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COMMENTARY / World
Sep 11, 2005

Pyongyang palliative is Bush's bitter pill

NEW HAVEN, Connecticut -- Although buried by headlines from Iraq and Hurricane Katrina-devastated U.S. Gulf Coast region, the fourth round of six-party talks on North Korea's nuclear program, about to resume in Beijing, presents the best chance yet to resolve diplomatically the simmering crisis on the...
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Sep 11, 2005

What price social equality since the ventriloquists' putsch?

On the fourth anniversary of the 9/11 atrocity, is it too early to talk of a Bush legacy? What vision has the administration of President George W. Bush bestowed on the United States as a result of the terrorist attacks that day?
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 11, 2005

Aussies adjust the moorings

BRISBANE, Australia -- While the historical origins and cultural roots of Australia lie in Europe, its primary strategic alliance is with the United States, its pri- mary security focus is on Southeast Asia, and its major trading partners are in Northeast Asia.
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Sep 11, 2005

TV Tokyo's "Dawn of Gaia" tackles the 2007 problem and more

Japanese industry is now gearing up for what's being called the 2007 Problem. In that year, the huge mass of humanity known as the baby-boom generation will start to retire, and when they leave their companies they will take with them many of the skills and knowhow that built those companies and, in...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Sep 11, 2005

The Evens

Have you hugged your local independent record store lately? It might need it, what with all those kids downloading songs and pumping them into their iPods. Whatever happened to long, lazy afternoons picking through used record stacks and cutout bins, hoping to find that deleted 13th Floor Elevator comp...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Sep 11, 2005

The curious Mr. Longfellow

LONGFELLOW'S TATTOOS: Tourism, Collecting, and Japan, by Christine M.E. Guth. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2004, 256 pp., 123 illustrations, $29.95 (paper). After the new Japanese government was officially installed in 1868, only a decade or so after the country had been, more or less, forcibly...
Japan Times
JAPAN / Society
Sep 11, 2005

Assemblywoman puts sex on the agenda

In April 2003, 28-year-old Kanako Otsuji became the youngest person ever elected to the Osaka prefectural assembly when she won the seat for Sakai City. It was a distinction made more special by the fact that there were only six other women in the 110-member assembly at the time. However, another distinction...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Sep 11, 2005

Desperate drones are content to be 'conned' into buying a condo

As long as I've lived in Tokyo I've received phone calls from condominium salespeople. In the past, these solicitations seemed accidental, as if the salespeople had dialed my number at random. But in the last five years the calls have been more deliberate. The salespeople know where I live -- not just...
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 11, 2005

Has risk of nuclear proliferation risen?

HONOLULU -- The nuclear cooperation agreement announced between U.S. President George W. Bush and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on July 18 marked a major shift in U.S. policies aimed at stopping and reversing proliferation. If implemented, it would result in new rules of global nuclear commerce...
CULTURE / Music / FUZZY LOGIC
Sep 11, 2005

Here comes the naughty and the nice

Antony and the Johnsons (who?, I hear you say) may have won the Mercury Music Prize last Tuesday, but when the far more prestigious Fuzzy Logic awards are announced at the end of this year then the two bands profiled here are going to be in the running to get at least a gong apiece. Falsies on Heat must...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Sep 11, 2005

Views from Asia suggest that 'Team Bush' is playing poorly for all sides

CONFRONTING THE BUSH DOCTRINE: Critical Views From the Asia-Pacific, edited by Mel Gurtov and Peter Van Ness. London: Routledge Curzon, 2004, 277 pp., £20.99 (cloth). Characterizing the Bush administration's foreign policy of zigzagging, dysfunctional initiatives and self-inflicted wounds a "doctrine"...
Japan Times
Features
Sep 11, 2005

What's the Point?

Fabrice Blocteur may not be as well known as Marco Polo, Vasco da Gama, Ferdinand Magellan or Sir Francis Drake. But like explorers of old, this French-Canadian resident of a rural Kyoto village is on a quest to rewrite the maps through new discoveries.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Sep 11, 2005

Lew Tabackin International Trio

A jazzman for those in the know, Lew Tabackin helped redefine the big band solo, contributed to classic sessions and has toured worldwide continuously, giving workshops and playing venues large and small. His work collaborating, writing and arranging with his wife, Toshiko Akiyoshi, created one of the...
SOCCER / PREMIER REPORT
Sep 10, 2005

In the eye of a media storm, the Swede won't be uprooted

LONDON -- The campaign to get rid of England head coach Sven-Goran Eriksson is in overdrive following the inept, as bad as it gets 1-0 defeat in Northern Ireland on Wednesday. The English media has never been Eriksson's greatest ally, even when the national team was winning, so the first loss at Windsor...
SUMO
Sep 10, 2005

Asashoryu shoots for sixth straight

In the final analysis, sumo is a sport determined by a wrestler's desire to achieve greatness. Though enemies lurk, the fight with oneself becomes the real challenge.
MORE SPORTS
Sep 10, 2005

Murofushi to sit out season

Japanese hammer thrower Koji Murofushi will sit out the remainder of the season, citing health problems, sources close to the athlete said Thursday. Murofushi, the Athens Olympic gold medalist, will skip the Seiko Super meet Sept. 19 in Yokohama and has already expressed his intentions to the Japan...
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
Sep 10, 2005

Kashiwada to become Giants scout

Yomiuri Giants veteran pitcher Takashi Kashiwada, who had a one-year major league stint with the New York Mets, will retire and become a scout for the Central League club's international section, Yomiuri officials said Friday. Yomiuri has asked the 34-year-old Kashiwada to join the front office in an...
JAPAN
Sep 10, 2005

National Stadium to get asbestos cleanup next summer

Plans are being made to remove asbestos insulation from the ceilings in the National Stadium complex in Tokyo starting next summer, it was learned Friday.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Sep 10, 2005

New Komeito secure in Kansai but maybe not in Nagata-cho

OSAKA -- "We'll always win in Kansai."
JAPAN
Sep 10, 2005

Itoham admits role in pork import scam

Major meat processor Itoham Foods Inc. admitted Friday to being involved in a meat importer's evasion of some 940 million yen in customs duties on pork imported from Europe in 2002 and 2003 as the firm's fraud trial opened before the Tokyo District Court.
JAPAN
Sep 10, 2005

Tokyo Fire Department taps taxis for not-so-emergency calls

The Tokyo Fire Department started using cabs Friday to transport people to the hospital if they are not in critical condition so more ambulances can be used for emergency cases, department officials said.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Sep 10, 2005

Upper House postal rebel would change stance if LDP wins

Yoshitada Konoike, former state minister for disaster management who voted against the postal privatization bills in August, on Friday told the Liberal Democratic Party, to which he belongs, that he would support resubmission of the bills if the LDP-New Komeito coalition wins a majority in Sunday's election....
JAPAN
Sep 10, 2005

Prosecutors seek three-year term, fine for Tsutsumi

Prosecutors Friday demanded a three-year prison term and a 5 million yen fine for Yoshiaki Tsutsumi, the former chairman of Kokudo Corp. and Seibu Railway Co. who has pleaded guilty to charges of falsifying financial statements and insider trading.
JAPAN
Sep 10, 2005

Japan to send Afghan poll monitors

Japan to send Afghan poll monitors

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