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JAPAN
Jun 20, 2005

25,000 facilities switch off to save energy

Some 25,000 facilities nationwide, including Tokyo Tower, turned off their lights Sunday evening in an event to help preserve energy.
JAPAN
Jun 20, 2005

DPJ may propose stationing security officers at schools

The Democratic Party of Japan is considering proposing that security officers be stationed at kindergartens, elementary and junior high schools nationwide to protect children from attackers, sources at the largest opposition party said Sunday.
JAPAN
Jun 20, 2005

U.S. data breach may hit NICOS

Private information on some 6,500 customers of credit cards issued in Japan by Nippon Shinpan Co. may have been exposed to fraud in connection with a security breach in the United States involving MasterCard International Inc., company officials said Sunday.
EDITORIALS
Jun 20, 2005

A debate-challenged legislature

The Diet has extended its regular session by 55 days through Aug. 13 to continue the debate on proposed postal reforms. The extension gives Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi a make-or-break opportunity to realize his cherished dream of putting the unwieldy postal system under private management.
BUSINESS / JAPANESE PERSPECTIVES
Jun 20, 2005

European integration a great idea, but need, motivation absent in Asia

The Netherlands followed France in rejecting the EU Constitution in a referendum earlier this month. While France has long been the driving political force behind European integration, the Netherlands has also been a key player in the integration process.
COMMENTARY
Jun 20, 2005

Politicos feeding off turmoil

MANILA -- These days the political class in the Philippines is preoccupied with other things besides governing. Attention is focused on what one commentator has termed "the worst crisis any administration" has ever experienced. The opposition is orchestrating turmoil and openly calling for the ouster...
JAPAN
Jun 20, 2005

Miyazawa urges Koizumi not to visit Yasukuni

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi faced fresh pressure Sunday over his visits to Yasukuni Shrine, with former Prime Minister Kiichi Miyazawa saying Koizumi should not go again because it would hurt Japan-China relations.
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Jun 19, 2005

Interleague action rates a good grade in first year of play

Japan pro baseball's fist interleague season will wrap up this weekend, as soon as they can make up a few games previously rained out.
EDITORIALS
Jun 19, 2005

Inevitable need to be ready

Due to the geographic and geological characteristics of the Japanese archipelago, middle- to large-scale natural disasters can strike at any time. While military conflicts or terrorism may be thwarted through human efforts, typhoons and earthquakes are unstoppable, affecting all those residing in this...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink
Jun 19, 2005

Man bites dogs like never before

Meeting Takeru Kobayashi is like coming face-to-face with someone who has slept with Julia Roberts or had a near-death experience: You long to ask what it felt like. How does it feel to cram 4 kg of food into your stomach in less time than it takes most people to walk to the pub?
JAPAN
Jun 19, 2005

Mental-related work comp hits all-time high

A record 130 people were deemed eligible in fiscal 2004 for workers' compensation due to suicide or mental illness induced by stress and excessive work, according to a labor ministry report.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Jun 19, 2005

Life and times of a Heian-Period crime sleuth

Scrolling back in history THE DRAGON SCROLL, by I.J. Parker. New York: Penguin, 2005, 432 pp., $13.00 (paper). Now beginning a new series with Penguin, Parker has just released "The Dragon Scroll." While the third full-length novel to be published, it is the first, chronologically, in her series and...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Jun 19, 2005

Takanohana vs. Wakanohana: The final faceoff

The battle between former sumo grand champion siblings Wakanohana and Takanohana over the legacy of their father, sumo elder Futagoyama, started well before his death from mouth cancer on May 30 at the age of 55. The press, however, didn't dive into the melee until after Futogayama's body was placed...
CULTURE / Music / JAZZNICITY
Jun 19, 2005

Only one way to get that big band sound

Forming a jazz big band in this day and age is a somewhat insane undertaking. Scheduling the right musicians, writing elaborate arrangements and hiring a studio with the right equipment to record 16 players at once are headaches big enough to hold back even the most inspired leader. The bottom line for...
MORE SPORTS
Jun 19, 2005

Noguchi in Sapporo half marathon

Olympic marathon champion Mizuki Noguchi will run in next month's Sapporo International Half Marathon, marking her first appearance in a competitive road race since her victory in Athens last summer, organizers said Friday.
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Jun 19, 2005

Veteran emcee Hiroshi Sekiguchi comes back with "The Shinso" on TV Tokyo and more

Several years ago, veteran emcee Hiroshi Sekiguchi hosted a variety show in which criminal cases, usually two or three decades old, were reviewed in detail. The names of the principals were changed, but the particulars of the cases were often familiar to viewers old enough to remember them. With the...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Jun 19, 2005

The community in mind as a matter of practice

RITUAL PRACTICE IN MODERN JAPAN: Ordering Place, People, and Action, by Satsuki Kawano. Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press, 2005, 152 pp., with b/w photos, $17.00 (paper). "Ritual" has meanings other than the primary dictionary definition, which insists upon the prescribed order of a religious ceremony...
CULTURE / Music
Jun 19, 2005

Only one way to get that big band sound

Forming a jazz big band in this day and age is a somewhat insane undertaking. Scheduling the right musicians, writing elaborate arrangements and hiring a studio with the right equipment to record 16 players at once are headaches big enough to hold back even the most inspired leader. The bottom line for...
Japan Times
Features
Jun 19, 2005

Filming rough

If you are a documentary filmmaker, one surefire way to impress viewers is to expose some aspect of your chosen subject that conventional reporting chooses to ignore.
COMMENTARY
Jun 19, 2005

Energy plan that terminates the econom

WASHINGTON -- "We're all Keynesians now," declared U.S. President Richard M. Nixon when he surrendered his fiscal policies to liberal orthodoxy. California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger did much the same with his recent executive order calling for draconian cuts in the emission of "greenhouse gases" linked...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jun 19, 2005

Tim Ries' the Rolling Stones Project

Though rock musicians from Sting to Joni Mitchell to the Grateful Dead have always brought jazz elements into their music, often hiring jazz mercenaries to do it, jazz has rarely used rock as a source of much more than electricity. Tim Ries has set out to reclaim some of the listeners lost to rock decades...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jun 19, 2005

Maximo Park: "A Certain Trigger"

It is rare for a band to successfully drive a pop song without great hooks -- those musical bits that sometimes joyously, sometimes maddeningly refuse to leave your head -- but on pure energy alone. Yet this is precisely what Newcastle's Maximo Park do. As dance rock goes, their tunes are ordinary, but...
JAPAN
Jun 19, 2005

Prosecutors set to widen bid probe

The Tokyo High Prosecutor's Office is set this week to begin questioning on a voluntary basis former executives of Japan Highway Public Corp. who went on to be hired by companies now embroiled in a massive bid-rigging scandal, sources said Saturday.

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