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BUSINESS / THE VIEW FROM EUROPE
Sep 8, 2008

Japan's electronics giants acquire yen for European assets

While the just completed Beijing Olympics will have meant different things to different people, one thing is certain: A lot of TVs were tuned into the games. And now that the intense viewing of judo, swimming and softball is over, it is quite possible a number of Japanese TV owners are wishing they could...
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Sep 7, 2008

New book on pioneer Yonamine a must-read

There are a couple of new baseball books on the scene. One about the life of a foreigner who spent almost four decades in Japanese baseball, and the other a collection of heart-warming tributes by some well-known former players to those who convinced them not to give up chasing the dream of becoming...
COMMENTARY
Sep 6, 2008

It's deja vu, all over again

Here we go again. Less than a year after Shinzo Abe stunned supporters with a sudden resignation from office, Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda has decided to do the same. Fukuda blamed a divided Diet, plummeting approval ratings, and a desire to avoid a political vacuum for his decision to step down....
SOCCER / PREMIER REPORT
Sep 6, 2008

Meddling from management left Keegan, Curbishley with no choice

LONDON — Kevin Keegan and Alan Curbishley resigned this week as managers of Newcastle and West Ham because the new breed of Premier League owners wouldn't let them manage.
EDITORIALS
Sep 5, 2008

Undoing a recruitment knot

The Oita prefectural board of education, rocked by a corruption scandal centering on teacher recruitment, has decided to have 21 teachers quit "voluntarily" after their recruitment test scores were found to have been artificially boosted. While the decision appears to be a correct one, it leaves some...
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / HOTELS & RESTAURANTS
Sep 5, 2008

Full plates at the Peninsula

Full plates at the Peninsula The Peninsula Tokyo is offering a Degustation Dinner Plate at The Lobby restaurant.
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Sep 5, 2008

Join the fun of Japan Fashion Week

Don't look now, but we're in the midst of Japan Fashion Week — the twice-yearly rag-trade fest that sees dozens of local labels flaunt their stuff in a series of shows at Roppongi's Midtown and other Tokyo venues. They're currently parading what we'll be wearing in Spring/Summer next year.
COMMENTARY
Sep 4, 2008

Fukuda hounded out of office

Japan's PR-vulnerable public and lightheaded media have done it again. Between them they have got rid of yet another of Japan's better prime ministers. I have no brief for Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda's policies. On two key issues I think he was wrong. One was his determination to force through legislation...
Reader Mail
Sep 4, 2008

'Gaijin' to Japanese eyes

Regarding the Sept. 2 article "The 'gaijin' debate: Arudou responds": Debito Arudou's claim that the word "gaijin" is racist not only borders on whining but also smacks of something that could only be brought up by a white person. I'm part Japanese and part black, and I'll tell you right now that I would...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Sep 4, 2008

Katsura Funakoshi's sphinxes of suggestivity

The figure is nothing if not startling: Truncated just above the knees and suspended on four, bark-covered sticks sprouting from the body, sculptor Katsura Funakoshi's "The Sphinx Floats in Forest" is a muscular hermaphrodite with full, female breasts and male genitalia, an elongated neck and leather-strap...
EDITORIALS
Sep 3, 2008

Short-term economic fix

The government has announced an ¥11.7 trillion economic stimulus package to prevent a further slide of the Japanese economy. It represents a short-term approach to tide over current difficulties. Apparently the ruling coalition of the Liberal Democratic Party and Komeito hoped the package would help...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Aug 31, 2008

Asakusa sways to samba in annual carnival

Sing a song. Play the music. Dance to the rhythm — it's a samba extravaganza.
Reader Mail
Aug 31, 2008

What does the government mean?

The news that the Japanese government is making "every conceivable effort" to eliminate racial discrimination makes me wonder -- as a foreigner who has lived in Japan for more than six years -- what the word "conceivable" means.
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
Aug 29, 2008

Giants' Uehara returns to rotation with a win

Koji Uehara returned to the Yomiuri Giants' starting rotation against the Yokohama BayStars on Thursday night.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 28, 2008

McCain aims to win by pandering to bigotry

NEW YORK — At a time when the Beijing Olympics have increased America's apprehension of China's rising power, Sen. Barack Obama, the Democratic nominee for president, has chosen Sen. Joe Biden as his running mate. Biden is the influential chairman of the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee and an established...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Aug 28, 2008

Ainu musician Oki brings the world to Hokkaido

With a Japanese mother and Ainu father, the appearance of Oki on "The Rough Guide to the Music of Japan" with his Oki Dub Ainu Band presents a rare glimpse of the multiracial underbelly that Japan seems reluctant to own up to. Despite being indigenous to Hokkaido, or Ezo as it is known to them, the Ainu...
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
Aug 27, 2008

Exploring Antarctica for key climate clues

The steamy hot days of summer make it very tempting to imagine an escape to the snow and ice of Antarctica, though few of us will ever have that chance. Shin Sugiyama, 39, a glaciologist at Hokkaido University, is one of the exceptions.
JAPAN
Aug 26, 2008

Japan defends steps to end discrimination

OSAKA — In a new report to the United Nations, the government outlines the situation of ethnic minorities and foreign residents in Japan, claiming it has made "every conceivable" effort over the past several years to eliminate racial discrimination.
OLYMPICS / 2008 BEIJING OLYMPICS: BASKETBALL
Aug 25, 2008

Team USA back on top of basketball

BEIJING — Chinese culture, it has been said, emphasizes group harmony over individual desires. Western culture is supposed to stress the opposite dynamic.
COMMENTARY
Aug 25, 2008

Chinese 'oldies' who raised the bar for caring

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. — In the obsessive media heat of these youth-oriented Beijing Olympics, a once-famous Chinese political figure has died at the ripe young age of 87, and goes to the grave almost internationally unnoticed.
Reader Mail
Aug 24, 2008

Shabby treatment of a good citizen

Since the introduction of biometric checks for arriving foreign residents and visitors, I have registered to use the automatic gate at Narita Airport. For a frequent traveler, this has proved to save time and reduce the hassle of passing through immigration. Last week, though, my husband of 28 years...
CULTURE / Books
Aug 24, 2008

A tensely wrought tale of true believers

PROMENADE OF THE GODS by Koji Suzuki, translated by Takami Nieda. New York: Vertical Inc., 2008, 320 pp., $24.95 (cloth) Late one night, cram school operator Shirow Murakami is awakened by a cryptic phone call from an old school chum, Kunio Matsuoka, requesting that he move Matsuoka's car. Murakami is...
Japan Times
LIFE
Aug 24, 2008

Biomimicry: Natural by design

I magine being able to maintain a perfect temperature and humidity in your home year round, without spending a single yen in electricity or gas bills. That's exactly what Professor Emile Ishida of Tohoku University in northern Japan is striving to achieve — and he got the idea from termites.
EDITORIALS
Aug 23, 2008

Boosting the faltering economy

The government is now working on measures to bolster the nation's slowing economy. Japan's gross domestic product in the March-June quarter shrank by an annualized 2.4 percent from the previous quarter.

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