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Japan Times
BUSINESS
Feb 20, 2007

Japanese manufacturers look to cash in on solar power boom

With the global-warming documentary "An Inconvenient Truth" hot at the box office and a recent report by the U.N. laying the blame for climate change and rising sea levels at humanity's feet, renewable energy sources are getting a fresh look.
BASKETBALL
Feb 19, 2007

89ers ride free throws in rout

If he had occupied the tiny speck of real estate known as the free-throw line any longer, the authorities would've demanded that Mamadou Diouf start paying rent, and rightfully so.
BASKETBALL
Feb 19, 2007

Five Arrows on target for split

The Takamatsu Five Arrows earned a weekend split against the Niigata Albirex BB on Sunday, closing out the two-game series with a 90-82 victory on the road. The Five Arrows and Albirex, who share identical 17-11 records, remain two games behind the league-leading Osaka Evessa (19-9), who beat the Saitama...
BUSINESS / THE VIEW FROM EUROPE
Feb 19, 2007

Idle talk of 'unbundling' highlights EU's energy dependency woes

The EU Transport, Telecommunications and Energy Council met in Brussels Feb. 15, and the chief item on the agenda was the "unbundling" of power networks.
Reader Mail
Feb 18, 2007

Lack of Islamic expertise shows

In Dinesh D'Souza's Feb. 5 article, "Bin Laden, America's left and the hysterical reaction to the 'The Enemy at Home' (D'Souza's book)," D'Souza argues that "Bin Laden isn't upset that there are U.S. troops in Mecca" -- since there are no troops in Mecca. This is technically true, but Osama bin Laden...
Japan Times
LIFE / WEEK 3
Feb 18, 2007

Close your eyes, count to 10 . . . and play to your heart's content

It seems only natural that everyone should have a wild time, at least once in their life, because for the most part our mortal span is occupied with studying, making a living or raising a family. All that, of course, can be fun -- but it tends to be rather serious stuff as well.
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Feb 18, 2007

Whose Japan deserves youth's patriotism now?

'I for one, cannot believe that love of one's country must consist in blindness to its social faults, in deafness to its social discords, in inarticulation of its social wrongs. Neither can I believe that the mere accident of birth in a certain country or the mere scrap of a citizen's paper constitutes...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Feb 17, 2007

Japan's pop culture made palatable for the layman

Roland Kelts does not look like his publicity photo, in large part because he's wearing sunglasses. But not because he's trying to be cool: "It's just that my eyes are really tired this morning."
EDITORIALS
Feb 16, 2007

JAL's last chance at revival

The medium-term restructuring plan announced last week by Japan Airlines Corp. is a plan for the survival of the nation's flag carrier. The group is saddled with 1.7 trillion yen in debt. JAL President and CEO Haruka Nishimatsu summarized the importance of achieving the goals when he said, "We must keep...
SOCCER / World cup
Feb 15, 2007

World Cup defender Nakazawa makes Osim's training-camp squad

Ivica Osim on Wednesday called up Yuji Nakazawa to his 28-man training-camp squad ahead of the Mar. 24 friendly against Peru.
JAPAN
Feb 15, 2007

Abe PR flack U.S.-bound for media spin control

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's public relations adviser will visit the United States later this month in an apparent bid to improve his administration's image in the American media.
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Feb 14, 2007

From rackets to real estate, yakuza multifaceted

The yakuza have long played a powerful, if often unseen, role in society. Romanticized in literature and film as noble outcasts replete with punch-perms, extensive tattoos and severed pinkies, the underworld is one of archaic language and secretive rituals and customs as well as extreme violence and...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Feb 11, 2007

Women find voice over sexist gaffe

In harmony-loving Japan, women rarely take to the streets to protest the sexist remarks that routinely spill from the mouths of ruling politicians, and even the most outrageous comments go largely unpunished at the ballot box.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Feb 11, 2007

Gore's charge unlikely to skewer Japan's traffic plans

Former U.S. Vice President Al Gore was in Japan a few weeks ago promoting "An Inconvenient Truth," the documentary film version of his traveling power-point presentation on the dangers of global warming. He made the rounds of the news shows at the time, but due to the extra time required to edit entertainment...
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT
Feb 11, 2007

Siege mentality fuels 'sustainability' claims

At the government's Fisheries Agency in Tokyo, which drives the prowhaling campaign in Japan, there is thinly disguised contempt for the antiwhaling finger-wagging of New Zealand, a country with boundless rich farmland and a tiny population to support.
Reader Mail
Feb 11, 2007

Getting back on the same page

I must admit to being rather mystified by Barrett Balvanz's Feb. 4 letter regarding my Jan. 19 review of the film "The Departed." Balvanz says the review "fails to credit the original movie 'Infernal Affairs,' " of which "The Departed" is a remake. Perhaps Balvanz is reading something else. That's...
SOCCER / PREMIER REPORT
Feb 10, 2007

McClaren taking heat after England's most recent stumble

LONDON -- Seven months after Sven-Goran Eriksson's departure, many of those who were glad to see him walk away are yearning for a return of the good old days under the Swede.
JAPAN
Feb 10, 2007

Kansai business titans urge leadership from Abe

KYOTO -- The annual gathering of Kansai business leaders closed Friday with calls for better corporate citizenship, including greater involvement in social and political issues affecting the nation, and for the government of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to show stronger leadership on a broader range of...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Feb 9, 2007

Pottering around with pop music

When Tori Kudo was a 13-year-old growing up in Matsuyama, Shikoku, he didn't spend his evenings at cram school like classmates, but instead played cheesy piano in nightclubs as a member of a professional big band.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Feb 9, 2007

Treading on thick ice

Among the places in Japan where, over the years, my trusty old backpack and I have poked about in Japan -- from the southern tip of Okinawa Island, to the far-flung Ogasawaras 1,000-km south of Tokyo, and to Wakkanai and Rishiri Island in northern Hokkaido -- very high on my list of top 10 destinations...
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 8, 2007

Bullying reflects problems in adult society

Disturbing incidents of bullying continue to make the news. We hear daily of the tragedy of children who, unable to endure the harassment and violence inflicted on them by peers and classmates, are driven to suicide.
COMMENTARY
Feb 8, 2007

Tony Blair's inglorious end

LONDON -- It is becoming impossible not to feel sorry for Tony Blair, Britain's departing prime minister.
Reader Mail
Feb 7, 2007

Bloggers should share, not sell

Regarding The Washington Post article published in The Japan Times on Jan. 16, "Advertising tieups allow bloggers to turn their hobbies into dollars": I disapprove of bloggers being paid money each time someone clicks on an image or product. One possible result of this practice is that bloggers will...

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