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Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Nov 11, 2007

Cambodia's jungle treasure still stuns the senses

These days any number of people will delight in ruefully declaring how such and such a place has been ruined — overrun by tourists and commercialism — and, as if to rub salt into the wound, they'll tell you that if you'd only visited it when they first did, you too could have savored Paradise.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 11, 2007

Should we study race-intelligence links?

PRINCETON, New Jersey — The intersection of genetics and intelligence is an intellectual minefield. Harvard's former President Larry Summers touched off one explosion in 2005 when he tentatively suggested a genetic explanation for the difficulty his university had in recruiting female professors in...
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Nov 10, 2007

Bowled over by one very, happy day

If National Toilet Day is not a happy day for you, perhaps you need a new toilet.
EDITORIALS
Nov 10, 2007

Hooked on hired help

Blackwater USA, a private security company, is undergoing unprecedented scrutiny following the shooting deaths of 17 Iraqis earlier this year. The investigation has revealed that this was only the most recent in a string of incidents that demonstrates horrific indifference to the violence perpetrated...
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 9, 2007

East Timor need not follow Myanmar

MANILA — East Timor, now known as Timor-Leste, is the world's newest democracy. It may have a population of less than 1 million, but it has a proud, heroic history and a rich culture built up over centuries of diverse ethnic and colonial influences.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Nov 9, 2007

'Four Minutes'

"Four Minutes" was inspired by a single photograph of an 80-year-old woman who worked as a piano teacher in a women's prison. She sat at her instrument, her hands placed lightly on the keys, and filmmaker Chris Kraus was struck by the contrast between her old, ravaged face and youthful, elegant hands....
Japan Times
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Nov 9, 2007

Acid-house pioneer shakes Tokyo

The death of music impresario Tony Wilson in August this year led to tributes from across the world, and recently the movie "Control," a biopic of late Joy Division frontman Ian Curtis, was released to critical acclaim. What do these two events have in common? Manchester's music scene of the late 1980s....
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 9, 2007

EU's moment of decision

BRUSSELS — Is amnesia an integral part of politics? When it comes to the treaty to reform the European Union's institutions, which will be finalized this month, recent events suggest that amnesia does play a central role.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Nov 8, 2007

Will entry checks cross the line?

Despite government claims it is necessary to counter terrorism, a new immigration procedure obliging most foreigners to be fingerprinted and photographed upon entry to Japan has come under fire as an unwarranted invasion of privacy.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Nov 8, 2007

Underworld outside their comfort zone

Call it a midlife crisis. Five years ago, Underworld's Karl Hyde and Rick Smith — then aged 45 and 43, respectively — took stock of their careers and realized a change was due.
SOCCER
Nov 8, 2007

Reds hang on to earn draw

Urawa Reds hung on grimly for a 1-1 draw in the first leg of their AFC Champions League final against Iran's Sepahan on Wednesday evening in Esfahan.
EDITORIALS
Nov 8, 2007

Mr. Putin's faulty history

Russian President Vladimir Putin has ratcheted up rhetoric against U.S. plans to deploy a missile shield in Europe. He recently paralleled Washington's plans with the Cuban missile crisis in 1962, considered to be the closest the world ever came to nuclear war. Although he quickly dismissed the chances...
COMMENTARY
Nov 7, 2007

Three relationships the U.S. must tend to

LOS ANGELES — Three of the largest pieces in the sprawling jigsaw puzzle known as Asia are, of course, China, India and Japan. The first is the most populous country on Earth, the second is the most populous democracy and the third is the world's second-biggest economy — and (theoretically) chief...
JAPAN
Nov 6, 2007

DPJ misses chance to come to the fore

Last Friday when Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda and Ichiro Ozawa, leader of the Democratic Party of Japan, entertained a possible grand coalition, this sent shock waves through the political world only to be superseded by the chaos in the wake of Ozawa's abrupt offer Sunday to quit his party's helm.
Reader Mail
Nov 6, 2007

Perhaps the last trip to Japan

I visited Japan for two weeks last month. It had been over 20 years since I last visited. As expected I thoroughly enjoyed my stay and was looking forward to another visit within a few years, but it is extremely unlikely that I will ever step foot in Japan again if I am required to provide fingerprints...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Nov 6, 2007

Nova's crash: readers respond

Following are responses from readers on the collapse of language school chain Nova Corp. and last week's Zeit Gist article, "Nova crash adds to 'eikaiwa' wage woes":
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 6, 2007

Vladimir Putin, part two

LONDON — Opinions about Vladimir Putin run the gamut. In the West, he is regarded as an "authoritarian," an "autocrat," even as a "dictator," while in Russia a huge majority regard him as the most "democratic" of leaders, on the grounds that he has done more than his predecessors to improve the lot...
BUSINESS
Nov 6, 2007

Takeda sees big profit rise via Actos

Takeda Pharmaceutical Co., Japan's largest drugmaker, forecast its biggest jump in full-year profit in six years on sales of the best-selling Actos diabetes pill.
COMMENTARY
Nov 5, 2007

Health obstacles to African development

NEW YORK — According to the U.S. Census Bureau, by 2010 sub-Saharan Africa will have suffered 71 million deaths from AIDS. By comparison, the bubonic plague of the Middle Ages killed some 30 million people. These are staggering figures, particularly if one considers that deaths from AIDS are only one...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Nov 5, 2007

PCs getting pushed aside by other, powerful gadgets

Masaya Igarashi wants ¥20,000 headphones for his new iPod Touch, and he's torn between Nintendo Co.'s Wii and Sony's PlayStation 3 game consoles. When he has saved up again, he plans to splurge on a digital camera or flat-screen TV.

Longform

Mamoru Iwai, stationmaster of Keisei Ueno Station, says that, other than earthquake-proofing, the former Hakubutsukan-Dobutsuen (Museum-Zoo) Station has remained untouched.
Inside Tokyo's 'phantom' stations — and the stories they tell