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Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / VIEWS FROM THE STREET
May 22, 2007

Do you think the Japanese police are effective?

Reader Mail
May 20, 2007

Baby drop rekindles memories

I sobbed Friday morning (May 11) when I read the front-page article "Calls flood Kumamoto hospital as it opens first baby hatch." Sixty-year old memories shocked me like jolts of electricity. After being abandoned in an orphanage, I spent many agonizing years not understanding the subliminal pain and...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
May 20, 2007

Buy a car and drive up your grocery bill

Toyota Motor Corp. made headlines when it announced that its profit for 2006 was a record-breaking 2.24 trillion yen. In the United States, the news was greeted with some bitterness, since the Japan automaker had recently surpassed General Motors in terms of worldwide sales for the first time ever.
Reader Mail
May 20, 2007

The toughest job in town

I just read an article in The Japan Times about the nation's record-low birthrate. I am one of the angry people who have four children in this country -- I am German and my husband is Japanese. If anybody would like to know why there are so few children, I would like to show them how hard it is to have...
Japan Times
LIFE / WEEK 3
May 20, 2007

Caring team helps retie life's loose ends

We have all had one or two unforgettably heartfelt encounters in our lives, whether long-lost first loves or more distant crushes whose intensity it is still possible, years later, to reconjure with ease.
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
May 20, 2007

An exemplar of where the war-crimes buck stops

Over the coming months in this column, I will return a few times to a film titled "Ashita e no Yuigon (Best Wishes for Tomorrow)." I have been very fortunate to be able to write the script for this together with its director, Takashi Koizumi, whose last film, "Hakase no Aishita Sushiki (The Professor...
BASKETBALL
May 19, 2007

Golden Kings name Planells coach

The Ryukyu Golden Kings, one of the bj-league's two expansion teams for the 2007-08 season, named Hernando Planells Jr. as its first head coach, the Okinawa-based club announced Friday. The 30-year-old Planells, whose father is Spanish and has lived in Japan, was at the helm of the Wyoming Golden Eagles...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
May 19, 2007

A reflection on harmonious cohabitation

It seems the insects arrive every year during Golden Week. Is it possible that even the insects are on this Japanese work schedule with set travel times? Or maybe it's insect tenkin. Transfer or travel, during Golden Week we are all on the same migration pattern. Face it, we're all just really large...
Japan Times
BUSINESS
May 19, 2007

Farm concession said key to U.S. FTA

Opening up Japan's politically sensitive agriculture market is the key to establishing a free-trade agreement between Japan and the United States, according to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce's vice president for Asia.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
May 19, 2007

Doctor to foreign community moves with times

Dr. Fred Shane is a familiar figure in his community. Something to do with his pink hat, perhaps? "I've always sported colorful head gear," he chuckles, peering over his doctor's desk in a brand new clinic in Minato Ward, Tokyo. "This one my daughter bought for me. Before that, I had a red hat — I...
Japan Times
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
May 18, 2007

Slapstick 'n' high-flyin' kicks

A chop suey of martial arts, acrobatics and slapstick, "Jump" is a nonverbal, comic martial-arts musical centered around a zany Korean family. It runs through May 18-June 24 (times vary) at Shinjuku Theater Apple, Tokyo. It then tours to Osaka's Kosei Nenkin Kaikan from June 28-July 5. The company behind...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
May 18, 2007

Unafraid of rightist rage

Directors tend to be articulate types, especially when discussing (or rather spinning) their own films, but Kazuyuki Izutsu has few equals in the art of spoken communication, in or out of the director's chair. From snappy one-liners about dull movies to verbal bombshells aimed at local rightists, Izutsu...
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
May 18, 2007

In thrall to a craggy coast

Hopping on the train at Tokyo Station after the morning rush hour still gets you to south Izu for lunch. So, with a promise of stunning views of the sea and more fresh fish sashimi than you could throw a wasabi tube at, we relaxed on the Super View "Odoriko" train to Izukyu Shimoda Station — later...
BASKETBALL
May 17, 2007

Japanese shoot for dreams

This was no leisurely way to spend a weekend.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
May 17, 2007

Parodies in pottery

At first glance, the colorful, classically shaped vase adorned with flower prints and pictures of doll-like young girls seems harmless enough. It's the second look that throws you.
BUSINESS
May 17, 2007

Sony logs 68% slump in operating profit

Sony Corp. announced Wednesday that its operating profit plunged 68.3 percent to 71.75 billion yen in the 2006 business year because of price cuts on the PlayStation 3 and the cost of recalling lithium-ion batteries.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
May 17, 2007

Changes of note

She has quietly become one of the decade's best-selling artists, has a third No.1 album in the charts — and debuts as an actor in the film opening this week's Cannes Film Festival
Japan Times
JAPAN
May 16, 2007

Documentary traces 'ritual' of Japan election campaign

In Japan, candidates who run for office generally don't rise naturally from the grass roots. Many are molded into politicians by extremely organized election campaigns.
JAPAN / Q&A
May 15, 2007

What follows from passage of Constitution referendum bill?

The Diet on Monday passed a bill to establish procedures for a national referendum to revise the Constitution. The bill was a key agenda item for Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, a conservative who has repeatedly stressed his intention to revise the Constitution, which was drafted in 1947 under the Allied...
COMMENTARY / World
May 15, 2007

Helping the free-trade losers

PARIS — On both sides of the Atlantic, many view economic globalization as a threat to below-average earners.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
May 15, 2007

Citizen-journalism Web sites struggle to attract reporters

Most people would probably consider park benches an unusual target for journalistic scrutiny, but Yumiko Hayakawa was determined to get to the bottom of the matter. She interviewed over 100 people, spoke to park officials, gave out a questionnaire and took photos in parks around Tokyo.
SUMO
May 13, 2007

Asashoryu a major obstacle to Hakuho's hopes for promotion

After losing to ozeki Hakuho by a sneaky sidestep maneuver in a playoff in the spring, you can bet your bottom dollar yokozuna Asashoryu is ready to put his countryman through the proverbial wringer at the Summer Grand Sumo Tournament.
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
May 13, 2007

5,000 victories, throwback uniforms and the oiribukuro

In commemoration of their 5,000th victory in the history of the franchise, the Yomiuri Giants will wear throwback uniforms during some interleague games next month.

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