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Japan Times
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Dec 7, 2007

Musette maestro

French accordionist Daniel Colin will perform a Paris Musette Christmas concert in Tokyo on Dec. 24. Paris Musette is a style of French accordion music that has been integral to downtown Paris for many generations. Italian immigrants who settled in large numbers in Paris in the 19th century brought accordions...
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / WALKING THE WARDS
Dec 7, 2007

Winging it in Ota Ward

Ota Ward is totally fly. For starters, it hosts Haneda, the only airport actually situated in Tokyo's 23 wards. Although a plane would come in handy in navigating this southernmost and largest of the city's wards, you'd miss out on roasting wieners at Ota's weekend barbecue hot spot, Jonanjima Seaside...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Dec 7, 2007

Harlem Gospel Choir

Hail the festive season in true gospel style this year with the joyous sounds of Harlem Gospel Choir. The world-famous troupe from New York's Harlem district returns to Japan for the fifth time from Dec. 13-23 and promises an exultant performance of hand-clapping and foot-stomping. You may even get to...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Dec 7, 2007

Japan climate effort needs rethink: experts

One of Japan's goals at the Bali conference on climate change is getting legally binding emission controls placed on developing countries, but many experts doubt the nation's ability to get its own house in order first.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Dec 7, 2007

Galactic keep it in their own backyard

In a business where some people will do anything to thrust themselves into the spotlight, for their latest release the New Orleans-based funk quintet Galactic did all they could to step out of it. Not even Hurricane Katrina could stop them.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 6, 2007

Time to bring U.S. troops home from Iraq

The American people no longer support the war in Iraq. The war is being carried on by a stubborn president who, like Lyndon Johnson and Richard Nixon during the Vietnam War, does not want to lose. But from the beginning this has been an ill-considered and poorly prosecuted war that, like the Vietnam...
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Dec 6, 2007

Wal-Mart raises Seiyu stake to 95% to speed up retailer's turnaround

Wal-Mart Stores has raised its stake in supermarket chain Seiyu to 95.1 percent, Seiyu said Wednesday, marking the U.S. retailer's latest attempt to solidify its foothold in the difficult Japanese market.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Dec 6, 2007

Out from under noh's shadow

'F or kyogen actors, Japan losing the war in 1945 was a wonderful event as it liberated kyogen from its long subjugation to noh," actor Shigeyama Sennojo says. "For the first time in 400 years, kyogen was recognized as an independent form of theater."
BUSINESS
Dec 6, 2007

Japan may limit airport privatization

The government may set limits on airport privatization after Macquarie Airports bought 20 percent of the terminal operator at Haneda, Tokyo's main domestic hub.
EDITORIALS
Dec 6, 2007

Time for action

Delegates from some 190 nations have gathered in Bali, Indonesia, to negotiate a new framework to combat global warming. The Bali conference only represents the first round of negotiations that may continue into 2009. But at stake is the sustainability of the Earth itself, which is facing the danger...
BUSINESS
Dec 5, 2007

Yahoo Japan, eBay team up on auctions

Yahoo Japan Corp. and eBay Inc. agreed Tuesday to team up on online auctions and plan to launch services next year that will make it easier to make purchases via the Internet from the United States and Japan.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 5, 2007

Sarkozy's grand bargain

WASHINGTON — Think of it always. Speak of it never.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 5, 2007

Globalization of ethics can bond regions

PRAGUE — Many Europeans doubt that Asia can catch up with Europe in terms of regional integration. But Asia not only has the type of stable common ethical foundations that were so important to European integration; it also has a well developed set of moral principles, some of which were an established...
BUSINESS
Dec 5, 2007

Fukuda orders ministers to soften oil price hikes

Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda has ordered ministers to develop a policy to soften the blow of higher oil prices on consumers and businesses.
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital
Dec 5, 2007

Matsui's graceful robots evoke human emotion

It's a truism that the Japanese are experts at dressing up unpleasantness in cute garb. The ubiquitous cartoon workmen characters bowing in apology at construction zones are meant to make months of jackhammering slightly more bearable. Ditto for robots and the future.
Reader Mail
Dec 4, 2007

Fingerprinting issue trivialized

The Nov. 27 article by Mark Schreiber, "Prints rejected, scribe accepted," described Schreiber's re-entry to Japan after a trip to Saipan that appears to have been made purely for the opportunity to write the piece. The tone and conclusion made light of what many view as a serious issue, and were touted...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Dec 4, 2007

Taking liberties? Readers respond

The Community Page received an unprecedented number of responses to the "Taking Liberties" series that ran in this section last month. Following are some examples.
MORE SPORTS
Dec 3, 2007

Takahashi wins second straight NHK Trophy

SENDAI — Using eight triple jumps and superior footwork, Daisuke Takahashi won his second straight NHK Trophy title and clinched a trip to the Grand Prix Final on Sunday afternoon.
BUSINESS / JAPANESE PERSPECTIVES
Dec 3, 2007

Wrathful gods bear down on sinful global economy

'W rath of Gods" is the title of an award-winning documentary directed by Jon Gustafsson, the Iceland-born filmmaker. It could equally be the title of a documentary about the state of the global economy as it stands in November 2008.
MORE SPORTS
Dec 2, 2007

Frontiers hold off Skylarks

Runnings backs Yusuke Shinshi and Motoki Yoshida rushed for 100 and 117 yards, respectively, to guide the Fujitsu Frontiers to a 31-21 victory over the defending X League champion Onward Skylarks in the second round of the Final 6 at Yokohama Stadium on Saturday afternoon. Fujitsu overwhelmed the Skylarks...
Reader Mail
Dec 2, 2007

Tradition continues amid apathy

Janet Kenny's Nov. 22 letter, "The sadness in knowing their fate," made it clear why the whaling issue hasn't seen much progress in recent years. There is a fundamental difference in perception. The Japanese don't revere whales as "beautiful giants"; whales are viewed traditionally as another seafood....
EDITORIALS
Dec 2, 2007

Internationalizing high schools

While the government stumbles around with new educational policies, a quiet revolution in high schools has already happened. The number of foreign students enrolled in Japanese high schools has hit an all-time high of nearly 2,000, with a new peak of over 100 schools nationwide now instructing children...
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Dec 2, 2007

Preliminary baseball schedules reveal stretched-out season

The 2008 Japan pro baseball preliminary schedules are out, and it is always interesting for me to look ahead and see what quirks or oddities are on the agenda for the coming season.

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