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BUSINESS
Jan 11, 2008

Toyota gives GM run for its money, selling 9.37 million cars

Toyota Motor Corp. said Thursday that its global group sales rose 6 percent last year to 9.37 million vehicles, making for a tight race against General Motors, the world's biggest automaker.
BUSINESS
Jan 11, 2008

Matsushita, and its products, to only go by Panasonic name

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. announced Thursday it will rename itself Panasonic Corp. and end the National brand so that its products will be exclusively referred to as Panasonic.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Jan 11, 2008

In praise of picture-postcard Japan

As Ana and Roberto, my two good friends from Brazil, and myself gorged ourselves through the multicourse kaiseki dinner at the very pleasant and relaxed Tachibana Shikitei, a Japanese-style inn in Ishikawa Prefecture's Yamashiro Onsen, I convinced myself that food, when served on quality pottery —...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jan 11, 2008

Passing politics from generation to generation

'La Faute a Fidel!" is, in a sense, a project engineered by daughters. Director Julie Gavras' father is the famed prorevoltionary director Costa Gavras, its lead actress Julie Depardieu is the daughter of Gerard, France's most treasured actor. And Nina Kervel, who was age 9 when the film was made, comes...
JAPAN
Jan 11, 2008

Illness, not policies, ended my time in office: Abe

The abrupt and, at the time, inexplicable resignation of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in September stunned the nation, prompting criticism that he was an irresponsible and immature politician who couldn't even offer a convincing explanation as to why he quit the nation's top post.
BUSINESS
Jan 11, 2008

Economy to slow down for awhile: Muto

The economy will keep slowing "for the time being" as the country's cycle of profits feeding into wages and consumer spending weakens temporarily, Bank of Japan Deputy Gov. Toshiro Muto said Thursday.
Reader Mail
Jan 10, 2008

ALTs never had it so good

I am an ALT and have been teaching in Japan since 2002. What the (Jan. 5) articles states is unfair. ALT work is very, very easy. All those teachers who are complaining know it. You cannot get such an easy job anywhere in the world for the money. Look at the average Japanese salary and working hours. ...
Reader Mail
Jan 10, 2008

Variety of statuses for Koreans

Misao Nakayama's Dec. 30 letter, "Korean workers not used as slaves," and Susan Menadue-Chun's Jan. 6 letter, "Deafness to survivors' stories," represent two extremes. Menadue-Chun is right to point out that most Chosenese (Japanese nationals with registers in Chosen, the name for "Korea" when it became...
JAPAN
Jan 10, 2008

Shibuya loaner-umbrella campaign aims to aid community, environment

Cheap and readily discarded clear plastic umbrellas are just the thing when you're caught off guard by a shower.
JAPAN
Jan 9, 2008

Clear apology to sex slaves demanded

Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda should make a clear apology over Japan's responsibilities regarding wartime sex slaves and lead his Liberal Democratic Party and the Diet to pass a bill recognizing what Japan did to those women, U.S. Congressman Mike Honda said Tuesday in Tokyo.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Jan 9, 2008

Can we be forever young?

Jeanette Winterson's latest novel, "The Stone Gods," is set in the future on a distant planet whose resources have been over- exploited by colonizing humans.
BUSINESS
Jan 9, 2008

Sharp to bring forward expansion of LCD plant

Sharp Corp. will increase in July the liquid crystal display production capacity of its Kameyama No. 2 plant in Mie Prefecture to 90,000 sheets a month from the current 60,000 to cope with growing demand, President Mikio Katayama said Tuesday.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER
Jan 9, 2008

Cave cricket

* Japanese name: Kamadouma * Scientific name: Atachycines apicalis * Description: A hump-backed insect with huge hind legs and long, sweeping antennae, the cave cricket is easily recognizable. It is brown, wingless, and the body is 3-4 cm long. The hind legs, with the femurs shaped like chicken drumsticks,...
BUSINESS
Jan 9, 2008

Sony BMG to sell music downloads without copy protection

Sony BMG will start selling music downloads free of copy-protection safeguards later this month in North America, as the last holdout among the major record labels succumbed to the growing trend.
BUSINESS
Jan 9, 2008

Nomura in on Pakistan bank deal

Nomura Holdings Inc. said Tuesday it is teaming up with others to buy a controlling stake in Pakistan's Saudi Pak Commercial Bank Ltd. for about $163 million.
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Jan 8, 2008

An up-close view of Mount Fuji

Mount Fuji is the most beloved mountain in Japan — an honor it has held since the dawn of history.
Reader Mail
Jan 8, 2008

Misguided efforts against Serbs

Thank you for publishing professor Raju Thomas' Jan. 3 article, "The case against Kosovo independence." For over 60 years, Albanian extremists have sought to create an ethnically and religiously "pure" Kosovo by ethnically cleansing and slaughtering Kosovo's non-Albanian inhabitants and destroying...
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Jan 8, 2008

Following in our fingerprints

It was a quarter of a century ago on an autumn day in 1982 that I decided to engage in a small act of civil disobedience by refusing to give my fingerprint. Little did I realize I was stepping into a decades-long controversy that would be both an education and a circus.
Japan Times
MULTIMEDIA / STYLE WISE
Jan 8, 2008

Raf Simons, Bulgari, Marc Newson and more

Candy-colored covers
COMMENTARY
Jan 7, 2008

Gut reaction to immigration

LONDON — The indigenous population of Western Europe is aging and declining. Some countries such as Italy have net reproduction rates similar to that of Japan. Others such as Sweden have rates nearer equilibrium. Some countries such as Britain expect a significant increase in their population, thanks...
EDITORIALS
Jan 7, 2008

Welcome to $100 oil

It did not take long for the price of oil to reach $100 a barrel in 2008. Rising demand, geopolitical instability and a falling dollar have all contributed to the soaring price of crude. None of these factors is likely to diminish: High prices are here to stay.

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