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COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
Jun 12, 2007

Good will hunting; rent fees

Renewal fees revisited Peter Link in Kyoto writes on the subject of renewal fees for renting property. This is the Japanese system whereby a renter can expect to pay a charge of up to three months' rent every two years to the landowner.
SPORTS / SPORTS SCOPE
Jun 10, 2007

Shiraishi credits sailing career to mentor Tada

"Ask yourself when you last spent a single day with no human contact — then multiply this by 100!" — VELUX 5 OCEANS pre-race press release.
Japan Times
LIFE
Jun 10, 2007

Here comes the sun . . .

Some may shudder at the very thought of it, but more and more people are flinging off their duvets with glee and bounding into action-packed days that start when even larks are still lounging in their nests
LIFE
Jun 10, 2007

When and how you slumber is not as simple as it may seem

Getting up early is one of those things that people older and wiser always say is "good for you.''
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Jun 9, 2007

Key garbage experiences in the land of the sanitary enthusiast

Years ago when I first moved to my island, some Japanese friends from the mainland came to visit. The plan was to have a barbecue, so they brought all the ingredients from the mainland, since meat and some other things were hard to come by on the island.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST
Jun 9, 2007

The Grand Ole Opry it ain't

Topping the list of things that I came to love about Japan — but which I didn't care for at first — is not tofu, hot baths, nor even noodle sandwiches, all very soul-soothing at present. No, my No. 1 "I learned to love it" item is something much closer to home — country music.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / U.K. JOURNALIST SYMPOSIUM
Jun 9, 2007

Sustained growth needs more access, ambition

Despite its demographic problems, Japan has room to aim at higher growth by pushing harder on reforms, opening up more to foreign capital and making better use of unused female labor, visiting journalists from Britain told a recent symposium in Tokyo.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jun 7, 2007

Burger King stages return under new management, realities

Six years after withdrawing from the Japanese market, American fast-food chain Burger King is back, bringing with it the concept of a premium big hamburger in hopes of winning over consumers bored with typical fare.
Reader Mail
Jun 3, 2007

Western values have made a mess

I was wondering about recent headlines involving a decapitation, baby deaths, etc., in Japan, and my mother said she knew why this degradation of Japanese society was happening: the integration of Western ideas and culture into Japanese society. I agreed with her. Think about it: Japanese thought with...
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
Jun 3, 2007

Swallows edge Marines

CHIBA — The Tokyo Yakult Swallows came into Saturday's interleague matchup in the Central League cellar, while the Chiba Lotte Marines entered atop the Pacific League. None of that accounted for much over the next three hours.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / FUZZY LOGIC
Jun 1, 2007

On the lamb in Amsterdam

The band plays. And they rock. They've got two guitarists — that's not new. And two drummers, which is pretty cool.
CULTURE / Music
Jun 1, 2007

Amerie "Because I Love It"

Amerie's "1 Thing" was the great summer single of 2005, an infectious hiccup of abandon that took the stuttery beat of Beyonce's hit "Crazy in Love" to its logical freaked-out end. Both songs were produced and co-written by Rich Harrison, who oversaw Amerie's first two albums.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jun 1, 2007

'Sketches of Frank Gehry'

In "Sketches of Frank Gehry," director Sydney Pollack films buildings with the same sensuality he brings to on-screen lovers — tracing the surfaces and contours as if they were cheekbones or eyelids, noting the way walls interlock like arms in ecstatic embrace. During his 40-year career, the creator...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jun 1, 2007

'300'

The long-simmering cold war between Hollywood and the critics has again flared hot with the release of "300," an effects-driven popcorn movie about the Battle of Thermopylae in 480 B.C., when 300 Spartan soldiers went down fighting against a Persian horde.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
May 31, 2007

Yukiko Motoya takes a satirical look at the 'Super No-Flat'

There's a new buzz in Japan's theaters these days — and she's called Yukiko Motoya. Hailing from Ishikawa Prefecture on the Sea of Japan, the 27-year-old founder of an eponymous Tokyo-based theater company has quickly become a new source of freshness both in the drama world and other cultural fields....
SOCCER
May 30, 2007

