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JAPAN
May 18, 2006

Jailed duo served for smuggling

Two men already in custody for alleged possession of Ecstasy were served new arrest warrants Wednesday on suspicion of involvement in smuggling several hundred kilograms of stimulants into Japan from North Korea, bringing the total number nabbed in the smuggling case to seven, police said.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
May 18, 2006

Tamasaburo Bando and Kodo reach for primitive emotions

Kabuki and taiko drumming seem worlds apart: kabuki is a quintessentially urban art form based on nuance and restraint; taiko drumming, from the festival world of matsuri and shrine dances, thrives on athleticism and exuberance. But recently they have been brought together by an unusual collaboration...
COMMENTARY
May 17, 2006

Taro Aso has a history problem with Australia

When Foreign Minister Taro Aso visited Australia recently, did he know that the father of the Australian foreign minister, Alexander Downer, had been a Japanese prisoner of war in the notorious Changi jail in Singapore? And if Alexander Downer Sr. had been sent to a certain camp in Kyushu, as some 200...
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / WILD WATCH
May 17, 2006

Mud, mud, glorious mud

Loss: That sense of deep detachment when a loved one has departed; the bewilderment and displacement at finding something or somewhere treasured to have gone; the confusion of returning to one's childhood haunts only to find them changed beyond recognition. We have, no doubt, all felt these loses, but...
BUSINESS
May 17, 2006

Economic expansion 'fragile' but the second longest since the war

Japan marked its 52nd straight month of expansion since February 2002, making this the second-longest period of growth of the postwar era, according to a government report released Tuesday.
SOCCER / World cup
May 16, 2006

Zico picks Maki in World Cup shock

Japan coach Zico dropped a bombshell on Monday when he picked JEF United Chiba striker Seiichiro Maki ahead of Tatsuhiko Kubo in his 23-man squad for next month's World Cup in Germany.
BUSINESS
May 16, 2006

Honda power products at 70 million

Honda Motor Co. said Monday its total worldwide producEtion of power products, including general-purpose engines and tillers, reached 70 million units last Friday.
SOCCER / World cup
May 14, 2006

Scotland rains on Zico's party

SAITAMA -- Zico's farewell party fizzled out at a rain-lashed Saitama Stadium on Saturday as Scotland held Japan to a 0-0 draw and clinched the Kirin Cup.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
May 14, 2006

Letting history speak for itself

TRADITIONAL JAPANESE ARTS AND CULTURE: An Illustrated Sourcebook, edited by Stephen Addiss, Gerald Groemer and J. Thomas Rimer. Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press, 2006, 254 pp., 64 color plates, $29 (paper). For nearly half a century, an important text for learning about Japanese culture in general...
EDITORIALS
May 13, 2006

A matter of trust in the market

The Financial Services Agency has issued a business-suspension order to ChuoAoyama PricewaterhouseCoopers, a major auditing firm, over its failure to check three of their certified public accountants involved in falsifying accounting reports for Kanebo Ltd., once a leading textile and cosmetics maker....
COMMENTARY
May 13, 2006

A quiet burial of a scandal that will haunt Washington

NEW DELHI -- With global attention focused on the U.S.-led face-off with Tehran over the nuclear issue, Pakistan has ingeniously seized the opportunity to give a quiet burial to the worst proliferation scandal in world history, involving the Pakistani transfer of nuclear knowhow and equipment to three...
MORE SPORTS
May 11, 2006

JSF plans to accuse ex-president for embezzlement

The Japan Skating Federation plans to file civil and criminal charges against its former president for suspected embezzlement, acting federation president Yasuakira Hayashi said Wednesday.
SUMO
May 11, 2006

Hakuho stays perfect at summer basho

Newly promoted ozeki Hakuho survived a scare to earn his fourth win and maintained a share of the lead with three other unbeaten wrestlers at the Summer Grand Sumo Tournament on Wednesday.
JAPAN
May 11, 2006

Transsexuals gain freedoms but still face barriers

To most people, Takafumi Fujio -- with cropped hair, thick arms and deep voice -- is a typical, middle-aged salaryman. But until four years ago, when the food company worker started on a range of hormonal treatments, he was a woman, a housewife and mother of two.
BUSINESS
May 11, 2006

ChuoAoyama handed suspension order, heads roll

The chairman of the ChuoAoyama PricewaterhouseCoopers board said Wednesday that both he and the deputy chairman will resign to take the responsibility for the firm's failure to prevent three of its accountants from conspiring in the earnings falsification at Kanebo Ltd., just hours after the auditor...
EDITORIALS
May 9, 2006

'Enough is enough' in Sri Lanka

So said Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse after yet another round of violence that threatens to end the fragile peace in that country. His exasperation is understandable. The distrust between the two antagonists -- the government of Sri Lanka and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) -- is...
JAPAN
May 9, 2006

Income gaps widen among workers in their 30s and 40s

Contrary to government assertions, income gaps among people in their 30s and 40s widened as much as 30 percent in the 15 years through 2002, a review of official income distribution data showed Sunday.
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
May 9, 2006

Home help, Kimigayo, raccoons

Silver centers Viki in Saitama read the first posting about utilizing Silver Center workers and then this past week read that Saitama might have not caught onto the idea yet.
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
May 8, 2006

Marines add RHP Miller

The Chiba Lotte Marines said Sunday they have acquired the services of 28-year-old right-hander Justin Miller.
COMMENTARY / World
May 8, 2006

Philippine terror havens threaten region

CANBERRA -- The presence of insurgent or terrorist sanctuaries in nonbelligerent countries is one of the most intractable, explosive issues in international relations. It was a central fact of the Vietnam War, brought about the destruction of Lebanon, and continues to plague the coalition in Iraq. It...
COMMENTARY
May 8, 2006

Never give an inch to China

Tokyo's propensity for getting into territorial and maritime boundary disputes with its neighbors seems large. And if the disputes with China escalate any further, they could make the recent confrontation with South Korea over the Takeshima islets (Dokdo in Korean) look tame.
SOCCER / PREMIER REPORT
May 7, 2006

Bungling F.A. suits have gone for second best in McClaren

After countless interviews, cloak-and-dagger meetings, secret talks and public humiliation for the Football Association after being turned down by Portugal's Luiz Felipe Scolari, Steve McClaren was named the next England head coach on Thursday -- 99 days after Sven-Goran Eriksson announced he was leaving...
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
May 7, 2006

Giants pitcher Powell: 'Best month I ever had'

Congratulations to Yomiuri Giants pitcher Jeremy Powell on being named Central League Pitcher of the Month for April. Powell won all four of his starts on successive Tuesdays, April 4, 11, 18 and 25, finishing the month with a league-leading 1.03 ERA, two shutouts and three complete games.

Longform

After pandemic-era border regulations eased, Indian migrants began returning to Japan. Their population now stands at more than 50,000 across the country.
How remote work is rewriting the migrant experience in Japan