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COMMENTARY
Sep 17, 2007

How to downsize Bush's 'axis of evil'

LOS ANGELES — The "axis of evil" has certainly proven one tough triangle with which to tangle. But is it about to be downsized? As defined by U.S. President George Bush in his 2002 State of the Union address, this putative axis triangulates Iraq, Iran and North Korea. But is one of them on the verge...
JAPAN
Sep 15, 2007

Fukuda in lead to take over LDP

Yasuo Fukuda emerged Friday as the clear favorite in the race to replace Prime Minister Shinzo Abe as president of the Liberal Democratic Party, in what is shaping up to be a two-man contest with LDP Secretary General Taro Aso.
JAPAN
Sep 13, 2007

Abe announces he will resign

After less than a year in power, embattled Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said Wednesday he intended to step down to clear the political gridlock created by the ruling coalition's defeat in the House of Councilors in July and to expedite the extension of the controversial antiterrorism law.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Sep 13, 2007

Little public sympathy for Abe's downfall

It came out of the blue, but people walking the streets of Tokyo were not especially disappointed to hear Wednesday that Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was resigning.
JAPAN
Sep 13, 2007

Exit should have come sooner: critics

For the Liberal Democratic Party, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's resignation Wednesday was too long in coming, and regaining the public's trust will have to be the LDP's main objective from this point forward, critics said.
BUSINESS
Sep 13, 2007

Current account surplus widens on rise in overseas investment, exports

The current account surplus got bigger in July as companies and individuals earned more from their overseas investments and exports increased, the Finance Ministry reported Wednesday.
LIFE / Digital / IGADGET
Sep 12, 2007

Burn CDs from old records; copy audiotapes to computer

They don't make 'em to last any more. Well, in truth, capitalism never intended any product to last forever; making things that never need replacing is after all a lousy business strategy. While that may be understandable, one of the more insidious tricks of capitalism is to get consumers to indulge...
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER
Sep 12, 2007

Carp

* Japanese name: Koi (Nishiki-goi) * Scientific name: Cyprinus carpio * Description: A big, colorful fish, with large scales and barbels (those are the "whiskers" growing down from the upper lips). They can grow to well over a meter in length, and live for more than 15 years. They are related to other...
BUSINESS
Sep 11, 2007

Sony 'rolls' out new music player

Sony Corp.'s new rolling egg-shaped digital music player swivels, flaps its ends and flashes colorful lights in time to music.
JAPAN
Sep 10, 2007

Abe's pledge to Afghan mission raises opposition's ire

duties," she said, "It feels odd to hear it now when he did not say anything about it right after the defeat in the House of Councillors election" for Abe's Liberal Democratic Party. A Kyodo News survey released on Aug. 28 showed 48.2 percent of people polled were against an extension compared with 38.6...
CULTURE / Books
Sep 9, 2007

From the Beatles concert to royal tattoos in Japan

Britain & Japan: Biographical Portraits, Volume VI, compiled and edited by Hugh Cortazzi, Global Oriental, Kent, 2007, 368 pp., £60 (cloth) This book is the latest (and, sadly, probably the last) of the volumes about Anglo-Japanese relations that have been sponsored by the Japan Society of London since...
JAPAN
Sep 8, 2007

Abe & Co. stumbling toward a Diet showdown

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's political future hinges on how he manages the extraordinary Diet session that starts Monday.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Sep 7, 2007

Battles look past end of postrock

Almost all Japanese editions of albums by foreign artists contain Japan-only bonus tracks, but few of these tracks are as site-specific as the one that closes the debut album by the New York-based postrock quartet Battles.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Sep 7, 2007

The king of Kita Kyushu

Shinji Aoyama was in an up mood when The Japan Times met him at the office of his distributor, Style Jam. His new film, "Sad Vacation," opened the Horizons section at the Venice Film Festival last week, and though, when we met, he confessed himself nervous at the prospect of facing a foreign audience,...
JAPAN
Sep 5, 2007

Itochu chief Sejima, ex-war strategist, dead at 95

poses with Toshio Doko (center), then chairman of the government's second ad hoc council for the promotion of administrative reform, in Tokyo's Nagatacho district in June 1986. KYODO PHOTO
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / OLD NIC'S NOTEBOOK
Sep 5, 2007

High times away from summer's heat

Early in August, when Japan's big cities were really beginning to cook and parasols were in full bloom in the sultry streets, we again invited a group of children to escape the stifling lowland heat and come up to our woods for a few days.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle / ON THE BOOK TRAIL
Sep 4, 2007

"The Devil's Breath," "Mr. Putter — Tabby Spin the Yarn"

"The Devil's Breath," David Gilman, Puffin Books; 2007; 377 pp. Close on the heels of Charlie Higson's highly successful Young Bond series comes another adrenalin-pumping adventure story that reads like a Robert Ludlum thriller tailor-made for teenagers.
MORE SPORTS
Sep 3, 2007

Lagat adds 5K to 1,500 crown

OSAKA — With three laps to go, it was anybody's race. Seven guys were within two strides of each other.
BUSINESS / THE VIEW FROM EUROPE
Sep 3, 2007

Merkel to Japan: Leading G8 not only about environment

Last week's visit to Japan by German Chancellor Angela Merkel gave Prime Minister Shinzo Abe a sobering lesson in G8 politics. Germany currently holds the G8 presidency but will pass the baton to Japan in January.
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Sep 2, 2007

Central League makeup schedule to include pivotal games

Japan's Central League announced its schedule of make-up games to be played between Sept. 27 and Oct. 6, and the calendar is loaded with matchups that will decide the seeds for the postseason playoffs. Included are two Yomiuri Giants home games that were never even on the docket and one game at Nagoya...
MORE SPORTS
Sep 1, 2007

Worlds notebook; Day 7

OSAKA — News and notes from Day 7 of the 2007 IAAF World Athletics Championships.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / PERSONALITY PROFILE
Sep 1, 2007

Sekiko Kamata

Thirty years ago, the Kanagawa International Foundation came into being with the laudable aim of promoting Japan's cultural and artistic aspects to its region's audience. KIF set up the Minami Circle, which three decades later is still working in the interests of international friendship.
JAPAN
Sep 1, 2007

Lower House might be dissolved if MSDF duty isn't extended: Ishihara

bin Laden and al-Qaida (are located), and the antiterrorism law is enabling activities to prevent narcotics from Afghanistan to be sold around the world and the money used for international terrorism," Ishihara told reporters in a group interview. "I think that the decision by the Diet (whether to extend...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film / SHORT TAKES
Aug 31, 2007

Offside

Director: Jafar Panahi Language: Persian
MORE SPORTS
Aug 30, 2007

Worlds notebook; Day5

OSAKA — News and notes from Day 5 of the 2007 IAAF World Athletics Championships.

Longform

Bear attacks have dominated Japanese news headlines in recent months, with 13 people so far having been killed by the animals.
Japan’s bears have been on their killing spree for more than 100 years