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Japan Times
JAPAN
Oct 7, 2008

Yes, we have no bananas, as dieters peel away stocks

Dieting appears to be a nationwide trend. Spurred on by TV shows, people have taken various approaches, including upping their intake of "natto" fermented soybeans, which later proved fruitless, to adding agar to food.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 6, 2008

Tinge of green as China becomes top polluter

SINGAPORE — The latest tally of greenhouse-gas emissions blamed for warming the world shows that China has emerged as the top polluter, ahead of the United States, by an increasingly big margin.
BUSINESS / JAPANESE PERSPECTIVES
Oct 6, 2008

Japan has nothing to fear but fearlessness

The accepted wisdom seems to be that Japan is being less affected than most by the ongoing banking crisis. I wouldn't bank on it.
TENNIS
Oct 4, 2008

Del Potro upsets Ferrer in quarters

Argentina's Juan Martin Del Potro sent top seed and defending champion David Ferrer crashing out in the quarterfinals of the Japan Open on Friday, while American Andy Roddick continued his successful tour of Asia with a comfortable 6-3, 6-4 win over Serbia's Viktor Troicki.
SOCCER / PREMIER REPORT
Oct 4, 2008

Loss to Hull could push Ramos closer to the door

LONDON — At the start of the season Sunday's Premier League fixture between Tottenham and Hull had the look of a game between one team riding comfortably high with the other in the relegation zone.
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball / NPB NOTEBOOK
Oct 4, 2008

Watanabe tames PL in first season at helm

Earlier this season Seibu Lions second baseman Yasuyuki Kataoka donned a Spiderman mask and entertained the crowd before his hero interview after hitting a "sayonara" home run off Hokkaido Nippon Ham's Yu Darvish.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Oct 4, 2008

Music firm goes to seed for a rockin' good future

Last year, all too aware that sales of CDs were dropping, Douglas Allsopp of Buffalo Records went along to the annual fair of promotional goods at Tokyo's Big Sight to look for a possible additional venture.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Oct 4, 2008

Life — it's all in the books

Sometimes it seems I live holiday to holiday. Having just finished Respect for the Aged Day, and the Autumn Equinox (both national holidays) I am now looking forward to Sports Day in October. The problem with national holidays in Japan, however, is that they are rarely a chance to relax. Instead, they...
EDITORIALS
Oct 3, 2008

Brighter lure for tourists

The Tourism Agency was inaugurated Oct. 1 with the main aim of making Japan more attractive to tourists from abroad and improving tourism assets in local areas. Establishment of the new agency grew out of the government's June 2007 plan to promote tourism as an important pillar of government policy for...
Japan Times
BUSINESS / CABINET INTERVIEW
Oct 3, 2008

Kaneko to review visa rules

Visa-issuing policies must be reviewed to attract more foreign tourists, according to newly appointed transport minister Kazuyoshi Kaneko.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Oct 3, 2008

'Achilles to Kame'

Zeno's paradoxes are ancient mind games that undermine common-sense assumptions about reality. In the most famous, "Achilles and the Tortoise," a fast runner and a tortoise start at the same time toward the same goal, the tortoise with a head start — say it must cover 10 meters while the runner must...
BUSINESS / CABINET INTERVIEW
Oct 2, 2008

Nikai vows support for small firms

If the nation's small and medium-size companies start suffering from the financial crisis in the United States, the government must consider additional measures to help them, trade minister Toshihiro Nikai said in a recent interview.
Reader Mail
Oct 2, 2008

Old blood begets tired gaffes

I read with interest the Sept. 28 article "Koizumi confirms plan to retire, pass torch to son." Former Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's designated political heir apparent for Kanagawa District No. 11 will be 27-year-old Shinjiro Koizumi.
JAPAN / CABINET INTERVIEW
Oct 2, 2008

MSDF mission above Diet politics: Hamada

Japan's involvement in antiterrorism efforts in the Indian Ocean must continue regardless of which party holds power in the Diet, new Defense Minister Yasukazu Hamada said in an interview.
JAPAN
Oct 2, 2008

Merger creates ODA behemoth

The merger Wednesday of the Japan International Cooperation Agency with a part of the Japan Bank for International Cooperation is a significant development in the country's contribution to world stability and peace, Foreign Minister Hirofumi Nakasone said.
Reader Mail
Oct 2, 2008

Don't sacrifice culture to please

Regarding the Sept. 27 article "Tourism minister apologizes for gaffes" -- about Nariaki Nakayama's remarks on the lack of self-sacrifice by Japanese in "opening the country to foreign tourists": I wish to state that I have not found another country whose people are as tolerant as the average Japanese...
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 1, 2008

U.S. Treasury Secretary Paulson is wrong

CHICAGO — When a profitable company is hit by a very large liability, the solution is not to have the government buy its assets at inflated prices. The solution, instead, is protection under bankruptcy law, which in the United States means Chapter 11.
TENNIS
Oct 1, 2008

Nishikori prevails in tough opening match

Japanese teenager Kei Nishikori beat American Robert Kendrick in three sets Tuesday to advance to the second round of the Japan Open.
BUSINESS
Oct 1, 2008

Matsushita gives way to Panasonic

A famous corporate brand name will disappear Wednesday when Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. abandons the name of its founder in an attempt to evolve into a truly global corporation.
COMMENTARY
Oct 1, 2008

Time for geoengineering?

Scientists have their own way of putting things. This is how Dr. Oerjan Gustafsson of Stockholm University announced the approach of a climate apocalypse in an e-mail sent recently from the Russian research ship "Jakob Smirnitskyi" in the Arctic Ocean.
Japan Times
JAPAN / CABINET INTERVIEW
Oct 1, 2008

North policy unchanged: Nakasone

Japan's policy on North Korea under Prime Minister Taro Aso will remain focused on resolving the abduction issue, new Foreign Minister Hirofumi Nakasone said Tuesday.
JAPAN / CABINET INTERVIEW
Oct 1, 2008

Shionoya embraces teachers union, 'morals'

Education minister Ryu Shionoya said Tuesday that the Japan Teachers Union (Nikkyoso) should cooperate with the ministry on improving education, dismissing critical remarks by short-lived transport minister Nariaki Nakayama, who resigned Sunday after attacking the union and calling it "a cancer."
JAPAN
Oct 1, 2008

Nakagawa shakes up press with move to plant Hinomaru in briefing room

Rightwing Finance Minister Shoichi Nakagawa created a stir Tuesday by backing a plan to display the Hinomaru flag in the ministry's press briefing room.
COMMENTARY
Sep 30, 2008

Education key to prevent 'honor killings'

The act of killing is not so surprising when senseless brutality, especially against women, engulfs a community. Thousands of women are murdered every year by their families in the name of "honor." This heinous crime cuts across continents, with most killings going unreported. When they are reported,...
EDITORIALS
Sep 30, 2008

Mr. Koizumi leaves the arena

Former Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's announcement that he will not run for the next Lower House election means the departure of a decisive, bold and charismatic politician from the nation's political scene. It is symbolic that his announcement came just after Mr. Taro Aso took power. Prime Minister...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Sep 30, 2008

N. Korea, viewed from the inside

North Koreans are aware of Kim Jong Il's reported illness and anticipating an end to his dictatorship, said a Japanese journalist who recently returned from the China-North Korea border.
Japan Times
Reference / SO WHAT THE HECK IS THAT
Sep 30, 2008

Jitensha odantai

Dear Alice,
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design / ON: DESIGN
Sep 30, 2008

Designer wine racks, light bulbs, place mats and more

Northern hangers

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’