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ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
Mar 28, 2007

Hail to the '3-alarm' Chief

It must be tough being Al Gore.
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital
Mar 28, 2007

'Splume' -- Japan gets its own world of avatars

Judging by Newton's Third Law of Motion the great English scientist really must have gazed into a crystal ball and seen the Japan of today. His famous law states that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. For every anonymous concrete apartment block and crisp white shirt locked in...
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER
Mar 28, 2007

Tree sparrow

* Japanese name: Suzume * Scientific name: Passer montanus * Description: A small bird, some 12.5- to 14-cm long, it has a rich brown-colored head, with a hint of copper. There is a black patch on the cheeks and a double white bar across the brown wings. Males and females are almost identical in size...
Japan Times
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Mar 27, 2007

Life in the cloudy Imperial fishbowl

Although the media and insatiable public curiosity can expose the private secrets of superstars, the Imperial family remains largely out of view.
JAPAN
Mar 27, 2007

Budget victory moves Abe a step closer to real goal

Reeling from scandals and falling public approval ratings, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and his Cabinet cleared a key hurdle in the Diet Monday by winning passage of the fiscal 2007 budget.
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design / ON: DESIGN
Mar 27, 2007

KOKUYO, MUJI, PILOT and MONO for spring

Spring is in the air, and that means two things: a city draped in the pink of cherry blossoms -- hey, pink is the new black, so get with it; and the start of a new school year. So I'll concentrate this month's picks on a few items that will make you more productive with a touch of a style.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / VIEWS FROM THE STREET
Mar 27, 2007

How can the government better spend its money?

SOCCER / J. League
Mar 25, 2007

Maki, Takahara power Japan past Peru in exhibition

YOKOHAMA -- Seiichiro Maki broke his scoring duck and Naohiro Takahara continued his rich vein of form with another goal as Japan beat Peru 2-0 in a friendly at International Stadium Yokohama on Saturday evening before 60,400.
MORE SPORTS
Mar 25, 2007

Miki, Mao place 1-2

After bombing in last year's Olympic Winter Games, Miki Ando was written off by just about everybody.
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
Mar 25, 2007

Zuleta slugs slam; opener ends in tie

CHIBA -- They had already created a special chant and nickname for him (Samurai Julie, go Julio), but Chiba Lotte fans may have to start calling the newest Marine, Julio Zuleta, by a new name: The Rainmaker.
JAPAN
Mar 24, 2007

Livedoor accountant first to do real time for fraud

The Tokyo District Court convicted two accountants Friday of knowingly certifying cooked Livedoor Co. financial reports, finding them negligent in their duty to provide accurate information to investors.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Mar 23, 2007

Ishihara, Asano are in capital duel

Organizers of the 40th Annual Ome City Marathon were furious when Tokyo Gov. Shintaro Ishihara scheduled the first Tokyo Marathon for Feb. 18, the same day as their race.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Mar 23, 2007

'Step Up'

If nothing else, "Step Up" is a great inducement to hit the gym. Or the barre. And the yoga mat. Anything in fact, to tighten those upper body muscles and get those abs to pop out.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Mar 23, 2007

A treasure chest of tradition

The capital of Ishikawa Prefecture greeted me like it does most travelers: with a downpour. The train's rain-streaked windows blurred my first views of a city in a storybook setting. Kanazawa averages 178 soggy days a year, so it's fitting that the station's glass dome fans out like an umbrella.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Mar 22, 2007

After Horie's fall, Nikko case seen smacking of favoritism

Japan has been abuzz with the unusually harsh prison term handed to former Internet mogul Takafumi Horie -- and the slap on the wrist given to scandal-tainted brokerage Nikko Cordial in another high-profile case of accounting fraud that, in monetary terms, was some eight times greater than Horie's firm....
COMMENTARY
Mar 22, 2007

Does religion do more harm than good?

LONDON -- In an opinion poll published in Britain recently, 82 percent of the people polled said that they thought religion does more harm than good. My first reaction, I must admit, was to think: That's what they would say, isn't it? It's not just that suicide bombers give religion a bad name. In "post-Christian...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Mar 22, 2007

Meeting his muse -- Tamasaburo Bando

'Iwrote this play with Tamasaburo Bando in mind for the role of Chujohime," says Haruo Moriyama. "I have been his fan ever since I saw him enacting Shiranuihime in Yukio Mishima's 'Chinsetsu Yumiharizuki (Adventures of Minamoto no Tametomo)' at the National Theater in 1969."
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art / NEW ART SEEN
Mar 22, 2007

We make great pets

Imagine if you will a female Japanese artist who dresses as a hamster and scurries round amid wood chips and scraps of torn paper, wide-eyed, nibbling on croissant-size, cookie-dough "sunflower seeds." Yes, in this city with its insatiable sweet tooth for art, it does sound like yet another serving of...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Mar 22, 2007

When Godot finally arrives

Minoru Betsuyaku wanted to be a painter, but his father died when he was 7, leaving him as the oldest of five sons. Everyone around him said that he would never be able to support his family as an artist, so he entered Tokyo's Waseda University, resolved instead to become a newspaper journalist.
BASKETBALL / NBA / NBA REPORT
Mar 21, 2007

Kobe's 65 proof he's Picasso on court

NEW YORK -- Since Kobe Bryant was an adolescent he has been consumed with visions of majesty.
Japan Times
JAPAN / INNOCENT VICTIMS
Mar 21, 2007

Child-guidance centers lacking: experts

Child abuse in Japan may be expanding faster than social workers can keep pace, but there's another side to the story as well: Many people outside the government child-welfare system are working hard to push those figures down. Meet two of those people, lawyer Fumiaki Isogae and foster mother Kazuko...
JAPAN / INNOCENT VICTIMS
Mar 21, 2007

Foster-care group aims to change the way Japan treats its children

When Kazuko Sakamoto found herself unable to conceive a child, she and her husband figured there was more than one way to start a family.
Japan Times
Reference / SO WHAT THE HECK IS THAT
Mar 20, 2007

Japan's gold poop

Dear Alice,
Japan Times
JAPAN / INNOCENT VICTIMS
Mar 20, 2007

Kids' group home a safe respite

Despite the understaffing and overcrowding, the atmosphere at the Kibo no Ie (House of Hope) residential home for children lives up to its name: It is a place of optimism, a place of warmth.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 19, 2007

Abe should be looking forward, not back

HONOLULU -- What was he thinking? That is the question most Japan-watchers grappled with following Japanese Prime Minister Abe Shinzo's fumbled questions about the imperial Japanese government's role in recruiting "comfort women" during World War II. His responses came close to undoing the progress he...
MORE SPORTS
Mar 18, 2007

Golden girl Arakawa retains passion after Olympic glory

Time flies when you are on top of the world.
Reader Mail
Mar 18, 2007

Old-fashioned patriotism won't fly

The version of patriotism Misao Nakaya suggests in his March 7 letter, "Teach patriotism at school," seems to be the old-fashioned kind related to blind acceptance of authority and self-sacrifice. This kind of selfless patriotism is clearly not politically neutral and hardly represents a true feeling...

Longform

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