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Jun 29, 2007

Sad tale for former NFL players, but who's really at fault?

By the time former NFL players got done telling their stories of pain and poverty to Congress, there was barely a dry eye in the House.
EDITORIALS
Jun 29, 2007

Jockeying for a favorable impression

The successful push by the Liberal Democratic Party and its coalition partner Komeito to extend the Diet session by 12 days to July 5 appears to represent a partisan move to change the political situation in the coalition's favor. This is the ninth extension of a regular Diet session held before a scheduled...
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 28, 2007

China, Russia in the new world disorder

WARSAW — Can Kosovo achieve independence from Serbia without the tacit consent of Russia, and can there be a humanitarian and political solution to the tragedy in Darfur without the active good will of China? The two crises have nothing in common, but their resolution will depend in large part on whether...
COMMENTARY
Jun 27, 2007

Battle for the European Union's identity

LONDON -- The latest battle of Brussels is over and news of the outcome is circulating through the capitals of the European Union. But unlike the ferocious battles of past centuries on European soil, this appears to be an engagement that everyone has won.
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Jun 26, 2007

Prison reforms seen as too little, and way too late

In May 2006, the government revised the prison law in the first attempt at broad reform since 1908. The Law Concerning Penal Institutions and the Treatment of Sentenced Inmates, as the legislation is formally known, went into effect June 7.
BUSINESS / JAPANESE PERSPECTIVES
Jun 25, 2007

Social responsibility: the buzz word nobody gets

Spas are for healing, nursing homes are for caring, language schools are for communicating, amusement parks are for amusing and pensions are for carefree retirement. This is how things ought to be. It is not how things are in modern-day Japan.
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.
JAPAN
Jun 23, 2007

Abe admits knowing pension problem last year

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe revealed Friday that he was aware of problems with the nation's pension premium payments by late last year, long before the government acted at the end of May.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / U.S. BUSINESS SCHOOL SYMPOSIUM
Jun 23, 2007

Educators school Japan in global management

Japanese executives should look at the introduction of new U.S.-modeled rules on corporate governance as an opportunity to increase the value of their companies, rather than fret over the negative costs of compliance, an American accounting professor told a recent symposium in Tokyo.
EDITORIALS
Jun 23, 2007

Iraq mission needs clarification

The Diet has passed a bill to extend by two years the July 2003 ad hoc law to deploy Self-Defense Forces in Iraq for noncombat activities. The Liberal Democratic Party and its coalition partner Komeito supported it, while the Democratic Party of Japan and three other opposition parties opposed it. The...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jun 22, 2007

'Hollywoodland'

The new film noir "Hollywoodland" has a title that may leave people scratching their heads: Isn't the home of the movie studios called "Hollywood?" Well, yes and no. The original, iconic sign on the hillside read "Hollywoodland," placed there in 1923 by some real-estate developers. It lasted only until...
COMMENTARY
Jun 21, 2007

The law is clear on Kosovo

LONDON — The ratio of foreign soldiers to local citizens in Kosovo (16,500 NATO troops to 2 million civilians) is slightly higher than the ratio of American soldiers to Iraqi citizens.
COMMENTARY
Jun 21, 2007

Mark Twain and the sins of 'our race'

LONDON — When I resorted to Mark Twain's writings, I attempted to escape, at least temporarily from my often distressing readings on war, politics and terror. But his "The Mysterious Stranger," although published 1916, left me with an eerie feeling. The imaginative story calls into question beliefs...
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 21, 2007

World's last interventionist

PRAGUE — When Tony Blair, having procrastinated about his departure almost to the point of unreason, finally gives up the British premiership this month, it will be to the general relief not only of the British public as a whole, but also of the overwhelming majority of his own party.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jun 21, 2007

Asian artists echo biennale director's themes

VENICE, Italy — By the light of the setting sun, a skateboarder practices tricks on the edge of a seaside jetty. Heavy waves roll in and break against the shore in a constant motion in the background. The skateboarder keeps to a narrow radius and his movements are rhythmic and supple. The board appears...
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 20, 2007

Don't underestimate Hamas' extremism

PRAGUE — Hamas' capture of the Gaza Strip has created, along with Iran, a second radical Islamist state in the Middle East. The region, probably the Arab-Israeli conflict and certainly the Palestinian movement will never be the same.
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Jun 17, 2007

Stand by your language — but not as a nationalist icon

Last month, on May 21 to be exact, something caught my eye in the English-language IHT/Asahi Shimbun newspaper. In an article headlined "Holistic patriotic education still missing," Professor Nobukatsu Fujioka of Takushoku University in Tokyo made an impassioned plea for Japanese children to be imbued...
BASKETBALL
Jun 16, 2007

Little Parker emerges as big-time star

CLEVELAND — The shortest guy on the court grabbed the rebound under his own basket, scanned the floor once, and took off.
COMMENTARY
Jun 14, 2007

Wanted: A 'new deal' for globalization

LOS ANGELES — There is no such thing as "free" trade. In truth, the phrase "free trade" is an oxymoron.
BUSINESS
Jun 13, 2007

Steel Partners head sells investors on hedge fund

Confronted with takeover-defense measures adopted by Japanese companies, Warren Lichtenstein, the head of U.S. hedge fund Steel Partners, urged Japanese investors Tuesday to consider the downside of such "poison pill" tactics.
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Jun 13, 2007

Religion's cute, but creation chemistry is complex

The ancient Chinese believed the universe began inside a cosmic egg. In Japanese mythology, two gods, Izanagi and Izanami, stirred the oceans with a giant spear, forming the islands of Japan and, eventually, its people. There are countless more creation myths. Every culture has them. But I like to think...
JAPAN
Jun 12, 2007

Victim-criminal dialogue can be cathartic

, founder of the U.S.-based group Murder Victims' Families for Human Rights, looks on. PHOTO COURTESY OF AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL JAPAN
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Jun 10, 2007

In Japan, show reverence where it's due (or not)

Japan is the country that I feel most at home in. Yet, despite having arrived in 1967, and living here for the better part of the intervening 40 years, I still see myself as the odd man out in one particular aspect. I just can't "act Japanese" — if you will excuse the generalization — when it comes...
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Jun 10, 2007

Remembering Clete Boyer — and the Taiyo Whales

Sad news came across last week about the death of Clete Boyer, the New York Yankees' slick-fielding third baseman from the glory days of the early 1960s. Most obituaries failed to mention that Boyer, who died June 4 in Atlanta at the age of 70, ended his playing career in Japan with the then-Taiyo Whales...

Longform

Mount Fuji is considered one of Japan's most iconic symbols and is a major draw for tourists. It's still a mountain, though, and potential hikers need to properly prepare for any climb.
What it takes to save lives on Mount Fuji