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SUMO
May 8, 2005

Can anybody beat Asashoryu?

The big question heading into the Summer Grand Sumo Tournament is not if grand champion Asashoryu will win yet another title, but whether the Mongolian grappler will be handed a single loss during the 15-day meet.
Features
May 8, 2005

How to look hot or not

Dressing properly for a barbecue party is a daunting task.
EDITORIALS
May 8, 2005

Mr. Blair's historic victory

The Labour Party of British Prime Minister Tony Blair won a third consecutive parliamentary election on Thursday. The victory is vindication for Mr. Blair, although he has been wounded by the results: His parliamentary majority is much reduced. The key question is how much time the prime minister has...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
May 8, 2005

TV show scrapes bottom of barrel in bringing Asia to Japan

One of the hoariest cliches of international politics is the idea that governments only have beefs with other governments, not with their citizens. The tragic irony is that the citizens suffer anyway. Maybe the majority of Iraqi people didn't like their tyrant, but one has to wonder how much they accept...
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital / NAME OF THE GAME
May 5, 2005

Techno racing on the edge

The original "Wipeout" racing game hit the PlayStation in the midst of a worldwide cultural movement -- electronica. Beatboxes and keyboards were ringing in the new millennium as dance clubs saw renewed interest along with the club drugs that fueled the all-night raves. With its spacey visuals and techno...
COMMENTARY
May 4, 2005

Some pits remain in Vietnam's growing bowl of cherries

LOS ANGELES -- The people of Vietnam -- who celebrated the 30th anniversary of the United States' final pullout from Saigon on April 30 -- are getting with the market-oriented, rich-is-glorious, we-love-anyone-with-money (including Westerners), China-clone program of economic reform (while keeping dissidents...
EDITORIALS
May 3, 2005

Nonproliferation plus disarmament

An international conference to review the Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT) opens at the United Nations Monday. The 1970 treaty is riddled with inefficacy, as illustrated by North Korea's nuclear-weapons program, Iran's moves to enrich uranium, and the existence of an international black market for nuclear...
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
May 3, 2005

Rail passes, credit and changing your cash

More credit queries I notice lately you've had a lot of queries regarding credit cards in Japan. One question I'm curious about is -- why?
COMMENTARY / World
May 2, 2005

Longevity bonds can help retirees prosper

NEW HAVEN, Connecticut -- Living a long time is one of our deepest wishes, and medical and economic progress offers the hope that it will be fulfilled. Some scientists say that the average human life span could reach 90 years or more by midcentury. But what if our wish is granted? What good is a longer...
BUSINESS / JAPANESE PERSPECTIVES
May 2, 2005

Transition to 'payoff' system went smoothly, but full impact unknown

On April 1, the government's limited deposit guarantee, known as the "payoff" system, took full effect as scheduled. So far, the measure hasn't resulted in any visible disturbances, such as a major shift of funds out of bank accounts. Why?
COMMENTARY
May 2, 2005

Caldron of simmering views

In advance of Constitution Day, on Tuesday, research commissions on constitutional reform from both houses of the Diet last month adopted final reports summarizing five years of debate. The Lower House panel focused on amending the supreme law, including revision of the war-renouncing Article 9.
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
May 1, 2005

History set to be made with first interleague games in Japan

By the time you read the next offering of the "Baseball Bullet-In" on Sunday, May 8, Golden Week 2005 will be over, and Japan pro baseball's first session of interleague play will have begun.
EDITORIALS
May 1, 2005

A peek over the wall

Hearing the words "gated community," most people in this country probably think of America -- and not with admiration. The phrase, after all, denotes privilege and exclusion, fear and distaste, not unlike those more heavily freighted labels of the past, "pale" or "ghetto."
JAPAN
Apr 30, 2005

Police launch major probe into Amagasaki train crash

Driver training -- Page 2
Japan Times
JAPAN
Apr 30, 2005

Are dress codes key to global warming?

