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JAPAN
Oct 30, 2008

No 'concrete' intelligence on Kim

Prime Minister Taro Aso wasn't citing specific intelligence reports when he speculated that North Korea's Kim Jong Il is still running the hermit state, the government's top spokesman said Wednesday.
JAPAN
Oct 30, 2008

Key question: Who will perform diaper-duty for the elderly?

Men want their wives to take care of their bodily waste if they become bedridden or are left in other conditions requiring this kind of care, while women would rather be looked after by professional helpers or their daughters, according to a survey by Unicharm Corp., Japan's biggest maker of adult diapers....
JAPAN
Oct 30, 2008

'Trash houses' tough to tidy up

A middle-aged man walks through the Tokyo neighborhood of Higashi-Nippori at dawn, dropping bits of food for crows and cats to feed on, ensuring in the process that a mess is left in his wake.
JAPAN
Oct 30, 2008

Foreign workers are first to feel impact of economy's slowdown

HAMAMATSU, Shizuoka Pref. — Brazilian Stenio Sameshima came to Japan last year planning to make a bundle of money at the country's humming auto factories. Instead, he's spending a lot of time in line at employment agencies.
Reader Mail
Oct 30, 2008

Internet can save people

Regarding Jun Numayama's Oct. 19 letter, "Internet crisis of communication": Numayama says the Internet worsens young people's ability to communicate, and that this is connected with loneliness in real life and suicide. I disagree. I think the Internet is saving young people. Japanese people are shy....
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Oct 30, 2008

Tokyo film competition rewards tantalizing tales

When I was at the Pusan International Film Festival in South Korea a few weeks ago, I discussed the Tokyo International Film Festival with some journalists, who disagreed with my assertion that TIFF's Competition section was a dumping ground for movies that couldn't make it at other film festivals. They...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Oct 30, 2008

Golden glories

One of fall's annual pleasures is the Big Autumn Exhibition at the Tokyo National Museum, and this year the organizers have pulled out all the stops with "Treasures by Rinpa Masters," a breathtaking show of Rinpa art in celebration of the 350th anniversary of Ogata Korin's birth. Korin (1658-1716) is...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Oct 30, 2008

Going abroad to make it at home

Mugensha Theatre Company is based in Tokyo, but it is probably better known in Britain. The company has played three London seasons — in 2002, '05 and '06 — since it was founded by director and actor Soun Kotakebayashi in 1995 with the intention of taking contemporary Japanese drama to Europe.
CULTURE / Art / INSIDE ART
Oct 30, 2008

Poof! goes the art work as taboos broken

The skies above the Hiroshima Peace Memorial were perfectly clear last Tuesday morning — until a small plane appeared and started writing in smoke a Japanese word that could be translated as "Bang!"
BUSINESS
Oct 30, 2008

SMFG to acquire 2% stake in KB Group

Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group Inc. said Wednesday it will buy at least 2 percent of South Korea's KB Financial Group Inc.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Oct 30, 2008

Digging deep to find the sparkle in Japanese Eyes

Japan's film industry releases more than 400 films a year, but only 10 screened in the Japanese Eyes section of this year's Tokyo International Film Festival, which ran from Oct. 18 to 26.
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball / NPB NOTEBOOK
Oct 30, 2008

Hara makes right call with Giants

Yomiuri Giants manager Tatsunori Hara cried last season after the Chunichi Dragons sent his team into a long offseason with a 3-0 sweep in the second stage of the Central League Climax Series.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 29, 2008

Obama, McCain all but ignore poverty issue

PRINCETON — Barack Obama worked for three years as a community organizer on Chicago's blighted South Side, so he knows all about the real poverty that exists in America. He knows that in one of the world's richest nations, 37 million people live in poverty, a far higher proportion than in Europe's...
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 29, 2008

Bush's nuclear deal with India: bigger consequences to consider

HONOLULU/STOCKHOLM — The U.S.-India civilian nuclear agreement was signed into law this month after two years of negotiations and bitter debates. The final deal sharply divides arms control and nonproliferation specialists. The focus of an often-emotional debate revolves around a simple question: Is...
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 29, 2008

Time to rescue Chris Patten

HONG KONG — His hair has turned white, but his voice is as mellifluous as ever and his wit just as eloquent and rapier-quick in puncturing balloons of self-importance and pomposity. It was a real delight to watch him in a BBC Hardtalk discussion on the economic crisis as he pricked pretentious statements...
EDITORIALS
Oct 29, 2008

ASEM takes a stand

The third leg of the global strategic triangle — Asia-Europe relations — has always been the weakest of the three. The Asia Europe Meeting, otherwise known as ASEM, was designed to remedy that shortcoming. The need for meaningful dialogue between the two poles has become even more important as the...
BASKETBALL / NBA / NBA REPORT
Oct 29, 2008

Carlesimo likely to be first coach out door

NEW YORK — How many NBA fans think the league is better off without the Sonics in Seattle?
SOCCER
Oct 29, 2008

Ronaldo voted player of year by peers

HOOFDORP, Netherlands (AP) Cristiano Ronaldo has been voted player of the year by his fellow professionals at FIFPro.
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
Oct 29, 2008

Devoted to the game: Looking back at Oh's career

First in a three-part series
Japan Times
MORE SPORTS
Oct 29, 2008

Q-chan announces retirement

Literally, Naoko Takahashi had bumps in the road in her career as a marathoner. But her days of glory and agony are finally over, and now she can walk in the street as everyone else.
BUSINESS
Oct 29, 2008

Nomura posts loss but expects gains via Lehman acquisitions

Nomura Holdings Inc. said Tuesday its group net loss widened to ¥72.9 billion in the quarter that ended in September due to losses related to the global financial turmoil.

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