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Japan Times
JAPAN
May 10, 2004

Kan indicates he will quit over pension scandal

Democratic Party of Japan leader Naoto Kan, facing growing calls to resign over his failure to pay pension premiums, indicated to a DPJ executive Sunday that he will step down as head of the largest opposition party, party sources said.
EDITORIALS
May 10, 2004

The power of a picture

The world has once again been reminded how much more powerful images can be than words. The outrage expressed by Arabs and the abhorrence expressed by the Bush administration last week over U.S. military guards' abuse of Iraqi prisoners were certainly justified, but both reactions were oddly belated....
OLYMPICS
May 10, 2004

Japan volleyballers defeats Thailand in qualifying

Miyuki Takahashi led the way Sunday as Japan cruised to a straight sets victory over Thailand in the Athens Olympic qualifying tournament.
MORE SPORTS
May 10, 2004

King Kamehameha rules Mile Cup

Race favorite King Kamehameha ruled supreme in the NHK Mile Cup (Jpn., I) Sunday at Tokyo Racecourse powering to a 5-length win that made the rest of the 18-strong field of 3-year-old colts look like foot soldiers.
COMMENTARY
May 10, 2004

Do all parties agree on CVID?

HONOLULU -- North Korea has agreed to participate in a six-party working group meeting Wednesday in Beijing to help lay the groundwork for the third session of the more senior-level Six-Party Talks (North and South Korea, China, Japan, Russia, and the United States) expected before the end of June. The...
JAPAN
May 10, 2004

Bail jumper nabbed by tax official

A 42-year-old company president who jumped bail after being indicted for paying a minor for indecent acts was recaptured after a Tokyo tax official recognized him during a shopping trip, it was learned Sunday.
COMMENTARY / World
May 10, 2004

Taiwan opposition must swallow loss to live

NEW YORK -- On March 20 the governing Democratic Progressive Party's (DPP) ticket of Taiwan President Chen Shui-bian and Vice President Annette Lu won re-election over the pan-blue ticket of Kuomintang (KMT) chairman Lien Chan and the People First Party (PFP) chairman James Soong by a narrow margin of...
JAPAN
May 10, 2004

Koizumi can get abductee kin: Pyongyang

North Korea earlier this year told Japan through informal channels that it would allow the relatives of five repatriated Japanese to leave the country if Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi goes to Pyongyang to pick them up, government sources said Sunday.
EDITORIALS
May 9, 2004

Casualty of pension politics

The political battle over pension reform has taken an unexpected -- and ironic -- twist. Accepting responsibility for failing to make mandatory payments to the national pension program, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuo Fukuda resigned abruptly Friday. With national elections two months away, his departure...
SUMO
May 9, 2004

Asashoryu poised for record run

After demolishing all before him en route to a second straight Emperor's Cup without a loss in March, indestructible yokozuna Asashoryu is on the verge of achieving a remarkable feat.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
May 9, 2004

Translating a Heian court lady into an Edwardian

ORIENTING ARTHUR WALEY: Japonism, Orientalism, and the Creation of Japanese Literature in English, by John Walter de Gruchy. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 2003, 210 pp., $34.00 (cloth). Arthur Waley's translations from Chinese and Japanese "should be read as contributions to English literature."...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
May 9, 2004

Joanna Newsom: "The Milk-Eyed Mender"

In pop, romance poetry and childlike sopranos go together like milk and cookies, and are often just as cloyingly sweet. From Joni Mitchell to Bjork, the ethereal method always sounds like a teenage girl with a crush on Byron. Joanna Newsom, who grew up in rural California, springs from this mold fully...
Features
May 9, 2004

When wrong can be right

At the beginning of "Showgirls," suspicious that a kind seamstress might be physically attracted to her, aspiring chorine Nomi (Elizabeth Berkley) asks: "Are you hitting on me?" The Japanese subtitle reads: "Are you making fun of me?"
Features
May 9, 2004

Lost in translation on Japanese screens

Unlike the countries that tend to dub foreign movies, Japan has been mainly using subtitles for more than 70 years. No one knows exactly why, but some say the Japanese simply enjoy hearing the original voices of the actors and the sounds in the background. Most now take it for granted that going to the...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
May 9, 2004

If only divorces were scripted by TV writers

It's easier to get a divorce in Japan than anywhere else in the world. If both parties agree, all they have to do is affix their seals to a document and their union is instantly dissolved -- no trial separation period, no grounds, no mess.
JAPAN
May 9, 2004

Aoshima plans Upper House run

Actor and former Tokyo Gov. Yukio Aoshima expressed his intention Saturday to run for the House of Councilors in July, saying he wants to do something to surprise the public.
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
May 9, 2004

"Nanmon Kaiketsu" on NHK and more

The word motodoru refers to female celebrities who were "idols" in their youth. However, it also means "getting value for one's money," and is usually associated with housewives.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
May 9, 2004

Terrorism in its most serious form

WAR AND STATE TERRORISM: The U.S., Japan and the Asia-Pacific in the Long Twentieth Century, edited by Mark Selden and Alvin Y. So. Rowman & Littlefield, 2004, 293 pp., £22.95 (paper). This provocative examination of state terrorism asks readers to reconsider their assumptions about who are the "bad...
MORE SPORTS
May 9, 2004

Japan to play host

Japan will host a revamped World Club Championship in late 2005, FIFA President Sepp Blatter said Saturday.
Japan Times
Features
May 9, 2004

Bridging cultures with books

Whether their parents read them fairy tales by Hans Christian Andersen and the Brothers Grimm, or even encouraged them to explore Lewis Carroll's Wonderland, most Japanese have been exposed to overseas literature from an early age, and many go on to discover the likes of Tolkien, L.M. Montgomery, Michael...
JAPAN
May 9, 2004

Kan could step down Monday

The political uproar over nonpayment of mandatory pension premiums by several leading lawmakers continued Saturday, with opposition leader Naoto Kan likely to be pressured to step down as early as Monday.

Longform

Once smoky, male-dominated spaces, today's net cafes, like Kaikatsu Club, are working to make their operations more attractive to women customers.
The second life of Japan's net cafes