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MORE SPORTS / NHK TROPHY
Nov 30, 2008

Mao wins NHK title

World champion Mao Asada came up short in her bid to make history again Saturday night, trying to land two triple axels in her free skate to become the first female ever to accomplish the feat in the same program in international competition, but was still good enough to lead a Japanese sweep in the...
Reader Mail
Nov 30, 2008

Noxious fumes from ashtrays

In recent years here, smoking while walking on public streets has been outlawed in many places and smoking outside of designated smoking zones is becoming less and less acceptable. As a nonsmoker, I appreciate these efforts, but one unfortunate result of such restrictions is to concentrate smokers in...
SOCCER / J. League
Nov 30, 2008

Iwamasa's injury-time tally keeps Antlers on track for league glory

KASHIMA, Ibaraki Pref. — An injury-time header from Daiki Iwamasa gave Kashima Antlers one hand on the J. League title with a 1-0 win over Jubilo Iwata on Saturday.
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Nov 30, 2008

Every Japanese is party to their state's 'barbaric' legal murders

The death penalty brutalizes everyone connected with it: Judges and juries who pass it down, politicians who turn an evil or a blind eye to it, jailers, executioners, and more than anyone, the person whose life is extinguished by it.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Nov 30, 2008

Splendors for all: the best of Asia

It's all subjective of course, but read on for this traveler's picks of the places to go for (almost) anything you might choose to do in this splendiferous and ever-fascinating part of the world.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Nov 30, 2008

Kabuki rescued by national defeat

KABUKI'S FORGOTTEN WAR: 1931-1945, by James R. Brandon. Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press, 2008, 466 pp., with photographs, $52 (cloth) The role that Japan's "classic" drama, kabuki, played during the 15-year "Sacred War" is largely undiscussed, and even in Japan itself it is usually ignored. Indeed,...
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Nov 30, 2008

Tsurube and Nakai's travels, Detective Takemura, and a famous cross-dressing spy

It's impossible to turn on the television now without seeing SMAP leader Masahiro Nakai, who is working overtime to promote his new movie, "Watashi wa Kai ni Naritai" ("I Want to Become a Seashell"). And since he was just chosen for the fifth time to cohost NHK's New Year's Eve song contest, "Kohaku...
Reader Mail
Nov 30, 2008

Fundamental law against racism

I would like to point out that a quote attributed to Debito Arudou in the Nov. 25 Zeit Gist article, "An Obama for Japan? Yes, we can?," is factually incorrect. There IS a fundamental law against racism in Japan. It is in the Japanese Constitution. neath oum
Reader Mail
Nov 30, 2008

Realistic stimulus for people

The government has proposed various stimulus packages. But how about stimulating Japan's economy with an emphasis on making people's lives better?
JAPAN
Nov 30, 2008

Conference in Nagoya provides writing tips

NAGOYA — Japan has long been a favored destination, and a favorite subject, for Western scribes. In the 19th century, Laficadio Hearn and Isabella Bird penned books that were widely read in Europe and the United States. In the 20th century, novelists like James Michener and beat poet Gary Snyder were...
Reader Mail
Nov 30, 2008

Japan's obvious homogeneity

I have always read Hugh Cortazzi's articles in The Japan Times with great interest and admiration. However, I think he might have gone too far in his Nov. 26 opinion, "Common sense versus PC." He starts by saying: "Presumably the recent remarks of former infrastructure minister Nariaki Nakayama about...
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Nov 30, 2008

Gems of Asia: hotels worth the splurge

I admit to an incurable travel addiction, which I have been lucky enough to feed by journeying around Asia since 1980, driven by an abiding interest in the wonders and troubles of the region.
Reader Mail
Nov 30, 2008

Extend the lives of unwanted pets

I was surprised, as I'm sure many people were, to read that public health centers dispose of unwanted and lost animals so quickly. According to the Nov. 26 article "Was wrong bureaucracy targeted?," a pet owner can bring a pet to a public health center and the animal will be put down within a day. That's...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Nov 30, 2008

Shades of the BBC in NHK's own 'The Office'

Two months ago I heard about a comedy sketch that appeared last May on the American show "Saturday Night Live." Actor Steve Carrell was the host and he and the cast of regulars did a parody of his own show, "The Office," an American version of the famous British sitcom about white-collar workers. SNL...
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 30, 2008

Building a curative response to sea banditry

KUALA LUMPUR — Although the conditions for piracy and terrorism to thrive are similar, their objectives are different. The motivation for piracy is old-fashioned greed while terrorists are predominantly driven by political and religious ideology. Moreover, pirates usually want to grab their booty and...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Nov 30, 2008

Drawing new life out of an old story

RED COLORED ELEGY by Seiichi Hayashi, translated by Taro Nettleton. Montreal: Drawn & Quarterly, 235 pp., $24.95 (cloth) Here's a rough synopsis of the plot of Seiichi Hayashi's "Red Colored Elegy": A young couple, committed to their art, struggle to keep themselves, their art, and their love alive....
Reader Mail
Nov 30, 2008

Very last option against pirates

Regarding Ramesh Thakur's Nov. 25 article,"Pirates feel the sting of India's naval muscle": This analysis is founded in part on a gross inaccuracy because, as it turned out, the Indian Navy did not sink a pirate "mother ship."
Japan Times
BASKETBALL
Nov 29, 2008

Ogawa preaches patience in Oita

Though the Oita HeatDevils have started the season with a disappointing 2-10 record, first-year head coach Tadaharu Ogawa is patiently working to turn things around.

Longform

Members of the nonprofit group Japan Youth Memorial Association search for the remains of dead soldiers in a cave in Okinawa Prefecture in February.
The long search for Japan’s lost soldiers