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Japan Times
Features / WEEK 3
Dec 19, 2004

Mannequin sculptor stars crafting heavenly bodies

Next time you spot a short, bespectacled old man closely examining a woman's curves as she climbs the station stairs, don't jump to conclusions. Instead of a would-be groper or pervert, that man could be Makoto Kakeda -- one of Japan's most respected mannequin sculptors.
Japan Times
Features / WEEK 3
Dec 19, 2004

Hot and bothered -- but just about Jeb

There is a scene in the screwball British movie "Carry On . . . Follow that Camel" in which Jim Dale and Pete Butterworth are buried up to their necks in the desert after they upset the local sheikh. As they are slowly being cooked by the sun, a turbaned extra suggests that their eyeballs might make...
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / NATURE TRAVEL
Dec 19, 2004

A tourist jaunt to horrors past

Kanchanaburi (pop. 58,000) could be just another semi-rural town in Thailand. There are touts with strong ideas about where you might like to stay. There's the smell of someone flash-frying beef somewhere -- chilies, garlic and basil; a few feckless chickens are pecking at bits and pieces in the middle...
JAPAN
Dec 19, 2004

Government plans antismoking czar

The Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry is planning to create a new post specializing in smoking-related issues before a global antismoking treaty takes effect in February, officials said Saturday.
EDITORIALS
Dec 18, 2004

Putting off unpalatable choices

It is axiomatic to say that the taxes people pay represent the most basic cost of maintaining autonomy and democracy. That's why the tax code should be written by national legislators, not government bureaucrats. But tax reform is almost always controversial, as evidenced by the fiscal 2005 tax reform...
JAPAN
Dec 18, 2004

Koizumi, Roh back six-way talks, in no hurry for sanctions

IBUSUKI, Kagoshima Pref. -- Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi and South Korean President Roh Moo Hyun said Friday they will seek an early resumption of six-way talks on North Korea's nuclear threat.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Dec 18, 2004

Japanese school gets more asylum-seekers

Seven asylum-seekers believed to be North Korean entered a Japanese school in Beijing on Friday morning, according to Chief Cabinet Secretary Hiroyuki Hosoda.
JAPAN
Dec 18, 2004

Iraqi officials end seminar with plan to save their marshlands

OSAKA -- A two-week seminar for Iraqi officials on preserving the rapidly disappearing marshlands in southern Iraq concluded Friday with plans to launch a pilot program that would introduce water and sanitation technologies to the area.
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.
MORE SPORTS
Dec 18, 2004

Jeev Milkha Singh grabs sole lead

Jeev Milkha Singh watches his shot during the second round of the Asia-Japan Okinawa Open.
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...
SOCCER / PREMIER REPORT
Dec 18, 2004

Mourinho's moaning about Henry's goal just a diversion

LONDON -- There should have been no controversy.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Dec 18, 2004

Checklist before leaving for the holidays

Many foreigners will be leaving Japan for the holidays, and I am no exception. It's always a scary thing to leave my house for more than a few minutes: Japanese houses are so -- delicate. Almost anything could obliterate a Japanese house during your absence, which is probably the real reason Japanese...
JAPAN
Dec 18, 2004

Illegal entrants seek release, reunion with kids

A married couple from Myanmar who have been in detention for illegally entering Japan filed a lawsuit Friday with the Tokyo District Court, seeking cancellation of the government's order to hold them and demanding their release.
JAPAN
Dec 18, 2004

Water leak forces reactor closure

Tokyo Electric Power Co. said Friday it will suspend operations at the only running reactor of the six-reactor Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant in Fukushima Prefecture, possibly from Monday, to investigate a suspected radioactive water leak.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST
Dec 18, 2004

Talking (and talking) about talking

"Did I ever tell you about the time I was kidnapped by Gypsies?"
BUSINESS
Dec 18, 2004

FSA pushes electronic banking law

A new financial program will call for the government to create an electronic banking law to protect consumers from fraud and expand electronic commerce, government sources said Friday.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / PERSONALITY PROFILE
Dec 18, 2004

Julia Carabias Lillo

The Osaka 1990 International Exposition prominently proclaimed as its theme "The Harmonious Coexistence of Nature and Mankind." Since 1993 the Commemorative Foundation of that exposition has awarded its Cosmos International Prize to 11 scientists from different countries, recognizing them as important...
Dec 18, 2004

Koizumi, Roh back six-way talks, in no hurry for sanctions

IBUSUKI, Kagoshima Pref. -- Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi and South Korean President Roh Moo Hyun said Friday they will seek an early resumption of six-way talks on North Korea's nuclear threat.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Dec 18, 2004

Japanese firms wake up to wonders of fair trade

Japanese corporations have begun to sell fair trade-certified products in a belated effort to catch up with an international movement that has existed for nearly two decades.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Dec 18, 2004

Japan to join spring resolution to get UNSC reform ball rolling

Japan will work together with other countries to submit a resolution as early as next spring to revise the United Nations Charter and reform the international body, according to Kenzo Oshima, Japanese ambassador to the U.N.
BUSINESS
Dec 18, 2004

Fiscal 2005 budget to see slight rise to 82.2 trillion yen

The government plans to increase the state budget in fiscal 2005 to 82.2 trillion yen, up slightly from the initial budget of 82.1 trillion yen requested for fiscal 2004, due partly to a rise in debt-servicing costs, Finance Ministry officials said Friday.
JAPAN
Dec 18, 2004

Former Hansen's patients in Taiwan sue for redress

Twenty-five former Hansen's disease patients from Taiwan filed a lawsuit Friday at the Tokyo District Court, demanding that the government repeal its rejection of their demand for compensation over Japan's past segregation policy.
JAPAN
Dec 18, 2004

Fraud sweeping nation amid rise in scam artists, police say

Fraud jumped 41.9 percent to 75,427 cases in the 11 months through November compared with a year ago, the National Police Agency said.

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