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JAPAN
Aug 6, 2006

Big subsidies eyed for towns interested in nuclear dump

The energy agency is planning a sharp increase in subsidies for local governments willing to host a storage site for highly radioactive nuclear waste, government sources said Saturday.
EDITORIALS
Aug 6, 2006

Club can't shake its fatal attraction

As the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki this week mark the 61st anniversary of the first atomic bombings in human history, the world faces the likelihood of the further spread of nuclear weapons. The atomic bombing of Hiroshima on Aug. 6, 1945, and of Nagasaki, three days later, caused the immediate...
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Aug 6, 2006

Many happy returns to my Tokyo village past and present

As readers of this column last week may recall, I wrote there about a period in the early 1980s when my wife and I lived in the western Tokyo suburb of Soshigaya in Setagaya Ward. Three of our four children were born in the local hospital, and we have only the fondest memories of the old neighborhood....
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / CLOSE-UP
Aug 6, 2006

Shu Uemura: A life in pursuit of beauty

Hailing from a conservative family of businessmen and bankers, as a young man in occupied Japan, Shu Uemura dreamed of becoming an actor. But, fearing that his weak constitution would hamper his chances of success, he instead enrolled at Tokyo Beauty Academy -- the only man in a class of 130.
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Aug 6, 2006

Superstar spituralist in Fuji's "SMAP X SMAP" and more

Superstar spiritualist Hiroyuki Ehara is the special guest this week on "SMAP X SMAP" (Fuji, Monday, 10 p.m.). The boy band will host him in the SMAP Bistro, where he orders "spiritual potato cuisine," saying that the lowly spud is "spiritual food" since it "boils up human energy," whatever that means....
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Aug 6, 2006

Japan's baroque theater

KABUKI: Baroque Fusion of the Arts, by Toshio Kawatake, translated by Frank and Jean Connell Hoff. I-House Press, 2006, 358 pp. with 78 illustrations, 1,905 yen (paper). This is the new enlarged and revised edition of an important book on the Kabuki, originally published by the University of Tokyo Press...
JAPAN / Politics
Aug 6, 2006

Tojo: Yasukuni solely for those killed in war

Wartime Prime Minister Gen. Hideki Tojo gave orders in a secret document that Yasukuni Shrine should honor only those who are killed in battle, according to the document made available Saturday.
CULTURE / Books
Aug 6, 2006

A blue mood for poetry

POEMS OF DAYS PAST / ARISHI HI NO UTA, by Nakahara Chuya, translations by Ry Beville. The American Book Company, 2005, 81 pp., $19.99 (paper). RIGHT EYE IN TWILIGHT / MIGI-ME NO BYAKUYA, by Ban'ya Natsuishi, translations by Ban'ya Natsuishi & Jack Galmitz. Wasteland Press, 2006, 58 pp., $12 (paper). Both...
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Aug 6, 2006

Welfare's not fair when it comes to single mothers

In show business, you can't look as if you made up your own labels. Only someone as big as Michael Jackson gets away with calling himself the King of Pop.
MORE SPORTS
Aug 5, 2006

Terauchi, Nakagawa take honors

Ken Terauchi outclassed the field to win the men's 1-meter springboard and claim his first title in two years at the diving national championships in Tokyo on Friday.
SOCCER
Aug 5, 2006

Osim picks baker's dozen for friendly

Ivica Osim has picked a provisional 13-man squad for next week's friendly against Trinidad and Tobago.
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
Aug 5, 2006

Iwamura leads home run fest for Swallows

Akinori Iwamura hit two of the Yakult Swallows' five home runs in a 9-7 victory over the Central League-leading Chunichi Dragons on Friday.
JAPAN
Aug 5, 2006

Student wins with patriotic speech

Satoko Okutani, a sophomore at Shoei Girls' High School in Tokyo, took first prize Friday in an English-language speech contest sponsored by Asia University, in which she urged Japanese to love their country more.
JAPAN
Aug 5, 2006

Change set for Iraq deployment

The Cabinet said Friday it will revise the basic plan for deployment of the Self-Defense Forces to Iraq following the recent withdrawal of troops from the country.
JAPAN
Aug 5, 2006

Kitagawa to visit Oz for tourism talks

The land, infrastructure and transport minister will visit Australia for four days from Tuesday for talks on expanding two-way tourism, the ministry announced Friday.
JAPAN
Aug 5, 2006

75% worry about crimes against kids: poll

Three out of four respondents to a government survey said they were worried about crimes against children, the Cabinet Office said Thursday.
JAPAN
Aug 5, 2006

Hashimoto funeral to be Tuesday

About 200 people, including former South Korean President Kim Young Sam and official representatives from 19 countries, will attend the Tuesday funeral of former Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto, Foreign Ministry officials said Friday.
JAPAN
Aug 5, 2006

Ministry reviews heater alterations

The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry said Friday there have been no carbon monoxide poisoning accidents caused by alterations to safety devices of gas water heaters made by makers other than Paloma Industries Ltd.
EDITORIALS
Aug 5, 2006

Pursue cautious defense policy

This year's government white paper on defense touches on North Korea's missile tests, closer security cooperation between Japan and the United States, and proposals to upgrade the Defense Agency to ministry status and expand the Self-Defense Forces' overseas activities, among other things.
JAPAN
Aug 5, 2006

Japan's zeal for eel translates into a drastic decline in supply

. The decrease in the number of eels in Europe is believed to be strongly related to the huge consumption of eel in Japan. Large numbers of eels caught in Europe have been imported here through China since the late 1990s.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 5, 2006

Bringing peace to Lebanon

As Israel encounters stiffer than expected resistance to its attacks in Lebanon, and world outrage and condemnation of the mounting human toll rises, calls grow for a ceasefire followed by the deployment of a fresh peacekeeping force. The nature and prospects of a new mission will depend crucially on...
JAPAN
Aug 5, 2006

Defense Agency hits 17 for drugs

The Defense Agency reprimanded 1,325 members for misconduct in fiscal 2005, up 39 from the prior year, including a record 17 for illegal drug use, according to data released last week by the agency.

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