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JAPAN
Feb 25, 2006

Number of arrests for Web crimes hits record

The number of people arrested for Internet-linked crimes in Japan rose almost 52 percent last year to a record 3,161, the National Police Agency said Thursday.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Feb 25, 2006

Software aids communication in cultural context

Nils Plett, president and CEO of QE Tech, is tall. While angling my camera skyward to get his picture, walking alongside requires two steps to his every stride.
JAPAN
Feb 24, 2006

Upgrade plan finds Shimokitazawa split

A popular Tokyo shopping and nightlife district is slated to get a major face-lift, and some local residents are resisting, saying they want their neighborhood to stay as is.
BUSINESS
Feb 22, 2006

Japan Post Corp. names eight execs

The board of Japan Post Corp., the holding company formed in January to prepare for the privatization of the country's postal system, appointed its eight senior executives Tuesday, including Sakon Uda, principal at McKinsey & Co., and Akira Uno, former chairman of SMBC Consulting Co., company officials...
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
Feb 22, 2006

S. Korean wetland faces doom

For those readers long ago numbed to the fraud, waste and environmental abuse that accompanies public works projects in Japan, here's one that might jump-start your ire: A project by the South Korean government to landfill and develop 40,100 hectares (almost 100,000 acres) of coastal waters and wetlands...
EDITORIALS
Feb 21, 2006

Mr. Koizumi's running on empty

The Diet is in turmoil over a fresh scandal. At a session of the Lower House Budget Committee last Thursday, an opposition party member alleged that Mr. Takafumi Horie, the disgraced former chief executive of the Internet company Livedoor, had sent an internal e-mail to subordinates before the Sept....
JAPAN
Feb 21, 2006

Child killings cast light on isolated foreign moms

The arrest of a Chinese woman in Friday's fatal stabbing of two children she routinely drove to kindergarten in Nagahama, Shiga Prefecture, has cast a light on the problems foreigners face in trying to fit into Japanese society.
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Feb 19, 2006

Tuffy Rhodes: the best ever foreign player in Japan

The 10-year Japan career of Tuffy Rhodes has apparently come to an end with the announcement last week he had signed a contract with his hometown team, the Cincinnati Reds.
JAPAN
Feb 17, 2006

Spike in postal remittances to North Korea scrutinized

Japan has seen a sharp increase in the number of postal remittances to North Korea in recent years, an opposition lawmaker said Thursday.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Feb 14, 2006

Enemy of the state

Is Toshiyuki Obora a threat to society? The Japanese state certainly seems to think so. The police arrested the 47-year-old elementary school worker and held him in detention for 75 days.
Japan Times
Features
Feb 12, 2006

Refuge of Last Resort

It is 9 o'clock on a freezing winter's morning in Sanya, eastern Tokyo, a blighted downtown district that was once famed as a day laborers' mecca. Now, it is home to thousands of aging men on welfare.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 9, 2006

Battling to win the hearts of Taiwanese

SINGAPORE -- As flights cross the Taiwan Strait at the start of the Year of the Dog, hopes have been high for a possible rapprochement in ties between Beijing and Taipei. But observers are split on whether to expect "a new spring" or renewed tensions across the strait in the next two years before Chen...
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
Feb 7, 2006

Guarantors and leaving the country

Guarantor Is there an organization in Japan that serves as a guarantor for foreigners in Japan who want to rent apartments?
JAPAN
Feb 2, 2006

Police conduct wiretapping in murder case for first time

Police said Wednesday they used wiretapping in a murder case for the first time last year and arrested a suspect in the gangland slaying.
EDITORIALS
Jan 31, 2006

The future of local post offices

Japan Post has announced a "master plan to reform postal offices" as the process of privatizing the mammoth state-run entity of 260,000 employees is set to begin in October 2007. The focus of the plan is the reform of the specially designated tokutei post offices, which account for three-fourths of the...
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Jan 29, 2006

Beverlin back for another chance after Tommy John surgery

Call this the year of the recycled foreign player in Japanese baseball.
BUSINESS
Jan 28, 2006

Bargain-hunters circling Livedoor group in search of value

What's in a name?
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Jan 28, 2006

The rah-rah radish, part II

On Shiraishi Island, the radish rah-rah starts in December, when you see "o-baa-chans" pushing wheelbarrows full of daikon. The esteemed radish is wheeled around -- entire radish families are given rides. In December and January, they are pulled out of gardens and transported to houses. If you look closely,...
BUSINESS
Jan 26, 2006

Horie resigns from Livedoor board

Livedoor Co. founder Takafumi Horie, who stepped down as the Internet firm's president Tuesday, resigned from the boards of all Livedoor group firms Wednesday, the company said.
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
Jan 25, 2006

Saving our environment one step at a time

Having ended 2005 with a rant (see below), let me begin 2006 on a more positive note by introducing some valuable environmental education resources.
JAPAN
Jan 24, 2006

Fuji TV mulls selloff, compensation

Fuji Television Network Inc. will consider selling off its stake in Livedoor Co. and seeking compensation for the valuation loss on the shareholdings, which were estimated at about 9.76 billion yen as of Monday, sources said.
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design
Jan 24, 2006

DoCoMo's D902i phone, Signeo's MP3 player, Rooshopper tote bags, TEPCO's cooking heater, Stand Kamimakiki

It's the start of a new year and that often means making changes in your life. Want to be an eco-friendly shopper? Looking to make some much needed improvements in the household? Or maybe you just want to make the people around you exhibit signs of envy by sporting some new 2006 gear. Here are a few...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST
Jan 21, 2006

My dog -- the Buddhist

When it comes to matters of religion, I tend to equivocate.
BUSINESS
Jan 21, 2006

Exec promotions in limbo amid Livedoor probe

The ongoing probe into the Livedoor group cast shadows Friday on executive appointments at three of its firms.
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Jan 20, 2006

Half-price kabuki

Foreigners in Japan can now apply for first-class kabuki ticket seats at half price as part of the International Theatre Institute's Kabuki appreciation campaign in February. The performances take place Feb. 17-19 (4.30 p.m.) at Kabuki-za Theater in Ginza, Tokyo. The program features three kabuki plays,...
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Jan 20, 2006

Serfs up, say TIP

Written at a time when his country was faltering after the Crimean War but was still clinging to feudalism, Anton Chekhov's "The Cherry Orchard" examines a Russia in the midst of social transformation. Tokyo International Players aim to give fresh impetus to this ageless play, to be performed from Jan....
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / WILD WATCH
Jan 18, 2006

Half-truths to the aid of conservation

Let's just imagine for a moment that you are a conservationist. You discover, or become aware of, the breeding location of a rare mammal or bird, or of a site where there is an endangered plant growing. What do you do?
JAPAN / FRAMING THE FUTURE
Jan 4, 2006

Crime fight goes high-tech to protect kids, assets

Not long ago most people in Japan felt this was one of the most crime-free nations in the world, but recent high-profile, violent crimes have shattered that sense of security.

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