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Japan Times
JAPAN
Sep 12, 2007

Japan enters orbit of nations exploring the moon

The moon has languished in the shadows of space exploration since the heyday of manned missions in the 1960s and 1970s, eclipsed by projects focused on Mars, Jupiter and Saturn, not to mention the U.S. space shuttle and the International Space Station.
Reader Mail
Sep 12, 2007

Living with the 'Sea of Japan'

Regarding the Aug. 29 article "Despite Korean efforts, geographic conference backs Sea of Japan name": The Koreans need to get over it and move on. Hasn't the name "Sea of Japan" been in use for at least two centuries? It would be more intelligent to move on to more progressive issues, such as creating...
LIFE / Digital / IGADGET
Sep 12, 2007

Burn CDs from old records; copy audiotapes to computer

They don't make 'em to last any more. Well, in truth, capitalism never intended any product to last forever; making things that never need replacing is after all a lousy business strategy. While that may be understandable, one of the more insidious tricks of capitalism is to get consumers to indulge...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / VIEWS FROM THE STREET
Sep 11, 2007

What should people volunteer their time for?

LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Sep 11, 2007

Boot-camp bukatsu no place for the fainthearted

Coming out of the Japanese education system, one is thankful for one thing: No more bukatsu (after-school activities)! No more running 50 laps around the school grounds until your lungs are almost bursting out from your throat, no more kowtowing to the senpai (seniors) or having to spend most of one's...
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle
Sep 11, 2007

Staying casual in Minami-Aoyama

Renzo Rosso is a floppy-haired fiftysomething who would blend in perfectly on a porn set, but instead runs Diesel S.p.A., the casual clothing megabrand.
COMMUNITY
Sep 11, 2007

Have your say

The scapegoating of Asa Two thumbs up for James Eriksson and Debito Arudou on their article (Zeit Gist, Sept. 4), the first and only in Japan that actually looks at the facts of the whole (Asashoryu) situation and doesn't just follow the bandwagon of "Asa-bashing."
Reader Mail
Sep 9, 2007

Weird impressions of America

From my experiences, the majority of Japanese still believe that the Caucasian-American controls everything and the African American is a semi-slave. America has proven to the world that it is a true melting pot, and I am glad to hear that there are people within the Japanese diplomatic corps who are...
Reader Mail
Sep 9, 2007

What happens in a big quake?

Regarding the Aug. 31 article "Woman's failed hospital hunt irks minister": It is incomprehensible that nine hospitals turned away a woman who was about to give birth. Does that mean there was not one bed, not one doctor, not one nurse who could have helped this poor woman, and that all the patients...
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Sep 9, 2007

Americans share blame for Bush's 9/11 'devil'

There is no worse tragedy than one transformed into profanity. The profanity is compounded when it is not recognized as such by the mass of people.
Japan Times
LIFE
Sep 9, 2007

Extragalactic androgyny cuts a dash in roster of chic, high-energy shows

While trivial matters such as global warming get blamed for weather going awry, Japan Fashion Week being moved forward this season by more than a month has caused more angst than a whole panorama of melting ice caps.
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
Sep 9, 2007

Tigers take over Central League lead

The Hanshin Tigers may not hit as many home runs as the Yomiuri Giants but they sure pick their spots well.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Sep 8, 2007

Flying high from where the airlines left off

For all his carefully considered — if not weightily measured — words, Geoffrey Tudor's inner child is never far away. It twinkles at the corners of his eyes, twitches the corners of his mouth, and often convulses his body in mischievous laughter.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink
Sep 7, 2007

Eating more than your fill in Osaka

Kuidaore! (Eat till you drop!) goes the old maxim about Osaka. The imperative tone of this statement seems perfectly in tune with the brashness of the culture here. So as a newcomer to Kansai, after a life spent between Kanto and Britain, kuidaore is exactly what I and a couple of friends set out to...
COMMENTARY
Sep 6, 2007

Help wanted from the richest

LONDON — "The have-yachts and the have-nots" is a phrase used in London to distinguish between the very rich and not so rich. It reflects the growing disparity between the mega-rich and the rest.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Sep 6, 2007

'Merchant' for modern times

One of the world's foremost directors of Shakespeare, one of Japan's most outstanding translators of the Bard and a star-studded Japanese cast have teamed up to bring "The Merchant of Venice" to Tokyo this month.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Sep 5, 2007

Clock ticking as Councilor Kawada goes after what has long ailed Japan

Newly elected Upper House lawmaker Ryuhei Kawada was diagnosed with hemophilia soon after he was born.
Japan Times
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Sep 4, 2007

Japan's Shinto-Buddhist religious medley

Most in Japan may know Buddhism has something to do with controlling lust and anger, and is associated with funerals and graves, while Shinto involves venerating nature, and weddings. But many people have trouble making theological distinctions between the two or even telling a Buddhist temple from a...
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle / ON THE BOOK TRAIL
Sep 4, 2007

"The Devil's Breath," "Mr. Putter — Tabby Spin the Yarn"

"The Devil's Breath," David Gilman, Puffin Books; 2007; 377 pp. Close on the heels of Charlie Higson's highly successful Young Bond series comes another adrenalin-pumping adventure story that reads like a Robert Ludlum thriller tailor-made for teenagers.
SPORTS / ODDS AND EVENS
Sep 3, 2007

Ndereba, Tosa prove worthy medal winners in marathon

OSAKA — Two storylines unfolded on this brilliant summer morning along the streets of this lovely city, and both had happy endings — good drama, too — for the difficult discipline of marathon running.
BUSINESS / THE VIEW FROM EUROPE
Sep 3, 2007

Merkel to Japan: Leading G8 not only about environment

Last week's visit to Japan by German Chancellor Angela Merkel gave Prime Minister Shinzo Abe a sobering lesson in G8 politics. Germany currently holds the G8 presidency but will pass the baton to Japan in January.
MORE SPORTS
Sep 2, 2007

Worlds notebook; Day 8

OSAKA — News and notes from Day 8 of the 2007 IAAF World Athletics Championships.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Sep 2, 2007

You have to appear to be a complete loser in Japan to get benefits

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's vision for a "beautiful country" stresses self-reliance. The media usually translates this aim in national defense terms: a stronger military that doesn't have to duck behind the United States. To the average person it simply means you're on your own. That buzz word of several...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Sep 2, 2007

Filmmaker, writer, little boy

Boy, by Takeshi Kitano, translated by David James Karashima. New York: Vertical Inc., 80 pp., $17.95 (cloth). These three stories by one of Japan's most popular film directors (aka Beat Takeshi, one of Japan's most popular TV comedians) were originally published in 1987. They thus antedate the first...
MORE SPORTS
Sep 1, 2007

Women ready for marathon

OSAKA — Collectively, Japanese people will repeatedly utter "good luck" over and over again on Saturday morning for five women: Reiko Tosa, Yumiko Hara, Mari Ozaki, Yasuko Hashimoto and Kiyoko Shimahara.
SPORTS / ODDS AND EVENS
Aug 31, 2007

Japan medal hopes fading

OSAKA — The home-nation advantage has not provided much of a spark for Japan at the 2007 IAAF World Athletics Championships.
EDITORIALS
Aug 31, 2007

The education of a sumo wrestler

Yokozuna Asashoryu, accompanied by his stable master Takasago, has flown to his motherland Mongolia for treatment of a mental disorder and injuries to his left elbow and lower back. The injuries have been diagnosed as requiring six weeks to heal.

Longform

Japan's growing ranks of centenarians are redefining what it means to live in a super-aging society.
What comes after 100?