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EDITORIALS
Oct 3, 2006

Minamata's latest chapter

This year marked the 50th anniversary of the official recognition of Minamata disease, a symbol of postwar industrial pollution in Japan. But the episode of massive organic mercury poisoning is not a thing of the past. On Aug. 11, a group of 100 people who have not been officially recognized as sufferers...
Japan Times
BUSINESS / CABINET INTERVIEW
Oct 3, 2006

Transport minister wants road taxes to be spent on more than just roads

Gas and vehicle taxes should not be spent only on road construction but also on protecting the environment, including maintaining the nation's forests, according to the new minister of land, infrastructure and transport.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle / ON THE BOOK TRAIL
Oct 3, 2006

"Each Little Bird That Sings," "The Girl With the Broken Wing"

"Each Little Bird That Sings," Deborah Wiles, Harcourt; 2006; 247 pp.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Oct 3, 2006

Permanent visa can relieve pension pain

One of many foreign residents' biggest gripes about Japan is the requirement that they must pay into the Japanese pension system for as long as they work here, even though they won't stay long enough to receive any benefits. Permanent residency can help to side-step the issue without obliging somebody...
MORE SPORTS
Oct 2, 2006

Aussie horse wins Sprinters Stakes

FUNABASHI, (Chiba Pref.) With Deep Impact's bid for the coveted Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe but hours away, the fall slew of top-level races kicked off on the home turf Sunday with the 40th running of the Sprinters Stakes.
EDITORIALS
Oct 2, 2006

A few words about golf

What is it about golf? Such a silly game when you think about it -- traipsing thousands of meters cross-country to whack a tiny ball into teeny holes with a skinny stick. Whoever invented it -- probably the Scots -- had a diabolically twisted sense of fun. And yet, as we are constantly reminded, no other...
COMMENTARY
Oct 2, 2006

Weakness prods Pyongyang

Though impoverished and starved, North Korea owns nuclear arms and is developing long-range ballistic missiles, thus posing a growing military threat to the Asia-Pacific region.
BUSINESS / THE VIEW FROM EUROPE
Oct 2, 2006

Lobbying the potent EU, whose influence is borderless

Companies doing business in Europe are well aware of the European Union. But what some might yet not be so aware of is how important the EU institutions in Brussels and elsewhere can become for their business. What you don't know can hurt you a lot indeed. Consider the following:
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Oct 2, 2006

Being an insider is best way to sway Europe's shifting rules

Japanese companies need to act as insiders -- not outsiders -- in Europe as they try to cope with the increasingly tough environmental, safety and other laws of the European Union, whose regulatory power extends beyond the region, experts told a recent symposium in Tokyo.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 2, 2006

China losing its battle with corruption

SINGAPORE -- China's rulers rarely wash their dirty linen in public. So the arrest of Politburo member and Shanghai Communist Party boss Chen Liangyu on corruption charges has sent shock waves across the country. Some speculate that the arrest is really part of a power struggle, with President Hu Jingtao...
SOCCER / J. League
Oct 1, 2006

Sato thrice as nice in Sanfrecce draw

KAWASAKI -- Hisato Sato scored a brilliant hat trick in front of Japan coach Ivica Osim as Sanfrecce Hiroshima drew 3-3 away to Kawasaki Frontale in the J. League on Saturday.
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Oct 1, 2006

Clearing up any confusion about the Pa League playoffs

According to phone calls and e-mails I have been receiving, there seems to be a bit of confusion about exactly how the 2006 Pacific League playoffs will be scheduled, with respect to some new rules this year that change the number Stage 2 of games and home team designations, so let's try to clear up...
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 1, 2006

May the least undesirable candidate win

WARSAW -- The late British Prime Minister Harold Wilson used to quip that "a week is a long time in politics." In the 30 or so weeks between now and the next French presidential election, any prediction made today could be reversed, and reversed again, before the vote.
EDITORIALS
Oct 1, 2006

Mr. Abe takes the stage

I n his first Diet policy speech, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe emphasized opening the economy further, building a healthy, safe and "energized" society, carrying out financial reconstruction decisively, "resuscitating education" and switching to an assertive diplomacy.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / CLOSE-UP
Oct 1, 2006

Hisashi Inoue: Crusader with a pen

So wide-ranging are 71-year-old Hisashi Inoue's talents and activities that it is difficult to know which to focus on at the expense of others.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Oct 1, 2006

Stars strive to be normal guys . . . and you buy it

During the 1980s bubble era it was almost obscene how much money Japanese companies overspent on things they didn't really need. In the media world, this extravagance was manifested in the hiring of foreign celebrities to appear in TV commercials.
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Oct 1, 2006

Age-old 'naked friendships' lay bare new bathhouse concerns

I do it about three times a week, but I tell you I would double that frequency if I could. It is surely one of life's great pleasures, and it takes on average (for me) 45 to 50 minutes. Some people smoke afterward, but I just like to cool down and think about things -- you know, life, the human body,...

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