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EDITORIALS
Mar 7, 2009

China's growth challenge

As the annual session of China's National People's Congress has started, achieving sufficiently high economic growth will be indispensable for helping to stabilize Chinese society. It is also something other countries want to see as the world economy is rapidly cooling down due to the financial crisis...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Mar 7, 2009

Tradition, family serve up a hearty fare

T he band members are dressed in traditional German costumes, and your smiling hostess leads you out in a traditional dance. A modest buffet serves up a bounty of simple, home-cooked German fare: cabbage and sauerkraut, potatoes and sausage. And don't forget the German beer. Just say "Mahlzeit," and...
BUSINESS
Mar 7, 2009

Battery deal sought with EU

Japan will seek an agreement with the European Union to jointly develop solar cells and new ultralight batteries for electric cars that can deliver three times the power of current technology, a Japanese official said Thursday, prior to a meeting that began Friday.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Mar 6, 2009

Japanese tots doze less than global counterparts: expert

Infants and toddlers in Japan have shorter sleeping hours than those in the United States, Europe and other parts of Asia, a sleep psychologist said Wednesday.
COMMENTARY
Mar 6, 2009

Human rights in recession

LONDON — "It's the economy, stupid!" declared Bill Clinton during his U.S. presidential election campaign. He was right then as well as now in emphasizing that economic issues are paramount with voters.
JAPAN
Mar 6, 2009

Three in Cabinet tied to Nishimatsu

Three members of the Cabinet, including Economy, Trade and Industry Minister Toshihiro Nikai, decided Thursday to return money donated to them by two political groups linked to scandal-tainted Nishimatsu Construction Co., the government's top spokesman said.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Mar 6, 2009

'Doubt'

A parish priest stands in front of his flock, sets his features sternly, and then launches into his weekly sermon. He tells of a woman who goes to confession, and asks her priest if gossip was a sin. Of course, replies the priest, and for penance, he instructs the woman to go onto the roof of her house...
COMMENTARY
Mar 6, 2009

Genteel pastime reaches end of innocence

WATERLOO, Ontario — In recent years, Australia, England and New Zealand have canceled cricketing tours of Pakistan because of concern for the physical safety of their teams. At best, Australia agreed to play Pakistan in the neutral venue of Abu Dhabi next month.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Mar 6, 2009

The explorers' cargo

Before the age of discovery, Europe had been separated for hundreds of years from the Indian Ocean by an impenetrable crescent of territories largely hostile to Christians. The Venetians — always more interested in commerce than proselytizing — controlled whatever trade there was with Asia through...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Mar 6, 2009

Hashidaya and Kushiwakamaru: One bird in the pot is worth two on the stick

It's awfully damp and chilly in winter alongside Meguro-gawa, the deep, concrete-lined creek that runs through Naka-Meguro. In summer, the cherry trees that line each bank provide blissful dappled shade, but at this time of year their boughs are bare.
Reader Mail
Mar 5, 2009

Japanese should not be ashamed

The Feb. 20 article "Aso accepts blame for Nakagawa" mentions that Prime Minister Taro Aso apologized for appointing Shoichi Nakagawa as finance minister. Although Aso should be held accountable for Nakagawa's slurred words and groggy appearance during a news conference in Rome, the Japanese government...
COMMENTARY
Mar 5, 2009

Saving our sinking economies

At first glance the grim economic and political situation now confronting Japan sounds remarkably similar to the British scene. There is the same slump in national production, the same factory closures and rising unemployment, and the same highly unpopular prime ministers and weak governments that seem,...
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball / WORLD BASEBALL CLASSIC
Mar 5, 2009

Japan ready to defend title

When the second World Baseball Classic begins on Thursday, all eyes will be on Japan.
Reader Mail
Mar 5, 2009

Relative reality of feeling 'safe'

Regarding Amit Chaturvedi's Feb. 26 letter: The perception of safety is one that is personal. If you are comfortable in a place, you have the perception of safety and security. The unfamiliar can seem frightening and stressful. Therefore, to say that a place is "safe" states only that this is one's...
JAPAN
Mar 5, 2009

Ozawa says aide's arrest was an abuse

Democratic Party of Japan President Ichiro Ozawa on Wednesday flatly denied that his chief secretary knowingly accepted illicit donations from scandal-tainted Nishimatsu Construction Co. and accused prosecutors of "wrongful exercise of authority" in arresting the aide.
EDITORIALS
Mar 5, 2009

'New' ASEAN, old problems

Last weekend the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) held its first summit since its new charter went into effect. The charter has been heralded as inaugurating a new era for the organization, which formed in the 1960s to fend off the threat of communism but has since evolved into an all-inclusive...
Reader Mail
Mar 5, 2009

Sympathy for victims comes first

This is in response to Franz Pichler's Feb. 26 letter, "No one to blame but the parents" — about the pending deportation of the Calderon family back to the Philippines. Everyone knows that what the parents of a 13-year-old, Japan-born girl did was illegal. However, the mistake wasn't so big that it...
BUSINESS
Mar 5, 2009

Toyota U.S. sales dip record 40%

Toyota Motor Corp., facing its first loss in 59 years, suffered a record drop in U.S. sales last month as the recession in the world's top car market cut industrywide demand to the lowest level since December 1981.
JAPAN
Mar 4, 2009

Myanmar refugee speaks out for Muslim group

A Muslim refugee from Myanmar urged the government Tuesday to grant political asylum to other members of his minority group, the Rohingya, who have fled the oppression of the ruling military junta.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Mar 3, 2009

Shangri-La opens in Tokyo, vows to weather recession

The Shangri-La Hotel group launched its first hotel in Japan on Monday, joining a list of foreign luxury inns that have set up in central Tokyo in recent years.
COMMENTARY
Mar 3, 2009

Tackling the dangers of mercury

SINGAPORE — Fear sparked by global recession, strains on banks and volatile paper currencies has brought the glitter back to gold. Its value has been rising rapidly in recent months, as investors seek a safe haven from the economic and financial storm.

Longform

Figure skater Akiko Suzuki was once told her ideal weight should be 47 kilograms, a number she now admits she “naively believed.” This led to her have a relationship with food that resulted in her suffering from anorexia.
The silent battle Japanese athletes fight with weight