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Japan Times
MULTIMEDIA
May 18, 2008

[VIDEO] Eisa at Midtown

Japan Times
MORE SPORTS / ICE TIME
May 18, 2008

Skaters going all out to try and keep ice rinks open

With Japan currently boasting the No. 1 ranked female (Mao Asada) and male (Daisuke Takahashi) figure skaters in the world, The Japan Times will begin a periodic notebook chronicling the latest news and notes on Japanese skaters in the buildup to the 2010 Vancouver Olympic Winter Games.
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
May 18, 2008

Foreigners have never caught on as backstops in Japan pro ball

Reader Jim Gallagher from New Jersey wrote, "I was watching on TV (Kenji) Johjima catching for the Seattle Mariners and wondered if there has ever been a gaikokujin catcher to play in Japan. I can't think of one. Is this the last barrier to be broken?"
Reader Mail
May 18, 2008

Consider election consequences

Last month I read about (U.S. Democratic presidential candidate) Hillary Clinton's win in the Pennsylvania primary. Every Japanese newspaper put Clinton's exciting big face in their articles. She looked so happy, pointing her finger at supporters. Looking at these photos, I thought that Americans seem...
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
May 18, 2008

Takahashi gives Carp big boost

With the Hiroshima Carp reeling from back-to-back losses, Ken Takahashi picked a great time to remind everyone why he's one of the top pitchers in the Central League.
Reader Mail
May 18, 2008

A little slack for letter-writers

M. Randolph's May 4 letter, "Improve content, including letters," and A. Charles Muller's May 8 letter, "Use fewer letters when quality lags," both agree that my letter-writing is an example of how NOT to write an opinion letter, citing lack of supporting ideas or clear logic. Sticks and stones! Letters...
EDITORIALS
May 18, 2008

Natural disaster relief system

The cyclone in Myanmar and earthquake in China are grim reminders of how neighbors need to help one another. Asian countries have a duty to offer assistance to one another, and to accept it. The refusal of aid by the military junta in Myanmar exposes citizens to more suffering than necessary. In the...
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
May 18, 2008

Valentine impressed with rookie hurler Karakawa

Hours before the Chiba Lotte Marines' game against the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters on Tuesday, pitcher Yoshihisa Naruse was the first player out of the dugout for stretching, with 18-year-old Yuki Karakawa hot on his heels.
Reader Mail
May 18, 2008

A tale of entering two cities

Assisted by my "HKIA" frequent visitors card, I entered Hong Kong last week through the specially dedicated immigration channel in literally a few seconds!
OLYMPICS
May 18, 2008

Shibata out to prove self again in Olympics

Ai Shibata made history in 2004, becoming the first Japanese female swimmer to capture a gold medal in an Olympic freestyle race. In her mind, though, her triumph in the 800-meter freestyle at the Athens Olympics is, well, ancient history.
Reader Mail
May 18, 2008

Horrific conditions at Odawara Zoo

I recently visited the Odawara Zoo near Tokyo and was horrified by the conditions in which the animals are kept. In particular, there is a beautiful elephant who lives on a concrete pad roughly the size of half a tennis court. My family and I think of this poor creature frequently and don't know who...
EDITORIALS
May 18, 2008

More expensive school lunches

Everyone who has attended school retains memories of school lunches. The simple experience of eating together with other students and teachers is almost as important as learning inside the classroom. Social skills, informal interaction and a sense of shared community are basic to school lunches. However,...
CULTURE / Books
May 18, 2008

Manhunt for a Chinese woman

THE FINDER by Colin Harrison. New York: Sarah Chrichton Books, 2008, 325 pp., $25 (cloth) In this tightly woven page-turner by Colin Harrison, Jin Li, a young Chinese woman with an advanced university degree, engages in industrial espionage, setting off a series of violent events.
SOCCER / J. League
May 18, 2008

Gamba win marred by unruly behavior

SAITAMA — Ugly scenes on the pitch and in the stands marred Gamba Osaka's 3-2 win over Urawa Reds on Saturday.
CULTURE / Books
May 18, 2008

'Woman Warrior' to 'Passport Baby'

LONDON, SPECIAL TO THE J (AP) Maxine Hong Kingston's "The Woman Warrior: Memoirs of a Girlhood Among Ghosts" opens: " 'You must not tell anyone,' my mother said, 'what I am about to tell you.' " LONDON — Since this fictional memoir was published in 1975, the telling of Chinese women's lives has become...
Reader Mail
May 18, 2008

Option for dealing with Myanmar

The May 13 editorial, "Yet more tragedy for Myanmar," ends with an impassioned and elegant call for the world to do something about the junta's oppression of Burma. But do what? Our options seem few and unpleasant, and the editorial didn't suggest any. What would you have us do?
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
May 18, 2008

Japan affords translators an elevated status not found elsewhere

Here's a little quiz for you.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle / WEEK 3
May 18, 2008

Handsome is not enough: beauticians make the man

Perhaps no words send shivers down a company employee's back more than when your boss gravely tells you that he'd "like to have a chat with you." So, when mine at the English-language conversation school that I was teaching at said this to me a few years ago, my heart sank to the ground.
Reader Mail
May 18, 2008

Why 30,000 suicides a year?

In his May 15 letter, "Suicide image is misrepresented," William Wetherall seems to dismiss the concerns of so many in Japan about this country's shamefully high suicide rate.
Japan Times
LIFE / WEEK 3
May 18, 2008

A rare, short breed returns

Not even the sonorous voices of 20 young children singing "I am a Noma Horse," was enough to put Erika, who really is a Noma horse, at ease.

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