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BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Dec 10, 2006

Setting it straight about Matsuzaka's free agency status

As the deadline (Dec. 14) approaches for the Boston Red Sox to sign posted Seibu Lions Japanese pitcher Daisuke Matsuzaka, let me clarify -- once and for all -- one key point seemingly misunderstood by many.
EDITORIALS
Dec 10, 2006

Our words of the year

Once again, it's the season when the dictionary and language people are hard at work winnowing words -- new ones, catchy ones, much-looked-up ones, over-used ones -- in preparation for crowning their latest Word of the Year (WOTY). This year, we thought we might do a bit of winnowing of our own.
Japan Times
LIFE
Dec 10, 2006

Politics at the grass roots

Judging by the society pages of certain publications in Japan, politicians at both the local and national levels seem to spend a lot of their time being photographed with ambassadors, captains of industry, assorted aristocrats, passing film stars and all manner of other folk.
JAPAN
Dec 9, 2006

Cabinet extends ASDF Iraq airlift mission until end of July

The Cabinet on Friday approved plans to extend the Air Self-Defense Force mission in Iraq through the end of July, the government's chief spokesman said, despite a grim U.S. report on the deteriorating situation in the country.
JAPAN
Dec 9, 2006

Cabinet extends ASDF Iraq airlift mission until end of July

The Cabinet on Friday approved plans to extend the Air Self-Defense Force mission in Iraq through the end of July, the government's chief spokesman said, despite a grim U.S. report on the deteriorating situation in the country.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Dec 8, 2006

Sauper: Tanzania's devil speaks

"Darwin's Nightmare" is an exercise in irony that probably would not have been lost on Charles Darwin himself, who by all accounts was a lucid if embittered scholar with a penchant for sardonic humor. The lessons to be culled from this documentary are so varied that it's impossible to take it all in...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Dec 7, 2006

Japan can't stop the tide of people: UNHCR chief

As more people migrate worldwide, Japan will not be able to stop immigration, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, saying he was concerned with Japan's restrictive refugee acceptance program and treatment of asylum-seekers.
BUSINESS
Dec 7, 2006

Abe tax plan hits stiff LDP opposition

The Cabinet's plan to use road-related tax revenues for general expenditures ran into strong opposition Wednesday from members of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, which may force Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to revise his key fiscal reform.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Dec 7, 2006

Teasing out new meanings from old works

'Imagination without skill gives us contemporary art," quipped the playwright Tom Stoppard in an essay in 2000.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 4, 2006

Russian elite still see U.S. as bogeyman

WASHINGTON -- An old saying in politics in Moscow is that relations between the United States and Russia are always better when a Republican rules in the White House. We are statesmen, and the Republicans are statesmen. Because we both believe in power, it is easy for the two of us to understand each...
JAPAN
Dec 2, 2006

Look at root causes of nuclear quest: ElBaradei

North Korea's Oct. 9 atomic test was a "a clear setback" for the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty regime but the international community should try to address the problem by looking at why countries want nuclear weapons, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency said Friday.
BUSINESS
Dec 2, 2006

Hokuetsu, Nippon Paper enter strategic alliance

Hokuetsu Paper Mills Ltd. and Nippon Paper Group Inc. said Friday they have formed an alliance that includes mutually supplying paper products, joint procurement of materials, distribution network cooperation and joint operations overseas.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / WALKING THE WARDS
Dec 1, 2006

Katsushika a cut above all your expectations

Many of Tokyo's award-winning swordsmiths choose to live in Ka-tsushika. Why? "Land has always been cheap here," said Shoji Yoshihara, 61, designated an Important Living Cultural Property of the ward and deputy head of All Japan Swordsmiths Association. "The process of making swords is noisy and smoky,...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Dec 1, 2006

Murakami enters plea of not guilty in NBS case

Yoshiaki Murakami, founder of Japan's best-known investment fund, pleaded not guilty Thursday to charges of insider trading involving shares of Nippon Broadcasting System Inc.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Dec 1, 2006

Murakami enters plea of not guilty in NBS case

Yoshiaki Murakami, founder of Japan's best-known investment fund, pleaded not guilty Thursday to charges of insider trading involving shares of Nippon Broadcasting System Inc.

Longform

Totopa in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward was picked by consultants TTNE as the best sauna of the year.
Japan’s sauna movement: Relax, refresh, repeat