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BASKETBALL
May 6, 2007

Competition never gets old for Sako

Around his ankles and knees, thick bandages were rolled with quite a lot of ice, and in a single moment, his legs looked as twice bulky.
Rugby
May 6, 2007

Blues win to secure semifinal berth

PERTH, Australia (AP) The Auckland Blues ended a three-match losing streak to secure a Super 14 semifinals berth, and eliminated the Western Force from contention with a 33-6 bonus-point win on Friday.
MORE SPORTS
May 6, 2007

One eye good enough for one brave horse in Kentucky Derby

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Cover your right eye.
Reader Mail
May 6, 2007

Cartoon worth a thousand words

I was impressed by Roger Dahl's editorial cartoon on April 25 regarding the horrific murder of Mayor Itcho Itoh of Nagasaki. Together with Gwen Muranaka's earlier "Noodles" piece marking the tragedies of Nagasaki and Virginia, it was good to have eloquent material to use with students here in Nagasaki...
Reader Mail
May 6, 2007

Daylight saving, Japan style

As the spring sun continues to rise earlier and earlier, there are likely not a few readers muttering to themselves, "If only Japan would adopt daylight saving time, then some of this early morning light could be put to better use." Few seem to be aware that Japan practiced a form of daylight saving...
Reader Mail
May 6, 2007

East Timor wasn't a Dutch colony

East Timor was a Portuguese colony, not a Dutch colony as stated in the April 28 Kyodo News article titled "East Timor former sex slaves start speaking out." dan winters
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
May 6, 2007

Fighters' bats key hot streak

For the reigning Japan Series champions, April was not a very kind month.
Reader Mail
May 6, 2007

Japan-Brazil police cooperation

On April 16, in Brasilia, the Federal Police of Brazil and the National Police Agency of Japan signed an agreement to cooperate in investigations. Both countries have reasons to celebrate, as our law enforcement agencies will, from now on, be able to further cooperate to better fight crime.
Reader Mail
May 6, 2007

World's most dangerous place

Where is the most dangerous place in the world to live? Is it Iraq, or perhaps Sudan? No, it is in the human womb. More people are murdered through abortion than through any other source. A few days ago Mexico became one of last holdouts to fall under the spell of this evil that is gripping the world....
EDITORIALS
May 6, 2007

Kiosks and koban

Two of Japan's most respected institutions — kiosks and koban (police boxes) — have gone empty in recent weeks, upsetting many who regularly depend on them. The shock waves are still reverberating around the country, but especially in Tokyo, where their essential everyday services were reported closed...
JAPAN
May 6, 2007

Lay judges to be advised to use 'common sense'

judge," and "You are allowed to talk to others about (general) impressions you formed by serving (as a lay judge)." The draft models will be reported May 23 to a commission on Supreme Court rules before being distributed to professional judges throughout the country.
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
May 6, 2007

Skipper Oya deserves credit for BayStars' surge

Japan pro baseball's hottest team through the middle of Golden Week was the Yokohama BayStars, riding a five-game winning streak and standing in first place, albeit by percentage points, in the Central League pennant race.
BUSINESS
May 6, 2007

Asia finance chiefs agree on foreign reserves pool

KYOTO — Finance ministers from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations along with Japan, China, and South Korea on Saturday hammered out a basic agreement to pool some of the region's $2.7 trillion in foreign reserves to prevent the kind of currency runs that led to the Asian financial crisis a...
Reader Mail
May 6, 2007

Railway's cruel omission

I noted a rather shocking contrast in the April 26 edition of The Japan Times. On page one was an article about a ceremony marking the second anniversary of the train crash in Amagasaki ("Train-crash dead mourned, except driver"), and on page nine there was an article on memorials at Virginia Tech ("Virginia...
CULTURE / Books
May 6, 2007

In Japan, dogs 'wan,' cats 'nya' and cows 'mo'

HIRA HIRA KIRARI: Michey's Word Play, Onomatopoeia 1, 2, 3, by Mitsuko Hasse, illustrated by Haruko Nakaune, translated by Darrel Frentz. Fuzambo International, 2006, 155 pp., 2,000 yen (paper) Those familiar with The Japan Times' bilingual page will know Michey, the star of Word Play, a cartoon column...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
May 6, 2007

The different cases of Inspector Hanshichi

THE CURIOUS CASEBOOK OF INSPECTOR HANSHICHI: Detective Stories of Old Edo, by Kido Okamoto, translated by Ian MacDonald. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 2007, 335 pp., $24 (paper) Between 1916 and 1937 the critic and playwright Kido Okamoto (1872-1939) published the "Hanshichi Torimonocho"; stories,...
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
May 6, 2007

New clarities set to cloud smoke screens of ambiguity

Last month, on April Fool's Day to be exact, I revealed some terms and expressions appearing in the forthcoming Japanese government publication, "The Dictionary of All-Too-True Japanese Words and Phrases." Actually, there is far more than meets the eye in this groundbreaking, earthy volume.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / CLOSE-UP
May 6, 2007

Karel Van Wolferen: Insights into the new world disorder

When Karel Van Wolferen released his seminal book "The Enigma of Japanese Power" in the dying months of the bubble economy, the normally staid monthly magazine Chuo Koron described its impact as akin to being struck by a bolt of lightning. For once, the hype was merited. Little before had matched the...
COMMENTARY
May 6, 2007

George Tenet's worst ever career choice

DETROIT — Four years late and half a trillion dollars short. Why didn't George Tenet tell us this stuff when it mattered — before we invaded Iraq?

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