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JAPAN
Dec 17, 2005

Specialty exams abound for those who want certification

A wide range of extraordinary examinations are given in Japan to promote tourism or to ensure that local culture will be handed down safely from one generation to the next.
JAPAN
Dec 16, 2005

Road deaths near 50-year low

The number of traffic accident deaths for the 11 months to November fell by 394 from the same period last year to 6,200, with the annual figure expected to remain below 7,000 for the first time since 1956 if the current pace persists for the rest of the year, the National Police Agency said Thursday....
JAPAN
Dec 16, 2005

Shrine, temple goers to top 91 million

More than 91 million people are expected to visit shrines and temples during the first three days of 2006 if the weather is good during the holiday season, the National Police Agency said Thursday.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Dec 16, 2005

Stripping it down, thriving on basics

Born in 1970 into an acting family -- his father is butoh master Akaji Maro and his brother is rising star Nao Omori -- Tatsushi Omori served as an assistant director for Junji Sakamoto and Kazuyuki Izutsu before working for producer/director Genjiro Arato on "Akame Shijuha-taki Shinju Misui" in 2003...
COMMENTARY
Dec 15, 2005

Time for a Yasukuni deal

HONOLULU -- Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi remains in denial over the negative impact his continued visits to the controversial Yasukuni Shrine are having on Japanese and U.S. national security interests.
JAPAN
Dec 13, 2005

Panel to combat epidemics induced by global warming

The Environment Ministry will set up a special advisory panel to look into diseases that may become epidemics in the near future as temperatures rise in Japan due to global warming, according to ministry officials.
JAPAN
Dec 10, 2005

Frustrated bureaucrats pen reform ideas

When Ichiro Asahina, a 32-year-old bureaucrat at the Agency for Natural Resources and Energy, was studying at Harvard University between 2001 and 2003, he had time to think about what Kasumigaseki, Tokyo's governmental hub, meant to him and to Japan.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 10, 2005

Hanging sparks Aussie debate

SYDNEY -- Singapore has hanged a convicted Australian drug runner and some Australians are demanding a boycott against this key trading partner. Rarely before have Australians been so upset over what they see as obsolete "Asian values."
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / PERSONALITY PROFILE
Dec 10, 2005

Kazumi Okamura

Before becoming a government servant, Kazumi Okamura worked for 17 years as a corporate lawyer. She believes she did her work well. "And I think I developed the reverse side, my inner world," she said. Now with a unit of the Ministry of Justice, and bearing the awesome title of attorney in the Supreme...
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 6, 2005

Bush should do the right thing, and quit

NEW YORK -- By August 2003, California Gov. Gray Davis' approval rating had plunged to 22 percent. Two months later, he lost a special recall election.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Dec 6, 2005

Genki drinks riding high

People the world over are raising a toast to the growing mainstream acceptance of energy and functional drinks.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WORDS TO LIVE BY
Dec 6, 2005

Kumiko Mori

Since 1997, mezzo-soprano Kumiko Mori, 46, has played Madame Thenardier more than 2,000 times in the hugely successful Japanese stage production of "Les Miserables." A couple of times a week she can be seen on a variety of shows ranging from travel and food specials to talk shows and comedies. She's...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Dec 4, 2005

Between life and death stands culture

FINAL DAYS: Japanese Culture and Choice at the End of Life, by Susan Orpett Long. Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press, 2005, 288 pp., $45 (cloth). This book asks how the final days might be different for Japanese patients and for those in the United States. Both Japanese and Americans state that they...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Dec 2, 2005

Have music, will travel

Shugo Tokumaru is one of those unfairly talented types who seem to be able to turn their hand to anything. He wrote, played and sang every note on his two albums of "bedroom music" and produced them both too. The 25-year-old also finds time to play guitar and occasionally sing in lo-fi indie pop band...
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Dec 2, 2005

Engineers, pop singers feted at Innovator Awards

Painless syringes, therapeutic planetariums, cards embedded with IC chips that allow cashless payments, and a singing duo who inspired a U.S. cartoon were among the products and people winning honors Wednesday for innovation.
JAPAN
Dec 1, 2005

