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JAPAN
Oct 8, 2009

LDP off the policy autopilot: Ishiba

Now that they find themselves in the opposition camp, Liberal Democratic Party lawmakers will have to undertake policymaking with far greater vigor than in the days when the party was in power, the newly appointed LDP Policy Research Council chairman said.
Reader Mail
Oct 8, 2009

She was right to return to Japan

Regarding the Oct. 3 article Savoie's lawyer says he deserves leniency": I hope readers of The Japan Times don't make the mistake of thinking that all Americans support Christopher Savoie. He chose to leave his family, and his wife was left to pick up the pieces in a foreign country.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WORDS TO LIVE BY
Oct 8, 2009

Nissan Chuzousho President Shunichiro Tsuji

Shunichiro Tsuji, 62, is president of Nissan Chuzousho Ltd., Japan's last surviving beigoma maker, located in Kawaguchi City, Saitama Prefecture. Beigoma are small cast-iron spinning tops that are spun in a game that has been a favorite with kids and grown-ups in Japan for many generations. Tsuji has...
Japan Times
SOCCER / SOCCER SCENE
Oct 8, 2009

Fletcher, Adebayor set example for Okada's men to follow

The national team's three opponents over the next seven days may not present as severe a test as the Netherlands did last month, but that is not to say they have nothing to teach Takeshi Okada's men.
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design / STYLE WISE
Oct 8, 2009

Fashion rethinks, rebrands and reasserts itself in the recession

Uniqlo gets an A+ for +J There may be a recession, but that doesn't mean that we can't afford style, thanks to the new maestro of cool, Mr. Tadashi Yanai.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 7, 2009

The Middle East and Iran issue

The small country of Lebanon lies at the center of the Middle East jigsaw. Its labyrinthine internal politics reflect and connect with all the complexities of the region and the surrounding countries.
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL: KEYES' POINT
Oct 7, 2009

Sometimes everything just seems to go wrong

"Well, uncle, what did you think of him?(Ano hito no koto dō omotta? あの人のことどう思った?)"
JAPAN
Oct 7, 2009

Press club faithful fight change

Since its landmark victory in the Aug. 30 general election, the Democratic Party of Japan has continued efforts to shake up the power structure to make good on its promise to create an accountable administration.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Oct 6, 2009

New Komeito gropes for its own brand; LDP ties now nonissue

New Komeito, finding itself outside the power loop for the first time in a decade, must find a way to stand on its own feet and establish a distinct brand instead of trying to latch onto other parties, its newly appointed leader says.
COMMUNITY / Issues / JUST BE CAUSE
Oct 6, 2009

Savoie case shines spotlight on Japan's 'disappeared dads'

M aking international (and to a lesser extent, national) news recently has been the Savoie child abduction case. Briefly: After a couple divorced in America, ex-wife Noriko Savoie absconded with their children to Japan. Then ex-husband Christopher, who had been awarded custody in the U.S., came to Japan...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Japan Pulse
Oct 5, 2009

Drowning recession sorrows in cheap booze

It's a good time to drink, not only to drown those recession-era sorrows, but also since cheap-booze bars are springing up everywhere.
JAPAN
Oct 5, 2009

Murdoch: Japan newspapers will have to charge for online content

KYOTO — Japanese newspapers are eventually going to have to charge users to read general news stories online, media mogul Rupert Murdoch said Sunday at a conference here of scientists and engineers.
EDITORIALS
Oct 4, 2009

Arctic heating up

The polar ice cap is melting. As the Arctic ice thins, littoral countries are beginning a race to claim the region's heretofore inaccessible resources. A navigable Arctic also holds out the promise of new trade routes, with much shorter travel times between Asia and Europe. An "open Arctic" has important...
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Oct 4, 2009

Tracy working miracles for playoff-bound Rockies

"Mile High Miracle, Mile High Magic, Rocky Mountain High, whatever you want to call it, but baseball in Colorado is spectacular again this year." So says Ken Shimada, a Japanese fan living in Denver who dumped the team but is now back at Coors Field as an avid supporter.
Reader Mail
Oct 4, 2009

Wish list of a bicyclist in Japan

Regarding Tomoko Otake's Sept. 27 feature article, "Let's Bike!": I love being able to bike around, and it's definitely safer here than in my hometown back in America. But the article should have mentioned the bad behavior of people not on bikes.
CULTURE / Books
Oct 4, 2009

Positive take on Japan's supposed dark age

THE EDO INHERITANCE, by Tokugawa Tsunenari. I-House Press, 2009, 200 pp., ¥2,500 (hardcover) The Edo Period (1603-1868) is frequently regarded as a dark, repressive age, when Japan was held in an iron grip by a military government that had closed its borders to the outside world. "The Edo Inheritance"...
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / CLOSE-UP
Oct 4, 2009

Mamoru Mohri: A spaceman speaks

When future historians document the story of Japanese space exploration, 2009 will likely figure as the year when the nation put two high-profile rocket launch failures, in 1999 and 2003, firmly behind it and, quite literally, took off.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Oct 4, 2009

Diving with dolphins in the Izu Islands

It's Saturday morning and I'm sitting on the beach, struggling to strap on a pair of oversize flippers. When they are securely in place, I waddle down to the water's edge and gingerly step into the sparkling, crystal ocean lapping Miyake Island.
Reader Mail
Oct 4, 2009

How Americans spend tax money

I read pediatrician Alex Blum's Sept. 26 article, "America's broken health care breaking lives" (reprinted from the Los Angeles Times) with great interest. On television and in newspapers, I have seen reports of many Americans protesting against President Barack Obama's health care plan. Don't they care...
Reader Mail
Oct 4, 2009

National health plan preferred

Regarding the Sept. 29 article "Brace for a possible spring shock": I'd just like to say that private health insurance companies can give policyholders a hard time about honoring claims. I had private insurance during my first year in Japan and ended up having to go to a hospital in Iwate Prefecture...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Oct 3, 2009

Savoie's lawyer says he deserves leniency

Christopher Savoie, a 38-year-old American arrested in Fukuoka earlier this week for allegedly abducting his two children from his Japanese ex-wife, took them because she did not have legal custody, his lawyer told The Japan Times on Friday.
Japan Times
JAPAN / MIXED MATCHES
Oct 3, 2009

Ain't no mountain in the Andes high enough

Hirohito Ota, 39, a freelance writer, is an adventurer by nature.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Oct 3, 2009

Toyoda issues 'regrets' over fatal Lexus crash

Toyota's president said it was "extremely regrettable" an American family died in a crash in which a floor mat in one of the automaker's vehicles is suspected as the cause.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST
Oct 3, 2009

Snap, crackle, Pocky! The stick that stirs the drink

Some people like to slam Japan as being non-innovative. The Japanese, these people say, can take anyone else's idea and make it better. Better cars, better cameras, better reality TV. And so on.

Longform

Bear attacks have dominated Japanese news headlines in recent months, with 13 people so far having been killed by the animals.
Japan’s bears have been on their killing spree for more than 100 years