Just as a 1,000-km journey begins with a single step, it seems that the arduous process of reducing Japan's greenhouse gas emissions starts with the simple removal of a few neckties.
EDITORIALS
Apr 29, 2005

Learn from the train tragedy

Monday's railway accident in Amagasaki, Hyogo Prefecture, was the worst since Japanese National Railways was privatized in 1987. A packed seven-car commuter train jumped the tracks at a sharp curve and the front car slammed into the parking floor of a nearby apartment building, killing more than 100...
JAPAN
Apr 29, 2005

Teikoku Oil seeks rights to test-drill in disputed seas

A Japanese oil company on Thursday requested test-drilling rights in the East China Sea, in disputed waters just a few kilometers from where China is preparing full-scale drilling.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Apr 29, 2005

Reliving the good life in the country

Visitors to Japan often go into a form of shock not long after they arrive. It is not the different language, cuisine, or social customs that are the cause, but, rather, the realization that Japanese cities are vast, crowded, hyper-modern jungles of humanity where life seems to be constantly on warp...
EDITORIALS
Apr 28, 2005

Mr. Putin's Russia

Hopes that President Vladimir Putin would use this week's state of the union address to clarify where Russia is heading were frustrated. His speech had a little something for everyone, leaving liberals and nationalists alike grasping for their favorite sound bite. It is tempting to look to the case of...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Apr 27, 2005

By-election losses dent DPJ's pitch to ditch opposition image

Don't call us an opposition party, says Katsuya Okada, leader of the Democratic Party of Japan.
JAPAN
Apr 26, 2005

Residents heard screech, then roar, then silence

AMAGASAKI, Hyogo Pref. -- A screech, followed by a roar, and then silence.
COMMUNITY / LIFELINES
Apr 26, 2005

Chinese, a visa poser and used book sales

Chinese learning Is there a Chinese-language school in Tokyo that teaches Chinese to English speakers (only in English; my Japanese skills are beginner level)?
EDITORIALS
Apr 24, 2005

Bamboozled by buzzwords

A re you baffled by words you hear or read every day? Does it sometimes seem as if the language is being suffocated by technological doublespeak? Is your ability to do your job, buy a computer or read a manual being undermined because whole swaths of English are now so incomprehensible they might as...
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 24, 2005

Getting Yangon to show a little respect

CHANG MAI, Thailand -- There has been a lot of discussion recently about Myanmar's assumption of the presidency of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations next year. It is obvious that most members wish to prevent this anomaly from happening. Let's reflect on some of the more realistic,...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Apr 24, 2005

Canadian indie scene keeps it together

When the Canadian music collective known as Broken Social Scene arrives in Tokyo next month, they'll be bringing a few members of their family tree along. Found on the group's Web site, the "tree" is actually 40-plus band and artist names scrawled on a paper bag and connected by the squiggly white lines....
COMMENTARY
Apr 24, 2005

A provincial pitch for votes

LONDON -- Britain is now in the grip of a general election campaign with voting due May 5. As with political campaigns generally in the modern world, this one is heavily oriented toward domestic issues and disputes. Globalization and the worldwide information revolution seem to have had the opposite...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Apr 24, 2005

Documenting hell on Earth: At a theater near you

Because of the dangerous situation there, none of the commercial Japanese TV networks have staff correspondents in Iraq. On-site reporting that's shown on Japanese TV is from either other countries' news organizations or freelance Japanese reporters, the most prominent of whom is probably Takeharu Watai,...
JAPAN
Apr 24, 2005

Koizumi, Hu hold talks

JAKARTA -- The leaders of Japan and China met Saturday in an effort to end a dispute over Japan's wartime aggression that has badly damaged relations between the two Asian powers and alarmed their neighbors.
EDITORIALS
Apr 22, 2005

Reform remains pope's top priority

In one of the swiftest conclusions to a conclave in a century, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, a German theologian, has been elected pope to succeed the late John Paul II, who pursued pacifism, human rights protection and inter-religious dialogue. The hope for Pope Benedict XVI -- the name is said to suggest...

Longform

A small shrine perched atop rocks braves the waves hitting the shoreline during a storm in Shimoda, Shizuoka Prefecture. The area is under threat of a possible 31-meter-high tsunami if an earthquake strikes the nearby Nankai Trough.
If the 'Big One' hits, this city could face a 31-meter-high tsunami