Condemned cultist denies guilt in appeal

The counsel for senior Aum Shinrikyo figure Masami Tsuchiya entered a not guilty plea Wednesday on behalf of their client as his Tokyo High Court appeal trial began against his death sentence for 13 cult-perpetrated murders, including those in the 1995 Tokyo subway sarin attack.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art / NEW ART SEEN
Dec 1, 2005

Getting a little help from friends

Federico Herrero made a splash with his wall paintings of weirdly morphed animals at the 2001 Venice Biennale and, at age 22, became the youngest-ever winner of the prestigious art fair's Golden Lion Award. In the wake of that success, the Costa Rican-born painter garnered international representation...
JAPAN
Nov 30, 2005

Asbestos-relief bill may hit 27 billion yen

The government revealed Tuesday that thousands of buildings nationwide, including public facilities, pose asbestos exposure risks while unveiling a draft bill to pay 27 billion yen in compensation to the people affected.
BUSINESS
Nov 30, 2005

Unemployment rises to 4.5%

The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate jumped to 4.5 percent in October from 4.2 percent in September, the government said Tuesday, adding that the rise in the jobless figure is temporary and reflects workers seeking better jobs amid the economic recovery.
COMMENTARY
Nov 28, 2005

A ray of hope for Chinese progressives

HONG KONG -- The recent political rehabilitation of former party chief Hu Yaobang, whose death in April 1989 triggered massive student demonstrations in Tiananmen Square, is encouraging to the progressive wing of the Chinese Communist Party, even though there is little indication that the current leadership...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Nov 27, 2005

Yoko just can't keep her hands off her John

This year marks the 25th anniversary of the death of John Lennon, who was murdered in front of his apartment building in New York City on Dec. 8, 1980. In Japan, owing to the time difference, the anniversary is Dec. 9, a day after the anniversary of that other day that will live in infamy. Recently,...
Japan Times
Features
Nov 27, 2005

Is it so hard to see the forest for the trees?

By C.W. NICOL
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST
Nov 26, 2005

Do you know the way to Koganei?

Early in the 19th century an American writer named William Austin penned a story about a man on a horse and buggy lost on the roads of his nation. Yet it's much easier to be lost while abroad, and sometimes the most misplaced souls are those who have been away the longest -- as this "Flactured Fairy...
BASKETBALL
Nov 25, 2005

AND1 crew puts on good show in Tokyo

Known better as a hallowed sumo venue, Tokyo's Ryoguku Kokugikan transformed into a hoops hotbed on Nov. 13.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Nov 25, 2005

Economic challenges and opportunities lie ahead for Japan

The rapid aging of the Japanese population is both a challenge and an opportunity as it will force the nation to confront structural problems with its economy and make tough choices, visiting French journalists said at a recent symposium in Tokyo.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Nov 23, 2005

Nakasone hits Koizumi populism, Yasukuni visits

Former Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone warned the half-century-old Liberal Democratic Party against "pandering" to populism and urged it to hammer out far-sighted policies.
EDITORIALS
Nov 22, 2005

Simplistic view in a complex world

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi and U.S. President George W. Bush met at a summit in the ancient capital of Kyoto last Wednesday, the first such meeting in almost a year. The two leaders shared their belief that close relations between their countries are important not only for this region but also...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / VIEWS FROM THE STREET
Nov 22, 2005

Do you think it's necessary to fingerprint foreigners?

Mike Trees Director, 43 I disagree. I did my masters on discrimination against foreigners and fingerprinting Koreans was a big issue. I agree with the ID cards, but fingerprinting is for criminals, unless they're going to fingerprint everyone, Japanese included.

Longform

Sumadori Bar on Shibuya Ward's main Center Gai street targets young customers who prefer low-alcohol drinks or abstain altogether.
Rethinking that second drink: Japan’s Gen Z gets ‘sober curious’