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BUSINESS / JAPANESE PERSPECTIVES
May 1, 2006

Global inflation changing economic fundamentals

Ajoint statement released April 21 by finance minis- ters and central bankers of the Group of Seven major economies in Washington noted that the global trend in economic expansion has entered its fourth year, with inflationary pressures relatively contained despite the surge in crude oil prices.
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Apr 30, 2006

Recalling lady umpire Perry Barber and Cooperstown cookies

Reader Dennis McCormick from Hyogo Prefecture recently wrote to ask, "Do you remember about 15 years ago an American woman umpire came to Japan and worked a few Japanese games in the Kansai area? I don't recall her name, but I was surprised when I found out she was not a regular umpire in one of the...
MORE SPORTS
Apr 30, 2006

Ishii youngest to win nationals

Teenager Satoshi Ishii scored a decisive point in the dying seconds of the championship final to beat Olympic and world champion Keiji Suzuki and become the youngest judoka to win the Japanese national title on Saturday.
JAPAN
Apr 30, 2006

For Golden Week this year, go to a spa and stay close to home

Golden Week may have arrived, but that doesn't mean everyone has elaborate travel plans -- some may be too busy, while others hate the crowds and shun the absurdly expensive air tickets during the holiday season.
BASKETBALL
Apr 29, 2006

Bryant thinking long term

Tokyo Apache coach Joe Bryant has been all over the world because of basketball, and heading into this weekend, Bryant is hoping for another destination -- the top of the heap in the bj-league.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Apr 29, 2006

Nisei bears witness to 'looking like the enemy'

Mary Matsuda Gruenewald was 17 when her life fell to pieces, shattered by the U.S. policy of interning Japanese-Americans after the bombing of Pearl Harbor in 1941.
Japan Times
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Apr 28, 2006

Crafts collective opens up studio

The artisans of the Akeppiroge crafts collective will open up their homes and studios for the only time this year to visitors for an exhibition event to be held May 12-14 in Takashima, Shiga Prefecture -- a small scenic city on the western shore of Lake Biwa. Visitors are welcome from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m....
BUSINESS
Apr 28, 2006

JR trio saw record sales, pretax profits in '05, despite crashes

Three major Japan Railway carriers Thursday reported record consolidated sales and pretax profits for fiscal 2005, led by strong demand for bullet train and conventional rail line travel, despite fatal train accidents involving two of them.
COMMENTARY
Apr 27, 2006

Has Japan changed for better?

LONDON -- Some people complain that Japanese society has deteriorated with the ending of the lifetime employment system and the replacement of seniority-based promotion systems with ones based on performance.
COMMENTARY
Apr 27, 2006

Goodbye to a visionary on U.S.-Asian ties

LOS ANGELES -- Anxious students will often ask me what they should ideally aspire to be when they grow up.
SUMO
Apr 26, 2006

Mini tourneys to be held on summer tour

The Japan Sumo Association will hold mini exhibition tournaments featuring sumo wrestlers from the top-tier makuuchi division during a five-day training tour of Taiwan scheduled for this summer, association officials said Tuesday.
SPORTS / E-LIST
Apr 26, 2006

Giants plowing on; Kiyohara vowing plows

So the Yomiuri Giants are some 49,000 games above .500 less than a month into the season. The E-List figured the Giants would have to be much better than they were last season, when the Giabbit cried so many tears over Yomiuri's crummy season he looked like a strung-out teenager who wore eyeliner in...
EDITORIALS
Apr 26, 2006

Learning from Chernobyl

At 1:23 a.m. on April 26, 1986, the worst nuclear-power accident in history occurred at Chernobyl, Ukraine, which was then part of the Soviet Union. Twenty years after the accident, the name "Chernobyl" and a view of the 90-meter-high concrete and steel sarcophagus covering Reactor Four at the power...
BUSINESS
Apr 26, 2006

WTO talks may be held in June

Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Minister Shoichi Nakagawa said Tuesday it should be possible to hold ministerial talks in June to accelerate World Trade Organization efforts aimed at determining the size of tariff reductions and other trade liberalization measures in the current round of WTO negotiations....
MORE SPORTS
Apr 25, 2006

Kitajima headed to Pan-Pacific

Olympic breaststroke double champion Kosuke Kitajima and men's backstroke specialist Tomomi Morita were among 42 swimmers named Monday to compete at the Pan-Pacific Championships in Canada in August, the Japan Swimming Federation said.
BUSINESS / JAPANESE PERSPECTIVES
Apr 24, 2006

Fiscal policymakers seek Japan's true potential

An intense debate is raging among three of the nation's top fiscal panels on how to reform state revenues and expenditures in an integrated manner. The bodies are the Council on Economic and Fiscal Policy, the Liberal Democratic Party's fiscal reform panel, and the fiscal system council of the Finance...
CULTURE / Books
Apr 23, 2006

Ronald Searle's sketchbook of prisoner-of-war horrors

TO THE KWAI -- AND BACK: War Drawings 1939-1945, by Ronald Searle. Souvenir Press, 2006, 208 pp., £25 (cloth). Ronald Searle, one of the ablest and most famous British cartoonists, and the creator of the girls of "St. Trinians" strip, was a prisoner of war of the Japanese from February 1942 to August...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Apr 23, 2006

Detective fiction written for the love of Tokyo

THE SNAKE THAT BOWED, by Edward Seidensticker, based on works by Okamoto Kido. Tokyo: Printed Matter Press, 2006, 144 pp., 1500 yen (paper). Edward Seidensticker, the most eminent translator from Japanese to English, is a man of many parts. Not only has he given us "The Tale of Genji," "The Makioka Sisters,"...
MORE SPORTS
Apr 22, 2006

Morita sets national record

Backstroke swimmer Tomomi Morita broke the Japanese record twice on his way to claiming his fifth consecutive 100-meter title at the national swimming championships Friday.
JAPAN
Apr 22, 2006

Consumers skeptical about U.S. beef; firms say lift ban

Consumers expressed skepticism Friday about the ability of the U.S. to guarantee the safety of its beef, while businesses urged an immediate end to the import ban.
SOCCER / PREMIER REPORT
Apr 22, 2006

Time for F.A. to get tough on abusive managers, players

LONDON -- Earlier this week Neil Warnock, the Sheffield United manager whose ego and popularity are at opposite ends of the scale, was sent to the stands during the 1-1 draw with Leeds after yelling to to the visiting manager Kevin Blackwell: "I hope he breaks his f leg next time," a reference to Leeds'...
BUSINESS
Apr 22, 2006

USTR suggests Doha players take last stab at deal

Departing U.S. Trade Representative Robert Portman has suggested that ministers of major players at trade liberalization talks of the World Trade Organization should meet despite the slim chance of clinching a deal before the April 30 deadline, Japan's trade minister said Friday.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Apr 22, 2006

Life in balance with sweets, stitches and the sea

Every Tuesday, Hideki Okubo heads her car from the Tokyo suburb of Chofu towards the Shonan coast, and the oldest and possibly the largest windsurfing school in Japan.
BUSINESS
Apr 21, 2006

USTR change clouds WTO talks: official

The resignation of Rob Portman as U.S. trade representative will probably impede the progress of trade liberalization talks taking place under the World Trade Organization, Mamoru Ishihara, Japan's vice minister of agriculture, forestry and fisheries, said Thursday.

Longform

Mount Fuji is considered one of Japan's most iconic symbols and is a major draw for tourists. It's still a mountain, though, and potential hikers need to properly prepare for any climb.
What it takes to save lives on Mount Fuji