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JAPAN
May 30, 2008

ASDF preparing C-130s to carry aid to China

The Air Self-Defense Force is preparing to send C-130 transports packed with emergency supplies to earthquake-stricken China as soon as Tokyo gets the final go-ahead from Beijing, government officials said Thursday.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
May 30, 2008

TV dumbos drum up big following

As Forrest Gump said, stupid is as stupid does. And in Japan, these days, it does pretty well.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
May 30, 2008

'Bakemono Moyo'/'Mukidashi Nippon'

Still only 24, Yuya Ishii has not only made four feature films in a blazingly short time, but had them screened in his own section (hard to call it a retrospective) at the 2008 Rotterdam Film Festival. Also, at this year's Hong Kong International Film Festival, he received the first Edward Yang New Talent...
Japan Times
JAPAN
May 30, 2008

Canceling Africa debt would be just: Bono

Canceling the debts of African countries "is not a matter of charity but a matter of justice" to efficiently eradicate extreme poverty on the continent, Irish rock star Bono said Thursday.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
May 30, 2008

'The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian'

What's the use of a fairyland in which trees don't dance, animals don't talk and one's once majestic castle has fallen into ruins? Returning to the world of Narnia, the Pevensie brothers, Peter (William Moseley) and Edmund (Skandar Keynes), look thoroughly petulant if not downright pissed off, in the...
COMMENTARY / World
May 29, 2008

Girls and women: first casualties in wartime

AMSTERDAM — Truth is often said to be the first casualty in wartime. But if the real truth is told, it is women who are the first casualties. In conflict zones, the United Nations children's agency UNICEF recently observed, sexual violence usually spreads like an epidemic. Whether it is civil war,...
JAPAN / TICAD IV
May 29, 2008

Japan vows ambitious Africa aid

YOKOHAMA — Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda kicked off a major Africa development conference Wednesday by pledging to double Japan's annual net official development assistance to the continent to $1.8 billion by 2012 and extend up to $4 billion in new yen loans over the next five years, in particular for...
Reader Mail
May 29, 2008

Zeroing in on relative Truth

In his May 25 letter, "The reconciliation of opposites," William Johnston explains that Peter Singer's May 19 article, influenced by the rationalism that has "invaded the Western world since the time of the Greeks," made him laugh because, in a word, "everything is one and not one."
Reader Mail
May 29, 2008

Defensive overkill mystifies

I read the May 23 front-page article "Anime stokes ire of Muslims" with some concern, as it reminded me yet again how insignificant events get blown out of proportion when it comes to the Muslim world. The chairman of the fatwa committee of Cairo said the scene "depicts Muslims as terrorists, which is...
Reader Mail
May 29, 2008

Some Buddhists prefer a fairy tale

After reading William Johnston's May 25 letter, I'd just like to set the record straight and say not all Buddhists think rationalism is a bad thing, and not all Buddhists believe in some fairy tale where Asia is a Shangri-La full of enlightened beings.
BUSINESS
May 29, 2008

Clear Sony speaker goes tubular

Sony, the company that brought the world the egg-shaped music player and the doglike robot, has now created the transparent tube speaker.
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
May 29, 2008

Veteran, versatile Fighters endure slew of injuries

Injuries are what professional teams inevitably have to deal with, perhaps an even more daunting task than facing opposing teams.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
May 29, 2008

Cannes: sobriety and great excess

CULTURE / Art
May 29, 2008

Hideaki Kawashima: Wavering

Tomio Koyama Gallery, Kiyosumi-Shirakawa
CULTURE / Art
May 29, 2008

Violet Hopkins: lux, lumen

Gallery Sora, Tokyo's Shinkawa
BUSINESS
May 29, 2008

Asahi to import more beer brands

Asahi Breweries Ltd., Japan's top-selling beer maker, will expand its alliance with Belgium's InBev NV, importing more brands from the world's biggest brewer by sales.
BUSINESS
May 29, 2008

Nissan aims to up China unit sales 64%

Nissan is hoping to raise sales at its Chinese ventures at least 64 percent by 2012 as the country's surging economic growth boosts demand for cars and trucks.
CULTURE / Art / INSIDE ART
May 29, 2008

Permanent collection not pulling crowds

As seen in last month's "Inside Art," international rankings of art exhibition attendances present the achievements of Japanese museums in the best possible light. Look at annual attendance figures, however, and the picture is very different.
Japan Times
JAPAN / AFRICA LIFELINE
May 28, 2008

Africa donors failing with financing: Sachs

The main quandary in aiding Africa is not the absence of initiatives or technology, but the "lack of adequate financing" by donor countries that fail to follow through on their commitments, U.N. adviser and economist Jeffrey Sachs said Tuesday.
EDITORIALS
May 28, 2008

Creative policy for Africa

The first Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD) was held in 1993, cosponsored by Japan, the United Nations and the World Bank. Leaders from 45 African countries are attending the fourth TICAD in Yokohama this week. Serving as meeting chairman, Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda is trying...
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
May 28, 2008

Burying our heads in the sand

We've all heard the warning, "If it looks too good to be true, it probably is."
JAPAN
May 28, 2008

Bono's plea

Bono, lead singer of the rock band U2, praised Japan on Tuesday for its efforts to fight world poverty and urged Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda to display leadership during this week's Tokyo International Conference on African Development.
BASKETBALL
May 27, 2008

Machida drafted No. 1 by Shiga

This is a sign of the emerging significance of the bj-league: More than 350 players participated in the tryout process this season. And then the 2008 bj-league draft was held on Monday.
SUMO / SUMO SCRIBBLINGS
May 27, 2008

Asashoryu mars Kotooshu's day of glory

In a shade over 250 years of recorded sumo history, no European has ever been crowned king of the ring. No European has ever held aloft the Emperor's Cup. No European has ever won a Grand Sumo Tournament.

Longform

Figure skater Akiko Suzuki was once told her ideal weight should be 47 kilograms, a number she now admits she “naively believed.” This led to her have a relationship with food that resulted in her suffering from anorexia.
The silent battle Japanese athletes fight with weight