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Japan Times
JAPAN
Mar 27, 2007

Midtown -- Roppongi just got loftier

Move over, glitzy Roppongi Hills. There's a new kid on the block in Tokyo's Minato Ward -- an even taller landmark testament to the spoils of wealth.
Japan Times
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Mar 27, 2007

Life in the cloudy Imperial fishbowl

Although the media and insatiable public curiosity can expose the private secrets of superstars, the Imperial family remains largely out of view.
JAPAN
Mar 27, 2007

JAL off-duty moms raising kids awarded lost wages

The Tokyo District Court on Monday ordered Japan Airlines International Co. to pay a combined 14.9 million yen in lost wages to four female flight attendants who were compelled to take unpaid off-duty days while raising children.
JAPAN
Mar 27, 2007

16 billion yen puts Fujiya in hands of Yamazaki

Yamazaki Baking Co. will purchase a 35 percent stake in Fujiya Co. for about 16 billion yen, making it the scandal-tainted confectioner's biggest shareholder, the two companies said Monday.
JAPAN
Mar 27, 2007

Budget victory moves Abe a step closer to real goal

Reeling from scandals and falling public approval ratings, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and his Cabinet cleared a key hurdle in the Diet Monday by winning passage of the fiscal 2007 budget.
EDITORIALS
Mar 27, 2007

U.N. steps up pressure on Iran

The United Nations Security Council agreed last weekend to sanction Iran for refusing to suspend its uranium enrichment program. The unanimous vote is designed to encourage Tehran to cooperate with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and eliminate suspicions about its nuclear intentions. The...
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 27, 2007

Road map to fighting drug-resistant TB

GENEVA-- A much larger tuberculosis drug-resistance problem exists than researchers previously thought. New global data on TB, published this month by the World Health Organization (WHO), highlight serious weaknesses in many national TB programs, increasing the potential for widespread TB drug resistance....
BUSINESS
Mar 27, 2007

20 Seiyu stores to start selling U.S. beef

Seiyu Ltd., the supermarket chain owned by Wal-Mart, said Monday some of its stores will start selling U.S. beef at a time when most major retailers here are still reportedly worried about possible health hazards.
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design / ON: DESIGN
Mar 27, 2007

KOKUYO, MUJI, PILOT and MONO for spring

Spring is in the air, and that means two things: a city draped in the pink of cherry blossoms -- hey, pink is the new black, so get with it; and the start of a new school year. So I'll concentrate this month's picks on a few items that will make you more productive with a touch of a style.
JAPAN
Mar 27, 2007

Upper House authorizes 83 trillion yen 2007 budget

The House of Councilors on Monday evening approved the 82.91 trillion yen fiscal 2007 budget following its endorsement by the chamber's budget committee earlier in the day.
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Mar 27, 2007

'Multicultural Japan' remains a pipe dream

In February, education minister Bunmei Ibuki called Japan "an extremely homogenous country." Eighteen months earlier, now Foreign Minister Taro Aso described Japan as having "one nation, one civilization, one language, one culture, and one race." What was notable about these comments is that they were...
COMMENTARY
Mar 27, 2007

A Japanese sense of humor?

Japanese and Germans are thought by some "Anglo-Saxons" to have many similar qualities, including a lack of a sense of humor and a tendency to take themselves too seriously. I don't think the former is fair; the latter is closer to the mark.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WORDS TO LIVE BY
Mar 27, 2007

Masahiro Murata

Masahiro Murata, 35, is a hair and makeup artist whose salon, MaQueen, just behind the Kabuki-za theater in Ginza, is a sanctuary for both his loyal clients and staff. Murata loves people, and especially beauty in them, which he believes manifests itself in the way one treats others. As one of Japan's...
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
Mar 27, 2007

Fingerprint law furor revisited

Thomas in Tokyo wrote to Lifelines in response to my Jan. 9 answer to an inquiry from reader Nick on the new law requiring the photographing and fingerprinting of foreigners on their entry into this country. I wrote that Japan Helpline is coordinating a response to the measure.
LIFE / Language
Mar 27, 2007

Sakura songs home in on the reassuringly familiar

It is late March, and the crowds are about to descend in droves on the parks and gardens for hanami, or cherry-blossom viewing.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / VIEWS FROM THE STREET
Mar 27, 2007

How can the government better spend its money?

BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
Mar 26, 2007

Marines, Fighters tie again

CHIBA -- There was a little wind, a lot of rain and a lot of mud. All in all it was absolutely horrible weather for about four innings at Chiba Marine Stadium. Although through it all Chiba Lotte pitcher Hiroyuki Kobayashi pitched an absolute gem.

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