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JAPAN
Sep 27, 2008

Focus on abductions, former CIA official says

Japan's priority should be to resolve the abduction issue with North Korea rather than support failing attempts to denuclearize the hermit state, the CIA's former division chief for Asia said Friday in Tokyo.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Sep 26, 2008

Rodrigo y Gabriela

Mexican acoustic instrumental duo Rodrigo y Gabriela cut their teeth in the thrash band Tierra Acida, playing the dirtiest dives of Mexico City before decamping to Dublin in 1999. Soon after they busked around Europe for a while, developing their unique fusion of styles and building a body of their own...
BUSINESS
Sep 26, 2008

Confidence likely to hit five-year low in next 'tankan': experts

The Bank of Japan's "tankan" survey due out next week will show that sentiment among the nation's largest manufacturers has fallen to a five-year low amid the worst global financial crisis since the Great Depression, many economists predict.
BASKETBALL
Sep 26, 2008

JBL staking future on fielding fewer foreign players

While there have been a number of Japan Basketball Association-related issues that have hurt its credibility in the past few years, it it is desperate to turn the page with new players and a new experiment.
COMMENTARY
Sep 25, 2008

Will bankers ever learn?

PARIS — For a week it looked as though banking was not "as safe as houses" (a phrase that has seemed singularly inappropriate recently), but instead would turn into a "house of cards" that might be blown down with a puff of wind.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Sep 25, 2008

An incomprehensible answer for modernity

Check the film listings and you'll find Akira Emoto cast in at least 10 movies playing this autumn. Since winning the Japan Academy Awards prize for supporting actor in 1983 and '97 and for leading actor in '98 — for his role in "Kanzo Sensei (Dr. Liver)" — Emoto has become one of Japan's most well...
JAPAN
Sep 25, 2008

Nakasone, Hamada face tough issues right away

Prime Minister Taro Aso filled the key foreign and defense portfolios with hereditary Diet members, perhaps in the hope their prominent family names will serve the Liberal Democratic Party well in the looming Lower House election.
Japan Times
BASKETBALL
Sep 24, 2008

Mercury coach thinks Oga has potential

After winning the WNBA title last season, the Phoenix Mercury disappointed their fans by failing to make the playoffs in this recently concluded season. The Mercury finished the 2008 season with a 16-18 record and tied the Minnesota Lynx for the worst record in the seven-team Western Conference.
MORE SPORTS
Sep 24, 2008

Asahara concludes track career in style

KAWASAKI — When he crossed the finish line, Nobuharu Asahara didn't just finish the race. The moment also marked the end of his fruitful 20-year track career.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WORDS TO LIVE BY
Sep 23, 2008

Vivienne Sato

Vivienne Sato is a unique cultural concierge in Tokyo, full of the lowdown on both high art and mass culture. Vivi knows what and who's happening in the city 24/365, and if she's present, the party is on till the wee-wee hours. Always dressed to the nines — and often to the nine hundreds — with her...
BUSINESS
Sep 23, 2008

BOJ, Australia slow injections as markets steady

Central banks in Japan and Australia added $15.7 billion to the financial system to hold down borrowing costs, slowing the pace of cash injections as a U.S. plan to buy banks' bad debts eased credit-market jitters.
BUSINESS
Sep 23, 2008

MOS Food seeks overseas expansion to offset falling domestic sales

MOS Food Service Inc. plans to double the number of its overseas outlets in five years to offset declining domestic sales.
JAPAN
Sep 23, 2008

Self-styled hawk Aso displays a dovish side on foreign policy

Following back-to-back prime ministerial resignations by conservative star Shinzo Abe and political dove Yasuo Fukuda, where does the new president of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party rate on the hawk-dove scale?
COMMENTARY
Sep 22, 2008

The road to Yasukuni's survival

On Aug. 15, Japanese newspapers carried the obituary of an American citizen by the name of William Kenneth Bunce, who died in Chestertown, Md., at the age of 100.
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Sep 21, 2008

The making of 'the world's most beautiful woman,' amatuer a capella, and house remodeling

Japanese contestants have figured prominently in recent international beauty pagents, in particular the Miss Universe contest, which endeavors to find the most gorgeous woman in the world. The runnerup in 2006 was Kurara Chibana, and last year the winner was Riyo Mori.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives
Sep 21, 2008

Kenji Miyazawa: In harmony with all creation

If the primary theme of human life in the 21st century is living in harmony with other animals and plants — and also preserving the bounties of the Earth — then Kenji Miyazawa is the Japanese writer who can most thoroughly help us to understand and pursue this theme.
Reader Mail
Sep 21, 2008

People need to challenge LDP

Hisahiko Okazaki's Sept. 15 article, "End the yearlong gridlock," is a metaphor for what's wrong with Japanese politics today. Okazaki puppets the party line -- that Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda can judge himself objectively -- questions the patriotism of anyone who opposes the policy of the Liberal Democratic...
MORE SPORTS / ICE TIME
Sep 21, 2008

Mao aims to defend world title; Oda returns

The 2007-08 skating season got off to a figurative early start with the holding of the NHK Trophy news conference in Tokyo on Sept 8.
Reader Mail
Sep 21, 2008

'Effective' education lacking

The information in the Sept. 10 article "Japan's education system cost-effective" is grossly misleading. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development may claim that Japanese students "perform" well, but on what is this "performance" based? Scores from standardized multiple-choice exams that...
JAPAN
Sep 20, 2008

Foreign correspondents probe LDP five on sensitive issues

The five candidates running for president of the Liberal Democratic Party were grilled Friday by foreign correspondents in Tokyo over issues ranging from Yasukuni Shrine to the possibility of having a female vice president.
JAPAN
Sep 20, 2008

Lehman workers face a tough job market

Employees of bankrupt Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. across the globe are suddenly out on the street and looking for new jobs — and the 1,300 at the Japanese unit of the U.S. securities house in Tokyo are no exception.
BUSINESS
Sep 20, 2008

'No quick fix' for turmoil: Sakakibara

The yen may strengthen past 100 to the dollar this year because there is "no quick fix" for the credit-market turmoil in the United States, former currency official Eisuke Sakakibara said on Friday.

Longform

Tetsuzo Shiraishi, speaking at The Center of the Tokyo Raids and War Damage, uses a thermos to explain how he experienced the U.S. firebombing of March 1945, when he was just 7 years old.
From ashes to high-rises: A survivor’s account of Tokyo’s postwar past