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BUSINESS
Aug 8, 2008

Toyota posts bleak results for quarter

Toyota Motor Corp. said Thursday it posted a 28.1 percent drop in group net profit for the April-June quarter as sales in North America, the biggest market for many Japanese carmakers, were hit hard by the U.S. economic slide.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Aug 7, 2008

Nihon buyo dancers pass on their culture

As far back as elementary school, Yukari Hatori, now age 34, dreamed of becoming a nihon buyo (Japanese dance) performer.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Aug 3, 2008

The obsession over those dumbed down cute mascots

Japan is overrun with cute mascots. They represent everything from chain stores to police departments, and for the past decade or so there has been a marked increase in the popularity of one species of mascot called "yuru-kyara." The second half of this word stands for "character," while "yuru" is from...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / CLOSE-UP
Aug 3, 2008

Jiang Rong: Writing in a world of wolves

Jiang Rong (pen name of Lu Jiamin), who is now 62, was born in Jiangsu Province, China, and educated in Beijing. In 1967, at age 21, he volunteered to go and work in Inner Mongolia, where he'd heard about the practice of people there paying homage to "wolf totems" erected in the rolling grasslands that...
COMMENTARY
Aug 2, 2008

Group of Three or G-13?

The Toyako, Hokkaido, summit witnessed moves to expand the Group of Eight forum of leading industrial nations through the addition of China, India and other new members.
SPORTS / SPORTS SCOPE
Aug 1, 2008

Runner Yamauchi excited about opportunity to compete in Beijing

The essence of one's competitive spirit often comes from this: a joy in participating in the process. And it would be difficult — nearly impossible, in fact — to find another marathon runner who reveres the process as much as Mara Yamauchi.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Jul 27, 2008

Zeami's notes: appreciating blossoming performances

ZEAMI: Performance Notes, translated by Tom Hare. New York: Columbia University Press, 2008, 528 pp., $45 (cloth) Zeami Motokiyo (1363-1443), the actor, playwright and aesthetic theorist who established the Noh drama as a classical theatrical art, left behind some 21 treatises.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jul 26, 2008

Horie's 30-month prison term upheld

The Tokyo High Court rejected Livedoor Co. founder Takafumi Horie's appeal Friday and upheld his 2 1/2-year prison term for falsifying financial statements and violating the Securities and Exchange Law, describing the defendant as "lacking dignity."
OLYMPICS
Jul 24, 2008

Yoshida, Hoketsu provide compelling story lines

In less than two weeks, the bright lights in Beijing will shine on thousands of athletes.
BUSINESS
Jul 24, 2008

Tokio Marine to buy U.S. insurer

Tokio Marine Holdings Inc. said Wednesday it has agreed to buy U.S. insurer Philadelphia Consolidated Holding Corp. for $4.7 billion (about ¥500 billion) to expand in the world's biggest insurance market.
COMMENTARY
Jul 23, 2008

Omar al-Bashir versus the ICC

All the opposition groups in Darfur celebrated when the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court announced on July 14 that he was seeking the indictment of Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir on the charge of genocide, but almost everybody else had a problem with it. They don't doubt that al-Bashir...
EDITORIALS
Jul 23, 2008

A final chance for Iran?

After dismissing calls to talk to its adversaries as a sign of "appeasement," the United States has reversed course and sat down with Iran to discuss Tehran's nuclear ambitions. As anticipated, Saturday's meeting yielded no breakthrough, but it did send a message to Iran: Windows of opportunity are closing...
SOCCER / SOCCER SCENE
Jul 22, 2008

Big clubs' shortcomings taking shine off J. League championship race

On the face of it, a league table where just 10 points separated the top 13 teams at the halfway point of the season would suggest an exciting contest, but this year's J. League has been more infuriating than it has been enthralling.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WORDS TO LIVE BY
Jul 22, 2008

Professor Kunihiko Takeda

JUDIT KAWAGUCHI Professor Kunihiko Takeda, Ph.D., is vice-chancellor of the Institute of Science and Technology Research at Chubu University and one of the world's leading authorities on both uranium enrichment and recycling. The 65-year-old is also a bestselling author of books with titles such as “We...
Japan Times
SPORTS / SPORTS SCOPE
Jul 19, 2008

Now-retired Nomo made huge impact on baseball

Hideo Nomo's impact on baseball will be felt for decades to come.

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