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BUSINESS
May 26, 2006

FSA orders Sompo suspension

The Financial Services Agency on Thursday ordered Sompo Japan Insurance Inc. to suspend most of its operations for two weeks at all of its offices nationwide for illegal sales practices.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
May 23, 2006

Making certain of a positive I.D.

Last weekend, I visited three major retail outlets in Shinjuku, Tokyo, to inquire about the purchase of a cell phone.
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
May 16, 2006

Second-class citizens

Rogelio Buscio's shoes were missing. It was the evening of July 27, 2005, and 30-year old Filipino Bucio was getting ready to leave the dormitory he shared with other Sanjo Metal Company Ltd. trainees to start his evening shift. He looked everywhere, asked everyone. Nobody was giving up the shoes.
Japan Times
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
May 12, 2006

Designing for life

Asia's biggest art event, Design Festa, returns for its spring installment to Tokyo Big Sight on May 20-21 when it hopes to attract 60,000 people to its 2,600 booths. Approximately 6,000 exhibitors from around the world will be participating in Design Festa Vol. 23, showing off everything from flower...
SPORTS / E-LIST
May 10, 2006

Interleague play on the horizon

Japanese baseball is getting ready to roll into Interleague play. The novel concept has done a lot for scheduling in Nippon Professional Baseball, as six-team leagues can get pretty tired of each other after a couple months of the usual slate of opponents.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
May 9, 2006

Local fury at Hardy perennial

Last month, as they have every year for decades, a small crowd of people gathered under fat cherry blossoms in Tokyo's Aoyama Park, carrying red lanterns, placards and peace symbols.
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
May 7, 2006

Japanese being ensnared in ill-suited U.S. trappings

Back in the 1960s and '70s, the Japanese people were being raked over the coals from West Virginia to the Ruhr Valley and beyond for, chiefly, two things.
JAPAN
May 3, 2006

Japan Post defies efforts to slim down swollen ranks

Japan Post Corp. drafted a privatization plan Tuesday that calls for hiring more employees, directly contradicting one of the main reasons for its privatization.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST
Apr 29, 2006

A boom time for Japanese electronics

Recently the day that my wife had long been predicting finally arrived -- sort of.
Japan Times
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Apr 28, 2006

Crafts collective opens up studio

The artisans of the Akeppiroge crafts collective will open up their homes and studios for the only time this year to visitors for an exhibition event to be held May 12-14 in Takashima, Shiga Prefecture -- a small scenic city on the western shore of Lake Biwa. Visitors are welcome from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m....
EDITORIALS
Apr 27, 2006

Elections bode poorly for LDP

The results of three elections earlier this week could be a bad omen for Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi and his Liberal Democratic Party. Ms. Kazumi Ota of the opposition Democratic Party of Japan defeated a candidate fielded by the LDP and supported by its coalition partner Komeito in a Lower House...
SPORTS / SPORTS SCOPE
Apr 26, 2006

Media's vilification of Bonds shows lack of objectivity

It's a question that has to be asked.
JAPAN
Apr 25, 2006

DPJ win helps Ozawa, reflects anti-LDP mood

The narrow victory of a Democratic Party of Japan candidate in Sunday's by-election in Chiba Prefecture has given a boost to the main opposition force's new president, Ichiro Ozawa, virtually assuring his re-election in the DPJ's presidential poll in September, political pundits say.
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
Apr 25, 2006

Temples, air cons and food

To begin, some responses to earlier columns:
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Apr 25, 2006

Aso family's 'slave' link under scrutiny

While Taro Aso's public statements as foreign minister have done little to help ease tensions between Tokyo and the rest of Asia, a family connection to wartime forced labor has raised further questions over his ability to oversee good relations with Japan's neighbors.
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Apr 23, 2006

Giants hope Glover has golden touch

In last week's column, I mentioned five key players who have triggered the phenomenal start this season by the Yomiuri Giants: second baseman Makoto Kosaka, outfielder Kenji Yano, first sacker Lee Seung Yeop, starting pitcher Jeremy "J.P." Powell and closer Kiyoshi Toyoda.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Apr 22, 2006

Enjoying life to the fullest during cherry-blossom viewing time

Imagine an entire old folks home on sake. That's what living on this island has been like ever since the cherry blossoms opened up. The first cherry-blossom viewing started last Sunday and the party hasn't stopped.
Japan Times
Reference / SO WHAT THE HECK IS THAT
Apr 18, 2006

Sound trucks

Dear Alice,
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Apr 18, 2006

Musical match for Japan Goliath

Tetsuo Tanaka has been protesting his dismissal from an electronics company for a quarter of a century. Now his struggle, one of the longest one-man campaigns in Japanese history, is to be the subject of a documentary
COMMENTARY
Apr 17, 2006

Ozawa confronts the LDP

The Democratic Party of Japan has made a fresh start under new chief Ichiro Ozawa, known for his "iron fist" leadership. His first priority is to revitalize the top opposition party, which has lost public trust following the fiasco over a fake e-mail.
Japan Times
LIFE / WEEK 3
Apr 16, 2006

What's really 'Chinese' about fortune cookies?

Try this for fun next time you're in New York City: Walk into any sushi bar, eat your fill and then ask for a fortune cookie.
BUSINESS
Apr 15, 2006

Son to head up Vodafone unit

Softbank Corp. President Masayoshi Son announced Friday he will assume the presidency of the recently acquired Japanese unit of Vodafone Group PLC.
EDITORIALS
Apr 14, 2006

A new approach for prisons

The 1908 Prison Law was revised last year to improve protection of prisoners' human rights and enhance their social rehabilitation, ushering in a new era of reforms in the nation's prison system. A new type of prison is now under construction in Mine, Yamaguchi Prefecture. The Mine Social Rehabilitation...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / THE SECOND ROOM
Apr 14, 2006

Psychedelic radar 04.14

Saturday, April 15
EDITORIALS
Apr 12, 2006

A hazard named Winny

It seems not a day passes without news on leakage of confidential information from governmental and other entities onto the Internet. The types of information leaked are vast and the content is critical -- Self-Defense Forces-related documents, quake-resistance data for nuclear-power plants, access codes...
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Apr 11, 2006

Sick, desperate Japanese turn to booming Chinese organ trade

When Kenichiro Hokamura's kidneys failed, he spent four years on dialysis before going online to check out rumors of organs for sale.
JAPAN
Apr 11, 2006

Abe ahead for top job but Fukuda gains ground

A majority of respondents to a recent Kyodo News survey say they want Chief Cabinet Secretary Shinzo Abe to replace Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi when the ruling Liberal Democratic Party elects a new leader in September.
JAPAN
Apr 9, 2006

Ozawa poised to bedevil the LDP

The election of political veteran Ichiro Ozawa as the new leader of the Democratic Party of Japan poses a threat to the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, regardless of who the next prime minister will be, according to political observers.
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Apr 9, 2006

Pa League needs to know 'summer game' no fun in snow

A request this week to the Pacific League to please move back next season's Opening Day closer to where it belongs -- in April. I know the Pa League likes to begin play a week earlier than its Central League cousin, but is it going to start the 2007 season on March 24? This year, it began on Saturday,...

Longform

Tetsuzo Shiraishi, speaking at The Center of the Tokyo Raids and War Damage, uses a thermos to explain how he experienced the U.S. firebombing of March 1945, when he was just 7 years old.
From ashes to high-rises: A survivor’s account of Tokyo’s postwar past