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COMMENTARY
Oct 31, 2007

Consistency, proportionality and hypocris

LONDON — Fifteen months ago, the armed wing of Lebanon's Hezbollah party, listed as a terrorist organization by the United States and most other Western countries, attacked Israel's northern border, capturing two Israeli soldiers and killing eight more. Israel replied with a month of massive air attacks...
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital
Oct 31, 2007

Loopy Lisa offers a surreal take on cybersex

The Internet is a wonderful thing. By firing up your computer and jacking it into a wall socket, you have instant access to millions of pages of information. You can learn about any subject under the sun, share your knowledge with others, market your business, buy almost any product imaginable, keep...
LIFE / Digital
Oct 31, 2007

Whole worlds inside the screen

With a population of Net-cafe refugees in Japan reported in August to be 5,400, and the recent demise of a 28-year-old South Korean, identified as Lee, who reportedly died after playing an online computer game for 50 hours straight, many are wondering what online virtual worlds are all about.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Oct 30, 2007

Hatoyama in hot water over 'al-Qaida connection'

Justice Minister Kunio Hatoyama found himself in hot water Monday after telling reporters that he has an acquaintance who was a friend of an al-Qaida terrorist involved in the October 2002 bombing in Bali, Indonesia.
MORE SPORTS
Oct 28, 2007

Online chats set to debut Tuesday

The Japan Times invites the public to chat online about sports with staff writers Jack Gallagher, James Mulligan, Ed Odeven and Jason Coskrey each Tuesday at noon and ask questions about the Japanese pro sports scene and overseas pro leagues.
MORE SPORTS
Oct 28, 2007

Morozov: Maturity key to Miki's comeback

The transformation was nothing short of phenomenal.
Reader Mail
Oct 28, 2007

Memories of better times

It is a sad day for many people -- staff, teachers and students -- whether they be past or present. I had six fabulous years with Nova, and today I feel for all who have been hurt. Some will take delight with the current news, but I feel sorry for those who can get joy in the suffering of the innocent...
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Oct 28, 2007

Celebrity talk show, imperial family special, rice-shop drama

Television producers spend all their time trying to come up with new ways to get celebrities to reveal their most personal secrets on the air. On the new variety show "Ochanoma no Shinjitsu (Truth in the Parlor)" (TV Tokyo, Monday, 9 p.m.), which is subtitled "Moshikashite Watashi Dake (I guess I'm the...
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Oct 28, 2007

A rough guide to avoiding ethnocentric cloddery

Writing in The Guardian on Oct. 16, Mark McCrum listed 10 "hot tips to avoid social embarrassment" while traveling overseas. There were three among these travel faux pas that particularly caught my eye.
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball / 2007 NPB PLAYOFFS
Oct 27, 2007

Ochiai still defies conventional wisdom

SAPPORO — After the Chunichi Dragons won the Central League Climax Series title, there were no wild celebrations, no beer fights and certainly no managers being tossed into the air. Hardly traditional, which is exactly what you would've expected from Hiromitsu Ochiai.
BUSINESS
Oct 27, 2007

Nissan profit drops 27% but sales growth promising

Nissan Motor Co. reported Friday a 27 percent decline in profit for the July-September quarter on one-time expenses and higher taxes that eroded overall sales growth and improved earnings in core auto operations.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / PERSONALITY PROFILE
Oct 27, 2007

Ryozo Tanaka

A question often asked of Professor Ryozo Tanaka is "What made you so keen on English culture and tradition?"
JAPAN
Oct 26, 2007

Lean harvest ups 'matsutake' price

called a 'phantom,' " he said. In addition to the poor harvest, the government's ban on North Korean imports and reduced imports from China on safety concerns have driven up the price of homegrown matsutake, which now comprise less than 10 percent of total matsutake consumption in Japan.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Oct 25, 2007

Tokyo Motor Show offers peek at future

CHIBA — With oil prices hitting new highs, producing eco-friendly and fuel-efficient cars has become the norm for most carmakers.
Reader Mail
Oct 25, 2007

Teaching staff needs diversity

Regarding the Oct. 13 article "Aussie Nova teachers to be helped by consulates": It's interesting to hear of (English-conversation school) Nova's problems due to management. I taught in Japan from 1999 to 2004 for various companies and as an independent teacher. I applied twice to Nova (once in Japan...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Oct 25, 2007

'Afro Samurai': anime international

On paper, the making of "Afro Samurai" reads like a recipe for an identity crisis. An animation about an African-American swordsman in a futuristic feudal Japan, it sprang from the mind of a Tokyo illustrator and was brought to fruition in English by a Japanese-U.S. production team, A-list Hollywood...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Oct 25, 2007

Hands on contemporary clay

D.H. Rosen, an occasional contributor to The Japan Times Arts Page, is also a ceramicist who has been studying art at Tama Art University in Tokyo since 2004. Unlike many foreign ceramic artists who come to absorb the traditional wabi-sabi aesthetic of traditional pottery, Rosen was interested in Tama...
EDITORIALS
Oct 24, 2007

Libya comes out of the cold

Libya has won a nonpermanent seat on the United Nations Security Council. Tripoli's victory is the clearest sign of its international rehabilitation and a possible lesson for other so-called rogue states: Returning and respecting international norms can pay real dividends.
JAPAN
Oct 24, 2007

Wrestler's death leads sumo to probe training

may face criminal charges of manslaughter.
BUSINESS
Oct 24, 2007

BOJ must act independently: Yosano

The Bank of Japan has "normalized" interest rates without hurting financial markets and should keep doing so without interference from politicians, said Kaoru Yosano, head of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party's fiscal reform panel.
Reference / Special Presentations / WITNESS TO WAR
Oct 24, 2007

Vivisectionist recalls his day of reckoning

Eleventh in a series
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
Oct 24, 2007

'Gore's Nobel Prize is wonderful'

As soon as the rumors began that former U.S. Vice President Al Gore and the U.N. Intergovern- mental Panel on Climate Change were being considered for a Nobel Peace Prize it was easy to predict at least one thing: Win or not, the commentators, pundits and bloggers were going to have a field day.
JAPAN
Oct 23, 2007

MSDF knew of oil error since '03

The Defense Ministry admitted Monday that some Maritime Self-Defense Force officers were aware of an underreporting "mistake" concerning the amount of fuel Japan provided to the U.S. in 2003 but failed to report it to their seniors for more than four years.
EDITORIALS
Oct 23, 2007

Quality care with less

A government plan to save on medical costs by reducing the number of hospital beds dedicated to long-term convalescence is causing anxiety for patients and their families. If the health ministry carries out the plan carelessly, it could lead to the loss of people's trust in the nation's medical system....

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