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COMMENTARY
Oct 18, 2004

Balancing work with other ways of life

LONDON -- Alan Milburn, the British secretary of state for health, resigned last year to "spend more time with his family." This excuse has often been used to cover some misdemeanor or a falling out with colleagues, but in this case it seems to have been genuine.
COMMENTARY
Oct 18, 2004

Afghanistan: the world's opium market

WASHINGTON -- Afghanistan's presidential elections came off with little violence but some damaging controversy. President Hamid Karzai's 15 opponents charged vote fraud.
Japan Times
Features / WEEK 3
Oct 17, 2004

Why Deos Tihs Haedilne Mkae Snsee?

The following article appeared in the Oct. 17, 2004 issue of The Japan Times with most of the text scrambled. For that original version, visit www.japantimes.com/cgi-bin/getarticle.pl5?fl20041017x2.htm.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / NATURE TRAVEL
Oct 17, 2004

Venturing intrepidly to a tropical idyll

As soon as the taxi driver pulled out into Singapore's Orchard Road, he began to talk. Babble, actually.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Oct 16, 2004

Firms learn from VCR war, seek early mortal blow

Japanese electronics makers are waging battles in various digital home appliance sectors, aware that those who claim initial victories will likely remain dominant.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 14, 2004

Crisis that hangs on hearsay

LONDON -- I am rapidly approaching the age of retirement. I am already cutting back on my activities, slimming down my portfolio of work and deciding what activities are wastes of time.
JAPAN
Oct 14, 2004

Politicians block comic over 'fake' Nanjing Massacre tale

Shueisha Inc. said Wednesday it will halt publication of a "manga" comic featuring the Nanjing Massacre of 1937 in response to complaints by Japanese politicians who claim the slaughter never happened.
JAPAN
Oct 14, 2004

Students tagged in bid to keep them safe

Every time a fourth grader passes through Rikkyo Elementary School's front gate, a small, gray plastic tag tucked inside his backpack beams a message to a computer in a nearby office.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Oct 13, 2004

Aid should be flowing through grassroots groups: NGO

Japan should disperse more of its official development assistance for Iraq through nongovernmental organizations so people can receive aid more quickly, according to a senior member of a Tokyo-based NGO.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art / CERAMIC SCENE
Oct 13, 2004

Mino for the modern world

The traditional Mino pottery styles of Shino, Oribe, Yellow Seto and Black Seto have been the pride of the Japanese ceramic world since the Momoyama Period (1568-1615). However, Mino pottery just isn't what it used to be. Gone are its chadogu (tea wares) days of the 17th-19th century, when it was used...
EDITORIALS
Oct 11, 2004

Almost all wrong on Iraq

Saddam Hussein had no weapons of mass destruction. While he certainly harbored ambitions to get them, the Iraqi programs to build them had decayed to become mere wisps of what they once were. That is the conclusion of the final report, released last week, of the chief U.S. weapons hunter, Mr. Charles...
JAPAN
Oct 11, 2004

Japan must open door to foreign workers, panel head says

The government needs to look at the broader picture and actively work to open the domestic labor market to unskilled workers so Japan is not alienated from the global community.
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.

Longform

Mount Fuji is considered one of Japan's most iconic symbols and is a major draw for tourists. It's still a mountain, though, and potential hikers need to properly prepare for any climb.
What it takes to save lives on Mount Fuji