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Dec 22, 2004

230 people killed or missing in natural disasters in 2004

At least 230 people were killed or remain missing and presumed dead in typhoons, rainstorms and other natural disasters in 2004, according to a government report released Tuesday.
JAPAN
Dec 21, 2004

Salsa fanatics defy rigid Japan

A pulsating mambo fills the air at a cavernous club near Tokyo Bay. "Ayyy-esssooo!" the song calls in exhortation as a sea of dancers -- sweaty, skin bared, clothes clinging -- roll their hips and hurtle into turns with increasing abandon.
BUSINESS
Dec 21, 2004

Shinsei Bank sees first-half group net profit rise 20%

Shinsei Bank said Monday its first-half group net profit jumped 19.8 percent from a year earlier thanks to brisk business in both institutional and retail banking.
COMMENTARY
Dec 20, 2004

Weigh antiterror measures

LONDON -- British Prime Minister Tony Blair and Home Secretary David Blunkett (who resigned last week) have been doing their utmost to alert the British people to the terrorist threat. This is seen by some as a cynical attempt to divert criticism of government support for the Americans in Iraq and to...
Japan Times
Features / WEEK 3
Dec 19, 2004

PM's barber keeps 'Beethoven' top of the locks

Tadashi Muragi is a 46-year-old Tokyo hairdresser with a 22-year career of scissor wielding already behind him. Clad in a clean white barber suit at his classically styled, five-seat shop, Muragi may look little different from others of his professional ilk -- though the fact that he is tonsorially responsible...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Dec 19, 2004

Final warning: The horror of horrors medical TV show

The medical industry has become as scary as the diseases it treats. On Dec. 10, the government released a list of 7,000 medical institutions nationwide that handled tainted blood products before 1994, and on the same day a judge ordered the Tokyo Medical University Hospital to preserve evidence related...
JAPAN
Dec 18, 2004

Japan's sky marshals begin work without captains' nod

Japan began deploying sky marshals Thursday on board commercial flights to deter hijacking and terrorist attacks, according to sources.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Dec 18, 2004

'Hands Across Water' spreads inclusion message

With a 30-room house sitting amid 12 hectares in northern England, artist-activist Scott Baron lives up to his name. Now his signature custom-made black fedora has gone missing, and he has to make one last trip to Kiba, in Tokyo, before leaving Japan. "It's in station lost property, rather the worse...
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design / COUNTER CULTURE
Dec 17, 2004

Delicatessens delight Tokyo

Everyone hankers after a little luxury in their life and in food-fixated Japan the latest in retail therapy is splashing out on fancy imported snacks or take-home dishes prepared by expert chefs.
EDITORIALS
Dec 17, 2004

Better ways to share tax money

Local governments in Japan, like the central government, are heavily in debt. The deficit problem is adding to difficulties in budget talks between the Finance and Internal Affairs ministries. The key question is how much national tax revenue should be transferred to local administrations in fiscal 2005....
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Dec 17, 2004

Raising a glass to the Food File's faves

The goose is getting fat and so too is your humble correspondent, after another year of gobbling his way through some of the best dining that Tokyo has to offer -- not to mention a sizable dollop of the mediocre and worse. But it's not just gluttony that keeps the Food File going, nor merely devotion...
LIFE / Lifestyle / MATTER OF COURSE
Dec 16, 2004

Reflections on rich learnings we all shared

When I began writing this column, I thought it would be a one-year gig. My editors thought so too. But things went well, and for nearly four years now I've reported in this space about my children's experiences in Japanese school.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Dec 15, 2004

Director falters and then triumphs

Few names resonate more powerfully in the world of theater than that of Hamlet, Shakespeare's youthful Prince of Denmark. In whatever language, somewhere in the world right now, an actor is likely embarking on that famously challenging soliloquy beginning "To be or not to be . . ."
BASEBALL / MLB
Dec 15, 2004

Nagashima's son named adviser

The Yomiuri Giants said Tuesday they have named Kazushige Nagashima, son of former manager and star player Shigeo Nagashima, as a special adviser for the team.
JAPAN
Dec 14, 2004

Disaster broadcasts via cell phone eyed

More than a year has passed since terrestrial digital broadcasting services began a new TV era in Japan, with the services spreading to rural prefectures.
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Dec 14, 2004

Right side of the law

Sacked without notice I was working for an English-language school in Tokyo and got fired without any notice at all. My one-year contract doesn't expire for four more months. Can they do that?
LIFE / Travel
Dec 14, 2004

Mongolia: Land of yesterday and tomorrow

ULAN BATOR Mongolia has been called "one of the last unspoiled travel destinations in Asia," and, indeed, the traveler feels not only in another country but in another century.
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Dec 12, 2004

Nihon TV's "Sekai wo Kakeru Hiro-tachi" and more

The aura surrounding people who become successful abroad is perhaps more pronounced in Japan than in other countries. There's a sense that the cultural gulf separating Japan from the rest of the world is deeper and more difficult to cross, so when someone does it successfully it seems more impressive....
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Dec 12, 2004

Lord Shrimp gets deep-fried over New Year's special

While surfing for coverage of the most recent NHK scandal on commercial television, I naturally had my radar tuned for expressions of schadenfreude, especially on the wide shows, where commentators enjoy a little more freedom to be critical. But there hasn't been much gloating. Last Monday, the host...
JAPAN
Dec 11, 2004

Kenyan marathoner struck blind turns disability into gold medals

Winner of three gold medals at the Sydney and Athens Paralympics, Henry Wanyoike also broke the world record at the marathon for the visually disabled held in Boston this year, completing the race in 2 hours, 33 minutes and 20 seconds.
JAPAN
Dec 11, 2004

SDF set to shed its 'nonmilitary' shell

Since their establishment in 1954, the Self-Defense Forces have never had to be mobilized to defend Japan from attack.
JAPAN
Dec 11, 2004

Yokota furor spells end to food aid for North Korea, Machimura says

North Korea will not receive the remaining half of its food aid package from Japan, Foreign Minister Nobutaka Machimura said Friday.
BUSINESS
Dec 11, 2004

Tax hikes could be recipe for recession, analysts say

Books and Web sites devoted to the art of economizing describe the savings per month from "recycling" leftovers by putting them in stews and tempura (2,600 yen), taking shorter showers (540 yen) and flushing toilets at low-intensity (720 yen).
SOCCER / PREMIER REPORT
Dec 11, 2004

Controversial Hoddle given one more chance by Wolves

LONDON -- "You and I have been physically been given two hands and two legs and a half-decent brain. Some people have not been born like that for a reason.
JAPAN
Dec 10, 2004

Extended Iraq tour a given from get-go

Although media opinion polls showed most respondents opposed extending the Self-Defense Forces deployment to Iraq, the government never seriously discussed a pullout of the Japanese troops from the war-torn country at the Dec. 14 end of their one-year mission.
EDITORIALS
Dec 10, 2004

Challenges for Mr. Karzai

Afghanistan's three-year drive for stability reached a milestone when Mr. Hamid Karzai was sworn in Tuesday as its first popularly elected president. But the road is strewn with obstacles. Ethnic and tribal divisions are clouding prospects for national unity. As yet, there is no end in sight to terrorist...

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