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JAPAN
Jul 16, 2006

16 FCCJ members to visit islets

Sixteen members of the Foreign Correspondents' Club of Japan have signed up to visit later this month a pair of South Korean-controlled islets claimed by Tokyo, according to sources.
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Jul 16, 2006

AFN changes may augur trends for other sports media

Recent news items indicate big changes are coming for the traditional form of broadcasting baseball games in Japan and the end of the line for baseball -- and other sports -- on Armed Forces Network radio in our world of high-tech, satellite and cable communications.
EDITORIALS
Jul 16, 2006

Escalation need not be inevitable

The sickening downward spiral of violence in the Middle East continues. Last week, Hezbollah, the militant Shiite Muslim group, opened a second front against Israel by launching a border attack from southern Lebanon. The action appeared to copy an earlier raid by Palestinians from the Gaza Strip.
JAPAN
Jul 16, 2006

Pro-N. Korean schools, students harassed over missiles

Students and teachers attending pro-North Korean schools in Japan have received dozens of threatening phone calls and letters -- and in some cases have been physically assaulted -- since Pyongyang test-fired a barrage of missiles, a teachers federation said.
Japan Times
LIFE / WEEK 3
Jul 16, 2006

Up close . . . and virtually personal

When the Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan characters fell in love via the virtual world of Web chat in the 1998 movie "You've Got Mail," it seemed a classic case of something that could only happen in the movies, not in the real world.
COMMENTARY
Jul 16, 2006

Soft target needs an antiterror strategy

NEW DELHI -- The grisly July 11 Bombay train bombings, the latest in a series of major terrorist attacks in India, are a reminder that the country needs to move from hand-wringing to a credible counterterror strategy against jihadist groups.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 16, 2006

Tragic exit no match for Zidane's legacy

PARIS -- "Those who the gods may destroy are granted their wishes.''
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Jul 16, 2006

And now for some good news -- on tap for everyone

We have become so used to environmental portents that whenever we hear good news we blink in disbelief, so blink away: It appears that the various concerted efforts to get people in Japan to save water has paid off.
CULTURE / Books
Jul 16, 2006

Vietvets come in from the cold war

THE LAST ASSASSIN by Barry Eisler. G.P. Putnam's Sons, 2006, 334 pp., $24.95 (cloth). WHITE TIGER by Michael Allen Dymmoch. St. Martin's Minotaur, 2005, 308 pp., $24.95 (cloth). THE TUNNEL RATS by Stephen Leather. Hodder and Stoughton, 2005, 501 pp., £6.99 (paper). John Rain, Barry Eisler's American-Japanese...
JAPAN
Jul 16, 2006

'Swimming pool fever' cases hitting in large numbers

A fever that primarily hits toddlers sharing swimming pools is sweeping across Japan, according to the National Institute of Infectious Diseases.
CULTURE / Books
Jul 16, 2006

The difference gaman can make

THE ART OF GAMAN: Arts and Crafts From the Japanese American Internment Camps 1942-1946, by Delphine Hirasuna. Berkeley/Toronto: Ten Speed Press, 125 pp., 2005, $35 (cloth). In Japanese, the word "gaman" means the display of calm forbearance and poise in the face of adverse circumstances beyond one's...
CULTURE / Books
Jul 16, 2006

Adventures in Gerontology

THE OKINAWA DIET PLAN by Bradley J. Willcox, D. Craig Willcox and Makoto Suzuki. Three Rivers Press, 2005, 432 pp., $14.95/2,300 yen (paper). In works like "Awakenings" and "The Island of the Color Blind," neurologist Oliver Sacks showed how serious medical subjects could, in the right hands, be turned...
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Jul 16, 2006

Fractured families bode ill for Japan's gray army

The late actor Kiyoshi Atsumi, who played Tora-san in all of the movies with that title, was a compassionate man of the old Japanese school.
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Jul 16, 2006

Umi no Hi special: NTV's "Seimei no Umi — Chi-kyu Judan and more

July 17 is a national holiday -- Umi no Hi, or Day of the Sea. Ostensibly, it commemorates a famous day when the Emperor Meiji returned from an extended sojourn in northern Japan to the Port of Yokohama, and is meant to instill appreciation for the sea's bounty. However, it was established as a national...
Japan Times
LIFE / WEEK 3
Jul 16, 2006

Hair today, gone tomorrow

"Does that hurt?" asks the doctor. "Err, not really," say I. "Right, turn it up to 40," she tells the technician. Then it does kind of start to hurt. It feels as though somebody is firing a tiny laser beam into my cheek. Indeed, that is exactly what is happening.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Jul 16, 2006

For Fumiko Hayashi, not every cloud has a silver lining

FLOATING CLOUDS by Fumiko Hayashi, translated by Lane Dunlop. New York: Columbia University Press, 2006, 328 pp., $27.50 (cloth). Toward the end of her life Fumiko Hayashi (1903-1951) said that she did not think her work would outlive her. Happily, she was quite wrong: She remains one of Japan's most...
Japan Times
LIFE / WEEK 3
Jul 16, 2006

Dental 'charm school' puts bite on competition

The Omori Group is a booming dentistry franchise company that doubled its sales to 1.07 billion yen last year and now aims to double them again to 2 billion yen this year.
SOCCER / J. League
Jul 15, 2006

Osim to sign deal as Japan coach

JEF United Chiba manager Ivica Osim will sign a contract with the Japan Football Association on July 21 to take the post of national coach, JFA President Saburo Kawabuchi said Friday.
BASKETBALL
Jul 15, 2006

Japan to face Iran at Kirin Cup

announced Thursday that the Japan national team's opponent has fallen changed from Lebanon to Iran in the Kirin Cup Basketball 2006 from July 19-22. Lebanon pulled out of the tournament because its team activities have been behind. Beirut, Lebanon's capital city, has been under attack by Israeli forces...
MORE SPORTS
Jul 15, 2006

Kawashima to fight for WBC title

Japanese former WBC super flyweight champion Katsushige Kawashima will meet Mexican southpaw Cristian Mijares for the interim title on Sept. 18 at Pacifico Yokohama, boxing organizers said Friday.
JAPAN
Jul 15, 2006

G8 statement will demand a freeze in North Korean missile launches

The Group of Eight meeting of major industrialized countries will issue a statement at their summit this weekend in St. Petersburg, Russia, expressing concern over North Korea's missile tests and demanding Pyongyang halt further launches, a government source said Friday.
JAPAN
Jul 15, 2006

Space-bound ex-Livedoor exec 'Dice -K' hit for huge tax dodge

Daisuke "Dice-K" Enomoto, a former executive of Livedoor Co. who has been training to become the first Japanese space tourist, is suspected of failing to declare some 3 billion yen in income from stock deals, sources said Friday.
JAPAN
Jul 15, 2006

Paloma water heaters killing since '85

Water heaters manufactured by Paloma Ltd. have caused 17 cases of carbon monoxide poisoning resulting in 15 deaths between 1985 and 2005, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry said Friday.
JAPAN
Jul 15, 2006

Tokyo, Canberra to do pension deal

Japan and Australia have agreed to sign a pension treaty so expatriates from the two nations will no longer have to make double pension payments, Health, Labor and Welfare Minister Jiro Kawasaki said Friday.
JAPAN
Jul 15, 2006

Horie's next feat: trans-Pacific trip via wave power

Adventurer Kenichi Horie said Thursday he will embark on a two-month voyage in March 2008 from Hawaii to the Kii Channel in southwestern Japan in what would be the first attempt in the world to sail a boat propelled by waves.

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