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JAPAN
Mar 28, 2007

Nepal to get six SDF members yearly for U.N. mission

monitor management of weapons and soldiers belonging to the Nepalese government and Maoist rebels. Led by Lt. Col. Katsunobu Ishibashi, the six will leave Japan on Friday and arrive in Katmandu on Saturday.
BUSINESS
Mar 28, 2007

Ailing Nissan to halve domestic sales force

Continuing efforts to improve efficiency, struggling Nissan Motor Co. said Tuesday that it will reorganize its dealer network into 10 regional groups and halve its domestic sales workforce by the end of 2011.
Reader Mail
Mar 28, 2007

One goose step closer

Another way to view the exercise of the censorial power that Debito Arudou boasts about in his March 20 article, "Demise of crime magazine historic," is as a goose step closer to thought control. The publication (Gaijin Hanzai) has a few racial slurs, some misinformation and specious logic, and lots...
EDITORIALS
Mar 28, 2007

Don't bet on a quake-free area

The major earthquake that hit the Noto Peninsula in Ishikawa Prefecture on Sunday serves as a reminder that a large earthquake can happen anytime, anywhere in Japan. The magnitude-6.9 quake with a seismic intensity of up to 6-plus on the Japanese scale of 7 happened at 9:42 a.m., killing one person,...
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 28, 2007

From out of the shadows steps France's 'third man'

WARSAW -- The French presidential election is a great "show" with all the ingredients of a Hollywood blockbuster, including a surprising plot twist: the emergence of a "third man," Francois Bayrou.
EDITORIALS
Mar 28, 2007

Europe's greatest endeavor

The European Union celebrated its 50th anniversary Sunday. On March 25, 1957, France, West Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg signed the Treaties of Rome, creating the European Atomic Energy Community and the European Economic Community. The six countries' aspiration to form a common...
BUSINESS
Mar 28, 2007

Chile FTA final, eliminates tariffs on 92% of bilateral trade

Japan and Chile finalized the details Tuesday of their bilateral free-trade agreement, which will eliminate all tariffs on 92 percent of bilateral trade in terms of value within 10 years, officials said.
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
Mar 28, 2007

Hail to the '3-alarm' Chief

It must be tough being Al Gore.
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital / IGADGET
Mar 28, 2007

Good vibrations: Turning your skull into a speaker and manga electric guitars

VIBRATING BONES: Call me old-fashioned, but I feel attached to speakers. Innate pieces of metal and plastic vibrate in harmony to produce sound waves to caress the ear. The idea of substituting my body parts to carry out the vibrating bit of the business just doesn't hit the right note for me. But hey,...
JAPAN
Mar 28, 2007

Ishihara slander suit filed by 92 women fails

The Tokyo District Court on Tuesday rejected half of a lawsuit filed by 92 women accusing Tokyo Gov. Shintaro Ishihara of slandering them in comments about a separate court case regarding his sexist comments.
Reader Mail
Mar 28, 2007

Limit to what language can do

I very much enjoyed the March 13 editorial, "Japan's ambivalent English," and I strongly agree with the argument that awareness of one's cultural identity comes as much from comparison as from knowledge of oneself. I know this is true from the years I spent in Britain as a postgraduate student and...
BASKETBALL / HOOP SCOOP
Mar 28, 2007

Joe Bryant says conditioning key for Kobe

Kobe Bryant has never been in better shape, and he's never played a better stretch of basketball than he has during the Los Angeles Lakers' current five-game winning streak.
Japan Times
MORE SPORTS
Mar 28, 2007

JT honored with three FSAJ Media Awards

The Japan Times earned three prestigious honors at the Foreign Sportswriters Association of Japan Media Awards Dinner on Monday night in Tokyo.
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital
Mar 28, 2007

'Splume' -- Japan gets its own world of avatars

Judging by Newton's Third Law of Motion the great English scientist really must have gazed into a crystal ball and seen the Japan of today. His famous law states that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. For every anonymous concrete apartment block and crisp white shirt locked in...
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER
Mar 28, 2007

Tree sparrow

* Japanese name: Suzume * Scientific name: Passer montanus * Description: A small bird, some 12.5- to 14-cm long, it has a rich brown-colored head, with a hint of copper. There is a black patch on the cheeks and a double white bar across the brown wings. Males and females are almost identical in size...
BUSINESS
Mar 28, 2007

Other Asian economies to grow 7.6%: ADB

Asian economies, excluding Japan, will expand a combined 7.6 percent in 2007, compared to 8.3 percent growth achieved by the region in 2006, according to a forecast released Tuesday by the Asian Development Bank.
SUMO
Mar 27, 2007

The good, the bad and the sometimes ugly

Had he been alive today, Japan's legendary kabuki and bunraku playwright Chikamatsu Monzaemon (1653-1724) could not have written a better script for the recently completed Haru Basho in Osaka.

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