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Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Dec 22, 2006

Mountain of dread

The stench of sulfur hits you long before you get off the bus. And when you do step off, it hits you all the stronger. Before you stretch the sickly, yellow-green waters of a caldera lake, whose acidity has expunged all fish life except for one hardy species (ugei or big-scaled redfin). Signs everywhere...
Japan Times
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Dec 22, 2006

A 'Choral' high in style

On Dec. 31, the Marunouchi Building's grandiose first floor, Marucube, will be filled with the sound of a large choir singing Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 "Choral."
BUSINESS
Dec 22, 2006

November trade surplus jumped 54%

Japan's merchandise trade surplus in November jumped 54.1 percent to 915.9 billion yen from the same month last year, the Finance Ministry said Thursday, thanks to growing exports led by automobiles, steel and softening crude oil prices.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Dec 22, 2006

Voices from the Inside

To find out what 2006 meant to others in Japan, we spoke to people involved in the industry. Here's their take on the best, the worst and what comes next.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / BEST BAR NONE
Dec 22, 2006

Go the whole hog this New Year's

It's almost time to whoosh your tush to the tunes of world-class DJs as we welcome in another new year. Next up in the Chinese zodiac's menagerie is the wild boar, or inoshishi, as it is known natively in Japan. The boar is best characterized by the single-minded determination and speed with which it...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Dec 22, 2006

When the kids lost the music

Worldwide CD sales were down this year, including in Japan. Part of that is because of Internet downloading, of course, but it's not simply down to that. Young people aren't interested in music anymore, and it's having an effect on concert-ticket sales.
COMMENTARY
Dec 22, 2006

New base for reconciliation

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's visit to China in early October was important for several reasons. In the short term, it represented a significant contribution to easing tensions between Tokyo and Beijing. From a long-term perspective, it helped to lay the foundations for a stronger bilateral relationship....
JAPAN
Dec 22, 2006

Obituary: Takashi Niimi

Takashi Niimi, a human rights lawyer who represented the rights of Chinese nationals who were forced to work under torturous conditions at a labor camp in Akita Prefecture during World War II, died Wednesday of cardiac failure, his family said. He was 59.
Japan Times
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Dec 22, 2006

A bluebird for the kids, and a dark Cinderella

For this winter vacation season, theater company EN presents a new, original play for children, "Aoitori Kotori Nazenaze Aoi? (Bluebird, Why are you Blue?)," at Theater X in Ryogoku, continuing a tradition of appealing to young theatergoers since it began in 1981
JAPAN
Dec 21, 2006

No big change in '07 ODA spending

The battle between the Foreign and Finance ministries over official development assistance outlays for fiscal 2007 ended in a draw Wednesday as the Finance Ministry proposed a 4 percent cut in ODA spending in a draft budget, while much of that reduction was made up for in a supplementary budget the government...
BASKETBALL
Dec 21, 2006

Shimizu earns bj-league award

Saitama Broncos guard Taishiro Shimizu is the Circle K Sunkus Player of the Week, the bj-league announced Tuesday.
EDITORIALS
Dec 21, 2006

Japan's role in the U.N.

Fifty years have passed since Japan was admitted into the United Nations on Dec. 18, 1956. In his speech that day before the U.N. General Assembly, Foreign Minister Mamoru Shigemitsu expressed Japan's determination to fulfill its duties under the U.N. Charter, and said that Japan can become a bridge...

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