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BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
Apr 19, 2006

Nippon Ham's Shinjo to retire at season-end

In a surprise move by the man who hit a grand slam on his two-homer night, Nippon Ham Fighters outfielder Tsuyoshi Shinjo said Tuesday he will retire at the end of the season.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / WILD WATCH
Apr 19, 2006

Birds' amazing 'tweezers'

The chances are that you are reading this while holding The Japan Times in one or both hands. Alternatively you may be reading online after having tapped on various keys with your fingers to make images appear before your eyes. Either way, manual dexterity will have enabled you to access your daily read,...
BUSINESS
Apr 19, 2006

Farm lobby reaffirms WTO stance

The Central Union of Agricultural Cooperatives reaffirmed Tuesday its opposition to capping import tariffs on farm products, a proposal recently made at global trade talks.
EDITORIALS
Apr 18, 2006

France refuses to face economic facts

It is hard to find a silver lining in the clouds that hover over France's economic future. Months of sustained political protest by French students forced a humiliating defeat on the Paris government, obliging it to withdraw a package of labor reforms that would have made it easier to fire first-time...
JAPAN
Apr 18, 2006

'War dead' vet living in Ukraine

A former Imperial Japanese Army soldier has been found living in Ukraine, officials at the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry said Monday.
BUSINESS
Apr 18, 2006

Japan, Indonesia resume talks on free-trade agreement

Japan and Indonesia started their fourth round of official negotiations Monday on a bilateral free-trade agreement, with the goal of reaching a basic accord by midyear by accelerating talks.
Japan Times
Reference / SO WHAT THE HECK IS THAT
Apr 18, 2006

Sound trucks

Dear Alice,
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design
Apr 18, 2006

Stylist Meets,' M.A.C. cosmetics for men, Juicy Couture . . .

Taste-makers
BUSINESS
Apr 18, 2006

Skymark gets route despite safety worries

The transport ministry on Monday approved Skymark Airlines Co.'s application to begin flights between Tokyo and Sapporo despite recent safety problems at the airline.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Apr 18, 2006

Musical match for Japan Goliath

Tetsuo Tanaka has been protesting his dismissal from an electronics company for a quarter of a century. Now his struggle, one of the longest one-man campaigns in Japanese history, is to be the subject of a documentary
EDITORIALS
Apr 17, 2006

Prayer: not the best medicine

In a study that has made a splash this month, an American cardiologist concludes that praying for sick people has no effect one way or the other on their recovery. In fact, if they know they are being prayed for, it makes them worse. Non-believers naturally find the first result predictable and the second...
BUSINESS / JAPANESE PERSPECTIVES
Apr 17, 2006

'CPE' by stealth: the state of youth jobs in Japan

French students are victorious. They have managed to push the infamous "first-time employment contract" ("contrat premiere embauche") out of the window.
JAPAN
Apr 17, 2006

Japan, China to seek more time to handle leftover arms

Japan and China will request next week that a U.N. organization give them five more years to complete a Japan-led project to collect and dispose of abandoned wartime chemical weapons in China, Japanese government sources said Sunday.
SOCCER / J. League
Apr 16, 2006

Gamba pulls one out

YOKOHAMA -- Super sub Masafumi Maeda punished a shocking defensive mix-up to fire in the winner as Gamba Osaka edged Yokohama F. Marinos in a seven-goal thriller on Saturday night.
Japan Times
LIFE / WEEK 3
Apr 16, 2006

What's really 'Chinese' about fortune cookies?

Try this for fun next time you're in New York City: Walk into any sushi bar, eat your fill and then ask for a fortune cookie.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Apr 16, 2006

Critical concerns about cinema

ASIAN CINEMAS: A READER & GUIDE, edited by Dimitris Eleftheriotis and Gary Needham. Edinburgh University Press, 2006, 474 pp., £19.99 (paper). CONTEMPORARY ASIAN CINEMA: Popular Culture in a Global Frame, edited by Anne Tereska Ciecko. Oxford: Berg Publishers, 2006, 250 pp., £16.99 (paper). Critical...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Apr 16, 2006

Ring trilogy spirals past science fiction

RING, SPIRAL, LOOP, by Koji Suzuki. Vertical Publishing, 2003-2005, each $24.95 (cloth). One cinematic treat that 1998 turned out was "Ringu," which was the rarity of a well-worked, intelligent horror flick that won broad appeal among movie fans who ordinarily look askance at efforts in the horror genre....
Japan Times
LIFE / WEEK 3
Apr 16, 2006

Ugly and macho or ultimate supercool on wheels?

The streets of central Tokyo are thronged with countless high-end automobiles, but one model above all others stands out from the crowd. Two meters high and 2.1 meters wide, with a mean, military-style mien, the Hummer H2 is hard to miss among the massed ranks of Toyotas, Nissans, Beemers and Mercs....
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Apr 16, 2006

Unlike with the French, a lack of fight spells future gloom for Japan's workers

While traveling through Europe recently I tried to get a handle on the controversy surrounding France's now abandoned First Job Contract (CPE) law, which was meant to make it easier for companies to hire young people. However, those same young people thought the law would make it easier for companies...
SOCCER / PREMIER REPORT
Apr 15, 2006

Timing of Rooney-Owen row not a good omen for England

Hell hath no fury like a bookmaker scorned.
JAPAN
Apr 15, 2006

Japan marks third-deadliest winter

The number of deaths caused by snow-related accidents recorded since December totaled 150, making it the third-worst winter in the postwar era in terms of people who died or disappeared because of heavy snowfall, the government said Friday.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Apr 15, 2006

Scouring the bush for flowers with power to heal

Upon mailing Australian Bush Flower Essences last year for help with a nauseous pregnant daughter, the speed of reply, kindness and concern was impressive. It was so impressive that it seemed a good idea to seek out the company's founder, Ian White, who said he would be coming to Japan in the spring,...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / PERSONALITY PROFILE
Apr 15, 2006

Maureen Tan

When Mutsuko Miki, widow of former Prime Minister Takeo Miki, set up the Asian Ladies Friendship Society in 1968, she could not have projected how the society would rate in 2006. To her gratification, ALFS today, expanded to the Asia-Pacific Ladies Friendship Society, has 24 member countries and a general...
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design / COUNTER CULTURE
Apr 14, 2006

Knight expands fashion empire

Eccentric British fashion designer Paul Smith is currently presiding over a rollout of stores across the globe. Following on from the December 2005 opening of a bubblegum-pink store on Melrose Avenue, L.A., last week he was in Tokyo to unveil a four-story flagship in the Aoyama district. Later this year...
CULTURE / Music
Apr 14, 2006

The Rogers Sisters "The Invisible Deck" (Too Pure/Hostess)

Rock musicians manifest the confrontational mode in many different ways, and New York's The Rogers Sisters utilize most of them. A classic power trio that has absorbed every trick the configuration has yielded over the years, the group works up from the kind of precision noise that sisters Jennifer and...
Japan Times
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Apr 14, 2006

Workshops, screenings at music video festival

The music video showcase Mirrorball, screened annually at the Edinburgh Film Festival for the last 10 years, will be presented for the second time in Japan. The Mirrorball Music Video Showcase Festival arrives in Tokyo April 15-16 for a weekend of events arranged into four screening programs and workshop...
CULTURE / Music
Apr 14, 2006

Janet Klein and Her Parlor Boys

Once upon a time, songs filled with earthy humor, sexual innuendo and a deep love of pretty melody were the norm. Singer and ukelele player Janet Klein collects such long-lost gems from the 1910s, '20s and '30s and revives them with a passion. Far from sounding like a musical antiquity, though, she sings...

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