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JAPAN
Dec 28, 2005

News media seeks disclosure of crime victims' names

The nation's two major media groups came out Tuesday against a government plan that allows police to decide whether to disclose the names of crime victims, saying anonymity would make news-gathering difficult and could help the police cover up matters unfavorable to them.
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
Dec 27, 2005

Real estate, a good cigar and body wax

Property in Yokohama Shirley, in Monterey, Calif., found an interesting article on buying property in Japan while browsing on the Web, and had a question.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Dec 25, 2005

Cultural depths of celluloid

READING A JAPANESE FILM: Cinema in Context, by Keiko I. McDonald. Honolulu: Hawai'i University Press, 2005, 294 pp., photo illustrations. $20.00 (paper). Films are not only to be passively watched, they are also to be actively "read." The viewer deciphers not just the story but all the other indications...
BASKETBALL / NBA / NBA REPORT
Dec 24, 2005

Pacers determined to get rid of Artest

NEW YORK -- Just so there's no misunderstanding, Ron Artest's apology to one and all in Pacer Place has been for naught; Donnie Walsh and Larry Bird are committed to trading him as quickly as possible, which isn't helping them in their pursuit of Al Harrington in a three-way deal.
JAPAN
Dec 24, 2005

Pyongyang may resolve abduction question: report

North Korea may offer a solution to the current standoff with Tokyo over Pyongyang's abductions of Japanese citizens before Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi leaves office next September, in an effort to help normalize bilateral relations, according to a report released Friday by the Public Security Intelligence...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / PERSONALITY PROFILE
Dec 24, 2005

Shi Yu Chen

Step inside Argo restaurant and library cafe in Kojimachi, Tokyo, and you might suppose yourself in the dining lounge of a luxury yacht. It is true you don't look out over Greek islands. Instead, you have a high view of the moat and the parkland of the Imperial Palace, and the complex of the British...
EDITORIALS
Dec 23, 2005

Rough sailing for Mr. Maehara

The Democratic Party of Japan, the nation's top opposition party, has held its first convention since electing Mr. Seiji Maehara as president in September. The party's new action policy for 2006 aims to reverse the power balance between the ruling and opposition camps in the next Upper House election...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Dec 23, 2005

Emperor lauds role of women in royal family

Emperor Akihito, speaking before his 72nd birthday Friday, spoke favorably about the role of the female members of the Imperial family, though he declined comment on a report by a government panel on the Imperial succession that proposes allowing females to ascend the throne.
Japan Times
Reference / SO WHAT THE HECK IS THAT
Dec 20, 2005

Baggy trousers

Dear Alice,
EDITORIALS
Dec 19, 2005

Small step toward 'one East Asia'

The concept of an East Asian Community -- a broad regional grouping that would bring together countries in East Asia and other areas in economic, political, security and other fields of common interest -- took a formal step toward realization last Wednesday at a summit meeting in Kuala Lumpur. Leaders...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Dec 18, 2005

What did you read about Asia this year?

Donald Richie THE COLUMBIA ANTHOLOGY OF MODERN JAPANESE LITERATURE, edited by J. Thomas Rimer and Van C. Gessel (Columbia University Press) This new take on Japanese modern classics -- old standbys and lots of recent writing as well -- is big (864 pages and it's only the first volume). It includes examples...
Japan Times
Features
Dec 18, 2005

Legal loner courts controversy every day

Any weekday, if you happen to drop by the Tokyo District/High/Summary Court building in Kasumigasaki, among all the besuited lawyers and the like you'll likely spy a blond, bearded young man leafing through the day's schedules in the first-floor lobby, or shuffling in and out of courtrooms big and small....
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Dec 18, 2005

Robotic journalists do their 'job' covering tragic deaths of girls

In a period of less than three weeks, three elementary school-age girls were recently murdered in different areas of Japan. The nature of the crimes guaranteed extensive coverage, but their occurrence in quick succession stretched the resources of the news media beyond its normal capabilities.
BUSINESS
Dec 17, 2005

