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EDITORIALS
Sep 8, 2003

Moving too fast on missile defense

The Defense Agency's plan to build a missile-defense system is causing much controversy here. The basic question is whether such a system is urgently needed and whether it is suitable for ensuring the peace and security of Japan. The question should be addressed very carefully from various angles. The...
BUSINESS / JAPANESE PERSPECTIVES
Sep 8, 2003

Taking the blue pill in a deflationary world

"Welcome to the real world," says Morpheus, captain of the hovercraft Nebuchadnezzar. That is how the cult-movie serial "Matrix" first ventured out into its progressively surreal world. Fans avidly await the coming of the third and (supposedly) last installment of the saga later this year.
MORE SPORTS
Sep 7, 2003

Kawabata grabs super flyweight title

Challenger Masaki Kawabata, unleashing a barrage of left-right combinations, knocked out Kohei "Prosper" Matsuura in the second round to wrest the Japan super flyweight title on Saturday in Tokyo.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / FUZZY LOGIC
Sep 7, 2003

Boiled alive . . . all for rock 'n' roll

It's hitting 40 degrees in the concrete badlands of Odaiba and the asphalt beneath our feet is attaining the viscosity of quicksand. We wanna run for cover, but this stuff sucks at your sneakers and makes the beer tent slower to get to. The only sea breeze today is the cocktail mixed by the bartender,...
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Sep 6, 2003

Drawing the line at the gentle bovine

Did you know that there's a dairy farm in Tokyo? Forty bovine residents live in Nerima Ward, where the city grew up around the Koizumi Bokujo diary farm. I myself, would be honored to have mooing neighbors. Especially as opposed to arguing spouses, screaming children and washing machines that start at...
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 6, 2003

Suu Kyi's hunger strike raises the ante

MEDFORD, Massachusetts -- If news coming out from Myanmar is to be believed, Aung Sang Suu Kyi is now on a water-only hunger strike.
SPORTS / SPORTS SCOPE
Sep 5, 2003

IAAF should make example out of White

The end of the World Championships on Sunday marked the passing of the third straight major athletics event where there were no world records (outside of race walking) set.
JAPAN / AFTER 2 1/2 YEARS
Sep 5, 2003

Koizumi support of U.S. a double-edged sword?

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi was offered two scripts by the Foreign Ministry ahead of the March invasion of Iraq by the United States.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Sep 5, 2003

The little town with a big name

You've hauled your bags off the conveyor belt onto the cart, you've skulked through Customs and you're staring blankly at an electronic board, trying to fathom which Limousine Bus is going where. You've heard that there is another Narita apart from this one dedicated to air travel, but somehow you've...
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / OLD NIC'S NOTEBOOK
Sep 4, 2003

About the bears and the bees

This story is really about honey, a spoonful of which I have in my morning tea. Without it the day just doesn't seem to go right. Together with my old friend Mr. Shimada, I've been producing the finest honey for the last 20-odd years. However, first I have to tell you about my lovely "false acacia" trees....
JAPAN
Sep 4, 2003

Kan looks to downsize Diet, narrow single-seat vote disparity

Naoto Kan, president of the opposition Democratic Party of Japan, unveiled Wednesday a set of political reforms that includes downsizing the Diet and narrowing the disparity in vote value for single-seat constituencies.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle / ON THE BOOK TRAIL
Sep 4, 2003

On the book trail

A Single Shard, by LINDA SUE PARK, Clarion Books; 2002; 160 pp. If recent children's books are any indication, we might be led to believe that boy-wizards who fight evil and that children lucky enough to embark on wild adventures exist only in Britain or the United States. In fact, why does almost every...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Sep 3, 2003

The Plan finally disbands, but the dialogue continues

Last January, The Dismemberment Plan announced that after 10 years, four well-received albums and countless tours that earned them a reputation for being one of the most consistently exciting live acts on the planet they were calling it quits.
JAPAN / AFTER 2 1/2 YEARS
Sep 2, 2003

Koizumi's failings linked to inflexible fiscal policy

Some economists compare it to trying to lose weight by fasting when the real solution is exercise, while others talk about repairing an airplane's altimeter when it's the engine that needs attention.
MORE SPORTS
Sep 2, 2003

Musashimaru sitting on the fence

Yokozuna Musashimaru, who pulled out early from July's Nagoya tourney due to a nagging left wrist injury, said Monday he remains undecided whether to enter the upcoming Autumn Grand Sumo Tournament.
COMMUNITY / Voices / VIEWS FROM THE STREET
Sep 2, 2003

How are foreigners faring in financially lean times?

Victoria Bauzyte Model, 20 I work at two shows per day and get 70,000 yen for those two. It's not the most you can get, but it's nice for starters, especially since I got it after just one week of casting.
BUSINESS
Sep 2, 2003

Toyota puts new Prius hybrid on sale

Toyota Motor Corp. launched a redesigned Prius in Japan on Monday as part of a drive to spearhead the development of environmentally friendly technology.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 1, 2003

Japan's lesson for Europe

LONDON -- At some point last year, it became fashionable to compare the economic plight of Germany and, by extension, the euro zone as a whole with the situation in Japan. As recession bit into the country that used to be Europe's motor and as the 12-nation euro area began recording declining growth...
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 31, 2003

Enthusiasm for EU club has evaporated

PRAGUE -- When communism in Eastern Europe collapsed, the region's new democratic leaders agreed that joining the European Union -- fast -- must be their priority. "Back to Europe!" became the slogan, one enthusiastically backed by a majority of their populations. Yet eight months before that dream formally...
EDITORIALS
Aug 30, 2003

Justice served in Osaka

On June 8, 2001, a disgruntled jobless man stormed an Osaka elementary school, wielding a kitchen knife, and killed eight children and wounded 13 others and two teachers. "This is an unprecedented case of atrocity in the nation's criminal history," the Osaka District Court stated in its death sentence...
SOCCER / PREMIER REPORT
Aug 30, 2003

Howard hoping to end revolving door in goal for Man United

LONDON -- Tim Howard, an American goalkeeper who has a tattoo on his right bicep and suffers from Tourette's Syndrome, never thought he would have the chance to play for a big Premiership club, let alone the biggest club in the world.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 29, 2003

Washington lays siege to WTO system

LONDON -- In the last few weeks the U.S. Congress has approved free-trade agreements with Chile and Singapore and has approved the opening of talks on FTAs with Bahrain and the Dominican Republic.
EDITORIALS
Aug 26, 2003

Promise seen in stock rebound

With the Nikkei stock average climbing past 10,000 points for the first time in more than a year, it seems that some of the pessimism about the Japanese economy has disappeared. The index has followed an upward trend since April when it tumbled to the 7,600 level, the lowest since the bubble burst in...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Aug 26, 2003

Life imitates art for gaijin charmers

We had a fantastic response to our "Charisma Man" competition in last week's Community Page.
COMMUNITY
Aug 24, 2003

The curious afterlife of Ada Lovelace

Celebrity is a fickle thing, as Ada Lovelace's famous father, the poet Lord Byron, learned to his cost -- sexual scandals and seesawing public opinion drove him into exile and to his death. For his daughter, however, the ups and downs of fame have mostly been posthumous.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Aug 24, 2003

Voices from the past help explain the present

SERVING OUR COUNTRY: Japanese American Women in the Military during World War II, by Brenda L. Moore. Rutgers University Press, 2003, $60 (cloth), $22 (paper). Building on her previous studies of racial issues, gender issues and military sociology, Brenda L. Moore has analyzed and documented an unusual...

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