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JAPAN
Jul 25, 2006

Japan, Indonesia hold disaster talks

Indonesia and Japan on Monday held their second meeting of a joint committee on improving Indonesia's disaster management and establishing a tsunami early warning system.
JAPAN
Jul 25, 2006

Gold-selling binge defies oil, Middle East uncertainties

possessions," said Hidekazu Yamada, a gold adviser at the firm's head office in Tokyo's Ginza. An official in charge of precious metal sales at Mitsubishi Materials Corp. said sales have been increasing conspicuously since October.
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
Jul 25, 2006

Renting and dual nationality

In Japan, "truth" is often a very nebulous concept. A "situational ethics" approach to life here directly affects law and gives birth to the "don't ask, don't tell" attitude, which is pervasive in Japan.
COMMENTARY
Jul 25, 2006

Fitting memorial for war dead

With the governing Liberal Democratic Party set to elect its new leader in September -- when Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi step downs as LDP president (and hence as prime minister) some LDP lawmakers are proposing ways to solve the ongoing row over Koizumi's repeated visits to Yasukuni Shrine. Visits...
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design
Jul 25, 2006

Mobile Mouse, National lawn mower, Tsubomi's space packaging system, SUTTO Stool

With the weather about to get the better of us as we move into the hottest month of the year, why not try to find some solace in a few items to help us make the most of the great outdoors. For those on the go or hanging out in their backyard (that is, those of us lucky enough to actually have one) this...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / VIEWS FROM THE STREET
Jul 25, 2006

Would you like to have children?

Satoko Woolala Graphic designer, 39 Even if I were heterosexual, I wouldn't want to have children. Japanese law only takes care of heterosexual families. Same-sex partners can make private contracts, but don't both have legal rights to their children.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle
Jul 25, 2006

Soaking in the urban onsen scene

Taking a nice, long, hot bath has for eras been an ideal way to unwind, whether it is a soak crammed in the tub at home after a hard day's work, a trip to the local sento (public bath) for a leisurely scrub-down or a weekend getaway to the countryside in pursuit of hot springs and the healing powers...
LIFE / Language
Jul 25, 2006

When muzukashii means more than 'difficult'

I wish I had a share of Google stock for every time I have heard a Japanese person tell me that their language is "aimai na gengo (an ambiguous language)." How did this bizarre notion originate, and why do many Japanese entertain it? And what's more, can a language itself be ambiguous, apart from the...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Jul 25, 2006

Lesbian mothers' twin tasks

Motherhood can be daunting under even the best of circumstances, but, as a lesbian, considering starting a family brings with it a whole new set of difficulties.
JAPAN
Jul 25, 2006

JCP paper marks 20,000th issue since '28

The Japanese Communist Party's newspaper reached its 20,000th issue Sunday since its launch in February 1928, despite many obstacles over the past 78 years.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WORDS TO LIVE BY
Jul 25, 2006

Mariko Sakaida

Mariko Sakaida, 33, is a supermarket cashier in Tokyo and the 2003 Best Checker Concours champion, a title she competed for with about 2,000 of the Kanto region's other checkout aces. She won hands-down with polished greetings, flawless scanning, speedy and accurate cashing, and artful packing. She also...
JAPAN
Jul 25, 2006

Hospitals took in over 100 kids for neglect; figure on low side

More than 100 children were hospitalized because of neglect by parents and legal guardians in 2005, but that is likely just the tip of the iceberg, according to a Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry study released Monday.
JAPAN
Jul 25, 2006

Human rights bill may get another try

Justice Minister Seiken Sugiura said Monday that a controversial provision on regulating media coverage in a human rights protection bill may be revised or deleted before submitting the once-killed bill to the Diet next year.
EDITORIALS
Jul 25, 2006

Safe storage for nuclear waste

Nuclear energy is making a comeback. In Northeast Asia, nuclear power has long been a staple of national energy policy. But the rest of the world has suffered from a nuclear allergy mostly as the result of the fear of environmental disasters, such as the 1986 Chernobyl accident. Today, the twin specters...
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
Jul 24, 2006

Fujimoto leads CL to sweep

MIYAZAKI -- There's power in the bottom of the lineup, especially in an All-Star game.
SPORTS / SPORTS SCOPE
Jul 24, 2006

Kyushu showers let up long enough for All-Stars to play ball

MIYAZAKI -- Kyushu, what a boulevard of broken sweat.
JAPAN
Jul 24, 2006

More GSDF troops back from Iraq

The second batch of the last troops that were in Iraq arrived Sunday at Haneda airport in Tokyo aboard a chartered private aircraft.
JAPAN
Jul 24, 2006

Inspectors back; U.S. beef imports to resume

A government team that spent about a month inspecting 35 meatpacking plants in the United States returned to Japan on Sunday.
COMMENTARY
Jul 24, 2006

Pyongyang opts for isolation

Never had security over the Korean Peninsula attracted so much international attention until the United Nations Security Council voted unanimously July 15 for a resolution denouncing North Korea's ballistic-missile tests. Two days later, the Group of Eight summit held in St. Petersburg, Russia, issued...
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 24, 2006

Tories need to do more than pick on EU

BRUSSELS -- All the focus groups in Britain demonstrate that people do not care about Europe. Or at least they certainly don't treat it as a priority. The economy, health and education, as well as quality of life and security issues, con- sistently rate higher. Yet David Cameron's Tories are still falling...
JAPAN
Jul 24, 2006

91% of local leaders fear their cities won't survive

Ninety-one percent of local government heads are concerned about the survival of their entities amid the aging society and shortages of fiscal funds, according to a survey released Sunday.

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