2 trillion yen in tax increases to take effect in fiscal 2006

The ruling coalition approved over 2 trillion yen worth of tax increases Thursday to be implemented in fiscal 2006. The hikes include the elimina tion or reduction of tax breaks, a cigarette levy increase and higher tax rates on wine and so-called third-category beers.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Dec 17, 2005

New power landscape demands sophisticated approach to China

With China firmly on its path toward becoming a top player in the world economy, it is crucial for Japan to work out a relationship with its giant neighbor or risk hampering the rise of Asia as a whole, a renowned U.S.-based journalist told a recent lecture meeting in Tokyo.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Dec 15, 2005

Director Koki Mitani and the gentle indecision of Japanese juries

When 44-year-old writer/director Koki Mitani was young, he got so excited watching "Twelve Angry Men," a classic American jury-room film directed by Sidney Lumet and starring Henry Fonda, that he wanted someday to make his own original version.
COMMENTARY
Dec 15, 2005

Time for a Yasukuni deal

HONOLULU -- Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi remains in denial over the negative impact his continued visits to the controversial Yasukuni Shrine are having on Japanese and U.S. national security interests.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Dec 15, 2005

Proving it to the people

While waiting for the news conference to begin for "Sayuri" at the Imperial Hotel on Nov. 28, two Japanese women were discussing Zhang Ziyi, the Chinese actress who plays the title role of a geisha during the years leading up to and immediately following World War II.
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Dec 14, 2005

Trade-off apparent in bats' 'costly tissues'

Here's a rhetorical question that isn't just an excuse to talk about something rude. Would you men out there rather have large gonads or large brains? For female readers, how about this: What do you think is most important in a male, testes size or brain size?
JAPAN
Dec 13, 2005

DPJ's Goto to resign from Diet

In another political blow to the nation's largest opposition party, veteran lawmaker Masanori Goto of the Democratic Party of Japan said Monday he will resign after two key aides admitted earlier in the day to illegally paying campaign workers in the Sept. 11 general election.
EDITORIALS
Dec 10, 2005

Protecting children from danger

The successive murders of two first-grade elementary schoolgirls in Hiroshima and Tochigi prefectures who went missing on their way home from school have sent alarm bells ringing across the nation. The brutal killings have raised security concerns particularly among parents with children of similar ages,...
JAPAN
Dec 10, 2005

Frustrated bureaucrats pen reform ideas

When Ichiro Asahina, a 32-year-old bureaucrat at the Agency for Natural Resources and Energy, was studying at Harvard University between 2001 and 2003, he had time to think about what Kasumigaseki, Tokyo's governmental hub, meant to him and to Japan.
BUSINESS
Dec 10, 2005

Ministry adopts conditions for lifting of U.S. beef ban

The farm ministry adopted conditions Friday for ending the two-year-old import ban on U.S. and Canadian beef, and the government is expected to end the ban as early as Monday, ministry officials said.
JAPAN
Dec 9, 2005

SDF mission in Iraq extended; June exit planned

The government formally endorsed a revised plan Thursday to extend the Ground Self-Defense Force's humanitarian mission in Samawah, southern Iraq, for another year while at the same time signaling the troops' withdrawal by next summer.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / FUZZY LOGIC
Dec 9, 2005

Drumming up an apocalypse

Afrirampo are a whacked-out crackpot girl duo just out of their teens from Osaka, which is famous for its out-there noise-rock scene.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Dec 9, 2005

Standing firm for tradition

Akitaya is no gourmet dining destination. The food is basic, the sake cheap. Clouds of oily smoke billow out from a blackened, grease-encrusted charcoal grill onto the sidewalk, where customers huddle around tables fashioned from upturned beer crates.
JAPAN
Dec 8, 2005

Hayabusa may have failed to collect asteroid samples

A space probe thought to have landed on an asteroid last month may not have collected surface samples, calling into question the success of the unprecedented mission to bring extraterrestrial material back to Earth, an official said Wednesday.

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