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EDITORIALS
Jun 17, 2007

Crime in Akihabara is no game

A report released earlier this month by the Metropolitan Police Department found that crime is rising in innovative and trendy Akihabara. Bag thefts, shoplifting, and sales of restricted goods and illegal services have reached a worrying level that cannot be ignored. It is hoped that, in this case, Akihabara...
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
Jun 17, 2007

Yano provides big spark for Giants

So Taguchi played in 134 games for the St. Louis Cardinals last season, but only started in 71 of those contests. Nevertheless, Taguchi made his living by mostly coming off the bench and was hailed by manager Tony LaRussa as a key component of the World Series champions.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Jun 17, 2007

Bureaucrats discovered to be pathetically human

Few fixtures of civilization invite more derision than bureaucracy. We understand that government agencies are necessary for the smooth operation of civic life but bristle at the prospect of having to interact with them. Public offices are cold, monolithic things, operating on principles that have little...
Japan Times
LIFE / WEEK 3
Jun 17, 2007

No stopping this whistler as she strikes a chord on world stage

The calm of an afternoon music class in a four-story building in Tokyo's central Yutenji district is ever so slightly disturbed by the noise of cars on the street outside. But the five students there appear entirely unconcerned as they keenly strain their ears to the sparkling melodies of "Edelweiss"...
Reader Mail
Jun 17, 2007

Safe from unprovoked terror

The June 7 editorial, "Six Day War left mixed legacy," was thoughtful and balanced except where it states that Israel needs to concede more territory and settlements for there to be peace.
Japan Times
LIFE / WEEK 3
Jun 17, 2007

Playing the 'hooligan'

An explosive, shrill cry flies out of nowhere, filling the entire auditorium: "Matte imashita (I've been waiting for that)!"
JAPAN
Jun 17, 2007

North Korean defectors arrive in South Korea

A South Korean man kidnapped by the communist North more than 30 years ago has escaped and is now safe with South Korean authorities in China, an activist said Saturday. Lee Han Seop, 59, fled the North last month and is at a South Korean consulate in China, said Choi Sung Yong, the head of a group of...
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Jun 17, 2007

Romantic drama-comedy, travel food show and celebrity concert music special

The strong-willed wife is an archetype in almost every culture and it gets the comedy treatment in Fuji TV's series "Oni Yome Nikki (Diary of a Demon Bride)" (Tuesday, 10 p.m.), which is based on a popular manga. Arisa Kanzuki plays the title character, Sanae, whose lazy and negligent husband, Kazuma...
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Jun 17, 2007

Stand by your language — but not as a nationalist icon

Last month, on May 21 to be exact, something caught my eye in the English-language IHT/Asahi Shimbun newspaper. In an article headlined "Holistic patriotic education still missing," Professor Nobukatsu Fujioka of Takushoku University in Tokyo made an impassioned plea for Japanese children to be imbued...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Jun 17, 2007

First woman was the sun, then there came man

IN THE BEGINNING, WOMAN WAS THE SUN: The Autobiography of a Japanese Feminist — Hiratsuka Raicho, translated with an introduction and notes by Teruko Craig. New York: Columbia University Press, 2006, 432 pp., $35 (cloth) One of the earliest among those who battled to reform the social and legal position...
CULTURE / Books
Jun 17, 2007

The passion, excesses and fun of Edo — in color

JAPANESE POPULAR PRINTS by Rebecca Salter. London: A & C Black, 2006, 208 pp., 221 illustrations, £30 (paper) "Japanese Popular Prints" is an entertaining, surprising and unique journey through the popular culture of the most colorful period in Japanese history. Some may already be familiar with...
JAPAN
Jun 17, 2007

Top court slaps down slave laborers

The Supreme Court has rejected appeals by dozens of Chinese seeking compensation for being forced into slave labor during World War II, another court loss for victims of Japan's wartime aggression, their lawyer said Saturday.
BASKETBALL
Jun 16, 2007

Little Parker emerges as big-time star

CLEVELAND — The shortest guy on the court grabbed the rebound under his own basket, scanned the floor once, and took off.
EDITORIALS
Jun 16, 2007

Toward greener transportation

A compromise agreement at the Group of Eight summit to seriously consider halving global greenhouse-gas emissions by 2050 incorporates Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's proposal for halving the emissions by that year without setting a baseline year. Japan, the host of next year's G8 summit, must do its utmost...
BUSINESS
Jun 16, 2007

Unknowns impeding rate hike: Fukui

The Bank of Japan will raise its benchmark interest rate only after it gains more confidence in its outlook for the Japanese and global economies, BOJ Gov. Toshihiko Fukui said Friday.
JAPAN
Jun 16, 2007

Mentally ill exceeded 3 million in '05

The number of Japanese suffering from mental illnesses, including depression and Alzheimer's disease, topped 3 million for the first time in 2005, the government said Friday.

Longform

Once smoky, male-dominated spaces, today's net cafes, like Kaikatsu Club, are working to make their operations more attractive to women customers.
The second life of Japan's net cafes