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COMMENTARY
Nov 24, 2003

Stub out the smoking habit

The Tokyo District Court has rejected a damage suit filed against Japan Tobacco Inc. and the national government by seven former smokers who said they developed cancer and other health troubles from long years of smoking. The suit, filed by victims of lung cancer, cancer of the larynx and emphysema,...
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM NEW YORK
Nov 24, 2003

High price of media-fabricated heroism

NEW YORK -- Good for her. U.S. Army Pfc. Jessica Lynch, finally given a chance on TV to have her say, punctured the notion of heroism concocted by the Hollywood publicist placed in Baghdad and the American mass media, ever the willing partner of their government when it comes to war.
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM MOSCOW
Nov 24, 2003

Navigating the deep Internet

MOSCOW -- There could hardly be a tougher opponent for a struggling college professor than the Internet. You ask your students to write an essay about Moscow, and you end up with the papers based on sources like www.moscow-taxi.ripoff.com and www.moscow-hotels.dump.ru. When, fuming with rage, you inform...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Nov 23, 2003

State gambles with the future of 'discarded' kids

Last month there were two news stories about legal complications arising from the conception of children through special medical procedures. In one, a surrogate mother in California gave birth to twins who were the product of a Japanese man's sperm and the egg of a third-party Asian-American woman. In...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Nov 23, 2003

Talk to her

The earliest chatterbot programs ever written say more about the human condition than they do about the nature of computer intelligence. The first, ELIZA -- or Dr. Eliza, as "she" was known -- had the persona of a Rogerian psychotherapist. Her successor, perhaps the inspiration for Marvin, the "paranoid...
JAPAN
Nov 23, 2003

Japan to reply in kind to U.S. steel curbs

30% HIKE IN IMPORT TARIFFS
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Nov 23, 2003

N. Korea: where NGOs fear to go

PAVED WITH GOOD INTENTIONS: The NGO Experience in North Korea, edited by L. Gordon Flake and Scott Snyder. Praeger Publishers, 2003, 176 pp., $45 (cloth). Pity the poor nongovernmental organizations trying to work in North Korea. They face a monumental challenge -- aiding a society that is starving and...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Nov 23, 2003

I, Robot

Last month, a room at a British university was full of people engrossed in online chat. One conversation ran like this:
EDITORIALS
Nov 22, 2003

Let's not forget Afghanistan

More than two years after the U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan, the fate of that country is still uncertain. There has been notable progress in installing a working government and in transitioning toward a functioning market economy. There are also ample reasons to be concerned. The central government's...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Nov 22, 2003

Ex-military doctor decries use of depleted uranium weapons

The depleted uranium rounds the U.S. and British forces were believed to have used in the war on Iraq may have subjected parts of the country to heavy radioactive contamination, a visiting U.S.-based doctor of nuclear medicine has warned.
BUSINESS
Nov 22, 2003

BOJ Policy Board keeps monetary stance intact, as expected

The Bank of Japan Policy Board left its monetary policy unchanged Friday.
COMMENTARY
Nov 22, 2003

Balancing act gets tougher

LONDON -- It is getting ever more difficult to assess what is actually happening in Iraq.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / PERSONALITY PROFILE
Nov 22, 2003

Nicola Townsend

An Australian arts festival that began a six-month run last July in Japan is giving presentations of a variety of culturally diverse art forms. Events, still being held in different venues, project "a distinctive Australian art scene bursting with vitality." The Australian government in partnership with...
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST
Nov 22, 2003

When nice girls go bad

My wife has gone through "the change."
MORE SPORTS
Nov 21, 2003

All Blacks take third place after uninspiring playoff

SYDNEY -- New Zealand outclassed a largely second-string French team 40-13 at the Telstra Stadium in Sydney on Thursday to claim third place in the 2003 Rugby World Cup.
MORE SPORTS
Nov 21, 2003

Slutskaya pulls out of NHK Trophy

Olympic silver medalist and 2002 world champion Irina Slutskaya of Russia will not compete in the upcoming NHK Trophy in Japan because of illness, the Japan Skating Federation said Thursday.
BUSINESS
Nov 21, 2003

Government upgrades economic assessment

The government on Thursday upgraded its assessment of the economy for the first time in two months, owing to rising exports and production spurred by a robust recovery in the U.S. economy.
BUSINESS
Nov 21, 2003

Starbucks Japan profit sinks 58%

Starbucks Coffee Japan Ltd. said Thursday its profit for the first half of fiscal 2003 plummeted 58 percent to 93 million yen due to costs associated with closing unprofitable stores.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / NATURE TRAVEL
Nov 21, 2003

Lowdown on the Top End

One interesting thing about Darwin is how often this city in the so-called Top End of north tropical Australia has been destroyed. Indeed there are those who contend that this is the only interesting thing about Darwin.
BASEBALL / MLB
Nov 21, 2003

Nippon Ham inks Shinjo

Former major league outfielder Tsuyoshi Shinjo signed a provisional contract carrying an annual salary of 80 million yen over two years with the Nippon Ham Fighters, officials of the Pacific League club said Thursday.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Nov 21, 2003

Somewhere for everyone

Hop on a Tokyu Denentoshi Line train at Shibuya Station and you'll find the first five stations are all underground. Then, when you emerge from tunnels and pull into Futakotamagawa Station, from the platform you're treated to views of the Tamagawa River separating Tokyo and Kanagawa Prefecture, with...
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 20, 2003

Worlds apart: a tale of two Asian cities

LONDON -- I have spent most of the last two months traveling in the poor areas of western China (the mountain areas in south Ningxia, Qinghai and Gansu) and in Uzbekistan. What a contrast! You could describe the development process in western China as two steps forward and one step back, while in Uzbekistan...
BASEBALL / MLB
Nov 19, 2003

Little Matsui hires Big Matsui's agent

Free agent infielder Kazuo Matsui, who on Monday announced his intention to try to play in the major leagues, has chosen Arn Tellem as his agent, baseball sources said Tuesday.
BUSINESS
Nov 19, 2003

Restore Japanese confidence in nuclear power: IEA

The International Energy Agency urged Japan on Tuesday to restore public confidence in nuclear energy in light of its plans to increase its nuclear power output by 30 percent by 2010.
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
Nov 18, 2003

Frustration with ISPs and keitai spam

ISP trouble On the subject of ISPs, I also was billed about 100,000 yen by my Internet Service Provider. The salesperson explained the contract to me in broken English as I cannot read Japanese. I was told I had to sign now, I couldn't take the contract away, have someone explain it to me and bring it...
Japan Times
BUSINESS / FRONT-RUNNERS
Nov 18, 2003

Shiseido positions itself for China cosmetics boom

Faced with a maturing market in Japan, the nation's largest cosmetics company has turned its attention to China.
JAPAN
Nov 18, 2003

Aid groups seen working in Iraq vacuum

As Japan continues to debate whether to send troops to help reconstruct Iraq, Japanese nongovernmental organizations are struggling to carry out their relief work in the war-torn country.

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