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BASKETBALL
Oct 30, 2008

Kitamuki, Newton earn accolades

Guard Yuki Kitamuki had a breakthrough performance last weekend for the Saitama Broncos, scoring 17 fourth-quarter points on Saturday and 15 more on Sunday in a series sweep over the Niigata Albirex BB. He is the Circle K Sunkus Player of the Week, the bj-league announced on Tuesday.
Reader Mail
Oct 30, 2008

International sense in Japan

Regarding the Oct. 19 letter "Tourists treated differently": If Japan really wants to attract foreign tourists, it needs to acquire an authentic international sense. In my opinion, that means being able to appreciate foreign visitors as they are without relying on information from the media.
Reader Mail
Oct 30, 2008

Unbelievable for a cultured society

Regarding Philip Brasor's Oct. 26 Media Mix article, "The 'tough' love of sumo and military can turn ugly": I was aghast at the news of this barbaric act (death by collective violence of a 25-year-old Maritime Self-Defense Force petty officer). It happened unbelievably in a so-called modern, cultured...
BUSINESS
Oct 30, 2008

Sony operating profit tumbles 90%

Sony Corp. said Wednesday that its group operating profit tumbled 90.1 percent to ¥11 billion for the July-September quarter from a year earlier, as the global economic slowdown hit sales of its gadgets and the surging yen ate into its profits.
JAPAN
Oct 30, 2008

No 'concrete' intelligence on Kim

Prime Minister Taro Aso wasn't citing specific intelligence reports when he speculated that North Korea's Kim Jong Il is still running the hermit state, the government's top spokesman said Wednesday.
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
Oct 29, 2008

Devoted to the game: Looking back at Oh's career

First in a three-part series
BUSINESS
Oct 29, 2008

Nomura posts loss but expects gains via Lehman acquisitions

Nomura Holdings Inc. said Tuesday its group net loss widened to ¥72.9 billion in the quarter that ended in September due to losses related to the global financial turmoil.
BUSINESS
Oct 28, 2008

U.S. financial crisis puts brakes on Japan carmakers

Not only has the U.S. financial crisis sent the Big Three U.S. automakers into deep financial trouble, it is damaging the sales and profits of Japanese carmakers and forcing them to review their alliances.
LIFE / Language / KANJI CLINIC
Oct 28, 2008

Take the first step to writing home in kanji

A friend in North Carolina recently showed me a yellowing nengajō (年賀状, New Year's card) I had sent her soon after first arriving in Japan back in the early 1980s. The return address, penciled in my best effort at the time — a childlike, uneven scrawl of kanji — reminded me of the intense...
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Oct 26, 2008

TV tributes to an artificial heart innovator, Picasso and Sadaharu Oh

The subject of this week's edition of "Professional: Shigoto no Ryugi" ("The Professionals") (NHK-G, Tuesday, 10 p.m.) is 56-year-old Chisato Nojiri, the leader of a special-project team that recently developed a new type of artificial heart.
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
Oct 24, 2008

Ogasawara belts two home runs; fired-up Giants take 2-1 series lead

The Yomiuri Giants looked a bit sluggish in the first game of their series against the Chunichi Dragons.
BUSINESS
Oct 24, 2008

Automakers to lower production in Britain

LONDON (Kyodo) Japanese automakers operating in Britain have announced production cuts due to the slowing European economy, but Toyota Motor Corp., Nissan Motor Co. and Honda Motor Co. have so far announced no workforce reductions.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Oct 24, 2008

'Redacted'

Brian De Palma is a man of contradictions. The director is known for filming spectacular scenes of violence: Just think of the elevator slashing in "Dressed To Kill," Al Capone's baseball bat in "The Untouchables" or pretty much all of "Scarface." Yet his riskiest and maybe best film, 1989's "Casualties...
JAPAN
Oct 23, 2008

Aso, Singh pledge cooperation, regional security; EPA eludes

Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Prime Minister Taro Aso agreed Wednesday to cooperate on several issues, including regional safety, but fell short of signing an economic partnership agreement due to differences on trade.
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital
Oct 22, 2008

Xbox 360 steals Tokyo Game Show

The biggest announcement at the four-day Tokyo Game Show 2008 (Oct. 9-12) at Makuhari Messe convetion center in Chiba Prefecture was not for a Japanese title and not by a Japanese company.
BUSINESS
Oct 22, 2008

Bank willingness to lend at eight-year low

The willingness of banks to extend loans to small and midsize companies stayed at its lowest level in at least eight years as lenders hoarded funds on signs that the economy is in a recession, the Bank of Japan said Tuesday.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 21, 2008

Addiction to the worst of worlds

COPENHAGEN — Have you noticed how environmental campaigners almost inevitably say that not only is global warming happening, but that what we are seeing is even worse than expected?
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design
Oct 21, 2008

Barrett, Simons and Clemens in Tokyo

Fast flagships On Sept. 17, the new flagship store for designer Neil Barrett opened in Tokyo with the assistance of a heavyweight collaborator — none other than hot U.K. architect Zaha Hadid came on board for her first retail-venue project. Barrett, a 20-year design veteran of tailored cuts (pictured...
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Oct 21, 2008

Japan's spies: What cloak, dagger?

How ill is Kim Jong Il?
Japan Times
Reference / SO WHAT THE HECK IS THAT
Oct 21, 2008

JR gestures

Dear Alice, Until recently I lived in Tokyo and commuted on the JR Chuo Sobu Line from Kameido Station. I made it a practice to ride in the last compartment of the train, just so I could enjoy the spectacle of the driver making those sincere hand gestures at each and every station. I've seen the same...

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