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OLYMPICS
Jul 29, 2008

Olympians get spirited sendoff

Four years after Japan's best-ever performance in the Summer Olympics — a 37-medal effort in Athens — the nation is gearing up for 2008's biggest sporting extravaganza in style.
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
Jul 29, 2008

Dealing with the fairer sex; getting more from rail passes

Mac has a Japanese girlfriend and sometimes feels completely lost as to what is going on.
COMMENTARY / World / SENTAKU MAGAZINE
Jul 22, 2008

Clustering with the Europeans

Japan was among the 111 countries that took part in an international conference held in Dublin, Ireland, in May and unanimously adopted a treaty that, in principle, prohibits all signatories from using, developing, producing, stockpiling, retaining or transferring cluster munitions.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Jul 20, 2008

Tokyo: A guide for a certain type of resident

TOKYO: The Complete Residents' Guide, by Andy Sharp, Beau Miller, Frank Spignese, Jennifer Geaconne-Cruz, Julian Satterthwaite, Karryn Cartelle, Tamsin Bradshaw. Dubai: Explorer Group, Ltd., 2008, 444 pp., profusely illustrated, $14.99 (paper) This book, says the introduction, "is going to help you to...
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital / JAPAN TIMES BLOGROLL
Jul 19, 2008

My Life as a Gaijin, Kimono Reincarnate

My Life as a Gaijin and Kimono Reincarnate are two different blogs written by Melanie Gray Augustin. The former centers around the experiences of an Australian native living and teaching English in a foreign land, while the latter offers a taste of her artistic interests and entrepreneurial efforts...
COMMENTARY / World / SENTAKU MAGAZINE
Jul 15, 2008

Keidanren hedging bets on LDP

The Japan Business Federation (Nippon Keidanren) is showing signs of changing its unflinching support for the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, as it seeks closer ties with the No. 1 opposition Democratic Party of Japan.
EDITORIALS
Jul 12, 2008

Too much for the G8 alone

The results of this week's Group of Eight summit show that the topics discussed, such as global warming and soaring oil and food prices, are so serious and of such great scale that the G8 nations cannot alone solve them. Discussions on global warming in particular highlighted a division between the G8...
SUMO / SUMO SCRIBBLINGS
Jul 8, 2008

Pounds equal prizes

There are several topics of note coming out of the upcoming Grand Sumo Tournament in Nagoya.
JAPAN / G8 SUMMIT 2008
Jul 8, 2008

Food crisis, Africa aid at center stage

TOYAKO, Hokkaido — The three-day Group of Eight summit kicked off Monday in Toyako with Japan's leadership of the G8 being tested by a raft of new global challenges.
JAPAN / G8 SUMMIT 2008
Jul 7, 2008

NGOs call on G8 to take action on tough issues

SAPPORO — After years of broken promises and ignoring problems until they turn into crises, it is time for the Group of Eight leaders to stop talking the talk and start walking the walk when it comes to climate change, poverty and human rights issues.
JAPAN / G8 SUMMIT 2008
Jul 7, 2008

Leaders get ready for business

TOYAKO, Hokkaido Eight years ago when Japan last hosted the leaders of the eight leading industrialized nations, the general atmosphere was that they were getting together on a nice resort island to enjoy a vacation called the G8 summit.
Japan Times
JAPAN / G8 COUNTDOWN
Jul 4, 2008

NGOs worried Africa will get short shrift

When the fourth Tokyo International Conference on African Development in Yokohama drew to a close May 30, Sayaka Funada-Classen, leader of a Tokyo-based nongovernmental organization, felt the years of engagement with the government had partly paid off.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 2, 2008

Bill Gates' excellent adventure ends in tears

LONDON — The scene: a tasteful, wooded corporate retreat north of Seattle. The time: one day last March. A large group — mainly chaps in their mid-40s — stand around. They seem to be in quite a state.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives
Jun 29, 2008

Sayuki: Aussie geisha speaks out

What a titillating sound bite it is: Japan's first gaijin (foreigner) geisha!
JAPAN / G8 COUNTDOWN
Jun 27, 2008

G8 diplomats renew vow to stabilize Afghanistan

KYOTO — Foreign ministers from the Group of Eight industrialized nations met Thursday in Kyoto and agreed to renew their "firm and long-term commitment" to stabilizing Afghanistan, especially by giving development aid to regions on its border with Pakistan.
BUSINESS
Jun 25, 2008

JT execs face shareholders' ire over food poisonings, tax talk

Shareholders of Japan Tobacco Inc. peppered management with questions Tuesday over the food-poisoning scandal involving pesticide-tainted frozen "gyoza" dumplings made in China.
BASKETBALL / NBA / NBA REPORT
Jun 25, 2008

Heinsohn: Pierce one of Celts' all-time greats

NEW YORK —In nine years of playing for the Celtics, Tommy Heinsohn, who came into the NBA the same season as Bill Russell (who arrived six weeks late due to the 1956 Melbourne Olympics) and won top rookie honors, averaged 18.6 points and 8.8 rebounds.
COMMENTARY / World / SENTAKU MAGAZINE
Jun 24, 2008

Silver-spoon politicians who rule

A growing number of politicians in Japan have "inherited" their parliamentary seats from their fathers. Unless this "hereditary" system is reversed, Japanese politics in all likelihood will continue on a path of decline.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Jun 22, 2008

How can the press be free if it's used as a public-relations tool?

The Supreme Court's decision on June 12 to reverse a lower-court ruling that had found in favor of a women's group received a fair share of concerned media coverage. The suit involved a program NHK had produced about a 2001 citizens' tribunal, which prosecuted Japan's wartime leaders on behalf of sex...
JAPAN / G8 COUNTDOWN
Jun 20, 2008

NGOs press Fukuda for midterm gas emissions goals

A strong sense of urgency regarding climate change must be communicated to the Group of Eight leaders and more than a long-term goal for cutting greenhouse gas emissions is called for, representatives of nongovernmental organizations said Thursday.
COMMENTARY / World / SENTAKU MAGAZINE
Jun 16, 2008

Reluctant runner viewed as possible Fukuda fill-in

It is expected that a race for Japan's national leadership will start after Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda hosts the summit meeting of the Group of Eight industrialized nations in Toyako, Hokkaido, in July.
BUSINESS / G8 COUNTDOWN
Jun 3, 2008

Food, oil woes worry Amari

Calling rising oil and food costs "intolerable," trade minister Akira Amari on Monday urged major energy-consuming nations to cut use and oil-producing countries to increase production capacity.
Japan Times
JAPAN / ALSO OUT THERE
May 29, 2008

'Anime'-decorated cars latest 'otaku' fad

They're painful. So painful that pedestrians can't help staring at them and real girls stay away from their owners.
COMMENTARY / World / SENTAKU MAGAZINE
May 27, 2008

Tycoon aims to speed up politics

Business tycoon Hiroshi Okuda is said to be meeting frequently but secretly with leading figures of both the ruling Liberal Democratic Party and the No. 1 opposition Democratic Party of Japan, apparently with an eye to reorganizing the political landscape after general elections expected in the not-too-distant...

Longform

Visitors walk past Sou Fujimoto's Grand Ring, which has been recognized as the largest wooden structure in the world.
Can a World Expo still matter? Japan is about to find out.