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Japan Times
JAPAN
Mar 15, 2008

G8 offers forum for territory dispute

NEMURO, Hokkaido — Hirotoshi Kawata hopes the Group of Eight summit in July will be an opportunity to tell the world about his 62 years as a displaced person, banished from a Soviet-seized island when he was a preteen.
JAPAN
Mar 15, 2008

Absentee ballots easy to use: U.S. voting promoter

With the primaries continuing, it is important that Americans living abroad learn how to cast absentee ballots if they want to play a role in electing the next U.S. president in November, Polli Brunelli, director of the Federal Voting Assistance Program, said Friday.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST
Mar 15, 2008

Thoughts on the ritual of spring — and summer

Spring — in certain countries in the world — means more than just flowers, butterflies and taxes. It means the crack of bat on ball, the pounding of fist on glove, and a season of hope for something beyond just peanuts and Cracker Jack — yes, hope for a championship pennant. Spring means baseball....
BUSINESS
Mar 15, 2008

Sapporo restarts talks with Steel in latest takeover twist

Sapporo Breweries, the nation's third-largest beer maker, said Friday that it will restart talks with Steel Partners over the U.S. hedge fund's latest proposal to boost its stake in Sapporo.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Mar 15, 2008

Pinpointing 'sakura' arrival serious business, fine science

When spring comes, millions of Japanese happily turn their thoughts to one thing: When will the cherry blossoms start blooming?
BUSINESS
Mar 15, 2008

Mitsubishi Estate eyes property manager M&As

Mitsubishi Estate Co., Japan's largest developer by value, may buy property managers to more than double assets under management to ¥4 trillion ($40 billion) within six years as Tokyo commercial rents slow.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Mar 15, 2008

Clinic on the bluff reaches out

Someone who knows Hans Pauli well describes him as the archetypal Dutchman who is forever running around sticking his finger in dikes to prevent catastrophe.
BUSINESS
Mar 15, 2008

Nomura to buy Ashikaga Bank for ¥280 billion

Nomura Holdings Inc., Japan's largest brokerage, will make its biggest domestic acquisition as it leads an investment group paying at least ¥280 billion for the failed Ashikaga Bank Ltd.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Mar 15, 2008

The lowdown on Hokkaido bears

Let's talk about bears, big Hokkaido bears called higuma in Japanese. Bears can be dangerous in Hokkaido, where hikers may encounter them in the mountains. There have been 86 attacks and 33 deaths from bears since 1962 when the government started keeping records.
SOCCER / SOCCER SCENE
Mar 15, 2008

Brazilian players changing countries not good for game

The news this week that Kawasaki Frontale's Brazilian striker Juninho hopes to gain Japanese citizenship and play for the national team will not have been music to FIFA president Sepp Blatter's ears.
JAPAN
Mar 15, 2008

Smoking ban winning over Tokyo taxi drivers

In the roughly two months since most Tokyo taxis adopted a no-smoking policy, there has been little trouble among passengers, while an increasing number of drivers are thinking of quitting the habit themselves, a recent survey found.
EDITORIALS
Mar 15, 2008

Mr. Abdullah is battered

Malaysia's ruling coalition was stunned in elections last weekend. Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi and his National Front (Barisan Nasional) lost the two-thirds majority in Parliament that they have held for nearly four decades. As the government tries to regroup, Malaysia appears headed toward...
COMMENTARY
Mar 14, 2008

Burma sanctions don't work

NEW DELHI — Burma today ranks as one of the world's most isolated and sanctioned nations — a situation unlikely to be changed by its ruling junta scheduling a May referendum on a draft constitution and facilitating U.N. special envoy Ibrahim Gambari's third visit in six months.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Mar 14, 2008

Back to square one after a lifetime of work

With spring comes the annual wage negotiations, when unions press employers for higher pay. These days, however, an increasing number of the workers at the bargaining table are themselves in the autumn of life — 60 or older.
EDITORIALS
Mar 14, 2008

Disarray over BOJ appointment

The opposition-controlled Upper House has turned down the government proposal that Mr. Toshiro Muto, deputy governor of the Bank of Japan, become the next chief of the central bank. Since his nomination must be endorsed by both chambers of the Diet, the government will have to restart the nomination...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Mar 14, 2008

Noriko Tujiko: not merely sweet, cute and aggressive

N oriko Tujiko meets me in Shibuya wearing a multicolored outfit of clashing greens and reds. On her feet are velvet slippers.
JAPAN
Mar 14, 2008

Chamber again votes for Muto as row festers

The Lower House on Thursday approved the Liberal Democratic Party-New Komeito ruling bloc government's nomination of Toshiro Muto as new Bank of Japan governor, resulting in a split decision after the opposition-controlled upper chamber rejected him just a day earlier.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Mar 14, 2008

Blood Red Shoes

After their respective bands broke up in 2004, guitarist Laura-Mary Carter and drummer Steven Ansell of Brighton, England, started jamming and decided to form a band, which they named Blood Red Shoes. Swearing they would always be "just two people" dedicated to the principles if not always the specific...

Longform

Ichiro Suzuki, one of the most iconic players in NPB and MLB history, was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame with 99.7% of the vote.
With Hall of Fame induction, Ichiro makes himself heard loud and clear