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JAPAN
Jul 28, 2006

Tokyo school to get nationalists' civics text

The Tokyo metropolitan board of education said Thursday it will put a junior high school civics textbook authored by nationalists in one of its schools in the next academic year, metro officials said.
JAPAN
Jul 28, 2006

JCJ awards Tokyo Shimbun for stories on conspiracy bill

The Japan Congress of Journalists said Thursday it will award its grand prize this year to Tokyo Shimbun for its investigative report on crimes of conspiracy.
COMMENTARY
Jul 28, 2006

North Korea's waning respect for China

HONG KONG -- Strange as it may seem, there was an unofficial American group in Pyongyang on July 5, when North Korea conducted a series of missile tests. Stranger still is that a key North Korean official spoke to them quite frankly about what he thought of China, ostensibly Pyongyang's ally.
BUSINESS
Jul 28, 2006

U.S. beef coming soon; consumers skeptical

Thursday's decision by the government to resume beef imports from the United States is drawing a mixed response from consumers.
JAPAN
Jul 28, 2006

Telescope sees gas clouds that dwarf the Milky Way

Japan's huge Subaru telescope in Hawaii has spotted and captured the images of huge masses of molecular gas, each larger than the Milky Way galaxy, the National Astronomic Observatory of Japan said Thursday.
Japan Times
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Jul 28, 2006

Oxford University students stage Shakespeare comedy

Oxford University Dramatic Society (OUDS) will arrive in Tokyo on Aug. 12-13 to perform William Shakespeare's "Love's Labour's Lost," described by the society as a "witty battle of the sexes" containing "verbal sparring and love-struck flirtation."
Japan Times
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Jul 28, 2006

'World Ballet Festival'

The triennial "World Ballet Festival" celebrates its 30th anniversary this year, bringing dancers from all over the world to Tokyo Bunka Kaikan from July 29-Aug. 17 to perform both classical pieces and newly commissioned short works getting their world premiere.
Japan Times
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Jul 28, 2006

Get mashed!

RICHARD SMART
JAPAN
Jul 28, 2006

Mizutani faces fresh charge over tax evasion in '04

Tokyo prosecutors may soon file another charge against a former chairman of Mizutani Kensetsu Co. for suspected corporate tax evasion in the business year to August 2004, investigative sources said.
CULTURE / Music
Jul 28, 2006

Jurassic 5 "Feedback"

"I refuse to bust gats and water down my raps," rhymes Akil on "Where We At," addressing Jurassic 5's detractors. His words will likely fall on deaf ears. Those disappointed by the lack of tired references to cash, drugs and violence of J5's past work won't be embracing their third full-length "Feedback."...
JAPAN
Jul 28, 2006

Missile defense plans have their skeptics

North Korea has become Japan's main security concern in the post-Cold War era, as underscored by Pyongyang's July 5 test-firing of seven ballistic missiles into the Sea of Japan.
BUSINESS
Jul 28, 2006

Toshiba to pay ¥87 million to settle suit

Electronics giant Toshiba Corp. agreed Thursday to pay 87 million yen to a former engineer to settle a lawsuit before the Tokyo District Court in which he sought some 1 billion yen from the royalties made from patents on his flash memory invention.
BUSINESS
Jul 28, 2006

Loan rate cap in works

An advisory panel at the Financial Services Agency will draw up by late August proposals on lowering the ceiling on interest rates on consumer loans and dealing with the problem of heavily indebted borrowers, agency officials said Thursday.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Jul 28, 2006

Window on the West

It's hard not to feel well disposed toward a place like Nagasaki even before you set foot in it. Nagasaki was, after all, the port in western Kyushu that had to bear the torturous brunt of the anti-Christian persecutions assiduously pursued by the Tokugawa shoguns in the 17th century. And had it not...
BUSINESS
Jul 28, 2006

'Safe' U.S. beef gets green light to enter Japan

The government on Thursday approved the resumption of U.S. beef imports, saying it will check all incoming shipments "for the time being" to make sure high-risk materials are being properly removed.
JAPAN
Jul 28, 2006

Small-scale funerals on the increase

The second-floor unit in Kodaira, western Tokyo, at first glance may look like an overly large apartment, with its sofas, large TV, video player, kitchen, bathroom and tatami room, but it is actually a small-scale funeral hall.
BUSINESS
Jul 28, 2006

NEC returns to profitable quarter

NEC Corp. said Thursday it climbed back into the black in the April-June first quarter of the current fiscal year due to increased sales and cost reductions.
EDITORIALS
Jul 28, 2006

The endgame in Lebanon

It has been more than two weeks since Hezbollah launched a raid on Israel that prompted a brutal Israel response and appears to have triggered what can only be called a war. The international community has sharply criticized the combatants, but has done little more than protest. There is talk of inserting...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / BEST BAR NONE
Jul 28, 2006

Endorphin II gets the juices flowing

As any decent dictionary published after 1980 will tell you, an endorphin is "any of a group of peptide hormones that bind to opiate receptors and are found mainly in the brain. Endorphins reduce the sensation of pain and affect emotions." In other words, they make you feel good.
CULTURE / Music
Jul 28, 2006

Peaches "Impeach My Bush"

The title is an eye-catcher, promising all manner of saucy-yet-savvy postfeminist fun, but be warned: Far from the liberal alien sex-prophetess of your dreams, Peaches is actually your embarrassing uncle who visits every Christmas. You chuckle at his "leg or breast" gag while dad's carving the turkey,...
BUSINESS
Jul 28, 2006

MHI wins key LNG tank deal in U.S.

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. said Thursday its U.S. subsidiary and a partner have won a contract to build two liquefied natural gas storage tanks for Sabine Pass LNG L.P., a subsidiary of Houston-based Cheniere Energy Inc.
JAPAN
Jul 28, 2006

Trio charged in kidnapping of noted face-lifter's daughter

Three men were indicted Thursday for the June 26 kidnapping Kanako Ikeda, a 21-year-old university student who is the daughter of well-known cosmetic surgeon Yuko Ikeda, prosecutors said.
Japan Times
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Jul 28, 2006

Celebrate jazz, hip-hop near Fuji

Amid the deluge of high-profile rock festivals this summer are some more idiosyncratic events boasting eclectic lineups in unusual settings. So for every "Summer Sonic" featuring big-selling rock acts from abroad in an urban setting, there is a festival like "True People's Celebration 2006," organized...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jul 28, 2006

Los Van Van

MICHAEL PRONKO
CULTURE / Film
Jul 28, 2006

Breaking teeth on 'Hard Candy'

Thonggrrrl, 14, could just be the girl of Lensman's dreams. She's sexy, she's witty, she's currently reading the autobiography of Jean Seberg and making all kinds of intelligent comments. And she's all of 14 years old.

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