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CULTURE / Books
Jul 8, 2007

A question of dignity or cause for embarrassment

THE DIGNITY OF THE NATION by Masahiko Fujiwara, translated by Giles Murray. IBC Publishing 2007, 278 pp., 1,400 yen (paper) The title of this little book deliberately echoes that of a notorious pamphlet issued by the Japanese government in 1937, at the peak of nationalist hysteria, in an attempt to...
JAPAN
Jul 7, 2007

Taiwan seen losing military edge to China

The military balance between China and Taiwan is shifting in Beijing's favor and the qualitative superiority of Taipei's fighting force may soon be lost, the Defense Ministry warned Friday in a report.
BUSINESS
Jul 7, 2007

Tokyo yen traders top Merc in sales

Yen sales by Japanese mom and pop investors this week exceeded professional traders' bets against the currency on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jul 6, 2007

Crystal Kay is all yours

"I've been on the Crystal Kay train," says the R&B diva sitting across the table. Twenty-one-year-old Crystal Kay isn't speaking figuratively, or in some sort of existential code; she's referring instead to Tokyo's Yamanote Line, whose carriages were recently plastered inside and out with her visage...
BUSINESS
Jul 6, 2007

Corolla, Vitz lead first-half car sales

Toyota Motor Corp.'s Corolla model topped Japan's vehicle sales rankings during the first half of the year, after the company revamped the model in October for the first time in six years.
JAPAN
Jul 4, 2007

Candidate Tojo seeks resolution against A-bombings

The granddaughter of wartime Prime Minister Gen. Hideki Tojo said Tuesday in Tokyo that if she wins a seat in this month's House of Councilors election, she will submit a resolution to the Diet slamming the United States for the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945.
EDITORIALS
Jul 4, 2007

Thoughtless nuclear-bomb remarks

Defense Minister Fumio Kyuma has resigned over the remark that the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki by the United States at the end of World War II "could not be helped." His comments on Saturday had offended Japanese people, the world's first victims of nuclear weapons.
BUSINESS
Jul 4, 2007

UBS opens branch in bustling Nagoya aimed at wealthy retirees

UBS AG, the world's biggest money manager, opened an office Tuesday in Nagoya to sell wealth-management services, aiming to grab a bigger share of the savings of the country's affluent.
BUSINESS
Jul 3, 2007

Wii pummeled PS3 in June sales

Nintendo Co.'s Wii game console extended its sales lead over Sony Corp.'s PlayStation 3 in Japan last month, research firm Enterbrain Inc. said Monday.
JAPAN
Jul 2, 2007

Ozawa hits Abe over Kyuma remarks

Defense Minister Fumio Kyuma's remarks on the U.S. atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were an easy target for Democratic Party of Japan President Ichiro Ozawa during a policy debate Sunday in Tokyo with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.
EDITORIALS
Jul 1, 2007

Resolution on servitude

The U.S. House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee has passed, by a 39-2 vote, a nonbinding resolution that says "the government of Japan should formally acknowledge, apologize and accept historical responsibility in a clear and unequivocal manner for its Imperial Armed Forces' coercion of young...
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Jul 1, 2007

Ten foreign players come on board before June 30 deadline

The deadline for Japanese pro baseball teams to sign new foreign players came and went on June 30, and nine of the 12 clubs wound up acquiring a total of 10 fresh faces from abroad after the regular season began in late March and before the final cutoff date.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / CLOSE-UP
Jul 1, 2007

Kotaro Sawaki: Writer on the road of life

Kotaro Sawaki is one of the most popular nonfiction writers in Japan. He made his name with "Shinya Tokkyu (Midnight Express)," a reportage of a yearlong overland trip through Asia and Europe he took when he was in his mid-20s. Those stories — whose title refers to a euphemism for "prison break" used...
JAPAN
Jun 30, 2007

Miss Universe director turns Japanese into women of world

and "sekushii" (sexy) woman. "The kawaii concept is for 12-year-old girls," she said. "Real beauty for women comes from the inside. It's a mental thing. It's about sensuality and intelligence."
BUSINESS
Jun 30, 2007

U.S. beef back on Ito-Yokado shelves

Major supermarket chain Ito-Yokado Co. brought American beef back to its shelves Friday, about 3 1/2 years after sales were halted in the wake of the first U.S. case of mad cow disease, a parent company spokesman said.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / PERSONALITY PROFILE
Jun 30, 2007

Jorge Ferreras

Those who know him well agree that Jorge Ferreras is unusually talented and highly original. With his whimsies, his art and piano he has a gift for lighting up the space he occupies. He is an architect and artist, NHK radio man and university lecturer who came from Argentina to study and live in Japan....
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jun 29, 2007

Office weighs less in the work-life balance

After his son was born last April, Hyogo Prefecture civil servant Akira Hirabayashi decided to cut back on overtime at work. He yearned for more time with little Susumu and also wanted to give his wife, Chie, a chance to return to her teaching job at an elementary school.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Jun 28, 2007

Londoners in a Japanese 'Trance'

Two years ago, playwright Shoji Kokami, founder of The Third Stage company in Tokyo, started working with the cutting-edge Bush Theatre in West London on his 1993 play "Trance." One of the prime movers in the 1980s small-scale youth theater movement in Japan, the 48-year-old Kokami decided to approach...
BUSINESS
Jun 28, 2007

Activist investors impact annual meetings

Steel Partners, Ichigo Asset Management and other investors in Japanese companies are doubling their involvement at annual meetings as overseas shareholders lead a drive for higher returns.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jun 26, 2007

New cell phone services tap image-recognition technologies

Normally used for security purposes, face and image recognition technologies are making their way into other, more entertaining, fields. One service, kaocheki, lets people send a digital photo of themselves via cell phone to find out which celebrity they most resemble.
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM NEW YORK
Jun 25, 2007

Haiku appreciation at the United Nations

NEW YORK — This month I was judge of the Japanese division of the haiku contest sponsored by the United Nations International School (UNIS). John Stevenson, editor of Frogpond, the magazine of the Haiku Society of America, judged the haiku written in English.
JAPAN
Jun 25, 2007

Bull-Dog bites back at advance by U.S. fund

Bull-Dog Sauce Co. shareholders on Sunday approved the company's proposal to launch defensive measures to fend off an unsolicited takeover bid by New York-based hedge fund Steel Partners.

Longform

Members of the nonprofit group Japan Youth Memorial Association search for the remains of dead soldiers in a cave in Okinawa Prefecture in February.
The long search for Japan’s lost soldiers