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JAPAN
Oct 9, 2004

WMD revelation has Japan scrambling for new excuses

The United States' recent conclusion that there were no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq has raised the question of whether Japan will now face up to the facts.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 9, 2004

Afghanistan three years on

WASHINGTON -- Three years after the Bush administration led a remarkably quick and bold military operation to overthrow the Taliban regime, how are things going in Afghanistan? The short answer is that there has been considerable progress. But that is largely because things were so bad under the Taliban,...
EDITORIALS
Oct 8, 2004

Kyoto Protocol comes to life

In a surprise move, the government of Russian President Vladimir Putin has decided to endorse the ratification of the 1997 Kyoto Protocol. Environmentalists worldwide hailed the move, which allows the Kyoto agreement to go into effect. In fact, the Russian decision owes less to environmental calculations...
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
Oct 7, 2004

NPB begins hearings on Rakuten, Livedoor bids

The public hearing for the two companies that have applied for membership to Nippon Professional Baseball began Wednesday with the two sides presenting their business propositions before a panel of baseball executives.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / OLD NIC'S NOTEBOOK
Oct 7, 2004

A 'theme park' that's an eco-friendly dream

I recentl went down to Nagasaki Prefecture to spend time with a dear old friend, Takekuni Ikeda, who lives on a little wooded peninsula jutting into Omura Bay. He's an incredible man.
BASEBALL / MLB
Oct 6, 2004

Kuehnert to head Rakuten team

Internet services company Rakuten on Tuesday introduced American Marty Kuehnert as the general manager of the company's new professional baseball club.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Oct 6, 2004

When it comes to first-class, women prefer Coach

Walking down a street in Tokyo, it doesn't take long to spot women clutching Coach bags.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Oct 6, 2004

Gadget helps bathroom-bashful

When Naoko Ito uses a public bathroom, she cringes in embarrassment at the thought other patrons can hear the sounds coming from her stall.
COMMENTARY
Oct 6, 2004

International hubris may throttle Labour

LONDON -- There has been more money at the Labour Party conference the past few years than the delegates' parents might ever have dreamed of, let alone the impoverished founders of the workers' party. There has been, and is, more money because the power is with the parliamentary leaders of this party....
EDITORIALS
Oct 5, 2004

Another step toward Cooperstown

Mr. Ichiro Suzuki (better known as Ichiro), the left-handed hitting outfielder for the Seattle Mariners, on Sunday concluded the 2004 playing season with the unprecedented single-season record of 262 hits. Three singles in Friday night's game against the Texas Rangers already had propelled him past George...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Oct 5, 2004

Trouble in paradise

It is one of the more uneven fights in the history of Japanese protest movements.
COMMENTARY
Oct 4, 2004

CCP eyes reforms while sustaining Hu

HONG KONG -- A key policy document endorsed by the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party at the same time that it approved Hu Jintao as Jiang Zemin's successor as the country's top leader calls for urgent steps to enhance the party's ability to govern while outlining a cautious strategy of...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Oct 3, 2004

Sons & Daughters sing in the name of forefathers

It's high time for another British invasion of the former colonies, and right now everybody thinks Franz Ferdinand is the band that will lead the attack. They're in the midst of their second coast-to-coast U.S. tour since last June, selling out big venues wherever they go.
SPORTS / SPORTS SCOPE
Oct 3, 2004

Ricoh moves atop Top League table, upsets Kobe 27-21

The heaviest back in Japanese rugby, Masato Morishima (107 kg), and one of the most frightening sights on the paddock (a rampaging Ipolito Fenukitau) helped the Ricoh Black Rams go top of the Top League following their 27-21 win over the Kobe Kobelco Steelers at Tokyo's Chichibunomiya on Saturday.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Oct 3, 2004

