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BUSINESS
Apr 4, 2007

Japan-Thai FTA to phase out tariffs

Accelerating a global race to strengthen ties with Asia's economic powers, Tokyo and Bangkok inked a free-trade agreement Tuesday that will abolish tariffs on more than 90 percent of bilateral trade over 10 years.
LIFE / Digital / IGADGET
Apr 4, 2007

Robot chicks -- Japanese gadgets are just so conspicuously cute

Conspicuous consumption is the art of spending lavishly on goods or services in a way that serves no real purpose except to show that you have lots of money. The great Norwegian-American economist and sociologist Thorstein Veblen put Nostradamus to shame with that insight from 1899. In Japan today, Veblen...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / VIEWS FROM THE STREET
Apr 3, 2007

What are your alternative remedies?

SPORTS / SPORTS SCOPE
Apr 1, 2007

Most fans frozen out of skating worlds

It was a great show, but it could have been better.
Reader Mail
Apr 1, 2007

Children can't be responsible

Regarding Paolo Milano's March 18 letter, "Old-fashioned patriotism won't fly": I'm not insisting on blind acceptance of authority and self-sacrifice. I'm not a rightist, either. My point in my earlier letter is that everyone should appreciate what our ancestors have contributed in making our society...
CULTURE / TV & Streaming
Apr 1, 2007

Comedy interview variety show, Japan history cultural special, 'King Lear' modeled business drama

Life is a journey filled with questions, some of which the new variety show, "Megami no Hatena, (The Goddess of What is That)" (Nihon TV, Tuesday, 11:55 p.m.) will attempt to answer. These are not mind-twisting queries about the meaning of life or natural phenomena, but rather the kind of things that...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Mar 31, 2007

Urban Kyoto tries on an old look

KYOTO -- First-time visitors to the ancient capital of Kyoto usually arrive expecting to see quiet temples and rock gardens or an abundance of old wooden buildings set against the backdrop of the surrounding mountains.
JAPAN
Mar 31, 2007

Hijacker Nishikawa given life in prison

A former Japanese Red Army member who took part in the hijacking of a Japan Airlines flight in 1977 was sentenced to life in prison Friday, two decades after being freed in a hostage exchange with the group.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / PERSONALITY PROFILE
Mar 31, 2007

Patricia Cardenas

Patricia Cardenas, ambassador of Colombia, is chairperson of this year's Cherry Blossom Charity Ball. The International Ladies Benevolent Society's annual fund-raiser will be held April 13 at the Hotel Okura.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Mar 31, 2007

Short on big? Stretch out in Hokkaido

Everything is big in Hokkaido. Big streets, big stores, big parking lots. Hokkaido doesn't give you that quaint, traditional, slightly claustrophobic feeling you get in Honshu and throughout the rest of Japan. Big gaijin would like Hokkaido.
JAPAN
Mar 30, 2007

Swedish queen urges more action to fight child porn

, the Swedish queen said she welcomed Japan's efforts to stop child porn but called for more regulations to stop the underground industry here. "Much more action is required to establish and enforce global child protection standards," she said, adding that the sexual exploitation of children has reached...
JAPAN
Mar 30, 2007

Abe: '69 talks with Yasukuni not illegal

The government did not violate the Constitution's separation of religion and state by discussing the enshrinement of Class-A war criminals at Yasukuni Shrine with shrine officials, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said Thursday.
CULTURE / Music
Mar 30, 2007

The Ponys "Turn the Lights Out"

One of the hallmarks of postmillennial alternative rock is the tension that results from the conflict between aural texture and melody. On their first two albums, Chicago's post-punk revivalists The Ponys were admired for their mastery of the simple, indelible hook, but the blanket utilization of reverb...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Mar 29, 2007

"Adam Frelin: White Line for Tokyo"

International House of Japan Closes in 39 days
JAPAN
Mar 28, 2007

Murakami testifies in his own insider-trading trial

Yoshiaki Murakami, Japan's best-known fund manager, took the stand for the first time in his own trial Tuesday, telling the court he initially owned up to insider trading to save other executives of his fund from being prosecuted.
Reader Mail
Mar 28, 2007

National anthem out of place?

In the debate on whether teachers should be forced to stand or play piano accompaniment during the singing of the Japanese national anthem, one fundamental question is routinely begged: Why should the national anthem be sung at school opening and graduation ceremonies at all?
JAPAN
Mar 28, 2007

Reporter fails to clear name over '72 scoop

will not be reversed even if the claimed secret pact really existed, and the plaintiff needs to accept it even if the guilty verdict damaged his honor." Following the ruling, Nishiyama told a news conference, "I want to continue showing how the government illegally concluded the secret agreement with...
EDITORIALS
Mar 28, 2007

Don't bet on a quake-free area

The major earthquake that hit the Noto Peninsula in Ishikawa Prefecture on Sunday serves as a reminder that a large earthquake can happen anytime, anywhere in Japan. The magnitude-6.9 quake with a seismic intensity of up to 6-plus on the Japanese scale of 7 happened at 9:42 a.m., killing one person,...
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 28, 2007

From out of the shadows steps France's 'third man'

WARSAW -- The French presidential election is a great "show" with all the ingredients of a Hollywood blockbuster, including a surprising plot twist: the emergence of a "third man," Francois Bayrou.
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital / IGADGET
Mar 28, 2007

Good vibrations: Turning your skull into a speaker and manga electric guitars

VIBRATING BONES: Call me old-fashioned, but I feel attached to speakers. Innate pieces of metal and plastic vibrate in harmony to produce sound waves to caress the ear. The idea of substituting my body parts to carry out the vibrating bit of the business just doesn't hit the right note for me. But hey,...
Reader Mail
Mar 28, 2007

Limit to what language can do

I very much enjoyed the March 13 editorial, "Japan's ambivalent English," and I strongly agree with the argument that awareness of one's cultural identity comes as much from comparison as from knowledge of oneself. I know this is true from the years I spent in Britain as a postgraduate student and...
Japan Times
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Mar 27, 2007

Life in the cloudy Imperial fishbowl

Although the media and insatiable public curiosity can expose the private secrets of superstars, the Imperial family remains largely out of view.

Longform

Sumadori Bar on Shibuya Ward's main Center Gai street targets young customers who prefer low-alcohol drinks or abstain altogether.
Rethinking that second drink: Japan’s Gen Z gets ‘sober curious’