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Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / LIQUID CULTURE
May 23, 2008

Japanese malt scotches rivals

If you know Nikka Whisky only as the producer of the extraordinarily cheap peatless Black that fills the nether regions of Japan's whisky market, you might be surprised to learn that the company makes around 40 other styles — and one of them has just been voted the best single malt in the world....
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
May 23, 2008

'Rambo'

At the time, it seemed like the "Rambo" series epitomized everything that was wrong about the '80s. Star Sylvester Stallone, with his oiled-up, inhumanly pumped-up physique, was the poster-boy for the first generation to embrace steroid abuse. The revenge fantasies he was peddling — re-fighting the...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
May 23, 2008

'After School'

In 2005, Kenji Uchida, then an unknown young director, won four prizes at the Cannes Film Festival for his second feature, "Unmei Ja Nai Hito (A Stranger of Mine)."
Japan Times
JAPAN
May 23, 2008

Ainu press case for official recognition

Hundreds of Ainu from all over Japan and their supporters staged a protest Thursday in Tokyo's Nagata-cho political district, demanding the Diet and the government recognize them as indigenous people.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
May 23, 2008

Is this America's most dangerous band?

Nashville punk four-piece Be Your Own Pet are dangerous. That's the official line of their own label in the United States, Universal, where faceless suits chopped three songs from the band's new album, "Get Awkward," for being "too violent." Yes, the same label that releases albums by chain saw-wielding...
JAPAN
May 23, 2008

Fukuda pledges full support for planned ASEAN unified market

Echoing his late father's message more than three decades ago, Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda said Thursday that Japan will seek closer ties with Southeast Asian countries by supporting the planned creation of a single integrated market in the region.
Japan Times
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
May 23, 2008

Step back in time at Ba-rock Music Festival

Tokyo's Mejiro district will take a curious musical sidestep in time from May 30 to June 15 during the fourth staging of the Mejiro Ba-rock Music Festival.
BUSINESS
May 23, 2008

Shirakawa flexible

Japan's economic growth is slowing because of costlier oil and raw materials and Bank of Japan policy will remain flexible, BOJ Gov. Masaaki Shirakawa said Thursday.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
May 23, 2008

ANA plans to boost fuel hedging as oil prices soar to record levels

All Nippon Airways Co. plans to boost fuel hedging to cover almost all of its needs for this business year as oil prices soar to a record, according to a senior ANA official.
BUSINESS
May 23, 2008

Toys 'R' Us recalls China hair clips

Toys "R" Us Japan. Ltd., the Japanese unit of the U.S.-based toy retailer, said Thursday it is voluntarily recalling more than 15,000 hair clips and other girls' accessories that contain lead paint.
BUSINESS
May 23, 2008

Internet Initiative eyes expansion

Internet Initiative Japan Inc., which provides Web and computer network services, expects subscribers to its mobile phone data service for businesses to rise to 100,000 in 2 1/2 years, President Koichi Suzuki said.
COMMENTARY / World
May 22, 2008

A first lady's diplomatic mission

A natural calamity is usually an occasion to set aside political differences and show compassion. But Burma, ruled by ultranationalistic but rapacious military elites distrustful of the sanctions-enforcing West, came under mounting international pressure to open up its cyclone-wracked areas to foreign...
JAPAN
May 22, 2008

G8 'university summit' in works

Representatives from the world's 37 leading universities will meet in Sapporo from June 29 to July 1 to discuss ways of coping with environmental and other issues, organizers said Wednesday.
SOCCER / SOCCER SCENE
May 22, 2008

Spontaneous stupidity sparked violence after match

The shocking scenes of violence after last week's match between Urawa Reds and Gamba Osaka were a worrying development for the J. League, but that does not mean an era of Japanese hooliganism is dawning.
JAPAN
May 22, 2008

Nanjing victim's libeler loses appeal

The Tokyo High Court on Wednesday upheld a lower court defamation ruling, ordering a historian and a publishing company to pay a combined ¥4 million to a female Nanjing Massacre survivor for calling her an impostor in a book about the atrocity.
Reader Mail
May 22, 2008

The right thing for public health

Tom Plate's May 4 article, "A chance for Beijing to take a stand on health," is insightful in that it points out that health, press freedom and, most of all, human consciousness are our most precious assets. There are no national boundaries for epidemics such as SARS and bird flu. They could occur in...
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
May 22, 2008

Timely hitting helps Swallows tame Lions

TOKOROZAWA, Saitama Pref. — Against the Pacific League leader's gorgeous offensive lineup, a group whose big bats usually score a lot of runs, there was no way the Tokyo Yakult Swallows could've countered with the same force.
JAPAN / Q&A
May 22, 2008

New insurance plan ups burden on 'later-stage' seniors

Following are questions and answers about the new health insurance plan the government introduced in April for people aged 75 and above:
COMMENTARY / World
May 22, 2008

Remember the black swans

The great global economic establishment is once again divided as to what is going to happen next. Half say we are lurching toward a new bout of world inflation. Half say the danger is deflation and world recession, even depression.

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