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JAPAN
Jun 26, 2006

Abe to push constitutional revision

Chief Cabinet Secretary Shinzo Abe will make an appeal for a "complete revision of the current Constitution" in his expected campaign for leadership of the Liberal Democratic Party in September, sources close to him said Sunday.
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Jun 25, 2006

What's in it for them to return us to 'prewar values'?

The leaders of many countries evoke their nation's history as if it were an idyll of virtue and civility. They gaze into the mirror of the past and see no dark blemish, only purity, goodness and light.
CULTURE / Books
Jun 25, 2006

A love forbidden can never be forgotten

KAWADA RYOKICHI -- JEANNIE EADIE'S SAMURAI: The Life and Times of a Meiji Entrepreneur and Agricultural Pioneer, by Andrew Cobbing and Masataro Itami. Global Oriental, 2006, 288 pp., £35 (cloth). FALLING BLOSSOM: A British Officer's Enduring Love for a Japanese Woman, by Peter Pagnamenta and Momoko...
Japan Times
LIFE
Jun 25, 2006

Lives in their hands

Uniformed officials of East Japan Railway Co. are solemnly but methodically at work. Their train has just made an emergency stop after running over a middle-age man, who is either unconscious or dead. The driver radios the control office in central Tokyo, from where police and an ambulance are alerted....
SOCCER / World cup
Jun 24, 2006

Brazil just too much for Japan

DORTMUND, Germany -- Brazil shattered Japan's World Cup dreams and ended coach Zico's reign in the cruelest of fashions Thursday night as the five-time champion handed out a 4-1 thrashing in their final Group F match.
BUSINESS
Jun 24, 2006

Investors get more vocal on management decisions

Over the past several weeks, company executives have been beating a path to Pension Fund Association's door, trying to get the investment manager to agree with proposals they plan to submit at their shareholder meetings.
SOCCER / World cup
Jun 22, 2006

England wins group after Sweden draw

COLOGNE, Germany -- England drew 2-2 with Sweden to win Group B on Tuesday, but it came at the price of an injury to Michael Owen that threatens to rule him out of the tournament.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jun 22, 2006

Public uncertainty, wobbly provocations

'I feel I have lost the ability to have a definite opinion, in terms of people, and about myself," says the Japanese installation artist Tabaimo. It is a surprising admission from someone who first received international acclaim for what were seen as perceptive and cutting social commentaries on modern...
JAPAN
Jun 21, 2006

Top court sends case back, saying consider death penalty anew

The Supreme Court on Tuesday threw out a life sentence for a 25-year-old man convicted of the 1999 murders of a woman and her infant daughter, and ordered the Hiroshima High Court to rehear the case with an eye to sentencing the killer to hang.
SOCCER / World cup
Jun 20, 2006

Japan's fate rests with Zico's countrymen

BONN -- If ever Zico needed a favor from his countrymen it would be now.
JAPAN
Jun 20, 2006

50 years on, Minamata stigma lingers

People with Minamata disease still face discrimination and prejudice half a century after the official recognition of the mercury-poisoning disease, they said at a public forum in Tokyo.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle
Jun 20, 2006

A swelling dispute over our waistlines

Japan's citizens are well-known for their slim figures, healthy eating habits and longevity.
MORE SPORTS
Jun 19, 2006

Elias leaves crowd hungry for more

Japanese football players and coaches got more than just a taste of U.S. football, they got the full flavor of the NFL, when Keith Elias took the field with or against them in the third annual Ivy-Samurai Bowl on Sunday.
EDITORIALS
Jun 19, 2006

A united lobby for life

Japan has seen more than 30,000 people kill themselves annually for eight consecutive years since 1998. Last year, 32,552 people took their own lives, a total that breaks down to 89.18 suicides per day and 3.71 suicides every hour. Certainly these are grim figures.
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Jun 18, 2006

