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BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Oct 15, 2006

Things a lot different for 2006 Fighters heading into Japan Series

Congratulations to manager Trey Hillman and everyone connected with the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters on winning the franchise's first Pacific League pennant in a quarter century. The organization has come a long way since the last championship 25 years ago and should make a much better showing than last...
EDITORIALS
Oct 15, 2006

Not all voters are equal

The Supreme Court ruled Oct. 5 that the 2004 Upper House election was carried out in a constitutional way, despite a 5.13-fold disparity in the weight of one vote between the most populated electoral district and the least populated one.
CULTURE / Books
Oct 15, 2006

From the center of Korean conflict

KOREA WITNESS: 135 Years of War, Crisis and News in the Land of the Morning Calm, edited by Donald Kirk, Choe Sang-Hun. Seoul: EunHaeng NaMu, 2006, 13,000 won/$13.83 (paper). To adventurous Western writers and journalists in the late 19th century, the opening of Japan in 1868 was an opportunity too good...
Japan Times
LIFE / WEEK 3
Oct 15, 2006

Last rites for the memories as beloved dolls pass away

An opulent pair of Hime daruma prince and princess dolls from Ehime Prefecture in Shikoku has graced the living room of Tamiko Okamoto's home in Funabashi, Chiba Prefecture, since 1964. A wedding gift from a close friend, the dolls, side by side in a glass case, had been part of the family for all those...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Oct 15, 2006

Abe might not have Koizumi's hair and flair, but he's got a girl

During the recently closed Koizumi Era, the media was mostly silent about the former prime minister's marital status and lack of female companionship.
EDITORIALS
Oct 15, 2006

Backing off the merge lane

Talks between General Motors Corp., on one hand, and Nissan Motor Co. and Renault SA, on the other, concerning a three-way alliance have collapsed, as the U.S. automaker couldn't find a good enough reason to form such an alliance. The unanimous decision by GM's board to reject the alliance appears to...
CULTURE / Books
Oct 15, 2006

The first steps to rapprochement

JAPAN'S FOREIGN POLICY 1945-2003: The Quest for a Proactive Policy, by Kazuhiko Togo. Leiden: Brill Academic, 2005, 484 pp., $49 (paper). Kazuhiko Togo, one of Japan's leading strategic thinkers about foreign policy, wrote an article in the June issue of Far Eastern Economic Review calling for a moratorium...
Japan Times
LIFE / WEEK 3
Oct 15, 2006

Top trimmer styles two leaders in a row

Japan's new prime minister, Shinzo Abe, has declared he will continue his predecessor's reform policies. That's hardly a surprise, as Abe was Chief Cabinet Secretary under former leader Junichiro Koizumi, and before that was secretary general of the Liberal Democratic Party when Koizumi was its president....
Japan Times
LIFE / WEEK 3
Oct 15, 2006

Intimacy crusader strives to rekindle Japan's fires of marital passion

At first glance, 46-year-old Mayumi Futamatsu looks like a regular housewife. But as someone who's "seen both heaven and hell" in her two marriages, she's a woman with a mission to help all women to be happy -- through having better sex lives.
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Oct 15, 2006

Article of faith draws ire at the highest level

I wish to report a miracle.
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Oct 15, 2006

Fuji's "Boku no Aruku Michi," TBS's "Kiraware Matsuko no Issho" and more

Japanese television gets around to the difficult subject of autism in the new drama series "Boku no Aruku Michi" (The Road I Walk; Fuji, Tuesday, 10:15 p.m.). SMAP member Tsuyoshi Kusanagi plays Te-ruaki, an autistic 31-year-old man whose emotional development is that of a 10-year-old boy. Teruaki lives...
SOCCER / PREMIER REPORT
Oct 14, 2006

McClaren, Venables must regroup after fiasco in Zagreb

LONDON -- To the surprise, it seems, of nobody except the England coaching team the switch from 4-4-2 to 3-5-2 in Croatia was a shambles.
SUMO
Oct 14, 2006

Haircuts, sumo stars and amateurs in Osaka

Autumn is a time of change for the Japanese. Summer clothes are put away and sightings of thicker, woollier garments become increasingly common. The mercury encounters a daily struggle to stay first above 20 degrees then above 10, and the country collectively takes its foot off the pedal.
SPORTS / SPORTS SCOPE
Oct 14, 2006

Baseball scribe breaks down exciting Pa League second stage

SAPPORO -- Here is a look back at the second-stage Pacific League playoffs, in which the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters swept the Fukuoka Softbank Hawks in two games, winning the series 3-0 under the PL postseason's new format, which gives the No. 1 seed a one-game advantage before the series begins.
COMMENTARY
Oct 14, 2006

Get tough with Pyongyang

HONOLULU -- Virtually every statement issued in response to North Korea's apparent first-ever nuclear-weapons test has included an admonition (or plea) for Pyongyang to return to the moribund six-party talks. But, are all parties prepared to take "yes" for an answer?
BUSINESS
Oct 14, 2006

Retailer Aeon gets Daiei rehab mandate

Daiei Inc. and its biggest shareholder, Marubeni Corp., said Friday they have picked Aeon Co., the nation's largest supermarket chain, to gather capital and organize business alliances to rehabilitate the struggling supermarket operator.
BUSINESS
Oct 14, 2006

JAL takes on communication woes in struggle to win back customers

How does a company recover from a sullied reputation?
BUSINESS
Oct 14, 2006

Nuke test casts cloud over markets: Fukui

The nuclear test North Korea claimed it conducted Monday will negatively effect Japan's economy, Bank of Japan Gov. Toshihiko Fukui said Friday.
EDITORIALS
Oct 14, 2006

The darkness in Russia

Three recent killings in Russia raise troubling questions about the rule of law in that country. The three incidents are not linked but that is not to say they are random killings: Investigations of the murders will probe the same murky corners where political and economic influence intersect. The realization...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / PERSONALITY PROFILE
Oct 14, 2006

Tetsuya Noda

The College Women's Association of Japan is holding its 51st Annual Print Show Oct. 20 to 22 at the Tokyo American Club. As well as exhibiting 211 new prints, the show features demonstrations, activities and lectures, and an associate show focusing on two young prize-winning women.

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