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BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Dec 24, 2006

Best Christmas gift might be cable or satellite TV

If you have not yet found that Christmas gift for the baseball fan in your family, an idea might be to get him or her a cable and satellite TV dish, tuner and service if you do not already have it. Otherwise, that fan will be watching fewer Japanese games in 2007 if your household has only terrestrial...
Japan Times
LIFE
Dec 24, 2006

Penmanship: A lost art is rediscovered

At this time of the year, you may have received and sent any number of Christmas cards. Or, in the Japanese tradition, you might still be panicking about writing all the New Year's postcards that the nation's army of mailmen and women endeavor to deliver on New Year's Day.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Dec 23, 2006

Artist of movement takes it to the next generation

Steve Tomlinson is feeling pretty wretched, but having staggered from his bed in Tokyo's Koto Ward, puts on a brave face. The show must go on, right? Tomlinson is what he calls an entertainment artist -- instructor, choreographer, dancer, singer, actor.
EDITORIALS
Dec 22, 2006

Changes at the United Nations

Two key figures are leaving the United Nations. Secretary General Kofi Annan has stepped down after two terms and has been succeeded by former South Korean Foreign Minister Ban Ki Moon. U.S. Ambassador John Bolton's tenure has come to an end as well. Their departures will change the world body, offering...
BUSINESS
Dec 21, 2006

Tax yield lifts '07 budget

The Finance Ministry on Wednesday handed the Cabinet the fiscal 2007 draft budget, which, due to projected increased tax revenues, reflects the first spending rise in two years but also slashes the issuance of new government bonds.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Dec 20, 2006

Abe's honeymoon Diet session ends with whimper

The first extraordinary Diet session on Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's watch ended Tuesday without fanfare, having finished business last week by passing his legislation to revise the education law and to turn the Defense Agency into a ministry.
BUSINESS
Dec 20, 2006

BOJ, noting weak data, leaves interest rates alone

The Bank of Japan wrapped up its two-day Policy Board meeting Tuesday by saying the benchmark short-term interest rate will remain unchanged, causing market watchers to look for any clue from Gov. Toshihiko Fukui's remarks to gauge when the next rate hike may occur.
EDITORIALS
Dec 19, 2006

Closing the biofuel gap

Japan is lagging behind several other countries in developing liquid biofuels that serve as alternatives for fossil fuels such as oil, coal and natural gas. An increase in demand for oil caused by expanding economic activities worldwide as well as tighter government control of natural resources, as in...
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
Dec 19, 2006

Pensions, residency and driving

At this time of the year, it is good to think about what exactly the "holiday" is. It is Christmas -- the birthday of Jesus Christ -- and Hanukkah -- the Jewish festival of lights. They are both important times of the year to remember, say "thanks" and reflect.
BUSINESS
Dec 19, 2006

Nikko faces big fine over padding

The Securities and Exchange Surveillance Commission recommended Monday that the Financial Services Agency slap Nikko Cordial Corp. with a fine of 500 million yen, the largest ever, for falsifying its fiscal 2004 financial reports.
Japan Times
LIFE / WEEK 3
Dec 17, 2006

Classified information

Every week in Japan, English-language magazines carry upward of 200 classified ads placed by both Japanese and non-Japanese people seeking to meet strangers whom they hope to strike up a relationship with.
Japan Times
LIFE / WEEK 3
Dec 17, 2006

High-end fashion on the (fairly) cheap

Japanese consumers are famous (or infamous) the world over for their obsession with luxury brands -- and as hard data demonstrates, this is definitely no globalized urban myth.
BUSINESS
Dec 16, 2006

Tokyo, New Delhi OK trade agreement talks

India and Japan agreed Friday to launch talks on an economic partnership agreement centered on lowering tariffs on bilateral trade, with Tokyo trying to make up for lost time as it tries to deepen business ties with India, whose economy is growing rapidly.
BUSINESS
Dec 15, 2006

Asahi plans Super Dry anniversary blitz

Asahi Breweries Ltd. said Thursday it will design a new bottle and launch a massive ad campaign for its core suds Super Dry to commemorate the brew's 20th anniversary next year.
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Dec 13, 2006

Polonium, peacocks -- and a dead spy

It's one of the biggest stories of the year -- and certainly the most unusual. I'm talking about the murder of Alexander Litvinenko, a former Russian spy living in London who was poisoned with a radioactive isotope last month. Nothing like this has been seen for nearly 20 years, back when the Cold War...
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design
Dec 12, 2006

BOEGE Polos, up-market UNIQLO, blood-free diamonds . . .

Polos reimagined
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Dec 12, 2006

Pluck, trim, extend -- making up is hard to do

The word kesho (makeup) is beautiful to look at -- made up of the kanji characters ke (to metamorphose) and sho (to decorate). Combined, they evoke far more than the mere act of making up. Novelists have poured much ink over the depiction of a woman applying powder, dabbing rouge or performing that special...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WORDS TO LIVE BY
Dec 12, 2006

Heizaburo and Reiko Kawaguchi

Heizaburo and Reiko Kawaguchi, 84 and 81, from Kobe, believe that simple meals and large servings of complex ideas from Japanese manga, anime and classical literature pave the way to a long and happy life. Trained as a fukuryu (underwater kamikaze diver), and later head of a 300-year-old family business...
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.
CULTURE / Books
Dec 10, 2006

Guidance from a master brewer

THE BOOK OF SAKE: A Connoisseur's Guide, by Philip Harper. Kodansha International, 2006, 96 pp., 2,940 yen (cloth) How the global culinary pendulum does swing. It was not so long ago that drinking sake was considered as exotic, or even as ill advised, as eating raw fish seasoned with green horseradish....

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