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Japan Times
BUSINESS
Feb 27, 2008

JR Tokai generates friction with costly maglev train

Concerns about huge estimated costs and future profitability are casting a shadow over Central Japan Railway Co.'s long-term project to build a magnetically levitating train system.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 26, 2008

Building a stronger alliance

Japanese and U.S. military professionals are building upon their partnership to collaboratively respond to unpredictable security challenges that can lead to instability in Asia and the world. U.S. forces remain deeply committed to the Japan-U.S. Security Alliance and being sincere, credible partners...
Japan Times
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Feb 26, 2008

Japan needs imports to keep itself fed

After a spate of food mislabeling frauds and the recent scare over pesticide-laced "gyoza" dumplings imported from China, consumers are perhaps more conscious than ever of the origin of what they eat. Many routinely check the origins of the foods they buy, especially imported products, which Japan relies...
Japan Times
MULTIMEDIA / STYLE WISE
Feb 26, 2008

Harajuku's "Style Deficit Disorder," model Irina Lazareanu gets wicked and more

Cure for disorder The popular fashion hub Harajuku is the subject of a fascinating new book by Tokyo-based editor and creative consultant Tiffany Godoy. Rich in detail and accompanied by some remarkable images, her book, "Style Deficit Disorder" (Chronicle Books), documents the history of the area from...
BUSINESS
Feb 26, 2008

New models seen giving a boost to '08 vehicle sales

Domestic vehicle sales may rise this year as carmakers introduce new models, the country's automobile dealers group said.
JAPAN
Feb 25, 2008

Think tank pushes stronger stand on Russian-held islands

Japan should never compromise in negotiations with Russia over the return of the four islands off Hokkaido, a private think tank has proposed.
Japan Times
LIFE / THE SKY'S THE LIMIT
Feb 24, 2008

Mum fights nuke power

Yurika Ayukawa, the special adviser on climate change to the environmental organization World Wide Fund for Nature Japan (WWF Japan), believes the key to combating global warming lies in changing humans' means of generating energy.
Reader Mail
Feb 24, 2008

Try dispensing real justice

Despite declarations from high-level Japanese government officials to the contrary, it is no secret that the Japanese no longer want U.S. military forces here. Who can really blame them? If my country had to play host to foreign military troops for 60 years, I would want to see these troops leave too....
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Feb 24, 2008

Will rookie slugger Nakata live up to hype in Hokkaido?

One guy getting a lot of attention these days, including gaudy front-page coverage in Japan's daily sports newspapers and on TV "Camp Report" segments, is Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters rookie phenom Sho Nakata.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Feb 24, 2008

Asian art for art's sake

WHAT'S THE USE OF ART? — Asian Visual and Material Culture in Context, edited by Jan Mrazek and Morgan Pitelka. Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press, 2008, 314 pp., with illustrations, $58 (cloth) The question is rhetorical, that is, uttered for effect, to make a statement rather than to obtain an...
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / ON THE ROAD
Feb 24, 2008

New rules for cyclists go round in circles

Putting the brakes on the country's bicycle chaos requires more than just imposing bans on headphones, cell phones and umbrellas.
Japan Times
LIFE / THE SKY'S THE LIMIT
Feb 24, 2008

Top techie programs change

When Kayoko Sugahara started working as a systems engineer 25 years ago, she sometimes stayed in her office late into the night running performance tests on computers, and often went there on weekends to use the computers there.
Reader Mail
Feb 24, 2008

Positive look at Bangladesh

Thanks a lot for publishing Eric Prideaux's Feb. 15 article, "Bangladesh ready to rival Asia's mighty manufacturing hubs." Being a Bangladeshi, I appreciate Prideaux's bringing the success story of Bangladesh to the surface. There is no doubt that business conditions in Bangladesh have improved remarkably,...
LIFE / Lifestyle / THE SKY'S THE LIMIT
Feb 24, 2008

Japan's gender inequality puts it to shame in world rankings

When it comes to gender equality, Japan has no shortage of distressing figures.
COMMENTARY
Feb 23, 2008

Vision of ROK-U.S. alliance

HONOLULU — The inauguration Monday of Lee Myung Bak as the Republic of Korea's new president will open the door for a revitalization of the ROK-U.S. alliance, a relationship that has been severely tested and strained in recent years as a result of policy differences and more fundamental "vision" differences...
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Feb 23, 2008

Japan takes flight

I have been thinking a lot about airlines recently, specifically the naming of them.
BUSINESS
Feb 23, 2008

Ferrari to open subsidiary as luxury car sales boom

Ferrari SpA announced Friday it will open a Japanese subsidiary on July 1, transferring importer rights from dealer Cornes & Co. in an effort to cash in on the growing Japanese luxury market.
JAPAN
Feb 23, 2008

Activists plan Article 9 conference

Dozens of peace activists from around the world will gather in Chiba from May 4 to 6 for an international conference on the Constitution's Article 9, which renounces war, the organizer said Friday in Tokyo.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Feb 23, 2008

Of manju, fish burgers and pachinko in the town of Obama

The more I live in Japan (quite a few years now) the more I realize the only difference between the Italians and the Japanese is the way we eat raw fish.
BUSINESS
Feb 23, 2008

TCI confident of green light to up stake in J-Power

Children's Investment Fund Management Ltd. is confident that Japan will allow it to double its stake in Electric Power Development Co., said John Ho, Asia chief of the U.K.-based activist fund.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Feb 23, 2008

Hope at times comes in the form of cows

Lowell Sheppard, director Asia-Pacific of the Canada-based NGO HOPE International Development Agency is on his way back to Nagoya from Shinagawa.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / TAKING A CHANCE
Feb 22, 2008

Tofu maker finds success through innovation, determination

Many of Japan's small and medium-size companies are feeling the pinch as they struggle to pass rising costs on to their larger corporate customers. One, however, Saitama-based tofu maker Shinozakiya Inc., succeeded in getting supermarkets to swallow a 30 percent increase in wholesale prices in November....
BUSINESS
Feb 22, 2008

Ministry proposes raising prices of pork, beef

The agriculture ministry proposed Thursday that the government increase the price floors for domestically produced beef and pork for the first time in about three decades, as rising feed grain prices boost costs for livestock farmers.
BASEBALL / HIT AND RUN
Feb 21, 2008

Power-hitting phenom Nakata thrust into spotlight

As if professional baseball isn't hard enough on rookies, try tackling what Hokkaido Nippon Ham newcomer Sho Nakata is probably about to go through.
COMMENTARY
Feb 21, 2008

Starting with Kyoto, Rudd aims high

LOS ANGELES — Before too much time goes by, maybe somebody ought to take note of the smart political stuff coming out of Australia lately.
Reader Mail
Feb 21, 2008

The root of national identity

Regarding the Feb. 16 article "(Tokyo Gov. Shintaro) Ishihara laments loss of national identity": Ishihara is quoted as saying that if North Korea launched a missile, "the Japanese would instantly change." When North Korea launched six missiles two years ago, did Japan change as a result of that?

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