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EDITORIALS
Feb 11, 2007

Exam system put to the test

When road signs point to universities, racks at shrines fill with rows of handwritten ema (votive pictures/messages), and a respectful hush falls over the city, you know it's time for one of Japan's most important rituals -- entrance exams.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Feb 11, 2007

Women find voice over sexist gaffe

In harmony-loving Japan, women rarely take to the streets to protest the sexist remarks that routinely spill from the mouths of ruling politicians, and even the most outrageous comments go largely unpunished at the ballot box.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Feb 11, 2007

On the line between East and West

Glory in a Line: A Life of Foujita--the Artist Caught Between East and West, by Phyllis Birnbaum. New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2006, 332 pp., with photographs. $27.50 (cloth) The line referred to in this excellent biography of the troubled artist, Tsuguharu Fujita (1886-1968), is the "thin line...
Reader Mail
Feb 11, 2007

Redrawing the battle line

Regarding the Feb. 2 article by George P. Fletcher, "Declining tolerance of dangerous words": I began the article with an open mind, but it is still unclear from what angle Fletcher was writing his piece, although this may in itself have been its angle. What I take issue with are his comments about...
CULTURE / Books
Feb 11, 2007

There is nothing two-dimensional about Japanese manga in the U.S.

Japanamerica: How Japanese Pop Culture Has Invaded the U.S., by Roland Kelts. Palgrave, Macmillan, 2006, 223 pp., $24.95 (cloth) In "Japanamerica," Japanese-American writer Roland Kelts explores how and why Japanese manga and anime have become as familiar to Americans as sushi or karaoke in the 21st...
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT
Feb 11, 2007

The price of stalemate

One of the most controversial elements of Japan's campaign to overturn the International Whaling Commission's 1986 commercial whaling ban is the alleged use of official Overseas Development Aid to "buy" the votes of poorer IWC member-countries. That is an allegation vehemently denied by fisheries bureaucrats....
ENVIRONMENT
Feb 11, 2007

From the inside looking out . . .

'There are a number of factors, both biological and economic, which led the industry to destroy one whale species after another, even though the industry was dependent on their survival. Thus, the commercial whaling ban should be kept and not mixed up with the idea of preserving tradition and/or culture....
JAPAN
Feb 11, 2007

Deadly heaters not recalled

and other officials bow at the start of a news conference in the company's headquarters early Saturday. KYODO PHOTO
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Feb 11, 2007

Ft. Myers getting ready for 'Dice-K' and Japanese media

Sportswriter David Dorsey of the Ft. Myers News-Press in Florida is getting ready to work the Boston Red Sox spring training camp in that town. He will be joined by a bevy of reporters and photographers from the various Japanese media there to cover the Daisuke Matsuzaka circus and lefty reliever Hideki...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Feb 11, 2007

Gore's charge unlikely to skewer Japan's traffic plans

Former U.S. Vice President Al Gore was in Japan a few weeks ago promoting "An Inconvenient Truth," the documentary film version of his traveling power-point presentation on the dangers of global warming. He made the rounds of the news shows at the time, but due to the extra time required to edit entertainment...
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT
Feb 11, 2007

Japan and the whaling ban

It is a question that puzzles much of the world: Why does Japan thumb its nose at one of the environmental movement's few lasting achievements -- the International Whaling Commission's 1986 ban on commercial whaling?
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT
Feb 11, 2007

Siege mentality fuels 'sustainability' claims

At the government's Fisheries Agency in Tokyo, which drives the prowhaling campaign in Japan, there is thinly disguised contempt for the antiwhaling finger-wagging of New Zealand, a country with boundless rich farmland and a tiny population to support.
Reader Mail
Feb 11, 2007

Getting back on the same page

I must admit to being rather mystified by Barrett Balvanz's Feb. 4 letter regarding my Jan. 19 review of the film "The Departed." Balvanz says the review "fails to credit the original movie 'Infernal Affairs,' " of which "The Departed" is a remake. Perhaps Balvanz is reading something else. That's...
ENVIRONMENT
Feb 11, 2007

Deadlock is dominant in whaling's 'petty parlor game'

In light of the entrenched positions involved, the whaling issue appears hopelessly deadlocked as the prowhaling nations led by Japan, Iceland and Norway demand the right to return to commercial whaling from countries equally determined to resist them.
BASKETBALL / BJ-LEAGUE NOTEBOOK
Feb 10, 2007

Ashby delivers for Five Arrows

Every basketball coach wants their center to become, well, a center of attention.
SOCCER / PREMIER REPORT
Feb 10, 2007

McClaren taking heat after England's most recent stumble

LONDON -- Seven months after Sven-Goran Eriksson's departure, many of those who were glad to see him walk away are yearning for a return of the good old days under the Swede.
JAPAN
Feb 10, 2007

Kansai business titans urge leadership from Abe

KYOTO -- The annual gathering of Kansai business leaders closed Friday with calls for better corporate citizenship, including greater involvement in social and political issues affecting the nation, and for the government of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to show stronger leadership on a broader range of...
JAPAN
Feb 10, 2007

Metro teachers sue over punishments

The Tokyo Metropolitan Government was slapped with a lawsuit Friday by 173 high school teachers who were punished for refusing to sing the national anthem at school ceremonies and claim they were treated unjustly under a directive that violates their freedom of thought.
BASKETBALL
Feb 10, 2007

Takeuchi to sign with Aisin

Center Kosuke Takeuchi, one of Japan's up-and-coming basketball standouts, will next play for the Aisin Seahorses, the JBL announced. Takeuchi, who turned 22 in January, played college ball at Keio University.

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