mad cow disease.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / VIEWS FROM THE STREET
Feb 8, 2005

Do you still respect NHK?

Etsuko Stelljes Data entry, 33 NHK tried to change facts about the story of comfort women, so now I can't trust their documentaries. Even though the director quit his job to take responsibility, he was hired again as an adviser. I hate that.
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
Feb 8, 2005

Wills, holistic dentistry and cash

More on wills "To quote your column from some time ago," writes MJ, " 'Japanese inheritance law states that at the death of one spouse, half the estate goes to the remaining partner and half to the children of the marriage.'
BUSINESS
Feb 8, 2005

Flat TVs seen taking 86% of market in '09

Sales of plasma-display panel and liquid crystal display televisions are likely to grow about 3.5-fold from 2004 to 9.5 million units in Japan, accounting for 86 percent of overall TV sales in 2009, an industry association said Monday.
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM MOSCOW
Feb 7, 2005

Sanctions against Cuba only assist Castro

MOSCOW -- To go or not to go? To trade or not to trade? To invest or not to invest? These are the questions asked nowadays by many Western governments following a recent EU decision to lift sanctions against Havana.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Feb 6, 2005

The attractive helplessness of a reluctant foreigner

THE TOWER OF LONDON: Tales of Victorian London, by Natsume Soseki, translated and introduced by Damian Flanagan, calligraphy by Kosaka Misuzu. London: Peter Owen, 2005, 240 pp., 12 illustrations, £14.95 (paper). In 1900 the Japanese government sent three young scholars to London to study and equip themselves...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Feb 6, 2005

Kabuki kid's taxi tussle exposes insular world

Celebrities live in goldfish bowls, but some goldfish bowls are roomier than others. The amount of leeway the public is willing to allow a famous person in terms of objectionable behavior depends on the nature of that person's fame and his or her own understanding of the seriousness of the trespass....
BUSINESS
Feb 5, 2005

JAL to buy 30 Boeing 737s; Airbus aced out

Japan Airlines Corp. said Friday it will sign a contract with Boeing Co. of the United States to buy 30 737 jetliners, with an option for 10 more, foiling a bid by Europe's Airbus consortium to break into the U.S.-dominated market.
BUSINESS
Feb 5, 2005

Economic gauge indicates contraction

The key gauge of the current state of Japan's economy fell below the boom-or-bust line of 50 percent in December, following a reading of 60 percent in November, the government said Friday.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Feb 5, 2005

National Children's Centers cater to body, spirit

In July 2000, after 15 years heading the International Section of the Children's Castle, Teri Suzanne left the play and educational center in Aoyama, Tokyo, and became a freelance bilingual specialist. Two years later she was employed as program adviser to the 14 National Children's Centers of Japan's...
SOCCER / PREMIER REPORT
Feb 4, 2005

Gunners misfiring a year after record-setting season

LONDON -- Manchester United's 4-2 win over Arsenal at Highbury on Tuesday was not just a victory, it was further proof that the Premiership champion needs a significant overhaul.
BUSINESS
Feb 4, 2005

Medical firms compete with pain-free devices

Medical manufacturers are competing to develop new devices that will make visits to the doctor's office less painful.
COMMUNITY
Feb 3, 2005

A common thyroid disease that's easily overlooked

Of late, do you find yourself becoming very tired or sleepy without any particular reason? Do you feel that you cannot concentrate on your studies or work as well as before? If so, you should have your levels of thyroid hormone checked.

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