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COMMENTARY
Apr 16, 2007

Preserving the countryside

LONDON -- In Britain we have not yet quite lost the battle to preserve the countryside, but it is far from won. In Japan, however, it looks to many outsiders as if preservation is a lost cause.
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
Apr 15, 2007

Oshima's pinch-hit single propels Lions

CHIBA -- Sometimes good things come to those who wait. That was certainly the case for the Seibu Lions on Saturday afternoon at Chiba Marine Stadium.
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Apr 15, 2007

Igawa may learn hard way how tough New York fans can be

New York Yankees lefty pitcher Kei Igawa made a less-than-spectacular major league debut at home on April 7, giving up seven runs in five innings against the Baltimore Orioles, though he was bailed out and saved from taking a loss by Alex Rodriguez, whose "sayonara" grand slam eventually won it for the...
Reader Mail
Apr 15, 2007

Thanks for a lighter touch

Call it naivete, call it stupidity, or just plain beginning-of-term bewilderment. I felt like a demolition ball with a cut cable (ball stolen by metal thieves, I suppose), regarding the April Fool's Day article and picture.
Reader Mail
Apr 15, 2007

Who will judge what's 'false'?

Regarding the April 7 front-page article "Cabinet OKs bill to boost grip on broadcasters": The fears of censorship are entirely understandable. Japan must have laws covering fraud. But don't such laws already apply to broadcasters?
Reader Mail
Apr 15, 2007

Levity relieves biases

If the image of Hachiko on his way to China on a junk freighter brought a smile at the expense of any "minority group" in Japan -- as Eve Campbell alleges it might have in her April 8 letter, "A joke that can fan prejudices" -- the only group that would qualify as the butt of such humor would be an international...
Reader Mail
Apr 15, 2007

Opinion piece left out something

Regarding the April 4 editorial, "Conrad Black's diversions": I found myself asking, where is the editorial? The "editorial" offered virtually nothing in the way of opinion, but instead consisted almost exclusively of descriptions of Black and his alleged wrongdoings. Incidentally, to suggest that...
EDITORIALS
Apr 15, 2007

North Korea's getting its money

The United States and Macau authorities announced Wednesday that $25 million of North Korea-linked funds that had been frozen at Banco Delta Asia would be released. When the U.S. first announced in March, during the six-party talks in Beijing, that the funds would be released, it was considering a scheme...
Reader Mail
Apr 15, 2007

Desperation fosters learning

I applaud T. Mamoru Hanami's March 28 letter, "Can't beat immersion option," for pointing out that many of the students he meets from English-language institutes in Japan "are being robbed blind. Their English is horrendous and I think they know that, too."
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Apr 15, 2007

Fortune-teller forecasts pop singer, conversations with the dead and psychic powers

It's a great week for fortunetelling fans, especially those who like a little abuse with their forecasts. Superstar spiritualist Kazuko Hosoki will be the center of attention on three different shows this week on three different TV networks.
Reader Mail
Apr 15, 2007

American whalers share the blame

An April 1, 2007, New York Times editorial took up Japanese whaling, faulting Japan on its obsession with the practice. Japanese tourists, however, don't have to go to Hawaii to watch "these wonderful, sociable mammals" breed and breathe in coastal waters. Whales are coming back to the Japanese coast...
EDITORIALS
Apr 15, 2007

To encourage kidney donations

Four medical science societies that studied diseased kidney transplants performed by Dr. Makoto Mannami of Uwajima Tokushukai Hospital in Ehime Prefecture have issued a report stating that, at present, such transplants have "no medical validity." Citing lack of informed consent and deliberation by an...
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 15, 2007

Iranians blinked with release of hostages

BALTIMORE -- While commentators have charged that Britain capitulated to Iran and handed them a humiliating victory in obtaining the release of the 15 British marines, it would appear that something more like the opposite is actually the case. But to understand why this is so, we have to look at the...
CULTURE / Books
Apr 15, 2007

Cop walks a tightrope in N. Korea

THE CORPSE IN THE KORYO by James Church. New York: Thomas Dunne Books, 2006, 280 pp., $23.95, (cloth) A lot of people get killed in "The Corpse in the Koryo," and nobody seems to miss them.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Apr 15, 2007

A great naturalist, and a pretty good shot

BORNEO, CELEBES, ARU, by Alfred Russel Wallace. London: Penguin Books, 2007, 112 pp., with maps, £4.99 (paper) The great naturalist Alfred Russel Wallace (1823-1913) traveled widely in what was then called the East Indies and which we now know as Malaysia and Indonesia. Between 1854 and 1862 he wandered...
Japan Times
LIFE / WEEK 3
Apr 15, 2007

Train fan's dream buy is derailed online

Internet-auction sites allow people to sell and buy, at the click of a mouse or with a push on a cellphone button, almost anything from brand bags to resort condominiums to moldy Imperial Japanese Army uniforms. And, according to a 2005 report by Nomura Research Institute, in Japan it's a market that...
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Apr 15, 2007

It was 40 (very different) years ago today . . .

The re-election last Sunday of Shintaro Ishihara as Tokyo governor has demon- strated once again that the people of Japan's capital city remain attracted to the policies of this outspoken author-turned-politician.
Japan Times
LIFE / WEEK 3
Apr 15, 2007

Stroll the streets of vending-machine heaven

Fancy some fresh eggs and veggies to go with your can of coffee in the morning? Or how about some sake with a steaming bowl of oden (soy-sauce based stew) for an evening enkai (party)? Who needs restaurants and supermarkets when you can get all you need from vending machines?
Japan Times
LIFE / WEEK 3
Apr 15, 2007

Women flock to join 'college of change'

Saturday, March 31, was the final day of school for 47 graduates of the interestingly named I'M Personal College in Tokyo.
Japan Times
BASKETBALL / ONE-ON-ONE WITH ...
Apr 15, 2007

Okabayashi bridges communication gap for HeatDevils on, off court

The Japan Times will be featuring periodic interviews with figures in the bj-league -- Japan's first professional basketball circuit -- which is in its second season. Kyoko Okabayashi of the Oita HeatDevils is the subject of this week's profile.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Apr 15, 2007

LDP fuddy-duddies' social engineering hits women and the birthrate

Earlier this month, the ruling coalition put together a bill to change part of the Civil Code that determines the paternity of a child under certain circumstances. The planned revision, which editorial writers supported for its acknowledgment of practical reality, nevertheless split the Liberal Democratic...
Japan Times
LIFE / WEEK 3
Apr 15, 2007

Red rubber balls foster fun, motivation and life's sense of adventure

The red rubber ball soared over a wall, traced an arc against the springtime Tokyo sky and fell -- ker-plump! -- into the playground of Takanawadai Elementary School.

Longform

Figure skater Akiko Suzuki was once told her ideal weight should be 47 kilograms, a number she now admits she “naively believed.” This led to her have a relationship with food that resulted in her suffering from anorexia.
The silent battle Japanese athletes fight with weight