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Reader Mail
Nov 2, 2008

China can afford to cool down

Regarding the Oct. 27 editorial, "China feels the pinch": Massive numbers of people have moved from the countryside to China's cities in the past 30 years because jobs were available there. If the economy slows down and jobs dry up, fewer people will move. Chinese authorities would to like to see a growth...
Reader Mail
Nov 2, 2008

Nuclear warning to all nations

The views expressed by Brad Glosserman and Bates Gill in their Oct. 29 article, "Bush's nuclear deal with India: bigger consequences to consider," are well articulated, albeit with a few gaps. India is not just a rising economic power; it is seen as a major threat by economies that have failed for various...
Reader Mail
Nov 2, 2008

Coordinating cyclists and joggers

This year, in preparation for the Honolulu Marathon, I have made 55 circuits around the Imperial Palace. On several occasions, cyclists have silently passed by me very close and very fast. A couple of times they have actually brushed against my arm. I am sure that it is only a matter of time before a...
CULTURE / Books
Nov 2, 2008

Nothing funnier than a comedian in a kimono

RAKUGO: Performing Comedy and Cultural Heritage in Contemporary Tokyo, by Lorie Brau. Lexington Books, 2008, 274 pp., $75.00 (cloth) Of all the Japanese arts, rakugo traditional comedy is one of the most impenetrable for foreigners. The premise is simple: kimono-clad practitioners tell old funny stories...
Reader Mail
Nov 2, 2008

Money declaration a key tool

M.J. Issott's Oct. 30 letter, "Another dumb immigration rule," states that it is stupid for foreign residents to declare money upon re-entry to Japan. Japan might have adopted this rule recently, but it has been used in the European Union, United States, Canada and other countries for decades now. Financial...
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Nov 2, 2008

Pondering the process of filling in the final page of a person's life

In the late 1980s, the mother of a close female friend of ours in Tokyo went into hospital for a hysterectomy. This is major, if fairly routine, surgery.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Nov 2, 2008

God forbid if sumo goes the way of pro wrestling

In March 2007, Shukan Gendai published an article naming top-ranked sumo wrestlers who it said had been involved in match-fixing in the past. Three of the wrestlers and the Japan Sumo Association subsequently filed defamation lawsuits against the publisher, Kodansha Ltd., and several weeks ago one of...
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
Nov 2, 2008

Lions maintain relaxed attitude before Game 1

In many ways, the 2008 Japan Series clubs — the Yomiuri Giants and Seibu Lions — are similar. Neither of them are strangers to the Fall Classic. They've been winning thanks to their fierce offensive power, and both managers are young, vigorous leaders.
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Nov 2, 2008

Looking back at previous Giants-Lions battles in the Japan Series

The current Japan Series matchup pitting the Yomiuri Giants against the Saitama Seibu Lions is installment No. 6 since the Seibu Railways bought the Pacific League team and moved it to the Tokyo area almost 30 years ago.
Reader Mail
Nov 2, 2008

India is little cause for concern

There are a few facts to consider before calling the U.S.-India nuclear deal a concern: India has never invaded another country in its 10,000-year history; India is committed to a "no first use" policy on nuclear weapons; and nuclear power is mandatory if one of the world's largest democracies is to...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / CLOSE-UP
Nov 2, 2008

Probing the real Japan with Kenneth Pyle

Kenneth Pyle says his first memories of Japan were of watching war films when he was a child — "all the dogfights with Zero fighters and all that."
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
Nov 2, 2008

Wakui tosses gem for Lions in opener

If the Japan Series was supposed to be an offensive showcase, Seibu Lions pitcher Hideaki Wakui sure didn't get the memo.
EDITORIALS
Nov 2, 2008

Handling info in the MSDF

The Yokohama District Court on Oct. 28 gave a suspended 2 1/2-year prison term to a lieutenant commander of the Maritime Self-Defense Force for passing information on the U.S.-developed Aegis weapons system to another lieutenant commander, an instructor at an MSDF school in Etajima, Hiroshima Prefecture....
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Nov 2, 2008

Some 19th-century blood and gore

THE STRAW SANDAL OR THE SCROLL OF THE HUNDRED CRABS by Santo Kyoden, translated by Carmen Blacker, introduction by P.F. Kornicki. Global Oriental, 2008, 116 pp., 28 b/w illustrations by Utagawa Toyokuni, £35 (cloth) Santo Kyoden (pen name Iwase Samuru, 1761-1816) was among the most popular authors of...
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / ON THE ROAD
Nov 2, 2008

EVs lead the charge on Paris stage

Gather a bunch of Japanese car journalists or engineers together for a chat on the current state of the industry and you will hear heated debate about design, downsizing, performance, safety and maybe even fuel economy. But for some strange reason, few seem to talk about carbon dioxide (CO2). You know,...
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 1, 2008

Bridging the China-India gap

DELHI — The sooner that India and China accept their inevitable strategic competitiveness but limit it through tactical cooperation, the better. Two tactical areas needing immediate Chinese and Indian intervention are a fix for the world economy and overcoming terrorism from Afghanistan and Pakistan....
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 1, 2008

Rich in geothermal fields? Then exploit them

SINGAPORE — In their quest for energy security, Indonesia and the Philippines are planning to develop nuclear power to buttress a key part of their electricity generating systems. This provides the near constant, or base load, electricity needed by industries and households. However, the possibility...

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