Andean nations protest FIFA ruling on altitude

LA PAZ (AP) Bolivia President Evo Morales says FIFA's decision to ban all international soccer matches above 2,500 meters discriminates against Latin America's high-altitude nations.
BASKETBALL / NBA / NBA REPORT
May 30, 2007

Lottery bedevils teams most in need

NEW YORK — How quirky was it that rookie of the year Brandon Roy represented the Trail Blazers in their Secaucus lottery conquest while the Celtics executive Danny Ainge (No. 5) blended into the background and softly sang dirges in the dark last week?
Reader Mail
May 30, 2007

Best part of student exchange

Regarding the May 20 editorial, "Don't be shy about study abroad": I am a Norwegian with the good fortune to have made friends with many Japanese foreign students while studying at the Grieg Academy in Bergen, Norway. We have had many students from Tokyo and Sapporo as one-year exchange students....
COMMENTARY / World
May 30, 2007

Far from the end of the United Kingdom

PRAGUE — Three hundred years after the first Scottish Parliament voluntarily voted itself out of existence in 1707, the Scottish National Party has won a plurality in the devolved Scottish Parliament that is one of British Prime Minister Tony Blair's great legacies. Does an SNP-led government herald...
SUMO
May 29, 2007

Hakuho wrestles his way into the history books

The 2007 Natsu Basho is over, and it will only ever be remembered for one thing: the 15-0 unbeaten zensho yusho winning record of Mongolian ozeki Hakuho that etched his name forever in the annals of Japanese sporting and cultural history.
COMMENTARY
May 28, 2007

More compelling than common sense

The following statement appeared in an article on the opinion page of The Japan Times in July 2003: "The main result of the U.S. action (in Iraq) will probably be to turn a nation free from al-Qaida links into yet another hotbed of anti-U.S. 'terrorism,' and to push one of the few secular Middle Eastern...
COMMENTARY / World
May 28, 2007

Sarkozy should look north for a model

PALO ALTO, Calif. — In gearing up to take France on a new economic course, French President Nicolas Sarkozy's choices are not confined to Anglo-American neoliberalism and the dying French model of social protection. There are other viable alternatives, one of which is the German model. Germany, after...
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
May 27, 2007

Marines duo sparks club against BayStars

CHIBA — There's something about Shunsuke Watanabe that just brings out the best in Daisuke Hayakawa. Neither can really explain it, but for some reason they just click.
LIFE / QUEUING
May 27, 2007

All together now: Let's form a line

It is 11:15 on a sunny Sunday morning across the road from Shinjuku Station in central Tokyo. The Southern Terrace there is already thronged with shoppers like all the city's other retail districts. And then, as you walk past fashion stores and coffee shops, a long line of men and women of all ages materializes...
Japan Times
LIFE / QUEUING
May 27, 2007

Disney bids to make the waiting fun

If you are looking for some long, hot lines, Tokyo Disney Resort, comprising the Disneyland and DisneySea theme parks, surely beats all others as your destination of choice.
BUSINESS
May 26, 2007

SLR pioneer missed jump to digital

As the first Japanese company to commercialize a single-lens reflex camera for 35mm film, Pentax Corp. has a storied history. But that history may have prevented it from advancing into the digital age and delayed a crucial decision to be absorbed by Hoya Corp. for its own survival.
Japan Times
JAPAN
May 26, 2007

Dietitians find new use for cell phone cameras

Wondering how much of a diet-buster that banana cream pie on your plate is? Some people have a novel way to find out: Photograph it with your cell phone and send the image to an expert.
Rugby
May 26, 2007

Fiji, Japan all prepared for battle in Pacific Nations Cup

NADA, Fiji — The starting members of Japan's first Pacific Nations Cup game against Fiji were picked on a hot day of training under the Fijian sun at Price Charles Rugby Ground in Nadi.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST
May 26, 2007

In the darkness of our times

One night after visiting friends, I hopped on the local bus for a ride home. At the very first stop, the other passengers — a cane-clutching obaasan and a mother with her pre-schooler — stepped off, leaving me all alone as the bus barreled through the dark.

Longform

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