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Reader Mail
Sep 26, 2007

Losses from forced retirement

The Sept. 13 Opinion page headline "Here's to the rise of the alpha geezer" caught my eye because I now occupy that age bracket. I don't mind the term "senior" because it allows me to see movies for ¥1,000 yen instead of ¥1,800. Geezers in rocking chairs are as out of date as rotary phones.
JAPAN
Sep 26, 2007

Fukuda elected prime minister in Diet faceoff

New Liberal Democratic Party President Yasuo Fukuda was elected prime minister by a divided Diet on Tuesday afternoon amid the political turmoil stemming from Shinzo Abe's sudden resignation announcement two weeks ago.
JAPAN
Sep 26, 2007

LDP appointments illustrate Fukuda's isolation

The appointments of four executives of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party highlight a weakness of Yasuo Fukuda — the lack of close allies within his own party.
COMMENTARY
Sep 26, 2007

Keep the Arctic free of nuclear weapons

WATERLOO, Ontario — As a nonnative speaker of English, I have always been intrigued by the phrase "polar opposites." Fact is, nothing so resembles the North Pole as the South Pole. Based on this polar symmetry, there exist the opportunity and an increasingly urgent need to emulate Antarctica and establish...
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
Sep 26, 2007

Giants put on power show against Dragons, reclaim CL lead

When the Yomiuri Giants' offense is clicking the Kyojin are a hard team to beat. When they get the pitching to go along with that, they're almost unbeatable.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER
Sep 26, 2007

Horned turban shell

* Japanese name: Sazae * Scientific name: Turbo cornutus * Description: One of the most prized of all marine gastropods, the horned turban shell — more familiar to sushi aficionados as sazae — has a large, thick, green-gray shell and a snail-like body. The shell has about five spirals, which turn...
JAPAN
Sep 26, 2007

Safe picks mark new Cabinet lineup

and Shigeru Ishiba enter the Prime Minister's Official Residence on Tuesday evening after being tapped to serve as foreign minister and defense minister, respectively, by Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda. KYODO PHOTOS
JAPAN
Sep 26, 2007

'Last samurai' still has support in thankful Japan

The stage may be set for former Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori to be tried for human rights violations and corruption charges in Peru, but many Japanese still see him as a hero.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
Sep 26, 2007

Turning waste into rich resources

Visit Calcutta, even briefly, and you soon learn the rules of the road — or rather that there aren't many, if any. You will also meet some of the planet's most resourceful people, from street children to scientists who are masters of making very little go a long way.
Reader Mail
Sep 26, 2007

Osama has everything to gain

Regarding the Sept. 9 article "Bin Laden tells America: Turn to Islam or you perish": Notwithstanding his demand to "embrace Islam," Osama bin Laden makes some good points. The warning is simply artful baiting to draw Americans deeper into the mire of Iraq and the Middle East. He has everything to gain,...
BUSINESS
Sep 26, 2007

JT may try again for Turkey's Tekel

Japan Tobacco Inc., the world's third-largest cigarette maker, declined Tuesday to comment on a newspaper report it was a potential bidder for Tekel, Turkey's state-owned cigarette maker.
BUSINESS
Sep 26, 2007

Tepco may boost bond sales by 50%

Tokyo Electric Power Co. is set to raise 50 percent more through bond sales than it had planned because borrowing costs remain low in Japan, according to a company official.
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital
Sep 26, 2007

Tokyo Game Show misses Nintendo

This year's Tokyo Game Show was supposed to be bigger, but that doesn't mean the industry event was better. It was expanded from three days (one press, two public days) to four days (two press, two public) as Sony, Microsoft and third-party video game publishers played host at this year's Tokyo Game...
BUSINESS
Sep 26, 2007

Microsoft, Kenwood ink deal on car navigation

Microsoft Corp. and Kenwood Corp. have signed a cross-licensing agreement to develop technology for car-navigation systems and consumer electronics.
BUSINESS
Sep 26, 2007

Fukuda team built for reform but short of time

Analysts shrugged off any speculation Tuesday that Yasuo Fukuda's election as prime minister will have a major impact on the stock market because his Cabinet's economic policies are likely to be virtually the same as his predecessor's.
EDITORIALS
Sep 26, 2007

Rise of urban populations

The 2006 revision of U.N. population estimates and projections made public earlier this year showed that the world's population, now 6.67 billion, will reach 9.19 billion in 2050. Calling attention to the aging of the world population, the United Nations said that in the more developed regions, the percentage...
Reader Mail
Sep 26, 2007

In defense of Japanese teachers

Japanese teachers who refuse to stand and face the Hinomaru national flag and to sing the "Kimigayo" anthem at school events should not be required to go through retraining or be fined. That they are should raise flags of concern for everyone.
LIFE / Digital / IGADGET
Sep 26, 2007

Back-chatting TVs and translating photocopiers

Bridging the gaps between the multiple towers of Babel that are modern languages has traditionally relied on software. Whether this be organic software, as in humans and their linguistic skills, or computers with their still relatively primitive ability to translate from one language to another. Fuji...
BUSINESS
Sep 26, 2007

Carlyle hires pair of Japanese execs

Carlyle Group has hired Masao Hirano from McKinsey & Co. as its cohead of operations in Japan and named Takeshi Isayama, former vice chairman at Nissan Motor Co., as chairman in Japan, the group said Tuesday.

Longform

Mamoru Iwai, stationmaster of Keisei Ueno Station, says that, other than earthquake-proofing, the former Hakubutsukan-Dobutsuen (Museum-Zoo) Station has remained untouched.
Inside Tokyo's 'phantom' stations — and the stories they tell