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JAPAN
Jul 22, 2007

Glitch postpones August launch of lunar orbiter

The space agency has announced the August launch of its lunar orbiter will be postponed due to a technical glitch, delivering another setback to the much-delayed probe.
Reader Mail
Jul 22, 2007

Untimely reports of CCP's demise

Regarding Tom Plate's July 13 article, "Breaking Point of China's communists": Plate talked of the prediction by Tor Christian Hildan, the Norwegian ambassador to China, that the Chinese Communist Party will fall, and ridiculed Beijing's defensive response to Hildan's comments.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 22, 2007

Video crime peril vs. virtual pedophilia

PRINCETON, New Jersey — In a popular Internet role-playing game called Second Life, people can create a virtual identity for themselves, choosing such things as their age, sex and appearance. These virtual characters then do things that people in the real world do, such as having sex.
MORE SPORTS
Jul 22, 2007

All-Stars set for Pacific Rim Bowl

The 2007 Pacific Rim Bowl will be held on July 27 in Ashland, Ore., pitting the Japan All-Stars and the Ashland High School football team. The Japan All-Star team is made up of 45 seniors-to-be from Kansai, with more than 200 players trying out for the team from over 50 high schools. The team is slated...
Reader Mail
Jul 22, 2007

Cool it for a good night's sleep

It was interesting to see the following comment in Tomoko Otake's July 17 article, "How to survive summer fatigue," about natsubate (summer fatigue): "Turning air conditioning on throughout the night is often a cause of natsubate."
EDITORIALS
Jul 22, 2007

Passing of the JCP architect

Mr. Kenji Miyamoto, who died Wednesday at the age of 98, embodied the history of the Japanese Communist Party both before and after World War II. The charismatic leader put the party on a realistic policy path, helping the party gain some influence in Japan's politics.
Reader Mail
Jul 22, 2007

Lots of fun but too few facts

I'd like to say that Amy Chavez's July 14 article, "Bathhouse dress codes, or tell Yo! mama, no army boots!," offended me. Chavez mentions the "capsule hotel" in Japan. The article states: "Now imagine putting a Japanese-size person inside a space like that, just long and wide enough for him to lie...
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
Jul 22, 2007

Former Tigers slugger Bass makes All-Star visit to Sendai

SENDAI — A blast from the past showed up at Game 2 of the Gulliver All-Star Series at Fullcast Stadium Saturday afternoon, infusing a little more star power into the already star-studded event.
EDITORIALS
Jul 22, 2007

Progress toward denuclearization

The latest round of six-party talks on North Korea's nuclear weapons programs failed to set a deadline for the North's completion of next-phase commitments in its denuclearization process, specified in a Feb. 13 deal. Although the parties confirmed that they will indeed proceed from the initial to the...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Jul 22, 2007

Mobilizing the populace 'World War II-style' to judge their fellow citizens

Yoshikazu Ebisu seems an unlikely advocate for judicial reform. The 59-year-old illustrator first gained notoriety in the 1970s for his crude caricatures and moved on to variety shows in the late '80s, where his bumbling slob persona was the perfect target for insult comics. After he was arrested for...
ENVIRONMENT
Jul 22, 2007

TETRAPODS

Ah, tetrapods!
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Jul 22, 2007

Outsiders, or not; that is the question

I wish I had a yen or two for every time I've been told: "You will never be accepted in Japan."
Reader Mail
Jul 22, 2007

Resolution demonstrates cynicism

Regarding the July 14 article "Conservatives want U.S. reps to kill apology motion": Prostitutes have been used by soldiers in every military since the beginning of time, and still are today. They can be found near every military base in every country. With regard to the past, whether women became prostitutes...
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Jul 22, 2007

Ex-patriot returns home, samurai classic revived, inventor-farmer special

On Monday at 9 p.m., TBS will present a new drama by noted scriptwriter Taiichi Yamada called "Toi Kuni kara Kita Otoko (The Man from a Faraway Country)."
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
Jul 22, 2007

CL routs PL in All-Star clash

SENDAI — Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles slugger Takeshi Yamasaki had an All-Star Game to remember on his home field in Game 2 of the Gulliver All-Star Series. His teammates, however, would probably like to forget what happened as soon as possible.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Jul 22, 2007

Welcome additions to the newest anthology of Japanese literature

The Columbia Anthology of Modern Japanese Literature: From 1945 to the Present, edited by J. Thomas Rimer and Van C. Gessel, with additional selections by poetry editors Amy Vladeck Heinrich and Hiroaki Sato. New York: Columbia University Press, 2007, 864 pp., $59.50 (cloth). Anthologists must consider...
Japan Times
LIFE
Jul 22, 2007

Beauty beheld in huge concrete forms

Astonishingly, despite their unsightly impact on natural scenery, the Internet is full of geeks who appear to love tetrapods.
CULTURE / Books
Jul 22, 2007

Beijing sleuth's treasure hunt a hit and miss

The Eye of Jade: A Mei Wang Mystery. London: Picador, 2007, 227 pp., £10.99 (paper) Any study of Chinese females portrayed in English and American literature over the past century will find no lack of sources, from the works of Pearl Buck and Louise Jordan Miln to those by Han Suyin, Amy Tan and Jung...
BASKETBALL
Jul 21, 2007

Landa named Rizing coach

Howie Landa, one of the finest U.S. junior college basketball coaches of all time, is the Rizing Fukuoka's first head coach, the bj-league expansion team announced. He agreed to a one-year contract, which begins September 1. Landa, 75, graduated from Central High School in Philadelphia in 1950 and then...
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
Jul 21, 2007

Ramirez rips winning home run for CL

There probably wasn't anyone with an easier job at the Gulliver All-Star Game than reigning Central League MVP Kosuke Fukudome. The Chunichi star made his first appearance in the game as a pinch runner in the seventh to replace teammate Tyrone Woods, who had just hit a double to center.

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