Bookbite

JAPANESE: Phrasebook. Lonely Planet, 255 pp., 2004 (Fourth edition), $7.99 (cloth). For the complete beginner of Japanese, this tiny phrase book covers pronunciation, simple phrases, numbers (including some of the different ways to count in Japanese), times, dates, the usual tourist necessities and even...
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 3, 2004

Repair schemes can't please all nations

HONOLULU -- The proposal that Japan, India, Germany and Brazil become permanent members of the U.N. Security Council is almost certain to fail, but it may trigger sweeping reforms in a 1945 institution incapable of coping with the issues of 2005.
COMMENTARY
Oct 3, 2004

Bleak hopes for democracy

LONDON -- The U.N. secretary general recently reaffirmed that the war in Iraq was illegal in the absence of a second U.N. resolution. Last week, Prime Minister Tony Blair admitted at the Labour Party Conference that Iraq did not have weapons of mass destruction and that the intelligence alleging the...
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Oct 2, 2004

Drive into the sea, then put up guardrail

On my planet, the United States, used car salesmen have a classic line for selling a car with low mileage: "This car was driven by a little old lady who only used it to drive to the grocery store." In Japan, if I ever get rid of my lightweight pickup truck, the salesman will say, "This truck was driven...
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Oct 2, 2004

Tokaido Shinkansen Line fetes 40 years

Ceremonies were held Friday marking 40 years since the Tokaido Shinkansen Line opened, pioneering the bullet train service linking Tokyo and Osaka just ahead of the 1964 Tokyo Olympic Games.
SOCCER / PREMIER REPORT
Oct 1, 2004

Rooney's debut helps Manchester fans overlook his roots

LONDON -- Mancunians, generally speaking, do not like Liverpudlians and that is putting it mildly. The feeling is also mutual and just about the only thing the folk from the two cities have in common is their opinion of each other.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Oct 1, 2004

Top tapas made the Tio Danjo way

Tio Danjo is not a large place, and it's hard enough at the best of times to reserve a table at short notice. At the end of last month, though, it was nigh on impossible. Owner-chef Keita Danjo had just come back from one of his regular visits to Madrid, and the word was out among regular customers....
COMMENTARY
Sep 28, 2004

No sense of proportionality

I was intrigued by two recent U.S. antiwar movies -- Michael Moore's "Fahrenheit 911," and "The Fog of War: Eleven Lessons from the Life of Robert S. McNamara," directed by Errol Morris. The former denounces U.S. President George W. Bush's justification for the Iraq War; the latter is based on an interview...
CULTURE / Books / THE BOOK REPORT
Sep 28, 2004

Japanese mega-stores blazing trails in a brave, new publishing world

The Japanese bookstore world used to be one of "If you put it out, it will sell." But that comfortable age is over. Seven straight years of declining book sales have killed off some 1,500 bookstores.
SOCCER / PREMIER REPORT
Sep 26, 2004

Mourinho's method wins many games, not many friends

LONDON -- Returning from Chelsea's 3-0 Champions League win over Paris Saint-Germain in France last week this correspondent was the last passenger to leave the team's plane. A police officer at Gatwick Airport asked: "Did they win?"
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Sep 26, 2004

Howl of Los Lobos stronger than ever

For 30 years, East L.A.'s Los Lobos has made a habit of crossing borders. One look through their discography reveals the Latin rock quintet's frequent movement between Mexican folk and American R&B, with regular stops along the Mississippi for funk and blues. Recent albums have even showed a moody, experimental...
Japan Times
Features
Sep 26, 2004

Disillusioned bard of a bygone Japan

In the century that has passed since the death of Lafcadio Hearn on Sept. 26, 1904, the Japanese people have studiously formulated and maintained a myth -- and they have done it with all the tools and vigor of nostalgia at their disposal.

Longform

Dangami House is a 180-year-old former samurai residence of the Kato clan, who ruled over Ozu, Ehime Prefecture, until the Meiji Restoration.
A house, a legacy and the quiet work of restoration in rural Japan