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Japan Times
JAPAN
Jan 3, 2008

Becalmed Hokkaido prays for G8 wind

TOYAKO, Hokkaido — Lined with traditional merchant homes, wholesalers and other historical buildings dating to the 17th century, Inishie (Antiquity) Street stretches 1.1 km from north to south in the Japan Sea coastal town of Esashi in Hiyama, southwestern Hokkaido.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jan 3, 2008

'Fukubukuro' hunters rise early to bag their prey at nation's shops

With the new year comes the season of shopping extravaganzas.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jan 3, 2008

A new challenge to old traditions

Many visitors to Japan would love to buy an ukiyo-e (Japanese genre painting) woodblock print while here, and then put it on their wall. Dr. Lakra, an Oaxaca, Mexico-based tattoo artist, bought his own, and then added his own improvements to them.
BASKETBALL
Dec 22, 2007

Apache, Evessa set for big showdown

It's a big weekend for the bj-league.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film / SHORT TAKES
Dec 21, 2007

"The Band's Visit"

Director: Eran Kolirin
COMMENTARY
Dec 20, 2007

'Supping with the devil' to sign a deal

LONDON — Prime Minister Gordon Brown's decision to boycott the EU-African Summit held recently in Lisbon won general approval in Britain. He did not attend because Robert Mugabe, the president of Zimbabwe, was going to be at the meeting.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 20, 2007

The case for compelling people to vote

PRINCETON, New Jersey — As an Australian citizen, I voted in the recent federal election there. So did about 95 percent of registered Australian voters. That figure contrasts markedly with elections in the United States, where the turnout in the 2004 presidential election barely exceeded 60 percent....
BUSINESS / THE VIEW FROM EUROPE
Dec 17, 2007

'Green IT' trend set to heat up, but will it cool the world down?

There are few pieces of office equipment as ubiquitous or as necessary as the personal computer. While the number of PCs in use worldwide is nearly impossible to estimate, their prevalence as a basic tool may be obscuring their role as energy consuming devices.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / ON THE ROAD
Dec 16, 2007

How to handle a mobster on the move

Status and fear can do a swift job of clearing a congested road ahead of you. It's a phenomenon I've seen twice on double-lane highways in Japan in the past six months. One time, crawling along at 15 kph in heavy traffic, I spotted a convoy of three black S-Class limos in my rearview mirror threading...
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Dec 15, 2007

Becoming one with the chair

I am a chair. I am a big, soft comfortable chair, fluffy and overstuffed like the ones that when you sit down in, they swallow you whole. And it did swallow me, which is how I became one with this chair.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink
Dec 14, 2007

Michelin maestro spills the beans

For one of the world's most illustrious chefs, Pierre Gagnaire keeps a remarkably low profile. Unlike many of his media-savvy colleagues, he shuns business suits and the spotlight of stardom, and just lets his food do the talking.
EDITORIALS
Dec 8, 2007

Green light for baseball scholarships

In a change of policy, the Japan High School Baseball Association (JHSBA), following the recommendations of its special panel, has decided to conditionally accept preferential treatment — such as exemptions of admission and tuition fees — for talented baseball players. Previously it had opposed preferential...
BASKETBALL / BJ-LEAGUE NOTEBOOK
Dec 7, 2007

Rizing Fukuoka finds wings

The Rizing Fukuoka have quietly put together a solid stretch of games and now find themselves in the thick of things in the bj-league's Western Conference.
BASKETBALL / NBA / NBA REPORT
Dec 5, 2007

Wizards finally recognize 'Earl the Pearl'

NEW YORK — There's so much I had forgotten I never knew about Earl Monroe, I'm sorry to admit.
BUSINESS
Dec 5, 2007

Airbus to order more than 5% of parts for A350 from Japan

Airbus SAS, the world's largest commercial plane maker, plans to order more than 5 percent of parts and material for its new A350 jetliner from suppliers in Japan, seeking a foothold in a market dominated by Boeing Co.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Dec 4, 2007

Taking liberties? Readers respond

The Community Page received an unprecedented number of responses to the "Taking Liberties" series that ran in this section last month. Following are some examples.
SOCCER
Dec 1, 2007

Becks, Gamba set to play in inaugural Pan-Pacific tourney

HONOLULU (AP) David Beckham and the Los Angeles Galaxy will lead a four-team field for the inaugural Pan-Pacific Championship exhibition tournament in Hawaii in February.
Japan Times
JAPAN / MIXED MATCHES
Dec 1, 2007

Bond forged in Nepal still going strong

Praveen Lama and Kazuko Tanikawa have lived in a bustling shopping street in Tokyo's Kita Ward since July 2003, when the Nepalese married his Japanese wife after a long-distance love affair that lasted several years through e-mails and phone calls.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Nov 30, 2007

'Hannari — Geisha Modern'

Over the years, many people have asked me why I bother to review Japanese films, when so few non-Japanese-speaking foreigners can fully appreciate them.
CULTURE / Film
Nov 30, 2007

'The Nativity Story'

Motherhood is a rum thing to begin with but motherhood in the mid-teens, in superconservative ancient Nazareth, engaged to a man you've never met and who is definitely not the father of the baby — well, then it would be time to hit the panic button, if only such a thing had existed.
COMMENTARY
Nov 28, 2007

Hello to the euro, goodbye to the dollar

LONDON — It's just straws in the wind so far. India's Ministry of Culture announces that foreign tourists can no longer pay in dollars when visiting the Taj Mahal and other heritage sites; they have to pay in good, hard rupees. Iran and Venezuela call for a joint OPEC statement on the weak dollar,...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Nov 27, 2007

Prints rejected, scribe accepted

T he center of the little monitor — I'd guess about 20 cm from the looks of it — flashed the word "Yokoso" (welcome). Its colored border was festooned with a collage of images near and dear to visiting tourists' hearts: "torii" gates, the shinkansen, Zen gardens, Mount Fuji . . .
Reader Mail
Nov 27, 2007

Reasons to appreciate the U.S.

Regarding Helen Array's Nov. 18 letter, "Overweening pride that baffles": I would like to say that Array is the ignorant one when she declares that Americans are slandering other countries. Recently on CNN I saw a Myanmar citizen begging for America's help. Watch Roberto Benigni's "La Vita E Bella (Life...
Reader Mail
Nov 25, 2007

Just more work for immigration

In his Nov. 20 letter, "Common protection and control," Hideo Kaito certainly knows how to stir up a hornet's nest with his remarks supporting the introduction of fingerprinting, etc., for non-Japanese arriving at ports of entry.
BASKETBALL / BJ-LEAGUE NOTEBOOK
Nov 23, 2007

Newcomer St. Preux helps Sendai bolt to 5-1 start

It may be too early to call the Sendai 89ers a title contender, but it's time to pay attention to what they've accomplished through six games.

Longform

A small shrine perched atop rocks braves the waves hitting the shoreline during a storm in Shimoda, Shizuoka Prefecture. The area is under threat of a possible 31-meter-high tsunami if an earthquake strikes the nearby Nankai Trough.
If the 'Big One' hits, this city could face a 31-meter-high tsunami