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Reader Mail
Mar 1, 2009

Communication ban in order

Regarding the Feb. 26 editorial "Students and cell phones": As incidents involving cell-phone bullying and various types of criminality have also included adults — among them not a few teachers, civil servants, police politicians — wouldn't it be only fair to ban the use of cell phones completely?...
EDITORIALS
Mar 1, 2009

Dressing for the recession

As the global economic crisis hits more and more people, even the richest of the rich are feeling the pinch. Forbes Magazine's annual list of the wealthiest people in the world, released last month, noted losses even at the highest incomes. In Japan, the top 40 richest Japanese saw their combined wealth...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Mar 1, 2009

Human Rights Watch coming to Tokyo

Civilians are killed as the Sri Lankan military closes in on the Tamil Tiger rebels.
Reader Mail
Mar 1, 2009

Where do the restrictions stop?

The Feb. 21 editorial "Third strike against smoking" was informative and nonjudgmental until the last part. There, the editor expressed his hope that, through the voices and spending habits of worried parents, smoking would be even more restricted than it already is.
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball / WORLD BASEBALL CLASSIC
Mar 1, 2009

Lions rout Samurai Japan

The World Baseball Classic finally made its return to Tokyo. Unfortunately for Samurai Japan, so did the Seibu Lions.
Reader Mail
Mar 1, 2009

Odd unit of energy acceleration

Regarding Rowan Hooper's Feb. 8 article, "City ecology explains Japan's low birthrate": In addition to the argument running a bit more like numerology than science, Rowan Hooper quotes "natural" human energy consumption as 8,400 kilojoules (kJ) per day and then proceeds to convert that to 100 watts...
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 1, 2009

Pope should reflect on his universal mission

HONG KONG — Is the pope Catholic! This, of course, is a fabled American rhetorical expression, usually used sarcastically and meaning, how could you be so stupid as to doubt something?
CULTURE / Books
Mar 1, 2009

Importance of being a top middleweight

Reviewed by Anthony Fensom Striking with a magnitude of 6.8, the severe earthquake that struck Niigata Prefecture and its surrounds on July 16, 2007, left a trail of destruction in its wake, killing seven people, injuring over 830 and destroying 500 homes.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Mar 1, 2009

Japan loves wasting food

The Fair Trade Commission's current investigation into whether or not Seven-Eleven Japan Co. bullies its franchise members has been barely covered by commercial TV news, which isn't surprising.
Reader Mail
Mar 1, 2009

Prime targets of suicide bombers

Regarding the Feb. 17 article "Novelist Murakami accepts Israeli literary prize": Congratulations to Haruki Murakami on his Jerusalem award, but his negative comments about Israel show a lack of understanding. The "egg" that he will always defend is a prime target of these Hamas terrorists. Hamas and...
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Mar 1, 2009

Retro name-that-tune comedy quiz, stain science at a dry-cleaning academy, portrait of a fashion icon

Nostalgia never goes out of style, and this week Fuji TV revives one of the popular game shows of the Showa Era (1925-89) for a one-night special. "DoReMiFaDon!" (Tues., 7 p.m.) was broadcast from 1979 to 1988. It takes its name from the musical scale that children learn in school and which was made...
Japan Times
Rugby
Mar 1, 2009

Sanyo captures national rugby championship with win over Suntory

The Sanyo Wild Knights made it three in a row against a big rival, winning Saturday's All-Japan Rugby Championship.
BASKETBALL
Mar 1, 2009

Kinjo lifts Golden Kings

Shigeyuki Kinjo drained a game-winning free throw with no time left on the game clock to lead the Ryukyu Golden Kings to a dramatic 70-69 road win over the Shiga Lakestars on Saturday.
CULTURE / Books
Mar 1, 2009

Memories of Manchuria

Reviewed by Jeff Kingston There is a powerful fascination in Japan about the lives and fates of the Japanese who migrated to Manchuria 1932-45. Some 320,000 rural Japanese were mobilized in this scheme to lessen population pressures in Japan, project Japanese power and promote food production in this...
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM NEW YORK
Mar 1, 2009

What 'prohibition' has wrought

NEW YORK — When I read the news that the Latin American Commission on Drugs and Democracy "blasted the U.S.-led drug war as a failure that is pushing Latin American societies to the breaking point" (Wall Street Journal, Feb. 12), I thought: Someone is finally talking sense. I have long regarded the...
EDITORIALS
Mar 1, 2009

Nuclear tragedy in the Pacific

Along with Aug. 6 and Aug. 9, 1945 — the dates of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki atomic bombings — March 1, 1954, is an important date. Fifty-five years ago, residents of the Marshall Islands in the Pacific Ocean and the 23 crew members of the Daigo Fukuryu Maru (Lucky Dragon No. 5), a 140-ton tuna fishing...
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Mar 1, 2009

Obama please note: Those who fail to 'master the past' are guilty, too

In "Guilt About the Past," based on guest lectures that Bernhard Schlink gave at Oxford University last year, the University of Berlin law professor describes the "long shadow" cast by the perpetrators of war crimes on their descendants.
Reader Mail
Mar 1, 2009

Lingual connection to culture

Regarding the Feb. 25 article "The character of a culture resides in its language": Writer Boye De Mente says native-language "keywords preserve and transmit concepts that are pivotal in shaping the thinking of the people who use them" and that "the beliefs and behavior of people in all societies, especially...
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Mar 1, 2009

Nissan rethinking designs as elderly flourish

ATSUGI, Kanagawa Pref. — To understand what it's like for a 70-year-old person to get around, Nissan designers are donning an "aging suit," complete with a 1-kg vest, uneven shoes that make walking a precarious hobble and belts that strap knees so they can't bend.
Reader Mail
Mar 1, 2009

Cabdriver with the big picture

Regarding the Feb. 26 "Words to Live by" column about Jazz Taxi driver Toshiyuki Anzai: What a fantastic article. Now here's a man with wisdom — not some MBA jerk I see in the United States every day who acts like he knows something. This cabdriver will never go hungry because he feeds the heart of...
SOCCER / J. League
Mar 1, 2009

Antlers trounce Gamba Osaka in curtain-raiser

Kashima Antlers sent out a warning to those who covet their J. League crown with a 3-0 thrashing of Gamba Osaka in the Fuji Xerox Super Cup on Saturday.

Longform

An illustration features the Japanese signs for "ganbare" (good luck) and the Deaflympics, which will be held between Nov. 15 and 26.
A century of Deaf sport finds its moment in Tokyo