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JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Feb 3, 2008

'Pimp' my road — For bureaucrats, it's business as usual

It's that time of year again, when the highways and byways of Japan are suddenly filled with construction crews tearing up asphalt for repair and maintenance work. That's because the annual budgets of the crews' public-sector employers must be used up before the end of the fiscal year in March, regardless...
Reader Mail
Feb 3, 2008

Feeding on the fear of failure

Regarding the Jan. 25 article "Cram school in public junior high gets metro nod": Just like the defunct Nova language-instruction chain, juku organizations are private businesses that specialize in academic instruction primarily for money. If people think that paying more is better and decide to spend...
COMMENTARY
Feb 2, 2008

Tet offensive's long shadow

LONDON — Forty years ago this week, the American public realized that the United States was not going to win the Vietnam war. Lulled by assurances that "progress" was being made in the fight against the insurgents, Americans had patiently borne five years of growing military casualties in Vietnam,...
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST
Feb 2, 2008

The changing Japanese face and the eye of the beholder

"The camera doesn't lie," says my friend, a professional photographer with long years in Japan.
EDITORIALS
Feb 2, 2008

Bite of a consumer watchdog

Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda, who in his latest policy speech called for creating a system in which citizens and consumers become "leading players," is eager to establish a Consumer Agency. A series of irregularities such as false labeling and data fabrication involving food, construction and paper manufacturing...
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Feb 2, 2008

No sure bets on next BOJ chief

Bank of Japan Gov. Toshihiko Fukui's voice became slightly tense as he answered questions from reporters at a news conference last month about the upcoming appointments of his successor and two new deputy governors.
COMMENTARY
Feb 1, 2008

Nice words no match for border dispute

HONG KONG — Forty-five years ago, China and India — the world's two most populous countries — were at each other's throats, fighting a bloody war along their common border. Ten years ago, when India conducted underground nuclear tests, its defense minister said the country needed to develop nuclear...
Japan Times
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Feb 1, 2008

Get your claws into UFO catchers

Ever performed a yokoshihogatame on a teddy bear? If you have, you might have pinned it to the ground with one arm between its legs and the other over one of its shoulders, as in judo. Or, you might have been playing on a UFO catcher, also known as a crane game — the popular arcade machines in which...
BUSINESS
Feb 1, 2008

Tainted 'gyoza' fiasco to hit industry, food prices

The widespread poisonings reported Wednesday involving pesticide-tainted frozen "gyoza" dumplings made in China will probably hit Japan's frozen food producers and importers hard, as sales predictably fall and costs to ensure food safety rise in the coming months.
JAPAN
Feb 1, 2008

Food-inspection system has many holes

Food inspectors and consumers on Thursday questioned the effectiveness of food importing regulations after large amounts of organophosphate in frozen "gyoza" dumplings made in China were blamed for sickening scores of people nationwide.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Feb 1, 2008

Amalric's mind's-eye view

Mathieu Amalric is best known outside France for his role in Steven Spielberg's "Munich," but in his own country he has been one of the best-loved actors since the mid 1990s.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Feb 1, 2008

Yoshiume: Simmering over a nabe hot pot

The sleet was lashing down, the wind whipping off Tokyo Bay as we trudged the streets of Ningyocho, eastern Nihonbashi, in search of dinner. Appalling conditions, certainly, but worth braving for the down-home charms of an evening at Yoshiume.
Reader Mail
Jan 31, 2008

Waste should figure into tax debate

Regarding the Jan. 24 article "Prefectural lawmakers rally in praise of gas taxes": Why haven't specific numbers been presented in the news covering the gasoline-tax debate? On average, how much money does the government receive from gasoline taxes (including diesel, etc.), road taxes and car inspection...
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 31, 2008

Say no to nukes in the Arctic

"The Arctic is the barometer of the globe's environmental health. You can take the pulse of the world in the Arctic. Inuit, the people who live farther north than anyone else, are the canary in the global coal mine.''
CULTURE / Film
Jan 31, 2008

Humanist harks back to cinema's golden age

How many directors make great movies after turning 70? John Huston did it with "The Dead," likewise Akira Kurosawa with "Ran" and Clint Eastwood with "Letters from Iwo Jima," but the numbers are few.
JAPAN
Jan 31, 2008

Ruling bloc pulls stopgap tax bill

The ruling bloc withdrew its contentious stopgap bill to briefly extend the extra rates on gasoline and other auto-related taxes after agreeing Wednesday with the opposition to "reach a conclusion" on the fiscal 2008 budget and related bills by the end of March.
Reader Mail
Jan 31, 2008

Fukuda knows what comes first

Brad Glosserman asserts in his Jan. 23 article, "False choices for Tokyo," that "the unblinking focus on domestic politics" under Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda's administration is severely hampering the U.S.-Japan alliance. If this seems true to Glosserman, the reason is probably that once again an...
Japan Times
MORE SPORTS
Jan 30, 2008

Competing for Japan a challenge for ice dancing Reeds

Cathy and Chris Reed lived a nomadic life growing up. Just when it looked like it had finally settled down, they found themselves back on the road again.
BASKETBALL / NBA / NBA REPORT
Jan 30, 2008

Kidd, Wade don't deserve to be All-Stars

NEW YORK — As mentioned in a previous column regarding Shaquille O'Neal, referees are usually first to recognize when a player earns or exhausts All-Star treatment.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 30, 2008

Bring open resource to textbooks, teaching

PRAGUE — As the founders of two of the world's largest open-source media platforms — Wikipedia and Connexions — we have both been accused of being dreamers. Independently, we became infected with the idea of creating a Web platform that would enable anyone to contribute their knowledge to free...

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