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JAPAN
Jul 20, 2006

Koizumi cools momentum on Pyongyang sanctions push

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi said Wednesday Japan should hold off before imposing more economic sanctions on North Korea, depending on whether Pyongyang responds "seriously" to the international condemnation of its July 5 missile tests.
JAPAN
Jul 19, 2006

GSDF troops enjoyed Japanese rice, cup noodles sent over to Samawah

Throughout their 2 1/2-year mission in Iraq that concluded Monday, Ground Self-Defense Force troops survived mostly on food transported from Japan, including 420 tons of rice, logistics officers said.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 17, 2006

Time for a new approach to Pyongyang?

HONOLULU -- Ever since the North Korean fireworks display of missile launches on July 4, the world has watched the spectacle of political leaders and diplomats of America, China, Japan and South Korea scurrying for a response to Pyongyang's leader, Kim Jong Il.
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Jul 16, 2006

AFN changes may augur trends for other sports media

Recent news items indicate big changes are coming for the traditional form of broadcasting baseball games in Japan and the end of the line for baseball -- and other sports -- on Armed Forces Network radio in our world of high-tech, satellite and cable communications.
JAPAN
Jul 16, 2006

Pro-N. Korean schools, students harassed over missiles

Students and teachers attending pro-North Korean schools in Japan have received dozens of threatening phone calls and letters -- and in some cases have been physically assaulted -- since Pyongyang test-fired a barrage of missiles, a teachers federation said.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Jul 16, 2006

And now for some good news -- on tap for everyone

We have become so used to environmental portents that whenever we hear good news we blink in disbelief, so blink away: It appears that the various concerted efforts to get people in Japan to save water has paid off.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Jul 16, 2006

For Fumiko Hayashi, not every cloud has a silver lining

FLOATING CLOUDS by Fumiko Hayashi, translated by Lane Dunlop. New York: Columbia University Press, 2006, 328 pp., $27.50 (cloth). Toward the end of her life Fumiko Hayashi (1903-1951) said that she did not think her work would outlive her. Happily, she was quite wrong: She remains one of Japan's most...
Japan Times
LIFE / WEEK 3
Jul 16, 2006

Dental 'charm school' puts bite on competition

The Omori Group is a booming dentistry franchise company that doubled its sales to 1.07 billion yen last year and now aims to double them again to 2 billion yen this year.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / PERSONALITY PROFILE
Jul 15, 2006

Alison Pockett

In 1995, Alison Pockett of Britain set up Magellan, her own personal financial advisory company, in Tokyo. She said, "When I came here, this country shocked me deeply, positively. I didn't expect so many opportunities to set up on my own and go as far as I could. There are so many things to do here....
BUSINESS
Jul 14, 2006

Free-trade agreement with Malaysia takes effect

A free-trade agreement between Japan and Malaysia took effect Thursday, with the two countries ready to scrap tariffs on essentially all industrial goods and most agricultural, forestry and fishery products within 10 years.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jul 13, 2006

The accidental art collector: Unearthing the pure essence of Nature

The painters in your collection are commonly described simply as "Individualist." Can you elaborate on what is meant by that?
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Jul 13, 2006

Antiestablishment for all

Founded in 1970 by director Sho Ryuzanji, the Engekidan company was a natural bridge between two major theatrical movements in postwar Japan: the 1960s underground scene of dramatists such as Shuji Terayama and Juro Kara and the so-called "small-scale theater movement" started in the 1980s by the likes...
JAPAN
Jul 13, 2006

Osaka activist's arrest lays bare yakuza ties with 'burakumin'

On the night of Jan. 26, 1985, four hit men from the Ichiwa-kai crime syndicate drove up to an apartment complex in Suita, Osaka Prefecture.
JAPAN
Jul 12, 2006

Koizumi wants UNSC vote on North Korea before G8

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi said Tuesday he hopes the U.N. Security Council votes on a resolution calling for sanctions on North Korea before the Group of Eight summit starts in St. Petersburg, Russia, this weekend.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Jul 11, 2006

A way forward?

