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COMMENTARY
Mar 19, 2007

Security panel's birth pangs

Under the initiative of the Prime Minister's Office, the government is moving to establish a national security council that will formulate Japan's diplomatic and security strategies. On the basis of a Feb. 27 report submitted by an expert panel, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is hoping to inaugurate the council...
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 19, 2007

Abe should be looking forward, not back

HONOLULU -- What was he thinking? That is the question most Japan-watchers grappled with following Japanese Prime Minister Abe Shinzo's fumbled questions about the imperial Japanese government's role in recruiting "comfort women" during World War II. His responses came close to undoing the progress he...
MORE SPORTS
Mar 18, 2007

Golden girl Arakawa retains passion after Olympic glory

Time flies when you are on top of the world.
Reader Mail
Mar 18, 2007

Old-fashioned patriotism won't fly

The version of patriotism Misao Nakaya suggests in his March 7 letter, "Teach patriotism at school," seems to be the old-fashioned kind related to blind acceptance of authority and self-sacrifice. This kind of selfless patriotism is clearly not politically neutral and hardly represents a true feeling...
COMMENTARY
Mar 18, 2007

Blind spot on Africa's population boom

LONDON -- You look at the numbers and you think: "That's impossible." Uganda had about 7 million people at independence in 1962, and in only 45 years it has grown to 30 million. By 2050, there will be 130 million Ugandans, and it will be the 12th biggest country in the world, with more people than Russia...
Japan Times
LIFE / WEEK 3
Mar 18, 2007

Flaky or fact? Are 'power spots' wacky ... or what?

After minus-ion bottled water to transform your entire being, and natto (fermented soybeans) that was claimed to effortlessly turn chubbies into model specimens, "power spots" look to be taking their turn at the pinnacle of Japan's ever-fleeting (but ever-marketable) fascination with the slightly otherworldly....
CULTURE / Books
Mar 18, 2007

Joking aside, the recovery offers a lifetime opportunity

The Japanese Money Tree: How Investors Can Prosper from Japan's Economic Rebirth, by Andrew Shipley. Pearson Education, 2006, 245 pp., $24.99 (cloth) Derided during the 1990s by foreign fund managers as "the sick man of Asia," Japan's weak growth performance after the economic bubble burst made it the...
Japan Times
LIFE / WEEK 3
Mar 18, 2007

Organized chaos marks a 'sacred' romp

When the clock struck midnight on the morning of February 18, 9,000 loinclothed men screaming the collective "yahoo" word "washoi" at the top of their voices threw themselves into a desperate struggle to grab and hold on to one of the two large or even any of the lesser "good-luck" sticks blessed by...
JAPAN
Mar 17, 2007

Horie handed 2 1/2 years

The Tokyo District Court sentenced Livedoor Co. founder Takafumi Horie to 2 1/2 years in prison Friday for falsifying financial statements and violating the Securities and Exchange Law in a harsh ruling sure to raise questions about double standards in the justice system.
Japan Times
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Mar 16, 2007

Kabuki exposed

'Kabuki for Everyone" at the National Theatre of Japan in Chiyoda Ward, Tokyo, on March 28 will be a rare opportunity to discover the subtleties of this traditional art form in English. Experienced onnagata (female role) actor Ichimura Manjuro established "Kabuki for Everybody," and has led these introductory...
Japan Times
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Mar 16, 2007

Full-color business and pleasure

If there's one thing that's drawing the eyes of the world toward Japan, it'sanime. From "Akira" to "Spirited Away," through years of moving, high-concept beauties and "video nasties," and right down to the plethora of sprawling half-hour cartoon series, animation is widely regarded as Japan's key artistic...
Japan Times
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Mar 16, 2007

Concert calls upon you and your cellphone

Tony Prabowo has become Indonesia's foremost contemporary composer with his fusion of Indonesian and Western-style music. The music of Prabowo will be performed at a series of concerts, titled "Absolute-MIX Presents Electro-Acoustic Music," in Tokyo on March 27-28.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Mar 15, 2007

Empress is palace's latest stress victim

It's not easy being a woman in the Imperial family.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Mar 15, 2007

In dark woods

The Dazaifu Tenmangu Shrine in Kyushu is a peaceful, tranquillity-filled spot detached from the bustle of big cities like Fukuoka, a half-hour drive away. It has been a place of worship since it was built on the grave of Michizane Sugawara, a beloved high-ranking Heian Period official who died in exile...
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Mar 14, 2007

IRCJ chief satisfied as bailout body prepares to wind down

Atsushi Saito, president of the Industrial Revitalization Corp. of Japan, is confident the government-backed bailout agency has done more than revive ailing companies.
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Mar 13, 2007

Japan is obliged to accept refugees, so why so few?

In 1981, Japan signed the U.N. 1951 Conventions Relating to the Status of Refugees and in 1982, it inked the 1967 Protocol Relating to the Status of Refugees and enacted the Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Law. Signatories are obliged to give refugees due recognition and protect their basic...
SOCCER
Mar 13, 2007

Inter downs AC in Milan derby

ROME (AP) Zlatan Ibrahimovic scored Sunday to lead Inter Milan to a come-from-behind 2-1 win over city rival AC Milan.
SOCCER
Mar 13, 2007

Multiplex hands over Wembley

SYDNEY (AP) London's Wembley Stadium has been officially handed to its owners by Australia's Multiplex Group after more than a year of delays to the reconstruction of the iconic sports ground.
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Mar 13, 2007

What women want is to be treated 'like a girl'

Since the Danjyo Koyo Kikai Kinto Ho (Equal Employment Opportunity Law) kicked in two decades ago, it's become the norm for women to work as hard and long as men, though not necessarily under the same conditions. Accordingly, money matters between danjyo (men and women) have become a lot more complicated....
BASKETBALL / ONE-ON-ONE WITH ...
Mar 11, 2007

Takamatsu's Nakagawa reaped benefits from time spent playing pro ball overseas

The Japan Times will be featuring periodic interviews with players in the bj-league -- Japan's first professional basketball circuit -- which is in its second season. Kazuyuki Nakagawa of the Takamatsu Five Arrows is the subject of this week's profile.
EDITORIALS
Mar 11, 2007

Long road to rehabilitation

The announcement last June by Yubari, Hokkaido, a former coal-mining town now known for the Yubari brand of melon, that it had effectively gone bankrupt sent shock waves throughout the nation because many cities, towns and villages face a similar financial crisis. The city has adopted, and the government...
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Mar 11, 2007

What will happen to all that Japanese boomers' cash?

Hurry! Don't miss out! Yamaha, the giant musical-instrument manufacturer, is offering three-month ukulele courses! Or, the more adventurous can avail themselves of the services of travel agents at JTB who are promoting a six-day tour -- or an eight-day rongubakeeshon (long vacation) tour of Hawaii, where...
BASKETBALL / BJ-LEAGUE NOTEBOOK
Mar 10, 2007

HeatDevils need more Ayer

After the opening tipoff, every statistic that is quickly jotted down on a sheet of paper or frantically typed into a computer becomes a permanent piece of a game's history.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Mar 10, 2007

Hit's failure to woo Japan baffles inventor

In the U.K. over Christmas, 300,000 electronic Test Tube Aliens flew off toy store shelves to encourage kids to be both active and interactive nurturers.

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