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SOCCER / J. League
Mar 2, 2007

S-Pulse's Fujimoto eyes national team

Up-and-coming playmaker Jungo Fujimoto has set his sights on a place in the Japan national team this year, and Shimizu S-Pulse coach Kenta Hasegawa believes he is ready to make the step up.
JAPAN / WHEN A CITY GOES BUST
Mar 2, 2007

Once Tokyo's spa playground, Atami fading fast

ATAMI, Shizuoka Pref. -- Tamae "Meme" Ono remembers fondly the late 1980s when the hot spring resort of Atami was a glamorous place to be.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Mar 2, 2007

'The Last King of Scotland'

If you're thinking that "The Last King Of Scotland" is some kind of fantasy-sequel to "Braveheart," well, guess again. The "king" of the film's title is 1970s Ugandan dictator Idi Amin Dada, who was a former barracks boy with the King's Highlanders, and liked to boast that his defiance of Uganda's British...
SOCCER / J. League
Mar 1, 2007

Captain Sato wants 3rd cup triumph

JEF United Chiba's Yuto Sato is the exact opposite of Amar Osim -- he sounds like he is actually looking forward to the new season.
SOCCER / J. League
Mar 1, 2007

Osim Jr. feels the pressure

The pressure is on Amar Osim this season -- and doesn't he know it.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Mar 1, 2007

Scriptwriter talks about Japan hit 'Letters'

Scriptwriting is something seemingly everyone in Hollywood does, from cab drivers to this year's Oscar host Ellen DeGeneres, who jokingly presented director Martin Scorsese with a script during the telecast. But the percentage of first-time scriptwriters who succeed in getting a feature film made is...
BASKETBALL / NBA / NBA REPORT
Feb 28, 2007

Bird's memories of D.J.

NEW YORK -- How wretchedly ironic Dennis Johnson, 52, dropped dead from a heart attack on the day of the NBA's trading deadline.
Reader Mail
Feb 28, 2007

The obedient and unthinking life

Regarding Eric Larson's Feb. 14 letter, "An institutionalized hazing system" -- about what is happening in public schools in Iwate Prefecture: It is dreadful and it reminds me of the sad and horrible experiences during the flourishing militaristic period in the 1940s. I used to be afraid to go to school...
JAPAN
Feb 28, 2007

Panel endorses formation of new security council

The formation of a Japanese version of the U.S. National Security Council designed to respond quickly to fast-developing threats ranging from terrorism to North Korea's nuclear ambitions was endorsed Tuesday by a government panel in its final report.
JAPAN
Feb 28, 2007

U.N. special rapporteur challenges Ibuki's 'homogenous' claim

The U.N. special rapporteur on racism countered Education Minister Bunmei Ibuki's claim over the weekend that Japan is a homogenous country.
BUSINESS
Feb 27, 2007

McDonald's, DoCoMo team up on marketing

McDonald's Holding Co. announced Monday it will form a joint venture with NTT DoCoMo Inc. to use the cell phone company's services to distribute e-coupons and gather customer information for marketing.
BASKETBALL
Feb 26, 2007

Evessa complete sweep of Niigata

OSAKA -- Championship teams usually share one common trait: They raise their level of play in the most critical stages of games.
BASKETBALL
Feb 26, 2007

Ellis' onslaught lifts HeatDevils

Andy Ellis scored 40 points to lead the visiting Oita HeatDevils to a 92-89 victory over the Sendai 89ers in bj-league action on Sunday.
SOCCER / J. League
Feb 25, 2007

Gamba trounces Reds in Xerox Cup

Brazilian striker Magno Alves masterminded Urawa Reds' downfall with a hat trick as Gamba Osaka thrashed the J. League champions 4-0 in the Xerox Super Cup on Saturday.
BASKETBALL / ONE-ON-ONE WITH ...
Feb 25, 2007

Suzuki takes pride in heady play

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. Yukinori Suzuki of the Oita HeatDevils is the subject of this week's profile.
Reader Mail
Feb 25, 2007

