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Reader Mail
Feb 14, 2008

Routine pastime of xenophobes

The timely response from the Feb. 11 editorial "Avoid hysteria over food" is a welcome antidote to the prevailing mass anti-Chinese hysteria in Japan fanned by a bigoted local media. From "second-rate toys" to every conceivable Chinese-made good, China is now the convenient bogeyman for any inferior...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Feb 14, 2008

A question of intention

How valid is the distinction between crafts and arts? A number of recent exhibitions, most notably "Roppongi Crossing" at Tokyo's Mori Art Museum and "Space for Your Future" at the Museum of Contemporary Arts, Tokyo, have confronted us with this question, one that is of great relevance to Japanese art....
Japan Times
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Feb 13, 2008

Let science empower you

The setting: The 350-year-old Royal Society in London, whose magnificent neo-Classical base overlooks the Mall, which has Buckingham Palace at one end of the boulevard and Trafalgar Square at the other. The speaker: Lord Rees of Oxford, the Astronomer Royal. Martin Rees is the current president of the...
BUSINESS
Feb 13, 2008

Daiwa SMBC to invest ¥200 billion more

Daiwa Securities SMBC Co. plans to invest about ¥200 billion of its own money in the coming year to restore profit that has been battered by a slump in underwriting fees.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 11, 2008

ASEAN's Pakistan problem

MANILA — Pakistan's near political chaos, the result of President Pervez Musharraf's declaration of martial law last year and the assassination of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, has had a tsunami-like impact across Southeast Asia. Should Musharraf's government backslide even more on its commitments...
Reader Mail
Feb 10, 2008

Let the Crown Princess breathe

Regarding the Feb. 7 Associated Press article "Crown Princess panned for living high": The Crown Princess's free-time activities make up one of the biggest nonstories I think I've ever read. Going riding and dining at a Mexican restaurant are hardly indulgences that are going to tip the country back...
JAPAN
Feb 10, 2008

Russian bomber detected violating Japanese airspace

A Russian air force bomber briefly violated Japanese airspace over the uninhabited island of Sofugan just south of Tokyo on Saturday, the Foreign Ministry said.
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Feb 10, 2008

Tickets for Red Sox-A's openers not expected to last long

The posters are up on the trains and ads in the Japanese sports papers are ballyhooing the sale of tickets to the Boston Red Sox vs. Oakland Athletics openers and the preceding exhibition games at Tokyo Dome March 22-26.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Feb 10, 2008

There's no way of stopping the poisoned food sent from abroad

Last week, when the Chinese government sent five experts to talk with Japanese counterparts about those pesticide-tainted frozen gyoza (Chinese dumplings) imported from their country, the head of the team, Li Chunfeng, expressed concern over the feelings of Japanese consumers. He also offered a veiled...
JAPAN
Feb 9, 2008

Noda wins 'madonna' turf war as LDP shunts Sato to Tokyo

A political dispute between two "madonna" lawmakers of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party both contesting a ticket to run for Gifu's No. 1 district finally came to an end Friday after the party announced that Yukari Sato will run for Tokyo, rather than Gifu, in the next Lower House election.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Feb 9, 2008

Pocketful of yen

If you live to be 75 years old, you will live approximately 650,000 hours. Somehow, that doesn't seem like a lot, especially when you can buy a very nice house for $650,000, the same number, but a huge amount in dollars (and which would cost you one dollar per hour to live there). On the other hand,...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Feb 9, 2008

Killing calves makes Japan's whaling indefensible

KUROHIME, Nagano Pref. — When I turned on my TV to both BBC World and CNN this morning, I was shocked and saddened by the sight of a minke whale and calf being winched up the ramp of a Japanese factory ship in the Antarctic Ocean.
BUSINESS
Feb 9, 2008

Sentiment of 'economy watchers' tumbled to six-year low in January

Japanese merchant sentiment fell to a six-year low in January as stagnant wages forced consumers to crimp spending, the government said Friday.
BUSINESS
Feb 8, 2008

Closer G7 coordination on monetary, fiscal policy unlikely

The Group of Seven finance ministers and central bank chiefs plan to discuss ways to deal with continuing global market turbulence, a credit crunch and U.S. recession fears during their one-day meeting Saturday in Tokyo, but few analysts expect them to agree on concerted international monetary or fiscal...
Reader Mail
Feb 7, 2008

Japan's role in fish consumption

Concerning Misao Nakaya's Dec. 16 letter, "Whales as a food resource": In the only comment that is apropos of my Dec. 9 letter, "Whales don't cause fish shortages," Nakaya writes that the average Japanese consumes 18 kilograms of fish per year.
Reader Mail
Feb 7, 2008

Can't help being interventionist

Where does opinion-page columnist Tom Plate get his information regarding the respective positions of the American presidential candidates on U.S. troop withdrawal from Iraq? At this point in time, none of the candidates actually shows any real intention or determination to make withdrawal an immediate...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Feb 7, 2008

The gobbiest girl in London, innit?

Adele cringes: "I can't believe I did a peace sign on TV — like Ringo Starr!"
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 6, 2008

European Union is MIA in Afghanistan

PRAGUE — The withdrawal of Britain's Paddy Ashdown as a candidate for the post of U.N. envoy in Afghanistan means that the international community still has some way to go before it speaks with one voice in that country. Such a unified voice is needed, for six years of war and the biggest military...
BUSINESS
Feb 6, 2008

Toyota logs record quarterly profit despite U.S. slump

Toyota Motor Corp. said Tuesday its October-December group revenue, operating profit and net profit all hit record highs on a third-quarter basis as vigorous sales in growing emerging markets outstripped a slowdown in the U.S.
BASKETBALL / NBA / NBA REPORT
Feb 6, 2008

Acquiring Gasol latest coup for Lakers

NEW YORK — Wilt, Kareem, Magic, Jamaal Wilkes, James Worthy, Shaq and Kobe all became Lakers as a consequence of poor or pressured decisions by competing executives.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Feb 5, 2008

Tsukiji too popular to function

Visiting the famed Tsukiji Fish Market in Tokyo's Chuo Ward is an awesome experience for foreign tourists and it can never be too early in the morning to go.
BUSINESS
Feb 5, 2008

Takeda to purchase local Amgen unit

Takeda Pharmaceutical Co., Japan's largest drugmaker, agreed to buy the local unit of Amgen Inc., gaining cancer and arthritis medicines.
BUSINESS / THE VIEW FROM EUROPE
Feb 4, 2008

For Russia and Japan, bad blood not as thick as it seems

The great industrialist Henry Ford once proclaimed "history is bunk." But when it comes to international business, this wisdom does not always prevail.
EDITORIALS
Feb 4, 2008

Focus in U.S. campaign narrows

The U.S. presidential campaign sharpened last week with the withdrawals of Mr. Rudy Giuliani and Mr. John Edwards. Now, two main candidates dominate each race and will battle head to head in "Super Tuesday" this week and to their nominating conventions later this year. Voters in both parties now have...

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