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JAPAN
Jul 19, 2008

Entrepreneur pioneers Akihabara tours

Jane Fong was one of the lucky few awarded a full Foreign Ministry scholarship to a master's program in international business at Sophia University in Tokyo — but she gave that up to become an entrepreneur in "Electric Town."
BUSINESS
Jul 19, 2008

Sumitomo buys into U.K.'s Barclays

Barclays PLC, the U.K.'s fourth-biggest bank, said existing shareholders bought £753 million (about $1.5 billion), or 17 percent, of the shares on sale in its £4.5 billion stock offer.
BUSINESS
Jul 19, 2008

¥95 billion in debt, Zephyr folds

Property developer Zephyr Co. said it has filed for bankruptcy protection with the Tokyo District Court with debts of ¥94.9 billion.
BUSINESS
Jul 19, 2008

Nippon Oil ditches dated pricing system

Nippon Oil Corp., the nation's largest refiner, will abandon a decades-old pricing method, breaking with common practice in an effort to boost transparency and pass on soaring crude-import costs, company officials said.
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital / JAPAN TIMES BLOGROLL
Jul 19, 2008

My Life as a Gaijin, Kimono Reincarnate

My Life as a Gaijin and Kimono Reincarnate are two different blogs written by Melanie Gray Augustin. The former centers around the experiences of an Australian native living and teaching English in a foreign land, while the latter offers a taste of her artistic interests and entrepreneurial efforts...
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 18, 2008

Raul Castro seeks alternatives to Venezuela

BRASILIA — Raul Castro has begun a gradual process of changing Cuba's economy and international relations. Within Cuba, he hopes to legitimize his government by improving standards of living. Outside of Cuba, he does not want to be held captive by Cuba's one international supporter: Venezuelan President...
OLYMPICS
Jul 18, 2008

Hoshino places faith in Olympic qualifiers

Japan announced its 24-man baseball roster for the Beijing Olympics during a press conference at a Tokyo hotel on Thursday afternoon.
BASKETBALL
Jul 18, 2008

Mercury's Oga having solid month

As the WNBA season approaches its midway point, Phoenix Mercury rookie point guard Yuko Oga is in the midst of a solid stretch of play.
Japan Times
OLYMPICS
Jul 18, 2008

Tomita revels in veteran status ahead of second Olympics

Editor's note: As the countdown to the Summer Olympics draws closer, The Japan Times will provide more coverage of Japan's top medal hopefuls, as well as expanded coverage of international Olympians in the print and online editions.
BASKETBALL
Jul 18, 2008

Tabuse's summer with Nets ends

Yuta Tabuse's summer audition with the New Jersey Nets was, well, a short one.
EDITORIALS
Jul 18, 2008

Inspiration for Japanese literature

Ms. Yang Yi, a Chinese resident in Japan, has won the 139th Akutagawa Prize, the prestigious literary prize launched in 1935. She became not only the first Chinese to receive the prize but also the first recipient who didn't start learning Japanese until after becoming an adult. We congratulate her on...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film / SHORT TAKES
Jul 18, 2008

"Biru to Dobutsuen"

Director: Takashi Saito
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / BACKSTREET STORIES
Jul 18, 2008

I ain't afraid of those ghosts

There are lots of yureizaka (phantom slopes) in Tokyo, and at least seven of them have been spooking lily-livered pedestrians since the Edo Period (1603-1867). The slope I head for, in broad daylight, slants through the somnolent graveyards of old temples from the early 1600s. It's a beastly summer day,...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jul 18, 2008

'Manufactured Landscapes'

It takes director Jennifer Baichwal close to 10 minutes to move from one end to the other of the electronic-parts factory in Fujian, China — the fast-moving camera glides along the floor showing aisles and aisles of yellow-jacketed workers bent over their tasks.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jul 18, 2008

Can iPhone infiltrate Japan's mobile tribes?

Kentaro Tohyama is proud of his new iPhone. He stood overnight in line to get it when the device became available in Japan for the first time. But the 29-year-old computer engineer isn't about to part with his made-in-Japan cell phone either.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / HOTELS & RESTAURANTS
Jul 18, 2008

Beat the heat with eels or bake your own cakes at the Rihga

Beat the heat with unagi kaiseki As both July 24 and Aug. 5 this year are Doyo no Ushi no Hi (Midsummer Day of the Ox), also known as Eel Day, when Japanese people traditionally eat unagi (eel) to fight summer fatigue, the Hyatt Regency Tokyo has prepared a special lunch course at its Japanese restaurant...
EDITORIALS
Jul 18, 2008

Mongolian democracy tested

Riots that followed parliamentary elections the week before last shone a spotlight on an oft-forgotten haven of democracy in Northeast Asia. A state of emergency has ended, but questions about Mongolia's stability remain. As ever, the solution may be found in genuinely representative politics that puts...
JAPAN
Jul 18, 2008

Seoul rejects offer of talks in Singapore

Seoul has rejected a proposal to meet on the sidelines of an international security forum starting Tuesday in Singapore to discuss the diplomatic row that has erupted over Tokyo's claim to South Korea-held islets in the Sea of Japan, Japanese officials said Thursday.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jul 18, 2008

'Starship Troopers 3: Marauder'

The "Starship Troopers" franchise keeps scrabbling on, less due to public acclaim than the immutable logic that any science-fiction movie worth doing once is worth doing three times. There's something about trilogies — from Asimov or Tolkien perhaps — that just makes nerds feel complete. Fortunately...

Longform

Bear attacks have dominated Japanese news headlines in recent months, with 13 people so far having been killed by the animals.
Japan’s bears have been on their killing spree for more than 100 years