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Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Mar 1, 2007

Scriptwriter talks about Japan hit 'Letters'

Scriptwriting is something seemingly everyone in Hollywood does, from cab drivers to this year's Oscar host Ellen DeGeneres, who jokingly presented director Martin Scorsese with a script during the telecast. But the percentage of first-time scriptwriters who succeed in getting a feature film made is...
BASKETBALL
Feb 28, 2007

Apache duo injured last weekend

The Tokyo Apache, who were swept by the host Toyama Grouses over the weekend, sustained losses to two key players over the weekend. Jumpei Nakama sustained a torn left ACL (anterior cruciate ligament) and will miss the rest of the season, the team announced.
BASKETBALL
Feb 28, 2007

Goya, Marshall earn awards

Toyama Grouses guard Takanori Goya is the Circle K Sunkus Player of the Week, the bj-league announced Tuesday.
Reader Mail
Feb 28, 2007

Moms need to do soul-searching

Why is it that many Japanese women are so outraged at health minister Hakuo Yanagisawa's tactless remarks over Japan's declining birthrate and the need for more babies?
Reader Mail
Feb 28, 2007

End the killing of sentient beings

The whaling debate overlooks a most basic principal -- the fact that whales are sentient beings. They, along with dolphins, are the "people" of the oceans, as separate from fish as humans are from alligators. All other arguments for continued killing of whales have no validity from the point in modern...
BASKETBALL / NBA / NBA REPORT
Feb 28, 2007

Bird's memories of D.J.

NEW YORK -- How wretchedly ironic Dennis Johnson, 52, dropped dead from a heart attack on the day of the NBA's trading deadline.
BUSINESS
Feb 28, 2007

Nikko to sue former execs over accounting fraud

Nikko Cordial Corp., facing possible delisting from the Tokyo Stock Exchange, said Tuesday it will sue three former senior executives for a combined 3.1 billion yen for their roles in accounting fraud committed at the firm.
EDITORIALS
Feb 28, 2007

Media must strive for accuracy

The blow-back continues from an incident involving the broadcast of falsified information on a variety show aired by Kansai Telecasting Corp. (known popularly as Kansai TV). The communications ministry plans to include a measure targeting the broadcast media in a bill to revise the Radio Law. Under the...
Reader Mail
Feb 28, 2007

Term 'gaijin' has run its course

We often hear the use of the word "gaijin" when referring to foreigners. But where does this word come from? It is a broken-down, easier way of saying "gaikokujin" or "gaikoku kara no kata." In the same sense, "Jap" is an easier way of saying "Japanese," but I wouldn't appreciate it if someone referred...
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 28, 2007

Sunni support key to success in Iraq

PRAGUE -- Doctors use the word "crisis" to describe the point at which a patient either starts to recover or dies. U.S. President George W. Bush's Iraqi patient now seems to have reached that point. Most commentators appear to think that Bush's latest prescription -- a surge of 20,000 additional troops...
Reader Mail
Feb 28, 2007

Pejorative reference to PR people

The Feb. 15 article headlined "Abe PR flack U.S.-bound for media spin control" is insulting to those of us in the public relations business, because both "flack" and "spin" are pejoratives that do not accurately convey the essence of what PR professionals actually do.
Reader Mail
Feb 28, 2007

The obedient and unthinking life

Regarding Eric Larson's Feb. 14 letter, "An institutionalized hazing system" -- about what is happening in public schools in Iwate Prefecture: It is dreadful and it reminds me of the sad and horrible experiences during the flourishing militaristic period in the 1940s. I used to be afraid to go to school...
JAPAN
Feb 28, 2007

Reversal: Nine kids with Japanese dads not citizens

The Tokyo High Court on Tuesday overturned a lower court ruling and denied Japanese nationality to nine children with Filipino mothers and Japanese fathers who are not married.
JAPAN
Feb 28, 2007

Panel endorses formation of new security council

The formation of a Japanese version of the U.S. National Security Council designed to respond quickly to fast-developing threats ranging from terrorism to North Korea's nuclear ambitions was endorsed Tuesday by a government panel in its final report.

Longform

Mamoru Iwai, stationmaster of Keisei Ueno Station, says that, other than earthquake-proofing, the former Hakubutsukan-Dobutsuen (Museum-Zoo) Station has remained untouched.
Inside Tokyo's 'phantom' stations — and the stories they tell