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JAPAN
Jun 20, 2007

Unreplaced Sony battery blamed for Brit laptop fire

Toshiba Corp. said Tuesday a Sony battery pack that had yet to be replaced under a recall last year burst into flames last month in Britain, suggesting that not all laptop owners had replaced the defective batteries.
Reader Mail
Jun 20, 2007

Teaching your children English

In recent years a lot of mothers have decided to teach their children English as early as possible. But why do they feel so compelled to set out on this undertaking by themselves? Is it because they do not know how to speak English well?
EDITORIALS
Jun 20, 2007

Assuaging fears of being a judge

Within two years, the lay judge system will be introduced in Japan. Citizens will be able to have their opinions directly reflected in initial, lower-court trials for heinous crimes. But the system will impose new civic duties and burdens on citizens. It is imperative that the courts, the bar and the...
EDITORIALS
Jun 20, 2007

Services before profits

Japan Post Corp. has submitted a business plan to the government for a 10-year privatization process that begins Oct. 1. The company will serve as a holding company for four units: Yucho Bank, Kampo Insurance, a mail delivery firm and an over-the-counter services firm. The group will have some 241,400...
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 20, 2007

Don't underestimate Hamas' extremism

PRAGUE — Hamas' capture of the Gaza Strip has created, along with Iran, a second radical Islamist state in the Middle East. The region, probably the Arab-Israeli conflict and certainly the Palestinian movement will never be the same.
BUSINESS
Jun 20, 2007

Abe's economic package falls on deaf ears

The government adopted a 2007 economic policy package Tuesday that critics say reads like a grand wish list short on specifics, skips any hard talk about taxes until after the July election and merely vows to resolve the pension system debacle.
JAPAN
Jun 20, 2007

LDP lawmakers claim Nanjing Massacre death toll only 20,000

A group of about 100 lawmakers from the ruling Liberal Democratic Party said Tuesday that after a monthlong review they have determined the number of people killed by Japanese troops during the Nanjing Massacre of 1937 has been grossly inflated.
Reader Mail
Jun 20, 2007

Contagious 'right-to-arms' notion

As an Australian, currently living in China and who has lived in Japan, I was very impressed with the June 5 editorial, "Avoid the security dilemma in Asia." Here in China, we are constantly informed of any military developments in Taiwan, Japan, the United States or the two Koreas.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / WILD WATCH
Jun 20, 2007

Gone are the geysers of Kamchatka

If a trip to the Valley of the Geysers on the Kamchatka Peninsula of Siberia had been figuring among your long-term travel plans, then I have sad news to impart.
Reader Mail
Jun 20, 2007

Perils of looking inward

Mariko Nihei's comments in her June 6 letter, "Study in Japan is good enough," are at best shortsighted and, at worst, symptomatic of the perils of choosing to look inward.
LIFE / Digital / IGADGET
Jun 20, 2007

Gadgets to the rescue — vibrating pillow curbs snoring; toothbrush tracks your hygiene habits

Snoring is like the common cold — they both prove that the world's scientists are clueless about what is important in life. Rather than building a better spaceship, how about just removing these banes from our lives? Francebed, the name of which is only half truthful as it is the moniker of a Japanese...
SOCCER
Jun 19, 2007

Osim announces provisional squad

Ivica Osim named Japan's provisional squad for the Asian Cup finals at JFA House on Monday evening, and the national team coach couldn't find room in his 30-strong list for Europe-based players Koji Nakata and Junichi Inamoto.
JAPAN
Jun 19, 2007

Chongryun ordered to pay RCC 63 billion yen

mislead," he said of his failed purchase attempt. Chongryun did not issue any official remarks regarding the ruling or on the sale of its headquarters, but Tsuchiya revealed before the verdict that he would discuss with the group a possible appeal in an effort to press the court to arrange a levelheaded...
EDITORIALS
Jun 19, 2007

A lesson for Nova Corp.

The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry has decided that Nova Corp., the nation's largest English-language school chain, violated the Specified Commercial Transaction Law and ordered it to partially suspend business. Saying that Nova committed 18 types of violations, the ministry imposed a six-month...
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 19, 2007

Five storms set collide in the Mideast

AMSTERDAM — The region between Egypt and Pakistan is a caldron of five discrete, explosive components: Iraq's civil strife, Afghanistan's insurgency, Iran's nuclear ambitions, the long-standing Israel-Arab conflict, and the risk of clashes between extremist groups and corrupt, repressive governments....
BUSINESS
Jun 19, 2007

TBS' Rakuten snub reflects protected world

Hiroshi Inoue, president of Tokyo Broadcasting System Inc., does not hide his displeasure when he talks about online shopping mall operator Rakuten Inc.'s attempt to make the broadcaster its affiliate.
EDITORIALS
Jun 19, 2007

It's North Korea's move

The financial dispute that North Korea used as an excuse for not fulfilling its obligations under a six-party talks accord has reportedly been resolved. Although the North extended an invitation to a delegation of the International Atomic Energy Agency, it must now speedily carry out the steps of the...
JAPAN
Jun 19, 2007

Spurned by Japan, Kurds find refuge in Canada

A Kurdish man and his family who staged a sit-in in front of United Nations University in 2004 while they were seeking refugee status announced Monday they have been accepted in Canada.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jun 19, 2007

Japan hopes coral plan keeps disputed EEZ claim above water

Fisheries officials have launched a coral-growing project around two Pacific Ocean islets to bolster a reef and Japan's claims in a territorial dispute with China.
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Jun 19, 2007

Crime victims get their day, say in court

The Diet is expected to pass a controversial bill this week to revise the Criminal Procedure Law to enable people victimized by crime to participate in trial proceedings.

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