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Reader Mail
Jan 31, 2008

Beyond the political profit principle

As a son of a local lawmaker, I was very interested in the Jan. 25 article "Dynasty politics: Birthright, not dynamism." Behind the seshuugiin (hereditary lawmakers), Japan's centuries of feudalism, especially the Edo Period, appear to have led to thinking in terms of shi-nou-kou-shou (warriors,...
BUSINESS
Jan 30, 2008

Chrysler extends guarantee, after-sales service on new cars

Facing fierce competition from Japanese automakers, Chrysler Japan Co. said Tuesday it will improve its after-sales service beginning Friday by extending the guarantee on newly purchased models to five years from three years.
JAPAN
Jan 29, 2008

Fishery, consumer groups say no to nuclear reprocessing in Rokkasho

Groups opposed to the nuclear-fuel reprocessing plant in Aomori Prefecture handed an 850,000-signature petition to the government Monday, demanding it rethink atomic power strategy.
JAPAN
Jan 29, 2008

McDonald's told to pay overtime to manager

The Tokyo District Court ordered McDonald's Holdings Co. (Japan) Ltd. Monday to pay ¥7.55 million in overtime allowance and "additional pay" to a manager at one of its outlets.
Reader Mail
Jan 29, 2008

Obsession blinds rational debate

The headline for bioethics professor Peter Singer's Jan. 17 article, "Hypocrisy weakens West's whaling protests," was misleading. Any number of other key points in Singer's article would have made for more appropriate titles, such as "Whales cannot be humanely killed." And that's just to start with!...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WORDS TO LIVE BY
Jan 29, 2008

Patricia Field

Patricia Field, whose boutique in New York City has been an inspiration for designers since opening in 1966, achieved worldwide fame dressing the characters for the HBO TV series "Sex and the City" and for the 2006 film "The Devil Wears Prada." The 65-year-old Field is an Academy Award-nominated, two-time...
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM NEW YORK
Jan 28, 2008

Watching the world's biggest roadshow

NEW YORK — I was recently amused to read the following observation quoted in an intellectual history of modern Japan: "The system in which people vie to get elected head of state through indulgence in garrulity and by flaunting gestures like those of low-class actors is a singularly bizarre custom...
Japan Times
BASKETBALL
Jan 27, 2008

Ito excels as point guard with Portland

When University of Portland (Ore.) point guard Taishi Ito was asked to take on a leadership role as a freshman, he handled the role admirably.
Reader Mail
Jan 27, 2008

If we're talking about tradition

If Japan truly believes its whale harvest is a tradition, then I have no problem with Japanese whalers following what the traditional owners of the land in Australia do: Do not use modern equipment, row out in traditional whale boats (what do they look like?), and hunt whales in the traditional manner. ...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Jan 27, 2008

Bae Yong Joon, superstar, how many hits have you had so far?

Few stars have been cannier with their stardom than Bae Yong Joon, the South Korean actor who won the hearts of Japanese women in the 2002 soap opera "Winter Sonata."
COMMENTARY
Jan 26, 2008

Democracy is not a panacea

LONDON — U.S. President George W. Bush has at times seemed to regard "democracy" as a panacea for all the problems of government throughout the world. It's far from clear, though, what exactly he means by "democracy." If a government is duly chosen by a majority of voters in a fair election, should...
BUSINESS
Jan 26, 2008

December saw inflation double for consumers

The inflation rate doubled in December to the fastest in more than nine years, as firms passed rising oil and commodity costs on to consumers.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jan 25, 2008

Chocolate bugs a fright and delight

It will never be said that they look too good to eat. But that isn't stopping the stream of orders for edible chocolate creepy-crawlies made to look like real beetle larvae and caterpillars.
BUSINESS
Jan 25, 2008

Trade surplus up 37%; China No. 1 destination

Japan's trade surplus expanded 37 percent in 2007 from the previous year to ¥10.8 trillion, marking the first growth in three years, the Finance Ministry said Thursday in a preliminary report.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jan 25, 2008

Raphael Oleg's keen art of detection

Few concert violinists do more preparation than French virtuoso Raphael Oleg. For him, each performance requires meticulous research on the composer and the work.
BUSINESS
Jan 25, 2008

Suzuki projects 7% surge on brisk sales abroad in '08

Suzuki Motor Corp., the nation's top minivehicle maker, said Thursday it sold a record 2.38 million vehicles in 2007, up 9 percent from a year earlier, riding strong sales in India and other parts of Asia.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Jan 25, 2008

Basking in the northern cold

Sapporo's famed Snow Festival — running this year from Feb. 5 to Feb 11. — began when a bunch of bored school kids in 1950 built a series of snow sculptures in Odori Park in the center of the city. Their enthusiasm during the hardships Japan was suffering after the war struck a chord with the population....
BUSINESS
Jan 24, 2008

Showa Shell to supply power to retail consumers

Showa Shell Sekiyu K.K., the Japanese unit of Royal Dutch Shell PLC, plans to supply power to the country's retail consumers, making it the 23rd company to challenge the monopolies of Japan's regional utilities.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jan 23, 2008

Temple hands remains of Korean war dead to kin

More than 60 years after the war, 50 South Koreans can finally take the remains of their loved ones home.

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