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Reader Mail
Jun 24, 2007

A natural way to spend time

Thank you for the June 10 "Here comes the sun" articles about early rising/sleeping. However, spare a thought for those of us here in northern Japan. I'm sitting here in Sapporo at 3:40 a.m., and the birds are already singing and I can see the end of my street clearly. I don't start work for another...
MORE SPORTS
Jun 24, 2007

U.S. volleyball squad sweeps Japan in World League intercontinental competition

KUMAMOTO — The United States tightened its grip on the FIVB World League's Pool B with a power-packed display, beating Japan 3-0 at Kumamoto Prefectural Gymnasium on Saturday.
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Jun 24, 2007

NPB's quirky, difficult interleague season a work in progress

The 2007 Nippon Professional Baseball interleague season wraps up this weekend, except for a few previously rained out games that will be made up on Monday and Tuesday. Then the regular Central and Pacific League schedules resume on Friday and continue through the remainder of the season.
Reader Mail
Jun 24, 2007

Cute description of creation

Regarding Rowan Hooper's June 13 article, "Religion's cute, but creation chemistry is complex": Until I read this article, it had never occurred to me that religion might be described as "cute." Rather, it is Hooper's description that strikes me as cute.
Reader Mail
Jun 24, 2007

Review missed half of the joke

Regarding Giovanni Fazio's May 25 review of the comedy hit film "Borat": Fazio claims that the backbone of this farce lies in its "cultural misunderstandings" and sight gags. Fair enough, but the longest-running joke in this masterpiece of absurdity, one that Fazio should have elicited, is that the two...
EDITORIALS
Jun 24, 2007

The new Silk Road

Over the past several years, institutes, programs and projects have been steadily rebuilding one of humankind's most amazing wonders — the Silk Road. As the disparate pieces of the Trans-Asian Railway and Asian Highway gradually start to link up, Japan should ensure that it is not left out of the developments....
Reader Mail
Jun 24, 2007

Hyped up benefits of bioethanol

I cannot believe that a newspaper in Asia -- a continent that has more than half the world's population -- would stoop to print news about the benefits of devoting farmland to the production of bioethanol for fuel. Forget about research on making more land fertile so that it can produce food.
Reader Mail
Jun 24, 2007

Appalling amount of plastic waste

Regarding a recent article about trash on Mount Fuji: As a frequent visitor to Japan, which I love, I am appalled at the amount of consumption and disposal that goes on. Most citizens are quite scrupulous about putting the right materials into recycling bins, but the quantities are staggering. So many...
CULTURE / Books
Jun 24, 2007

When Rain drops in, expect a downpour

REQUIEM FOR AN ASSASSIN by Barry Eisler. New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 2007, 356 pp., $24.95 (cloth) Freelance assassin John Rain, featured in five previous works by Barry Eisler, is running out of enemies in Japan. And friends as well. Several books back, his computer geek buddy Harry was set up by...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Jun 24, 2007

Big breasts, funny hair, anything dumb — the way to go on TV

Last spring, TV tarento Rei Kikukawa made news when she appeared in a bra commercial. TV commercials are the bread-and-butter of most tarento (media stars), and Kikukawa has done her fair share, but since gaining stardom she's managed to avoid overt exploitation of her sex appeal. That's because she...
Reader Mail
Jun 24, 2007

Poor case for conservatism

George Will's June 4 article, "Making a case for U.S. conservatism," was a reminder of how out of touch conservative intellectuals can be. Will's self-importance really comes through when he implies that the Republican Party's return to the traditional philosophical precepts of conservatism would be...
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Jun 24, 2007

Maj. Gen. Okada: a rare leader who took the blame

How do you make an anti-war film? I don't mean those gore-driven "war is hell" spectaculars that often seem like a sub-genre of horror movies. I am referring to a work that prompts people in any country to say, "We must never allow this sort of thing to happen again — not to our own people and not...
Reader Mail
Jun 24, 2007

Tenure at American universities

Regarding Takamitsu Sawa's June 12 article, "School tinkering that hurts": Contrary to Sawa's assertion, it is publishing prowess -- not instructional effectiveness -- that still determines tenure at American universities. Moreover, assistant professors are able to advance to associate professors and...
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 24, 2007

Caste politics keeps India's poor divided

LONDON — Caste, once again, is casting its shadow over India's politics. Caste-based "reservations" (reserved places) in education and government employment are supposed to benefit India's most deprived, but in reality they have hardened, rather than eroded, India's ancient system of discrimination....
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Jun 24, 2007

Show-biz family drama, children's fantasy adventure, sexual harassment lawyers

The Takashimas are one of the most famous show-business families in Japan. Seventy-six year-old Tadao is a veteran film and stage actor; his wife, Hanayo Sumi, was once a star with the Takarazuka musical stage company; and sons Masahiro and Masanobu are fixtures in movies and on TV.
JAPAN
Jun 24, 2007

Hill sees N. Korea shutting reactor in three weeks

The chief U.S. negotiator on North Korea said Saturday in Tokyo that he expects Pyongyang to shut down its Yongbyon nuclear facility "probably in three weeks."
JAPAN
Jun 24, 2007

Agency disposed of data on 830,000 pension accounts

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said Saturday he plans to forgo part of his summer bonus to take responsibility for the pension record fiasco involving the Social Insurance Agency. "I have caused worries among people over the pension records issue. I bear a grave responsibility for causing such a problem,"...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Jun 24, 2007

Somewhere between history and the imagination

David Mitchell is one of Britain's most influential novelists. "Ghostwritten" (1999), his first novel, was shortlisted for the Guardian First Book Award and won the Mail on Sunday/John Llewellyn Rhys Prize. Shortlisted for the 2002 Man Booker Prize for fiction, his second novel, "number9dream" (2001),...

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