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BASKETBALL / ONE-ON-ONE WITH ...
Dec 10, 2006

'Nice eyes' Yoshida can read moves in bj-league

The Japan Times will be featuring periodic interviews with players in Japan's bj-league -- the nation's first pro basketball circuit -- which is in its second season. Taira Yoshida of the Sendai 89ers is the subject of this week's profile.
CULTURE / Books
Dec 10, 2006

Guidance from a master brewer

THE BOOK OF SAKE: A Connoisseur's Guide, by Philip Harper. Kodansha International, 2006, 96 pp., 2,940 yen (cloth) How the global culinary pendulum does swing. It was not so long ago that drinking sake was considered as exotic, or even as ill advised, as eating raw fish seasoned with green horseradish....
EDITORIALS
Dec 10, 2006

Our words of the year

Once again, it's the season when the dictionary and language people are hard at work winnowing words -- new ones, catchy ones, much-looked-up ones, over-used ones -- in preparation for crowning their latest Word of the Year (WOTY). This year, we thought we might do a bit of winnowing of our own.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Dec 10, 2006

Rediscovering a neglected tradition

THE BOOK OF INCENSE, by Kiyoko Morita. Tokyo/New York/London: Kodansha International, 2006, 136 pp., illustrations XX, 1,600 yen (paper) Incense came early to Japan. According to the fifth-century "Nihonshoki" (Chronicles of Japan), a whole aloeswood tree drifted ashore at Awaji. When the fisherfolk...
Japan Times
LIFE
Dec 10, 2006

Politics at the grass roots

Judging by the society pages of certain publications in Japan, politicians at both the local and national levels seem to spend a lot of their time being photographed with ambassadors, captains of industry, assorted aristocrats, passing film stars and all manner of other folk.
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Dec 10, 2006

What remains 'Japanese' in such climates of change?

What is national character, and how does it differ from custom, manners and fashion? People talk about "the Japanese" as if referring to a nationality with an immutable quality that has existed and will continue to exist throughout the ages; and yet, Japan and the Japanese of the past are so different...
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Dec 10, 2006

SMAP's Kimutaku a different breed of idol

Six years ago this month, the public learned that Japan's most popular male showbiz personality, Takuya Kimura, was set to marry former singing idol Shizuka Kudo, already pregnant with his child at the time.
SOCCER / PREMIER REPORT
Dec 9, 2006

Premier League benefiting from foreign ownership of teams

LONDON -- By early 2007 a third of the 20 Premiership clubs will come under foreign ownership.
SOCCER
Dec 9, 2006

Internacional aims to return club title to South America

Internacional is determined to bring the Club World Cup back to Brazil and prove that soccer's European giants can't always buy their way to success, forward Fernandao said Friday.
JAPAN
Dec 9, 2006

Emotional woes hit more civil servants

The number of government workers taking leaves of absence due to mental illness is on the rise, according to a government document released Friday.
JAPAN
Dec 9, 2006

Emotional woes hit more civil servants

The number of government workers taking leaves of absence due to mental illness is on the rise, according to a government document released Friday.
JAPAN
Dec 9, 2006

Cabinet extends ASDF Iraq airlift mission until end of July

The Cabinet on Friday approved plans to extend the Air Self-Defense Force mission in Iraq through the end of July, the government's chief spokesman said, despite a grim U.S. report on the deteriorating situation in the country.
JAPAN
Dec 9, 2006

Kyuma admits Tokyo backed Iraq attack

attends an extraordinary Cabinet meeting Friday with Prime Minister Shinzo Ane and health minister Hakuo Yanagisawa. KYODO PHOTO
JAPAN
Dec 9, 2006

Cabinet extends ASDF Iraq airlift mission until end of July

The Cabinet on Friday approved plans to extend the Air Self-Defense Force mission in Iraq through the end of July, the government's chief spokesman said, despite a grim U.S. report on the deteriorating situation in the country.

Longform

Mount Fuji is considered one of Japan's most iconic symbols and is a major draw for tourists. It's still a mountain, though, and potential hikers need to properly prepare for any climb.
What it takes to save lives on Mount Fuji