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JAPAN
Aug 28, 2006

Religion 'not limiting' women in Iran

KYOTO -- Born into an educated, politically active family in Iran, Fatemeh Hashemi defies the image of Muslim women often held in Japan.
COMMENTARY
Aug 28, 2006

Slighting the air-raid victims

This summer I saw three Japanese movies -- two documentaries and a feature -- depicting the plight of World War II victims.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 28, 2006

It pays to join China's CCP

LONDON -- The Chinese government recently announced that membership in the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has grown to a record 71 million; apparently there are also 17 million applicants waiting to join. Last year 2,540,000 people were admitted. Since 1990 party membership has grown by almost one-fifth....
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 28, 2006

No victor emerged from Lebanon war

WASHINGTON -- In the immediate aftermath of the October War of 1973, the Arab world rejoiced because the myth of Israeli invincibility had been shattered by Egypt's crossing of the Suez Canal and the Syrian offensive that swept across the Golan Heights. In Israel, there was harsh criticism of political...
JAPAN
Aug 28, 2006

Abe mulling harder line against North Korea

Chief Cabinet Secretary Shinzo Abe is considering tougher measures against North Korea than those adopted by Junichiro Koizumi if he becomes prime minister next month, hoping to help settle the issue of Japanese abductions, government sources said Sunday.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 28, 2006

The fat, the starving, and global warming

LONDON -- Being fat is the new normal, but it won't last. The global surge in overweight people is concentrated among lower-income city-dwellers, and some may choose to slim down as they climb further up the income scale. ("You can never be too rich or too slim.") But the real guarantee of a slimmer...
EDITORIALS
Aug 28, 2006

Strictures of job flexibility

The 2006 white paper on labor and the economy focuses on the rising number of irregularly employed workers, such as part-timers and temporary workers from agencies, and the widening gap in income between regularly and irregularly employed workers. If this gap grows and becomes fixed, society as a whole...
JAPAN
Aug 28, 2006

S. Korea plans survey in disputed area

South Korea plans to conduct another maritime survey in October in waters near disputed islets in the Sea of Japan, government sources said Sunday.
BASKETBALL
Aug 27, 2006

Manu carries Argentina into last 8

Manu Ginobili has never shunned the spotlight. And he wasn't going to start on Saturday.
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Aug 27, 2006

Letters on high school arms, the WBC and Kaz in Colorado

Wayne: I am a big fan of Japanese high school baseball and was at Koshien for the wonderful tournament recently, but I am very disappointed high school coaches/administrators (and parents) allow their pitchers'/sons' arms to be abused for potential short-term gain.
BASKETBALL
Aug 27, 2006

Spain ends Serbian three-peat dreams in 2nd round

SAITAMA -- Serbia and Montenegro's reign as basketball world champion is over.
JAPAN
Aug 27, 2006

Naval review trimmed to save fuel

High oil prices have forced the Defense Agency to scale back on the size of the Self-Defense Forces' naval review in late October, an official said Saturday.
JAPAN
Aug 27, 2006

Barbecue chain to serve U.S. beef

A restaurant chain plans to resume serving U.S. beef at dozens of its branches nationwide, company officials said Saturday.
EDITORIALS
Aug 27, 2006

Secret prefectural ledgers

The Gifu Prefectural Government in central Japan has been rocked by a scandal involving, in a sense, all of the prefectural government and its workers. It came to light earlier this month that the prefecture had systematically generated, hid and used a large amount of off-the-book funds over many years....
JAPAN
Aug 27, 2006

Religious leaders discuss peace in Kyoto

KYOTO -- More than 2,000 religious leaders from 500 organizations representing over 100 nations gathered Saturday in Kyoto to discuss themes ranging from transformation of violence to advancing shared security in the face of a world threatened by sectarian conflict.
JAPAN
Aug 27, 2006

Tokyo subway allows uncensored Spears ad

Tokyo's subway authority will allow a station advertisement featuring a nude and pregnant Britney Spears starting Monday, officials said, dropping an earlier plan to censor the photo.
MORE SPORTS
Aug 27, 2006

Mao Asada to move base to U.S.

Japanese teenage figure skating star Mao Asada will move her training base to Los Angeles in the upcoming winter sports season, informed sources said Friday.
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Aug 27, 2006

TBS's "Message," TV Tokyo's "Dawn of Gaia" and more

Aug. 28 marks the 53rd anniversary of the very first broadcast of a television commercial in Japan, and as a way of commemorating the event TBS has produced a special two-hour drama, "Message" (Monday, 9 p.m.), about Toshi Sugiyama, who is considered the most innovative TV commercial director in the...
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Aug 27, 2006

An underclass returns -- and with it, what?

All indications are that Japan is reverting to prewar norms. I am not referring solely to the new nationalism, bolstered by Japan's increasingly aggressive military stances, but rather to the notion of social equality -- or inequality -- that is being created for its citizens today.
Japan Times
LIFE / DISABILITY IN JAPAN
Aug 27, 2006

Blind doctor finds new ways of seeing

This story is part of a package on "Disability in Japan". The introduction is here.
Japan Times
LIFE / DISABILITY IN JAPAN
Aug 27, 2006

Teamwork trounces deafness

This story is part of a package on "Disability in Japan". The introduction is here.
CULTURE / Books
Aug 27, 2006

Cultural insight past the twaddle

FULL METAL APACHE: Transactions Between Cyberpunk Japan and Avant-Pop America, by Takayuki Tatsumi, foreword by Larry McCaffery. Durham and London: Duke University Press, 272 pp., 2006, $22.95 (paper). Literary theorist and critic Takayuki Tatsumi's new book, "Full Metal Apache," is both good and bad....

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