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COMMENTARY / World
Apr 10, 2005

Schiavo case deepens America's divide

ONTARIO, Calif. -- Seldom can I recall any issue in America producing as much emotion and division as the case of Terri Schiavo. The Iraq war has not come close to reaching this level of emotional expression. After being denied food and water for 13 days, her death on March 31, at 41 years of age, brings...
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Apr 10, 2005

Early showing by Carp raises hope for repeat of 1975 glory

This year marks the 30th anniversary of the first Central League championship won by the Hiroshima Toyo Carp. It was in 1975 when the "Aka-Heru" (Red Helmets) played in their first Japan Series.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Apr 10, 2005

Corporate deregulation: Fear, loathing, firms losing the plot

Ever since the Japanese government started deregulating the economy in the '90s, there has been talk of an emerging income gap (kakusa). To a country that likes to think of itself as being uniformly middle class, social stratification means trouble, since it is often related to increasing crime, alienation,...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Apr 10, 2005

An English waking of 'Winter Sleep'

WINTER SLEEP, by Kenzo Kitakata. Vertical, 2005, 282 pp., $14.95 (paper). In a recent article for the Society of Writers, Editors and Translators, D. Patrick Dimick has defined the great trade deficit in literary translation between Japanese and other languages: "In 2002 the ratio of foreign books translated...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Apr 10, 2005

Hood creeping out of the shadows

Almost 15 years after deciding to make music under the mysterious sounding moniker Hood, brothers Chris and Richard Adams have released the widely appreciated "Outside Closer," their ninth album overall and fourth for Domino, perhaps the hippest U.K. label at the moment. Given the fickleness of the music...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Apr 10, 2005

Impermissible surrender and its consequences

THE ANGUISH OF SURRENDER: Japanese POWs of WWII, By Ulrich Strauss. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2004, 282 pp., $27.50 (cloth) It is well known that in World War II Japanese soldiers rarely surrendered, and fought to the death rather than bring dishonor to their families. Their having been...
JAPAN
Apr 10, 2005

Health ministry warns of serious blood shortage nationwide

Health facilities are facing an unprecedented blood shortage and may start running out in some areas as early as this week, according to the health ministry.
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Apr 10, 2005

The all-new "Doraemon" premieres on TV Asahi with an hour-long special and more

Marriage is often thought of as a win-lose proposition, as if it were a gamble. Under such circumstances, the clear winners in the marriage game are Japanese women who marry wealthy foreign men.
Features
Apr 10, 2005

The God Gap: Japan and the clash of civilizations

There are many differences between Japan and the West, both historical and contemporary, but there is no gap so gaping and, perhaps, unbridgeable as the "God Gap."
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Apr 10, 2005

Keren Ann: "Nolita"

Last summer, Keren Ann Zeidel, who was born in Israel and raised in Paris, built on the cosmopolitan rep she's developed over several French-language albums of quiet singer-songwriter pop with the all-English "Not Going Anywhere," her first CD to be released outside of France.
JAPAN
Apr 10, 2005

Thousands in Beijing march against Japan

BEIJING -- Thousands of Chinese protesters held a rally here Saturday, chanting "Down with Japan" and pelting the Japanese embassy and businesses with rocks and bottles.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Apr 10, 2005

Billy Bang

If poets are the unacknowledged statesmen of the world, musicians are the unacknowledged healers. Jazz violinist Billy Bang is a great example. After studying classical violin as a teenager and playing in bands through college, his career was put on hold -- to say the least -- after he was drafted and...
JAPAN
Apr 10, 2005

Nearly half think public safety crumbling: poll

Nearly half of the respondents to a survey on social consciousness think public safety is getting worse, the government said Saturday.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 10, 2005

Intervention based on rules

According to the U.N. High-Level Panel on Threats, Challenges and Change, "The maintenance of world peace and security depends importantly on there be-- ing a common global understanding, and acceptance, of when the application of force is both legal and legitimate."
EDITORIALS
Apr 10, 2005

A shark goes free

A n ocean away from here in Monterey Bay, Calif., aquarium officials last week freed a great white shark they had held captive for more than six months, a record for the much-mythologized species. While the creature's release was hailed by animal rights activists, the fact that she had been held at all...
Rugby
Apr 9, 2005

Government backs bid for Rugby World Cup

The Japan Rugby Football Union's hopes for hosting the Rugby World Cup in 2011 were boosted on Friday with news that the Japanese government was officially backing the bid.
MORE SPORTS
Apr 9, 2005

Ramos to captain beach soccer team

Former Japan international midfielder Ruy Ramos will steer the national squad at next month's beach soccer World Cup, Japan Football Association President Saburo Kawabuchi said Friday.
BASKETBALL / NBA / NBA REPORT
Apr 9, 2005

Moves by Cavaliers simply confounding

NEW YORK -- How stupid would it be to swap jockeys in the backstretch of a winnable race?
BASEBALL / MLB
Apr 9, 2005

Kokubo grand slam lifts slumping Giants over defending CL champion

Hiroki Kokubo hit his first homer of the season with a grand slam to help the Yomiuri Giants come from behind for a 6-4 victory over the Chunichi Dragons in the Central League on Friday.
MORE SPORTS
Apr 9, 2005

Ex-Yankee Irabu hangs up his glove

Former New York Yankees and Hanshin Tigers pitcher Hideki Irabu has decided to retire, Hanshin officials said Friday.
JAPAN
Apr 9, 2005

Koizumi to go to Afro-Asia meeting

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi will visit Indonesia from April 21-24 to attend the Afro-Asia Conference in Jakarta and a ceremony to mark the 50th anniversary of the Bandung Conference, the top government spokesman said Friday.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Apr 9, 2005

Prolific director Nomura of 'Castle of Sand' fame dead at 85

Movie director Yoshitaro Nomura, whose 1974 suspense thriller "Castle of Sand" ("Suna no Utsuwa") has been ranked by critics as one of the country's best films ever, died Friday at 85.
JAPAN
Apr 9, 2005

Ono admits '94 pre-emptive strike feasibility study amid North tension

Yoshinori Ono, director general Defense Agency, on Friday confirmed a media report that the agency had studied in 1994 the feasibility of pre-emptive attacks on enemy states, but declined to reveal the details of the study.
COMMENTARY
Apr 9, 2005

School kitchens need a nanny

LONDON -- Turkey twizzlers once divided the nation; now they appear to have united it in a surge of national purpose for reform. This is thanks to a new political hero, chef Jamie Oliver, who, from one of the most despised backgrounds in Britain -- white working-class boy from Essex -- has shown imagination...
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Apr 9, 2005

'Too friendly'? Hopelessly Midwestern

I am crossing America by Amtrak train and am now leaving the Wild West headed east through the Midwest. Much of the Midwest is prairie, farms and cows. Collectively these states are called the Plains States, probably because they are indeed very plain. Not a thing is growing at this time of year, but...
EDITORIALS
Apr 9, 2005

Politicized student textbooks

The Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology has announced the results of its screening textbooks scheduled for use in junior high schools beginning in April 2006. Two things are particularly notable with regard to neighboring Asian nations such as South Korea and China. First,...

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