Last month, Diet member and Senior Vice Minister of Justice Taro Kono publicized a new action plan for immigration.
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
Jul 11, 2006

Food and citizenship concerns

Dual citizenship Joe is looking for further clarification on the dual citizenship issue raised in the June 27 Lifelines column.
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Jul 9, 2006

Oh's illness the latest challenge for Softbank to overcome

The Fukuoka Softbank Hawks have had to scratch and claw this season to compete in the tight Pacific League pennant race.
EDITORIALS
Jul 9, 2006

A hero some find hard to swallow

Once again, Japan's Takeru Kobayashi has pulled off the dubious feat of winning the annual U.S. Independence Day hot-dog eating contest at New York's Coney Island. Mr. Kobayashi took home his sixth straight Yellow Mustard Belt by downing 53 3/4 fat-, sodium- and nitrate-laden frankfurters in 12 minutes...
CULTURE / Books
Jul 9, 2006

Looking at Westerners' accounts of the salaryman blues

THE BLUE-EYED SALARYMAN by Niall Murtagh. Profile Books, 2006, 228 pp., £7.99 (paper). The phenomenon didn't start with Lafcadio Hearn, but in his day he became best known for it -- the foreigner who comes to Japan and writes a book about his experiences. His female contemporary, Isabella Bird, was...
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Jul 9, 2006

Home from home from home

Three days ago marked an anniversary of my own personal day of independence. Thirty years ago, on July 6, 1976, I became an Australian citizen and legally forfeited my U.S. citizenship.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Jul 8, 2006

Waseda on cutting edge of cybercrime

Pauline Reich is as smart as she looks in black with a string of pearls. A late starter in some respects -- she did not graduate as a lawyer until she was almost 40 -- she's making up for lost time as a pioneer in the field of cybercrime.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jul 8, 2006

Tanigaki tells BOJ to gauge missile reaction before voting on rate hike

Finance Minister Sadakazu Tanigaki urged the Bank of Japan on Friday to gauge the market's reaction to the North Korean missile tests before making a decision on interest rates next week.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jul 7, 2006

Foreign carmakers cash in as the rich get richer

One Sunday in June, a man in his 30s visited the spacious BMW showroom in Tokyo's Shinjuku Ward.
BUSINESS
Jul 6, 2006

Aso says of Doha snarl: you give, then we'll take

Tokyo called on the United States and other food-exporting countries Wednesday to first make concessions in the difficult trade liberalization talks before Japan changes its protectionist stance on certain certain agricultural items.
BUSINESS
Jul 6, 2006

Stock market analysts unfazed by missile tests

The benchmark Nikkei stock index fell Wednesday as investors were temporarily spooked by North Korean missile tests over the Sea of Japan earlier in the morning. Stocks closed at 15,523.94, down 114.56 points from Tuesday.
JAPAN
Jul 6, 2006

North's missile threat

The following is a chronology of the events surrounding North Korea's missile program:
EDITORIALS
Jul 5, 2006

The Hashimoto legacy

Fortune did not smile on Mr. Ryutaro Hashimoto when he sought the presidency of the Liberal Democratic Party, and the premiership, for a second time in April 2001. He was badly defeated by Mr. Junichiro Koizumi. But Mr. Hashimoto, prime minister from January 1996 to July 1998, who died over the weekend...
MORE SPORTS
Jul 5, 2006

Mao to take on Meissner in GP opener

Mao Asada, the 15-year-old skating sensation who won last year's Grand Prix Final but was too young to compete in the Turin Olympics, will begin her Grand Prix campaign this season along with older sister Mai, and Miki Ando, at Skate America in October, according to an entry list posted on the Web site...

Longform

Koichi Tagawa’s diary entry from Aug. 9, 1945, describes the day of the atomic bombing of Nagasaki.
The horrors of Nagasaki, in first person