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BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Sep 9, 2007

Wild card quotes and oddities from Japanese baseball

Hanshin Tigers relief pitcher Jeff Williams remarked back in June, "This is a great year for the Central League to start a playoff system."
Reader Mail
Sep 9, 2007

Weird impressions of America

From my experiences, the majority of Japanese still believe that the Caucasian-American controls everything and the African American is a semi-slave. America has proven to the world that it is a true melting pot, and I am glad to hear that there are people within the Japanese diplomatic corps who are...
Reader Mail
Sep 9, 2007

What happens in a big quake?

Regarding the Aug. 31 article "Woman's failed hospital hunt irks minister": It is incomprehensible that nine hospitals turned away a woman who was about to give birth. Does that mean there was not one bed, not one doctor, not one nurse who could have helped this poor woman, and that all the patients...
Reader Mail
Sep 9, 2007

When to break one's silence

I found the Aug. 26 Tokyo Confidential article "Time to dust off the swords" (Michael Hoffman's translation of a Sapio magazine article) to be highly thought-provoking because of the strong statements about Japanese ethics or norms, a rather sensitive issue to deal with. The focal point of the article...
EDITORIALS
Sep 9, 2007

Surviving in Net cafes

Over 5,000 people in Japan spend their nights at 24-hour Internet cafes every night, according to the first, but certainly not the last, survey on so-called Net cafe refugees by the labor and welfare ministry. On one hand, it seems that school refusers were first, then job refusers, now "home refusers,"...
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Sep 9, 2007

Americans share blame for Bush's 9/11 'devil'

There is no worse tragedy than one transformed into profanity. The profanity is compounded when it is not recognized as such by the mass of people.
Japan Times
LIFE
Sep 9, 2007

Extragalactic androgyny cuts a dash in roster of chic, high-energy shows

While trivial matters such as global warming get blamed for weather going awry, Japan Fashion Week being moved forward this season by more than a month has caused more angst than a whole panorama of melting ice caps.
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Sep 9, 2007

Department store special, history focused tourism, police interrogation special documentary

This week's installment of the business documentary series "Gaia no Yoake (Dawn of Gaia)" (TV Tokyo, Tuesday, 10 p.m.) looks at the current trend of department-store mergers.
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design
Sep 9, 2007

Japan's top fashion talents

I couldn't quite put my finger on what it reminded me of. Then I got home after the show and switched on my TV, and there it was in front of my eyes. It was one of those programs where toddlers dance around and sing with the help of a guy in Spandex pants. Yeah! Bingo! That's what the mercibeaucoup fashion...
COMMENTARY
Sep 9, 2007

Extreme events fire up the Greek fringe

LONDON — "How are our children going to survive in a land that is dead?" asked a survivor of the wildfires that seared much of southern Greece during the last week of August.
LIFE / Style & Design
Sep 9, 2007

Two venues showcase upcoming talents from home and beyond

Japan Fashion Week is always kind to budding creators, and that was exemplified this time with two major events — the three-day Rooms tradeshow and the installation "New Designers Met in Europe," which both showcased upcoming brands and new talent.
CULTURE / Books
Sep 9, 2007

From the Beatles concert to royal tattoos in Japan

Britain & Japan: Biographical Portraits, Volume VI, compiled and edited by Hugh Cortazzi, Global Oriental, Kent, 2007, 368 pp., £60 (cloth) This book is the latest (and, sadly, probably the last) of the volumes about Anglo-Japanese relations that have been sponsored by the Japan Society of London since...
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design
Sep 9, 2007

Yamamoto protege debuts stoic new line

While his daughter Limi prepares to present her Limi Feu line at the Paris collections for the first time in October, Yohji Yamamoto has selected another protege to take her place on the Tokyo runways.
Reader Mail
Sep 9, 2007

Shaky notion of superiority

Regarding the Sept. 2 Associated Press article datelined San Francisco, "Court rules naval sonar drills trump whale safety": It's tough being a mammal without thumbs, a flag, and weaponry. Writer Mark Twain did not put man at the top of the mammalian totem pole, with reason. What creature endowed with...
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
Sep 9, 2007

Tigers take over Central League lead

The Hanshin Tigers may not hit as many home runs as the Yomiuri Giants but they sure pick their spots well.
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design
Sep 9, 2007

Fashionistas hold forth on a scene full of 'potential'

It seems that fashion weeks are the latest, well, fashion. They're everywhere — from Singapore to Sydney and Moscow to Mumbai, and that's not counting the "big four" seasonal collections in Paris, Milan, London and New York.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Sep 9, 2007

Cardboard-bun incident serves up more distaste for China

Though it wasn't the most significant news story of the summer, the video that circulated worldwide in early July about the Dalian street vendor who sold pork buns stuffed with cardboard was certainly the most fun for local news outlets since it involved two subjects Japanese media can't get enough of:...

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