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CULTURE / Books
May 14, 2006

Asia needs to fill its brand deficit

ASIAN BRAND STRATEGY by Martin Roll, Palgrave Macmillan, 2005, 272 pp., $42.50 (cloth). Shizuka Arakawa's graceful spins and spirals enthralled a nation as she won Japan the gold medal in women's figure skating at the Winter Olympics. But few would have cheered more loudly than Tokyo rice producer Toyorice...
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
May 14, 2006

Fuji TV's "Attention Please," Nihon TV's "Kin no A-sama X Gin no B-sama" and more

In the 1960s the most coveted job for women in Japan was that of a Japan Airlines flight attendant, which was considered both prestigious and a sure way of meeting rich and famous marriage prospects. Though more and more prestigious occupations have opened up for Japanese women since then, a certain...
CULTURE / Books
May 14, 2006

A force yet to be reckoned with

CHINA'S NEW NATIONALISM: Pride, Politics, and Diplomacy, by Peter Hays Gries. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2005, 224 pp., $19.95 (paper). In East Asia, nationalism never acquired quite as bad a name as it did in Europe, and it is not uncommon to hear politicians go on record with nationalistic...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
May 13, 2006

Retired volunteer is a pioneer in world blind golf

Toshitake Hirose is tickled pink to think he is the only Japanese-Aussie in the world to be helping blind golfers play the game they love at the local and international levels.
JAPAN
May 13, 2006

Arakawa gets Imperial congratulations

Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko praised Olympic gold medalist Shizuka Arakawa and other high-ranking Turin Games athletes in a reception Friday at the Imperial Palace.
JAPAN
May 12, 2006

Conspiracy bill raises questions as Diet showdown nears

A controversial bill aimed at making conspiracy a crime will likely take its first step toward law as the ruling coalition is ready to ask a House of Representatives panel to approve the legislation over strong objections from the opposition parties.
COMMENTARY
May 12, 2006

Fixing the freedom to move

LONDON -- Recent marches in the United States by Latin Americans calling for some 12 million illegal immigrants to be given the right to reside and work in "the land of the free" are the most striking manifestation of a problem that affects every advanced country, although the issue is disguised in Japan....
BUSINESS
May 12, 2006

DoCoMo, Microsoft eye music mart

NTT DoCoMo and Microsoft are teaming up to provide music services for mobile telephones in Japan, the companies said Thursday.
EDITORIALS
May 11, 2006

Conspiring on a weak bill

The ruling and opposition parties are waging a battle in the Lower House's Judicial Affairs Committee over a bill that would introduce the "crime of conspiracy." The crux of the proposal is that one would be punished for joining others to plan a crime even if the crime was not actually carried out or...
JAPAN
May 11, 2006

Posts service remittance fraud soars

Incidents of remittance fraud committed through postal services, including registered mail, rose by 2 1/2 times last year to 482, up from 189 incidents in 2004, according to the National Police Agency.
SPORTS / E-LIST
May 10, 2006

Interleague play on the horizon

Japanese baseball is getting ready to roll into Interleague play. The novel concept has done a lot for scheduling in Nippon Professional Baseball, as six-team leagues can get pretty tired of each other after a couple months of the usual slate of opponents.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER
May 10, 2006

Blue & white flycatcher

* Japanese name: Ooruri * Scientific name: Cyanoptila cyanomelana * Description: The blue and white flycatcher is a handsome migratory songbird, about 16-cm long, with a vivid, electric-blue cap, back, wings and tail. The breast is white and the face, eyes and bill are brown-black. At least, the males...
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
May 10, 2006

Reappraising the role of damaged DNA

Outside of comic books, when you are exposed to radiation, your DNA is damaged and you get ill. Sometimes very ill: just witness the terrible effects of the radiation released in the Chernobyl nuclear disaster 20 years ago.
JAPAN
May 10, 2006

Business lobby presses Koizumi to forgo Yasukuni

In a move indicative of how concerns have grown over the tension between Japan and China, a major business lobby on Tuesday urged Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi to stop his annual visits to Yasukuni Shrine, saying they are the main obstacle to improving relations.
EDITORIALS
May 9, 2006

'Enough is enough' in Sri Lanka

So said Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse after yet another round of violence that threatens to end the fragile peace in that country. His exasperation is understandable. The distrust between the two antagonists -- the government of Sri Lanka and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) -- is...
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
May 9, 2006

Home help, Kimigayo, raccoons

Silver centers Viki in Saitama read the first posting about utilizing Silver Center workers and then this past week read that Saitama might have not caught onto the idea yet.
BUSINESS
May 9, 2006

EU to enforce chemical safety rules next spring

In a move expected to hit Japan's exporters in the pocketbook, the European Union is likely to begin enforcing a new environmental directive next spring that requires manufacturers and importers to ensure the safety of the chemicals they use and to assess their environmental effects, an EU official said...
MORE SPORTS
May 8, 2006

Oyama strong at Salonpas, sails to top of moneyleaders

Shiho Oyama maintained her comfortable lead with a final-round 70 to win the Salonpas World Ladies by six shots Sunday, claiming her fifth career victory on the Japan LPGA tour and second of the year.
JAPAN
May 8, 2006

Sony turns a tumultuous 60 years old

Sony Corp. marked the 60th anniversary of its founding Sunday at a time when the company is struggling to regain its glory with a full recovery in its core electronics business.
JAPAN
May 8, 2006

Mahjong banking on an infusion of new blood

shows banker Liam Hearns which tile to discard during a mahjong lesson in Shinjuku Ward, Tokyo.
CULTURE / Music
May 5, 2006

New York-Tokyo Connection

Since Dave Pietro first came to Japan with the Toshiko Akiyoshi Jazz Orchestra as lead alto saxophonist in 1994, he has toured Japan almost every year. First he returned with Akiyoshi's Orchestra. Then, with old friend, pianist and Tokyo resident Jonathan Katz, he formed the New York Tokyo Connection....
Japan Times
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
May 5, 2006

Shakespeare with a smile

The International Theatre Company London (ITCL) returns to Japan this month with its production of Shakespeare's early comedy "The Taming of the Shrew," a politically incorrect ode to the achievement of hierarchical social harmony as portrayed through men's efforts to control the passions of feisty heroine...
BASKETBALL
May 4, 2006

Tabuse still has eyes on NBA dream

Yuta Tabuse always watches NBA games, even when he's at a dinner table. And the sought-after dream has not changed at all since then.

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