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JAPAN
May 23, 2006

Importer's rare tortoises a labor of love

Before he heads off to work, Masakazu Utsunomiya has a unique daily ritual of tender loving care -- he bathes and feeds the rare Burmese starred tortoises he keeps in his modest Tokyo apartment and ensures their tanks' temperature is just right.
COMMENTARY
May 22, 2006

Japan keeps blowing smoke

This year's slogan adopted by the World Health Organization for No Tobacco Day (May 31) is "Tobacco: deadly in any form or disguise." Since the framework convention on tobacco control came into effect in February 2005, the antismoking movement has become an irreversible global trend.
Japan Times
LIFE / WEEK 3
May 21, 2006

Super-natural wine is flying off the shelves

Despite being everywhere -- in every part of our bodies and our daily lives -- chemicals have got a bad rep. Pollution, allergies, additives, colorings, flavorings, you name it, if it's bad for you, then "chemicals" are blamed.
JAPAN
May 20, 2006

Opus Dei revels in chance to explain itself

Inc., the film's distributor for Japan, is putting the film on 863 screens nationwide and hopes to make 10 billion yen at the box office, which translates into 8 million viewers. "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone," released in December 2002 in Japan, is currently the highest-grossing foreign...
BUSINESS
May 19, 2006

Sales slump fuels record Sanyo group loss

Struggling home appliance maker Sanyo Electric Co. reported a record group net loss of 205.6 billion yen for the business year that ended in March, due to falling sales and losses incurred in corporate restructuring, the company said Thursday.
BUSINESS
May 19, 2006

Japan, China remain deadlocked over how to resolve gas row

Japan and China clarified their respective positions but were unable Thursday to agree on how to resolve their dispute over natural gas drilling in the East China Sea, where the two sides disagree over their exclusive economic zone boundaries.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
May 18, 2006

"Wide Eyed Theatre: Shita No Shita"

La Deco, Shibuya Fridays (8 p.m.), Saturdays (3 and 8 p.m.) and Sundays (3 p.m.) till May 28
SOCCER / PREMIER REPORT
May 17, 2006

Barcelona-Arsenal final puts two great stars on a grand stage

PARIS -- There are signs around the Nou Camp reminding everyone that Barcelona is "more than a club." There should also be signs in Catalonia to say that Ronaldinho is "more than a player."
EDITORIALS
May 17, 2006

Revising the Organ Transplant Law

The Organ Transplant Law went into effect in 1997. Between February 1999 and March 2006, organs from 44 brain-dead people were used for 167 transplants, which involved hearts, lungs, livers, pancreases, kidneys and small intestines. But the number is extremely small compared with the United States, where...
JAPAN
May 17, 2006

FTC searches contractors tied to defense bid-rigging

The Fair Trade Commission searched about 10 major contractors Tuesday for evidence that they rigged bids to get construction contracts from the Defense Facilities Administration Agency, sources said.
JAPAN
May 17, 2006

Reduce NHK channels, reorganize NTT: panel

An advisory panel to communications minister Heizo Takenaka proposed Tuesday that NHK user fees be lowered by reducing the number of the public broadcaster's channels.
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
May 16, 2006

Nippon Ham's Ogasawara available for free agency

Nippon Ham Fighters infielder Michihiro Ogasawara has fulfilled the requirements to become a free agent but said Monday he has not considered what course of action, if any, he will take with the Pacific League club.
COMMENTARY / World
May 16, 2006

Cops of the South Pacific

SYDNEY -- Australia is far from happy about becoming the unofficial, reluctant policeman of the South Pacific. The latest tally of young, politically inept countries that expect Canberra to keep the peace for them has risen to four. And that's not counting the nearest potential hot spot, Indonesia's...
EDITORIALS
May 15, 2006

Apolitical support to Africa

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi recently visited Ethiopia and Ghana to underscore Japan's continuing efforts to help Africa fight AIDS and other diseases, eliminate poverty and solve conflicts. His visit to sub-Saharan Africa was the first by a Japanese leader since Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori went...
JAPAN
May 15, 2006

Hijacker's kid to leave N. Korea

A daughter of one of nine Japanese men who hijacked a Japan Airlines jet and defected to North Korea in 1970 will move to Japan next month, sources said Sunday.
COMMENTARY
May 15, 2006

The post-Koizumi gauntlet

Japan's political future hinges on the successor to Junichiro Koizumi, whose tenure as president of the governing Liberal Democratic Party and, hence, prime minister will end in four months. Opinion polls show Chief Cabinet Secretary Shinzo Abe is by far the most popular potential contender for the premiership,...
JAPAN
May 15, 2006

Consumption tax money to go toward social needs

The government has decided to dedicate revenue from the consumption tax toward financing rising pension, medical and other social security costs, according to sources.
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
May 14, 2006

The interleague season: Japanese baseball's 'wild card'

Japan pro baseball does not have a "wild card" team that gets into postseason playoffs as do the American and National Leagues, but the koryu-sen (interleague) period that got under way May 9 may be considered the Japanese version of a wild card in the sense that anything can happen.
CULTURE / Books
May 14, 2006

Asia needs to fill its brand deficit

ASIAN BRAND STRATEGY by Martin Roll, Palgrave Macmillan, 2005, 272 pp., $42.50 (cloth). Shizuka Arakawa's graceful spins and spirals enthralled a nation as she won Japan the gold medal in women's figure skating at the Winter Olympics. But few would have cheered more loudly than Tokyo rice producer Toyorice...

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