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JAPAN
Aug 30, 2007

Opium King's ties believed went to the top

An obscure tomb in a small graveyard at a Chiba Prefecture temple marks the final resting place of Japan's wartime "Opium King," although the site betrays nothing of this dark cloud, nor the relationship the deceased had with key historical figures.
JAPAN
Aug 30, 2007

Abe, Merkel pressure DPJ on MSDF mission

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Wednesday emphasized the importance of the Maritime Self-Defense Force mission in the Indian Ocean in support of the NATO-led antiterrorist campaign, putting pressure on the Democratic Party of Japan to cooperate in renewing it.
JAPAN
Aug 30, 2007

Narcotics trade boosted army scrip

Japan used the opium trade of Shanghai's major dealer to prop up the value of its military currency in occupied China during the war, according to a leading expert on China's wartime economy, citing a former secret document.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Aug 29, 2007

Shampoo ads ditch blondes for 'beautiful Japanese women'

Shampoo ads here typically feature glamorous blondes praising imports from Procter & Gamble of the U.S. and Europe's Unilever.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Aug 29, 2007

Nationwide quake alert in offing

It's still beyond the reach of science to predict exactly when an earthquake will strike, but Japan will soon get the next-best thing — televised warnings that come before the shaking starts.
COMMENTARY
Aug 27, 2007

Issues with U.S. hurt LDP

The ruling Liberal Democratic Party has been rocked by its humiliating defeat in the July 29 House of Councilors (Upper House) election. The LDP's loss was generally attributed to the government's long-standing mismanagement of public pension accounts, but in my opinion, two United States-related issues...
Reader Mail
Aug 26, 2007

'Greatest evil' is not apparent

Despite preliminary testing in the New Mexican desert, I think it is fair to say that no one could possibly have fully understood the horror of an atomic blast -- especially a detonation over an urban area -- before it was actually done in August 1945. This undermines all anti-atomic bomb...
CULTURE / Books
Aug 26, 2007

Marine sniper in a modern-day retelling of the legendary 47 ronin

Author Stephen Hunter's series character Bob Lee Swagger, the ex-marine sniper who gained the nickname "Bob the Nailer" for his wartime exploits in Vietnam, has few soft spots. One is his late father, Earl, who was awarded the Presidential Medal of Honor for valor on Iwo Jima.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Aug 26, 2007

It's ladies first now in Japanese love hotels

Japanese Love Hotels: A Cultural History, by Sarah Chaplin. London/New York: Routledge, 2007, 242 pp. with photos, figures and tables, £85 (cloth) The love-hotel industry is one of Japan's most profitable. It accounts for more than ¥4 trillion a year, a figure nearly four times than that of the profit...
BUSINESS
Aug 25, 2007

Service prices spell inflation

Corporate service prices rose at the fastest pace in more than 15 years, a sign that inflation is taking hold in the world's second-largest economy.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Aug 25, 2007

Ami, guitar team up against sex trafficking

Ami & Her Guitar revolve dramatically through the doors at What the Dickens pub in Tokyo's Ebisu. She's late, she's late, for a very important date, but on a day when temperatures have hit 40 C plus, she is easily forgiven.
Rugby
Aug 24, 2007

Wallabies receive strong support before departure

SYDNEY — The Australia national rugby union team's three-day training camp concluded on Wednesday with a public farewell function at Sydney's Town Hall, where a few hundred supporters alongside Prime Minister John Howard bade farewell to the Wallabies before their departure for the 2007 Rugby World...
BUSINESS
Aug 24, 2007

Wary BOJ leaves interest rate untouched

The Bank of Japan Policy Board agreed Thursday to keep its benchmark interest rate at 0.5 percent as the U.S. subprime mortgage crisis earlier this month added to uncertainties over the Japanese economy.
EDITORIALS
Aug 24, 2007

New effort to boost tourism

The government has decided on a basic plan to promote the tourist industry as one of Japan's main policy measures for the 21st century. The basic plan sets goals in 25 areas, including three main ones — increasing domestic tours by Japanese, attracting more tourists from abroad, and increasing the...
Japan Times
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Aug 24, 2007

Lesson in absurd comedy

Named in homage to the Romanian-born Absurdist playwright of the same name, the Eugene Ionesco Theater company will this month make its fourth visit to Japan to present Ionesco's dark comedy "Jugyo (The Lesson)."
BUSINESS
Aug 24, 2007

Thrifty Skymark projects sales rise

Skymark Airlines Inc., Japan's largest low-fare carrier, forecast a 22 percent increase in second-quarter sales as it wins passengers from All Nippon Airways Co. and Japan Airlines Corp., the airline said Thursday.
BUSINESS
Aug 23, 2007

Nissan's latest release: revamped X-Trail SUV

Nissan Motor Co. introduced a revamped X-Trail sport utility vehicle Wednesday in a bid to slow a domestic sales slump.
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
Aug 21, 2007

Kids' rights and cancer support

Coping after cancer M recently arrived in Tokyo from Hong Kong and, as a breast cancer survivor, is wondering where she can turn for support.
MORE SPORTS
Aug 19, 2007

Moses trying to help less fortunate hurdle obstacles

Edwin Moses was an untouchable, unbeatable performer as a track and field superstar during his heyday in the 1970s and '80s.
CULTURE / Books
Aug 19, 2007

Osamu Tezuka: Fighting for peace with the Mighty Atom

The Astro Boy Essays: Osamu Tezuka, Mighty Atom, and the Manga/Anime Revolution, by Frederik L. Schodt. Stone Bridge Press, 2007, 248 pp., $16.95 (paper) When legendary manga and anime artist Osamu Tezuka visited the 1964 New York World's Fair, he met a man he had long idolized, Walt Disney. Tezuka...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Aug 19, 2007

When the way of the 'samurai' was pointless self-annihilation

Before the war there was a famous woman commonly referred to as Mrs. Inoue, though after the war people stopped talking about her.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Aug 18, 2007

Classical accordionist finds harmony with Asia

Another a fine example of synchronicity if ever there was one!

Longform

Bear attacks have dominated Japanese news headlines in recent months, with 13 people so far having been killed by the animals.
Japan’s bears have been on their killing spree for more than 100 years