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EDITORIALS
Sep 23, 2007

Beautifying Kyoto, at last

In early September, the Kyoto city government began enforcing regulations against ugliness in the city. Yes, ugliness. The mayor of Kyoto, Yorikane Masumoto, and his municipal government found the political will to think beyond the immediate concerns of day-to-day business demands, and to consider how...
Reader Mail
Sep 23, 2007

A yak herder knows happiness

Regarding the statements about Bhutan made in Santi Ram Poudel's Sept. 12 letter, "Realities belie national boast": Can yak herders in the mountains not have happiness and contentment when they own their livestock and have rights to productive pastures? It is this very notion that happiness is always...
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Sep 23, 2007

Nomura deserves credit for making Eagles respectable

A few words of praise this week for the 2007 performance of the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles.
LIFE / Language
Sep 23, 2007

Back-to-front books open new chapter on globalizing Japanese

As Japan struggles with the mushrooming of English loanwords in its midst, there are signs that the Japanese language might be exploring another new relationship with English — by absorbing the English alphabet and even some grammar directly.
Japan Times
LIFE / Language
Sep 23, 2007

Linguists gutted by body-talk blight

Imagine a nation of people who no longer know where their center lies. That's what Japan has become in recent decades.
CULTURE / Books
Sep 23, 2007

The sentence for keeping a journal

Confessions: An Innocent Life in Communist China, by Kang Zhengguo. W.W. Norton & Co, 2007, 443 pp., $27.95 (cloth) For Kang Zhengguo it all started when he began keeping a diary. In Maoist China, with no place for privacy, even an innocent record of daily life could be an incriminating document.
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Sep 23, 2007

History's mysteries, big family melodrama adventure, history's dictatorships

You have your choice of two archaeological specials on Monday. Starting at 7 p.m., Nihon TV will air a 4-hour program, "Konya Rekishi ga Kawaru (Tonight History Changes)," which will look at "three great mysteries" of Ancient Egypt and some recent discoveries that may help clear them up.
Japan Times
LIFE / Language
Sep 23, 2007

Cellphone bards hit bestseller lists

Like many other young Japanese, Rin, 21, punches her mobile phone keys very quickly. Holding her phone with two hands, and moving her thumbs deftly and smoothly, she quickly generates sentences on the small screen.
Japan Times
LIFE / Language
Sep 23, 2007

Japanese: A language in a state of flux

Languages are never static. They change and evolve with people over time. They also interact with other languages, and through an endless cycle of loaning and borrowing of words, ideas and concepts are shared, exchanged and nurtured across national and cultural boundaries.
Reader Mail
Sep 23, 2007

Forced philosophy in Bhutan

Regarding David Howell's Aug. 30 article, "Happiness can't be legislated": Happiness is not measurable by economic and material prosperity, yet the Bhutanese regime makes every effort to force people to comply with the principles of happiness that a dictator propagated.
Reader Mail
Sep 23, 2007

Whence does such malice come?

It made me rather speechless to hear the news Sept. 7 that the Japanese government had arbitrarily refused to receive a petition from Chongryon, the General Association of Korean Residents in Japan, calling for temporary port-entry permission for a North Korean ship to receive urgent humanitarian relief...
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 23, 2007

Greater mobility for smaller wage gaps

PRAGUE — From its earliest days, the European Union has aimed for balanced economic development across its regions. The Maastricht Treaty contains the striking phrase "overall harmonious development." But however admirable this sentiment may be, there is no "scientific truth" about the "right" level...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Sep 23, 2007

Yasodharapura, revived in literature

A Record of Cambodia: The Land and Its People, by Zhou Daguan, translated with an introduction and notes by Peter Harris, foreword by David Chandler, and photographs by Julian Circo. Chiang Mai: Silkworm Books, 2007, 150 pp., 595 bhats (paper) In 1295, the same year that Marco Polo arrived back in Venice...
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Sep 23, 2007

Homes is where the native languages are

"My children are bilingual." How many parents would love to be able to say that — and believe it!
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Sep 23, 2007

TV 'kangaroo courts' led by excitable pundits make joke of law

The current box-office winner in Japan is "Hero," the movie spinoff of a popular TV series starring heartthrob Takuya Kimura as a nonconformist prosecutor. Now there's an oxymoron. In American pop culture, at least, prosecutors tend to be the bad guys since they represent the establishment, but in Japan...
SOCCER
Sep 22, 2007

Toni sparks Bayern

LONDON (AP) Luca Toni scored in his European debut, leading Bayern Munich over Portugal's Beleneses 1-0 Thursday night in its UEFA Cup opener.
BASEBALL / MLB
Sep 22, 2007

Griffey out for season

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) Ken Griffey Jr. will miss the rest of the season because of a strained groin, the latest in a string of injuries to Cincinnati's All-Star outfielder.
TENNIS
Sep 22, 2007

Romania wins late match to tie Japan

OSAKA — Japan's Davis Cup playoff against Romania is on a knife-edge going into the second day after Takao Suzuki beat Victor Hanescu to put the hosts up 1-0 before Andrei Pavel leveled the tie with victory over Go Soeda.
SOCCER / PREMIER REPORT
Sep 22, 2007

Battle with Abramovich one of the few Mourinho lost

LONDON — Jose Mourinho left Chelsea by mutual consent.

Longform

Mount Fuji is considered one of Japan's most iconic symbols and is a major draw for tourists. It's still a mountain, though, and potential hikers need to properly prepare for any climb.
What it takes to save lives on Mount Fuji