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BUSINESS
Nov 10, 2007

Writer Kuramoto wins Zaikai award

Scriptwriter Sou Kuramoto has been awarded the 2007 Special Zaikai Award by the publisher of the business magazine Zaikai for promoting environmental education at his private school in Hokkaido. Since 2005, Kuramoto has been organizing various events and workshops to educate adults and children about...
CULTURE / Film
Nov 9, 2007

Tokyo's FILMeX: small but tasty

Now in its eighth year, Tokyo FILMeX (Nov. 17-25) continues to prove that good things come in small packages. With the sprawling Tokyo International Film Festival over, think of FILMeX as the more interesting, more memorable nijikai (after party) following TIFF's pomp and circumstance. FILMeX's devoted...
JAPAN
Nov 9, 2007

Gates hears Komura vow to get MSDF bill passed

Japan will make "utmost efforts" to resume its logistic support for the U.S.-led antiterrorism operations in and around Afghanistan, Foreign Minister Masahiko Komura told visiting U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates Thursday.
Reader Mail
Nov 8, 2007

Review of NHK's offerings

Encouraged by timely letters Oct. 30, may this resident of over 50 years register his rage at some of the recent behavior of NHK with the hope of some kind of rectification?
JAPAN
Nov 8, 2007

Ozawa eats humble pie, puts blame on fatigue

president, I had been working to my limits both physically and mentally until the July Upper House election," he said. "But I think I was very tired, which made me lose vigor for a moment when I invited the confusion (over the proposed grand coalition)." Ozawa has had a history of heart problems.
JAPAN
Nov 7, 2007

Biofuel quest, climate, urban flight endangering key staple

havoc with rice crops," Zeigler said in an interview last month. Rice is a staple in more than 100 countries and provides 20 percent of the calories humans consume. About 90 percent of the land used to grow rice is in Asia, with India, China, Indonesia, Bangladesh, Thailand, Vietnam, Myanmar and the...
JAPAN
Nov 7, 2007

No fuel went to Iraq war, Defense says

The Defense Ministry released a report Tuesday saying fuel provided by Maritime Self-Defense Force vessels in the Indian Ocean was not used for the Iraq war and thus did not violate the special antiterrorism law.
JAPAN
Nov 6, 2007

DPJ misses chance to come to the fore

Last Friday when Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda and Ichiro Ozawa, leader of the Democratic Party of Japan, entertained a possible grand coalition, this sent shock waves through the political world only to be superseded by the chaos in the wake of Ozawa's abrupt offer Sunday to quit his party's helm.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Nov 6, 2007

Citigroup off to strong start on return to TSE

Shares of Citigroup Inc. rose by as much as ¥250, to ¥4,580, on its first day of trading on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, even as the U.S. financial giant was rocked by the resignation of Chief Executive Officer Charles Prince over widening losses stemming from housing loan debts.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 5, 2007

Ban expansion of agrofuels

NEW YORK — With biofuels being touted as our best great hope to undo climate change, it would be easy to ask yourself, "What's not to like?"
EDITORIALS
Nov 5, 2007

New approach to rural revitalization

The government is tackling the urgent tasks of revitalizing local economies and reducing the gap between prosperous urban regions and economically weak rural regions. Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda has established a "rural regions revitalization headquarters," serving as its head; all the Cabinet ministers...
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Nov 4, 2007

Teacher's providing guidance, problem-solving geisha, secret police

Everyone's favorite junior-high-school teacher, Kimpachi-sensei (Tetsuya Takeda), is back for another season of sage advice for confused young minds on "San-nen B-gumi Kimpachi-sensei (Year 3 Class B: Teacher Kimpachi)" (TBS, Wednesday, 9 p.m.).
SOCCER / PREMIER REPORT
Nov 3, 2007

Points from 'Super League' matches crucial to title hopes

LONDON — They are becoming the games that the four participants dare not lose.
MORE SPORTS
Nov 3, 2007

Yanagimoto's squad sweeps Dominicans in opening match

Japan coach Shoichi Yanagimoto said his national team charges are peaking at the perfect time as the Women's Volleyball World Cup got under way on Friday.
JAPAN / Q&A
Nov 3, 2007

Nova failure: Can teachers recoup lost pay, keep jobs?

When Japan's largest employer of foreigners effectively went bankrupt last week, thousands of instructors at the foreign-language school giant were left without jobs. Many now face complicated legal problems in a language not their own.
EDITORIALS
Nov 3, 2007

In search of a mission

As the special law for antiterrorism measures expired Nov. 1, the government halted the Maritime Self-Defense Force's Indian Ocean mission of refueling naval ships of the United States and other countries engaged in antiterrorism operations. The MSDF mission continued for almost six years. As the mission...
Reader Mail
Nov 1, 2007

Apology late but courageous

Regarding the Oct. 24 article "Vivisectionist recalls his day of reckoning": I would like to pass along my thanks to former Japanese Army surgeon Ken Yuasa for having the courage to try to atone for what he has done. Looking at one's own misdeeds and then attempting to redeem oneself require a special...
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 1, 2007

Not so welcome to Japan any longer

HONG KONG — Japan is still purporting to celebrate "Yokoso Japan" or Welcome to Japan — just as it is preparing to inflict on every foreign visitor measures that are harassing, time-consuming, unnecessary, and would be illegal if done to Japanese citizens in Japan.
COMMENTARY
Nov 1, 2007

CCP changes but elitism remains intact

HONG KONG — Oh, what a difference a few decades make! Back in the days of Chairman Mao Zedong and his little red book, China was proud to proclaim the Communist Party as the party of workers, peasants and soldiers.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Nov 1, 2007

Eyes on Japan's crazed radicalism, twisted psychology

This year's Tokyo International Film Festival was a bit different for me. For the first time since 2003 I was not on the jury for Japanese Eyes, a section spotlighting Japanese movies that might otherwise get lost in the glare of big commercial releases. This gave me more leeway to pick and choose what...
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Oct 31, 2007

Meditations on meditation and enhancing the mind

At Enkakuji Temple in Kamakura, at dawn on a March morning several years ago, I came as close as I ever have to satori, the Zen term for spiritual enlightenment. Don't get me wrong, I'm not claiming any sort of deep insight, just that there, in that corner of Kanagawa Prefecture, I came to understand...
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital / IGADGET
Oct 31, 2007

New gadget for beer promotion gives whiff of things to come

Nose for innovation: Sales campaigns have traditionally focused on just one of the five senses. Retailers love to deck out their products in eye candy — some of it even connected to the offerings on sale — to attract the attention of the shopping public. The sense of hearing also gets some attention,...
BASKETBALL
Oct 30, 2007

Mighty Osaka Evessa in the mood for a three-peat

The Osaka Evessa are a proud, confident basketball team. And they've clearly earned this distinction.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Oct 30, 2007

Moriya lists Yamada freebies

Former Vice Defense Minister Takemasa Moriya testified in the Diet on Monday that politicians, including an ex-Defense Agency chief, were wined and dined by a former executive of defense equipment trader Yamada Corp.

Longform

Sumadori Bar on Shibuya Ward's main Center Gai street targets young customers who prefer low-alcohol drinks or abstain altogether.
Rethinking that second drink: Japan’s Gen Z gets ‘sober curious’