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SOCCER / World cup
Jun 11, 2006

Klose-range win for Germans in opener

MUNICH -- Birthday boy Miroslav Klose scored twice as Germany beat Costa Rica 4-2 in a record-breaking World Cup curtain raiser in Munich on Friday.
EDITORIALS
Jun 11, 2006

Whither the newspaper?

What does the future hold for newspapers? It all depends on what you think a newspaper is and where on the planet you are standing. If you are a literal-minded type who considers the concept inseparable from actual newsprint and your view is restricted to, say, North America or Japan or Australia or...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Jun 11, 2006

It's a mechanical kind of love

LOVING THE MACHINE: The Art and Science of Japanese Robots, by Timothy N. Hornyak. Tokyo/New York: Kodansha International, 2006, 160 pp., profusely illustrated, 2,800 yen (cloth). One of the most popular mysteries of 18th-century Europe was the Chess-playing Turk, a robot-like automaton that won all...
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Jun 11, 2006

Can art be judged apart from its creator?

Last month the Comedie Francaise, France's sole state theater, made a momentous decision. "Voyage to the Sonorous Land, or the Art of Asking" by Austrian playwright Peter Handke had been scheduled for production in January 2007 at their second venue in the Latin Quarter. But in early May, theater administrator...
JAPAN
Jun 11, 2006

Activists hold Tokyo rally to protect Article 9

About 1,500 people from diverse citizens' groups across the country gathered Saturday in Tokyo and pledged solidarity to block efforts to revise the war-renouncing Article 9 of the Constitution.
Japan Times
LIFE
Jun 11, 2006

Preparing for 'people's courts'

For more than 60 years since its last form of a jury system was suspended, Japan's courts have been the preserve of a largely unseen elite. Now, though, regular citizens are set to take part again too, and 'mock trials' like those popular in America may play a key role in preparing for this momentous...
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 11, 2006

Ready for global discussion on migrants

NEW YORK -- Ever since national frontiers were invented, people have been crossing them -- not just to visit foreign countries, but to live and work there. In doing so, they have almost always taken risks, driven by a determination to overcome adversity and to live a better life.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Jun 11, 2006

Stick-thin, gay, or preferably both -- a television career awaits

Truth in advertising has never been strictly enforced in Japan, especially with regard to health-related claims. Breweries can get away with promoting "low-calorie" beers as weight-loss aids, while pharmaceutical makers sell vitamin supplements that claim to do everything from clear up your skin to help...
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Jun 11, 2006

Nihon TV's "Antenna 22" digs in to Shibuya's Center-gai culture and more

For 20 years the crucible of teen girl fashion and attitude has been Shibuya's Center-gai street in Tokyo.
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Jun 11, 2006

Gaijin superstars nothing foreign to Sanyo All-Star Series

Continuing here from last week's column about Japan's upcoming Sanyo All-Star Series, this time with the focus on foreign players. There is a limit to how many gaikokujin can be included on the 28-man Central and Pacific League rosters, but with a bit of leeway.
CULTURE / Books
Jun 11, 2006

Explore the beauty of stoneware

JAPANESE WOOD-FIRED CERAMICS by Masakazu Kusakabe & Marc Lancet. Iola, Wisconsin: Krause publications, 2005, 320 pp., $44.99 (paper) The art of making ceramics originated in Japan during prehistoric times, and over recent centuries has evolved to rank higher even than painting in the eyes of this country's...
SOCCER / World cup
Jun 10, 2006

Injured Nakamura feeling better

Shunsuke Nakamura is confident he will be fit to start Japan's World Cup opener against Australia on Monday despite concerns over an injury sustained in training.
EDITORIALS
Jun 10, 2006

Tragedy in a farming community

The investigation into the murder of a 7-year-old boy in a farming community in northern Honshu has taken a bizarre twist. A 33-year-old woman from the community was arrested and she initially admitted that she had abandoned the body of the boy near a river.
SOCCER / PREMIER REPORT
Jun 10, 2006

Overconfidence could sink England against Paraguay

MUNICH -- England will beat Paraguay in their World Cup opener on Saturday.
MORE SPORTS
Jun 10, 2006

Niida gives Takayama title shot

World Boxing Association minimumweight champion Yutaka Niida of Japan will take on compatriot Katsunari Takayama in September, his handlers said Thursday.
BUSINESS
Jun 10, 2006

Core machinery orders jumped 10.8% in April

Core private-sector machinery orders in April soared a seasonally adjusted 10.8 percent over the previous month to 1.140 trillion yen, the highest since August 2000, the government said Friday.
BUSINESS
Jun 10, 2006

METI's long-term plan aims for 2.2% annual growth

The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry said Friday it has finalized a strategy document that it believes will help Japan achieve real economic growth of 2.2 percent on average between fiscal 2004 and 2015.
BUSINESS
Jun 10, 2006

42 public works projects axed in '05

The government canceled 42 public works projects for being unnecessary or inefficient in fiscal 2005, up by 30 from the prior year, for a total of 840 billion yen, according to a government white paper released Friday.
COMMENTARY
Jun 10, 2006

China's buildup is no wonder

LOS ANGELES -- There has been an unsettling discordance about U.S. policy toward China that was brought home anew by Donald Rumsfeld, recently at the annual IISS Asia Security Summit in Singapore. Why this discredited man with his failed Iraqi policies remains U.S. secretary of defense is a profound...
BUSINESS
Jun 10, 2006

REIT value swells 63% to surpass 4 trillion yen

The aggregate value of land owned by real estate investment trusts totaled 4.03 trillion yen at the end of March, up a sharp 63 percent from a year earlier, attesting to the solid growth of the REIT market, the Land, Infrastructure and Transport Ministry reported Friday.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jun 10, 2006

Dream Technologies' revival tied to Murakami

Late last October, while everyone was watching Rakuten Inc. make a surprise bid to integrate with Tokyo Broadcasting System Inc., Yoshiaki Murakami launched a new investment plan.
BUSINESS
Jun 10, 2006

Ministry wants NTT to cut rivals' fiber-optic access fees

The Internal Affairs and Communications Ministry will urge NTT Corp. to cut the fees it charges other telecommunications companies for use of its fiber-optic lines by fiscal 2008, ministry sources said Friday.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jun 10, 2006

OECD's Tanaka tabbed as IEA chief

The government has recommended Nobuo Tanaka, a director at the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, to succeed Claude Mandil as executive director of the International Energy Agency, said Toshihiro Nikai, minister of Economy, Trade and Industry.
BUSINESS
Jun 10, 2006

Law to make stores cut back on bags

The Diet enacted a revised law Friday that gives the government the authority to order supermarkets and other retailers to cut their use of shopping bags if the businesses' own efforts are deemed insufficient.
JAPAN
Jun 10, 2006

Obituary: Kaoru Okano

Kaoru Okano, a former president of Meiji University, died of cancer Wednesday, his family said Thursday. He was 76.

Longform

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