search

 
 
MORE SPORTS
Aug 19, 2007

Moses trying to help less fortunate hurdle obstacles

Edwin Moses was an untouchable, unbeatable performer as a track and field superstar during his heyday in the 1970s and '80s.
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
Aug 19, 2007

Veteran hurler Greisinger silences Giants' potent offense

Yakult Swallows hurler Seth Greisinger took the mound against the most potent offense in Japanese baseball and responded with eight shutout innings to lead his ballclub to a 3-0 victory over the Yomiuri Giants on Saturday night.
Reader Mail
Aug 19, 2007

Asashoryu shows hypocrisy

What cheek! Asashoryu wins the Nagoya basho (for his 21st grand sumo tournament victory), then spurns his loyal fans in eastern Japan by telling everyone that injuries prevent him from participating in the August tour. Then he summarily flies to Mongolia and plays in a soccer match, allowing a television...
Reader Mail
Aug 19, 2007

Sumo wrestlers deserve rest, too

The punishment meted out to Asashoryu was neither lenient nor strict, but the accusation of "mental instability" was off the wall and totally inappropriate. Asashoryu's unrefined behavior in the past was tolerated because he was the only yokozuna, his sumo was exciting, and spectators and TV audiences...
Reader Mail
Aug 19, 2007

Abe sends a mixed message

Although I have lived in Japan more than half my life, I had never attended the annual Aug. 6 A-bomb memorial ceremony in Hiroshima until this year, the 62nd anniversary. In addition to a record attendance of representatives from 42 countries, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, still reeling from his party's...
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 19, 2007

Why not let doping close the gene gap?

PRINCETON, New Jersey — There is now a regular season for discussing drugs in sports, one that arrives every year with the Tour de France. This year, the overall leader, two other riders and two teams were expelled or withdrew from the race as a result of failing, or missing, drug tests. The eventual...
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 19, 2007

Something's up as 'buy' confidence slips

NEW HAVEN, Connecticut — The sharp drop in the world's stock markets on Aug. 9 — after BNP Paribas announced that it would freeze three of its funds — is just one more example of the markets' recent downward instability or asymmetry. The markets have been more vulnerable to sudden large drops than...
EDITORIALS
Aug 19, 2007

Another confectionary food scandal

A Sapporo-based confectionary company has joined the list of food manufacturers accused of unethical practices, by falsifying expiration dates on its main product and shipping other products contaminated with colon bacilli or staphylococci, both of which can cause food poisoning.
Reader Mail
Aug 19, 2007

U.S. whitewash of the bombings

Regarding Arnie Hove's Aug. 5 letter, "An apology from one American": I wish more Americans shared his view about the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Having grown up in Hiroshima, I feel compelled at this time of the year to ask ordinary Americans how they view the use of the bombs.
CULTURE / Books
Aug 19, 2007

Osamu Tezuka: Fighting for peace with the Mighty Atom

The Astro Boy Essays: Osamu Tezuka, Mighty Atom, and the Manga/Anime Revolution, by Frederik L. Schodt. Stone Bridge Press, 2007, 248 pp., $16.95 (paper) When legendary manga and anime artist Osamu Tezuka visited the 1964 New York World's Fair, he met a man he had long idolized, Walt Disney. Tezuka...
EDITORIALS
Aug 19, 2007

More important than gold medals

In less than a year — before the 2008 Summer Olympics opens in Beijing on Aug. 8 — China will have to overcome problems related to the world sports event, which the country hopes will showcase its rapid development and its status as a leading power in Asia. The 17-day Beijing Games will be the third...
Reader Mail
Aug 19, 2007

No amount of prudence

Regarding Bob Austenfeld's Aug. 12 letter, "If others had had the A-bomb": I had a hard time deciphering why Austenfeld thinks it's so important that we consider (the quote from a book that he read) that "Had either the Germans or the Japanese been able to develop the A-bomb first, the world would quite...
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design / WEEK 3
Aug 19, 2007

Putting the fun back into feeling fit

Although you may be a typically busy worker, in Japan there's no shortage of easy exercise options to help keep you in shape — whether "10-minute fitness" clubs where you can have a quick workout without even changing your clothes, varieties of home exercise videos or machines and, of course, any number...
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Aug 19, 2007

Can justice possibly 'flower' in Japan's new courts?

A new poster at subway stations in Tokyo shows a smiling young woman confidently clutching her handbag along with the slogan: "About the time I turn 20, the courts will change. I guess both the law and the courts will become more familiar then."
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Aug 19, 2007

New translations reveal new depths of classic works

Mandarins: Stories by Ryunosuke Akutagawa. Translated by Charles De Wolf. New York: Archipelago Books, 2007, 255 pp., $16.00 (paper) Good, new and much needed translations of the stories of Ryunosuke Akutagawa (1892-1927) have recently begun to appear. Last year there was the Penguin edition of 18 stories,...
LIFE / Travel / NATURE TRAVEL
Aug 19, 2007

What's the odd cattle prod on flights safely free of children's milk?

You may be aware of something called "The War on Terror." If you aren't, try taking a flight from London's Gatwick Airport.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Aug 19, 2007

When the way of the 'samurai' was pointless self-annihilation

Before the war there was a famous woman commonly referred to as Mrs. Inoue, though after the war people stopped talking about her.
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design / WEEK 3
Aug 19, 2007

Beauty beheld in brutalism

No matter how wild or wacky their hobbies or obsessions, in the age of the Internet no one need feel isolated any more, and by casting all inhibitions aside almost anyone is assured of finding like-minded others out there in cyberspace — if not just around the corner from home.
CULTURE / Books
Aug 19, 2007

Keeping up with anime is by no means kids' play

The Anime Encyclopedia: A Guide to Japanese Animation Since 1917, Revised and Expanded Edition, by Jonathan Clements and Helen McCarthy. Berkeley: Stone Bridge Press, 2006, 867 pp., illustrated, $29.95 (paper) The only real problem with anime is that there's way too much of it. Try to get a quick grasp...

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