Senseless dolphin slaughter

Thank you for publishing Boyd Harnell's Feb. 14 article, "Eyewitness to slaughter in Taiji's killing coves," the account of the dolphin killings in Wakayama Prefecture. Animal cruelty occurs worldwide, but few things are as horrifying as the mass slaughter of the one of the world's most intelligent,...
Japan Times
LIFE
Feb 25, 2007

Law and disorder

I was surprised when Jaime Xavier Lopez, the head of Sacred Heart, a notorious "martial-arts" group, told me to meet him at the government's Office of Cadastral Surveys and Property, where he has his day job. Or that's where he did work, since he is now imprisoned.
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Feb 25, 2007

Will strategic retreat soon signal Australia's tardy advancement?

Apolitical wrangle, with Prime Minister John Howard as the prime wrangler, has begun in the rodeo ring of Australian politics -- and it certainly looks as if someone is going to take a spill.
EDITORIALS
Feb 25, 2007

Tehran shows its contempt

Iran's contempt for international opinion could not be plainer. The government in Tehran has flatly ignored the Feb. 21 deadline set by the United Nations Security Council to suspend its uranium-enrichment program. The burden is now on those who desire a multilateral order based on respect for international...
CULTURE / Books
Feb 25, 2007

Upstairs, downstairs and inside old Japan

Companions of the Holiday by Donald Richie, with an introduction by Timothy Harris and an afterword by the author. Tokyo/New York: Printed Matter Press, 181 pp., $15 (paper) Donald Richie is known to readers of The Japan Times for his regular reviews of books dealing with Asia, and more particularly...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Feb 25, 2007

Women who give a rise to the man below them; it must be love

The big show business news last weekend was the wedding of model-actress Norika Fujiwara to comedian Tomonori Jinnai at a shrine in Kobe. The press were not permitted to attend the Shinto ceremony, but Fujiwara and Jinnai did come out a few times in their costumes to talk to reporters, which was nice...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / PERSONALITY PROFILE
Feb 24, 2007

Toyoko Fry

Lady Fry, wife of British Ambassador Sir Graham Fry, is director of the Art of Dining Exhibition on March 7. All proceeds from this event go to Refugees International Japan, a volunteer organization with world-wide relief projects.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Feb 23, 2007

Roofs raised in prayer

Most people are only too aware of the devastating effects of global warming -- the breaking up of polar ice shelves, weather patterns going haywire, glaciers in retreat, that documentary starring Al Gore. But the thermal consequences of all the carbon that humans assiduously upload into the atmosphere...
EDITORIALS
Feb 23, 2007

Reaffirming a commitment

Nothing dramatic happened -- no new demands or agreements -- during U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney's meetings with Japanese leaders this week. His visit should be interpreted as a U.S. effort to reaffirm its close ties with Japan and thus help enhance its image as a world leader as it faces difficult...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Feb 23, 2007

A spiritual conversation

The foreign music press has a weakness for weird Japanese music.
BUSINESS
Feb 22, 2007

Ending poverty in Asia key challenge: ADB exec

Despite Asia's splendid economic success stories, daunting challenges continue, not the least of which is poverty, Rajat Nag, new managing director general of the Asian Development Bank, said Wednesday in an interview with The Japan Times in Tokyo.
JAPAN
Feb 22, 2007

Recognize us and apologize, ex-wartime sex slave tells Tokyo

Tokyo should officially recognize the women Japan forced into sexual slavery for the Imperial army in the 1930s and '40s and formally apologize, a South Korean former "comfort woman" demanded Wednesday.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 22, 2007

Truth and consequences of inequality

NEW HAVEN, Conn. -- Leaders around the world seem to be convinced that inequality and lack of broad participation in economic growth, if allowed to persist, will lead to social discord and even violence. But is inequality the real problem?
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 21, 2007

Dealing with Iran's rapid rise in regional influence

BEIRUT -- America's decision to target Iranian agents in Iraq who may be involved in supporting violent militias is but another sign of the massive influence Iran is exercising in that troubled country. But the United States in fact facilitated Iran's growing influence by toppling Saddam Hussein's regime...

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