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Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / PERSONALITY PROFILE
Feb 18, 2006

Mami Yamada

In the last five years, Mami Yamada has published seven books. Her scope encompasses original novels, one of which describes ancient links between Jewish people and the Japanese, and another of which is set against a Buddhist background.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST
Feb 18, 2006

Winesburg, Japan, and the will of God

Sherwood Anderson once charmed America with a collection of short stories focused on the fictional town of Winesburg, Ohio. The stories portrayed normal people in the normal agony of their normal lives, tales that made Winesburg a hometown for everyone. One story in particular told of a modest clergyman...
OLYMPICS
Feb 17, 2006

Olympic opposition a different class, says Narita

Domu Narita admitted Japan's snowboarders still have a long way to go before they can hope to seriously challenge the world's top riders after returning home empty-handed from the Winter Olympics on Thursday.
OLYMPICS
Feb 17, 2006

Medals become talking point

TURIN, Italy Some folks think it looks like a doughnut. Others see a bagel. Or a giant Life Saver, or a compact disc. An Austrian Olympian used it as an eye patch.
SOCCER
Feb 17, 2006

J. League champion to play in Club World Cup

Soccer's world governing body FIFA on Thursday gave the green light for this season's Japanese club champion to play at the Club World Cup in Japan in December.
EDITORIALS
Feb 17, 2006

Numbers to grow by

With Japan's economy following a recovery path, how fast it should grow in coming years is a subject of vigorous debate in the government and the ruling parties. The debate, however, is being conducted largely in numerical terms, with the focus on how to set target levels for nominal growth rates (excluding...
JAPAN
Feb 17, 2006

Kobe airport opens amid hope

KOBE -- In what its supporters hope is not an ill omen, Kobe's new airport opened in fog early Thursday morning.
JAPAN
Feb 17, 2006

Number of juvenile felons dropped 8.3% in 2005

2005 saw an 8.3 percent decline in the number of people age 14 to 19 identified as suspects in murders, robberies and other Penal Code offenses from a year earlier to 123,715, the National Police Agency said Thursday.
JAPAN
Feb 17, 2006

Tax return season begins

Taxpayers began filing 2005 income tax returns Thursday at 524 regional tax offices across the country.
JAPAN
Feb 17, 2006

Ex-liquor union exec arrested

Police arrested a former official of a liquor retailer union Thursday on suspicion of damaging the group by losing most of the 14.4 billion yen in pension funds that had been invested in foreign bonds, sources said Thursday.
JAPAN
Feb 17, 2006

Trading houses join effort to boost economies of regional communities

Trading houses are teaming up with local governments to foster homegrown industries that could revitalize small cities and towns.
JAPAN
Feb 17, 2006

Horie bought Takebe poll backing: DPJ

Opposition lawmaker Hisayasu Nagata dropped a political bombshell Thursday in the Diet, claiming Livedoor Co. founder Takafumi Horie sent an internal e-mail before the Sept. 11 election directing his staff to pay 30 million yen to the son of Liberal Democratic Party Secretary General Tsutomu Takebe....
JAPAN
Feb 17, 2006

Spike in postal remittances to North Korea scrutinized

Japan has seen a sharp increase in the number of postal remittances to North Korea in recent years, an opposition lawmaker said Thursday.
JAPAN
Feb 17, 2006

Rape victim vs. 'wall of bureaucracy'

In the early hours of an April day in 2002, an Australian woman claims she was raped by a U.S. sailor inside her van in a parking lot in Yokosuka, Kanagawa Prefecture.
BUSINESS
Feb 17, 2006

Brokerage business helps lift Rakuten's profit 2.3-fold

Online shopping mall operator Rakuten Inc. reported Thursday 2.3-fold growth in its operating profit for calendar 2005 to 34.89 billion yen, buoyed by its stock brokerage business.
JAPAN
Feb 17, 2006

Huser enters bankruptcy procedures

The Tokyo District Court began court-led bankruptcy procedures Thursday for condominium developer Huser Ltd., court officials said.
JAPAN
Feb 17, 2006

Koreans pressed into war service deserve redress as planned: group

The government should pay its long-owed obligations to Koreans pressed into military service or labor as stipulated in documents it drew up before 1965, said a citizens' group pushing the state to accept responsibility for its colonial rule of the peninsula.
BUSINESS
Feb 17, 2006

State eyes selling prime property

Surrounded by Izumi Garden Tower, the Saudi Arabian Embassy and luxury condominium complexes in Tokyo's Roppongi district, an ugly old apartment block stands.
BUSINESS
Feb 17, 2006

Part-timers eyed for pension payments

The Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry told the Japan Chamber of Commerce and Industry on Thursday that it wants to make part-time workers enroll in corporate pension funds.

Longform

Mount Fuji is considered one of Japan's most iconic symbols and is a major draw for tourists. It's still a mountain, though, and potential hikers need to properly prepare for any climb.
What it takes to save lives on Mount Fuji