Swallows embracing contribution from first baseman Riggs

The 1991 World Series champion Minnesota Twins had the "homer hankies" waved by fans at the Metrodome in Minneapolis.
CULTURE / Books
Jun 18, 2006

The lore and legend of Asian lawmen

"The Calf Strung Up beneath The Cart" will cause you agony profound; "The Ass tied tightly to The Post" will make you scream and leap around; "The Phoenix drying both her Wings" to death itself will bring you near; "The Boy who Sits and Contemplates," the stoutest soul will cause to fear; And if "The...
Japan Times
LIFE / WEEK 3
Jun 18, 2006

Have you heard the one about . . ?

Maybe it's simply down to human nature, but stereotypes about foreigners seem to be joke-fodder the world over. In the corners of bars, in huddles at parties, in books and movies, countless laughs have been had, for example, at the expense of supposed American boastfulnes, "uptight" British, "humorless"...
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jun 17, 2006

Indoor play centers pricey but safe havens for kids

Parents often want their kids to play indoors because of bad weather, the threat of sunburn or other environmental factors, and increasingly, because of the fear of crime.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST
Jun 17, 2006

Those were the good old days

The other day I spied a foreign couple across the room in a Japanese restaurant. They were so new to Japan they bore an aura of green. Bright green. So bright, I had to squint.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Jun 17, 2006

Still blue-eyed, but not a 'salaryman' anymore

Niall Murtagh begins "The Blue-Eyed Salaryman" with good humor and a wry, self-deprecating smile:
BUSINESS
Jun 16, 2006

Consumers still cold to U.S. beef

Consumers are far from convinced that U.S. beef is safe, despite government efforts to ease public concerns through 10 nationwide public hearings on the issue.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink
Jun 16, 2006

Old tipple with new spirit

KAGOSHIMA -- Some Japanese traditions are best left alone. Those who would attempt to capitalize on the popularity of Kyoto's ancient temples by placing soft-drink machines and loudspeakers inside them deserve the severest form of punishment a society can devise, like being forced to watch a TV program...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jun 16, 2006

Having a laugh with Ryuichi Hiroki

A veteran director of "pink" movies, Ryuichi Hiroki won critical acclaim for the 1994 youth drama "800 (800 -- Two Lap Runner)," his breakthrough into straight films. He first collaborated with Shinobu Terajima -- star of his new movie "Yawarakai Seikatsu -- in "Vibrator," a romantic road movie that...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Jun 16, 2006

Ducasse brings young talent to Japan

As one of the world's top chefs, Alain Ducasse needs little introduction. Over the past two decades, few people have done more to develop and spread the gospel of French haute cuisine.
SUMO
Jun 15, 2006

With Wailing Walls and Dead Sea dips, who needs the World Cup?

Sumo, unlike football -- (the proper one as opposed to the pads and helmet version) -- never stops.
SPORTS / E-LIST
Jun 15, 2006

Can CL train keep a rollin'?

As if by clockwork, the Central League standings have emerged from a humdrum one-star show featuring the Yomiuri Giants to a three-dog race with Chunichi and Hanshin poking their heads in -- and Yakult not out of it either. The E-List loves competition, parity, stories without predetermined endings,...
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jun 14, 2006

Continental seeks to be regional cities' link to Pacific resorts

Unlike other airlines that target business travelers using metropolises such as Tokyo or Osaka, Continental Airlines Inc. aims to focus on leisure travelers from regional cities, the leader of the airline's Asian operations said in an interview with The Japan Times.
SOCCER / World cup
Jun 13, 2006

Lackluster Portugal edges plucky Angola

COLOGNE, Germany -- The last time Portugal and Angola played each other the game had to be abandoned 20 minutes from time after four Angolans were sent off for violence and dissent.

Longform

Once smoky, male-dominated spaces, today's net cafes, like Kaikatsu Club, are working to make their operations more attractive to women customers.
The second life of Japan's net cafes