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Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER
Aug 27, 2008

Japanese Minnow

Japanese name: Mugitsuku
COMMENTARY
Aug 26, 2008

Missile defense scam scores points for all

LONDON — Cynicism and hypocrisy are always part of international politics, but in the case of Poland and the antiballistic missiles (ABM) everybody is over-fulfilling their norm.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Aug 26, 2008

Coming out of the shadows

"We judge that it will be best for the child that the (parent) pray from the shadows for his healthy upbringing. If worried about the child, ask about him through others, secretly watch him from behind a wall, and be satisfied with what is heard about the way he is growing up. Acting in accordance with...
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WORDS TO LIVE BY
Aug 26, 2008

Dewi Sukarno

Dewi Sukarno, nee Naoko Nemoto, 68, is the widow of Indonesia's first president, Sukarno. When she married him in 1959, the then 19-year-old Japanese beauty was no accidental Cinderella: From age 5, she had meticulously prepared herself for a leading role in history. Much like Hideyoshi Toyotomi, the...
BUSINESS
Aug 26, 2008

Kirin to buy Aussie dairy business

Kirin Holdings Co Ltd. said Monday it has agreed to buy Dairy Farmers for 910 million Australian dollars (¥88.5 billion) in cash and assumed debt to extend its position as Australia's largest seller of fresh milk.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 25, 2008

China showed the world that it's out of sync

I cannot recall the opening ceremonies at the Athens or Sydney Olympics, maybe because I am a little ambivalent about sports in the first place. But the opening ceremony for the Beijing Olympic Games did get my attention — and everyone else's. Given all the hype, the least anyone could do was to tune...
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM NEW YORK
Aug 25, 2008

The longest day ever for Japan

I recently stumbled upon a YouTube recording — actually, two — of the Showa Emperor telling his subjects over the radio that Japan was accepting defeat. The first one I heard was what appeared to be a cleaned-up version; the second was the one with static, bits of which I had heard before. This was,...
Reader Mail
Aug 24, 2008

Nothing funny about death

I don't understand why The Japan Times runs disturbing photos of severed goat heads, people lying dead on dirt roads or, last week, an embalmed body propped up against a wall. What is the point or purpose? Are they "newsworthy"? I think not. On top of that, editors often add captions that they apparently...
Japan Times
LIFE
Aug 24, 2008

Biomimicry: Natural by design

I magine being able to maintain a perfect temperature and humidity in your home year round, without spending a single yen in electricity or gas bills. That's exactly what Professor Emile Ishida of Tohoku University in northern Japan is striving to achieve — and he got the idea from termites.
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Aug 24, 2008

'Nation of copycats' maligns Japan's fine science and technology

One of the most commonly discussed issues of national character in Japan revolves around the question of personal creativity. Put simply, it is this: Are the Japanese lacking in the DNA of originality?
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 23, 2008

Washington's 'Sputnik moment' in Beijing

NEW YORK — Aug. 8, 2008, may someday be remembered as the first day of the post-American era. Or it could be remembered as another "Sputnik moment," when, as with the Soviet foray into outer space in 1957, the American people realized that the country had lost its footing and decided it was time for...
SOCCER / PREMIER REPORT
Aug 23, 2008

Barwick's departure comes as no surprise

LONDON — England's uninspiring 2-2 draw against the Czech Republic on Wednesday was overshadowed by the news that Brian Barwick is to leave his post as chief executive of the Football Association after four years in it.
OLYMPICS / 2008 BEIJING OLYMPICS: TRACK AND FIELD
Aug 22, 2008

Bolt blazes to 200m gold in record 19.30

BEIJING — Usain Bolt confirmed his greatness in style, starting in Lane 5 and ending in a one-for-the-ages celebration before a worldwide audience.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Aug 22, 2008

Champion 'turntablist' Kentaro gets mixed up

It's been a busy few years since DJ Kentaro won the 2002 DMC World DJ Championship and became the first Japanese to bring back the prize — a golden pair of Technics record decks (the turntable of choice in clubs around the world) — to the land where they were made.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Aug 22, 2008

Seasoned J-pop duo ELT keep it positive

"When I'm walking beside her, people tell me I'm a lucky guy," sang John Lennon on the 1964 Beatles track "Every Little Thing." Sitting comfortably next to iconic lead singer Kaori Mochida of the band of the same name, guitarist Ichiro Ito has had 12 years to get used to such a feeling. However, he admits...
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Aug 22, 2008

Between Sword and Spear in the Japanese Alps

I opened my eyes: clouds broke against the ridgeline, sending their tendrils skyward in the eastern updraft, high above the vertiginous vista that stretched away to distant, snow-touched mountains. I was taking a breather on a narrow ledge close to the pinnacle of Tsurugi-dake — Sword Peak — the...
BASKETBALL / HOOP SCOOP
Aug 22, 2008

U.S. pumped up for showdown with defending champ Argentina

BEIJING — Team USA is two wins away from reclaiming its place atop basketball's world pecking order.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 21, 2008

Israel's fundamentalist Jews are multiplying

CHICAGO — Time is not on the side of peacemakers in the Middle East. Even relentless optimists are giving up. The Israeli-Palestinian conflict has become increasingly overshadowed and orchestrated on both sides by extreme and uncompromising religious groups that view their political mandate as holy...
Reader Mail
Aug 21, 2008

Food crisis born of distribution

I am puzzled that The Japan Times would have an economist comment on agricultural science and the natural environment, as in Takamitsu Sawa's Aug. 18 article, "Natural enemy of warming." Sawa argues that drought in Australia, spiraling food prices, biofuels and their consequences are driving companies...
Reader Mail
Aug 21, 2008

Star-code ratings stretch logic

Sorry to say, The Japan Times film review page doesn't make sense. On Aug. 15, for example, reviewer Kaori Shoji found the flick "Sex and the City" to be "troubling, overly long, contrived, unnecessarily fussed at, impossibly cumbersome, excessive." She trashed it. Yet, it received a three-star rating...
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Aug 21, 2008

Travelers turning to highway buses to save on fares

At a time when food prices are on the rise and income levels remain flat, it's not easy finding the money for shinkansen tickets, which cost ¥13,240 per person for a nonreserved seat from Tokyo to Osaka.
EDITORIALS
Aug 21, 2008

ODA and bribery

The special investigation squad of the Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office has arrested a former president of Pacific Consultants International, a Tokyo-based consultancy for overseas construction projects, and three others on suspicion of bribery in connection with a project in Vietnam financed...
Reader Mail
Aug 21, 2008

Helping those closest to us

Regarding Roger Pulvers' Aug. 17 article, "There's a lot to learn from the life and times of Beate Sirota Gordon": Thank you for an inspiring article! I had read about Beate Sirota Gordon in her book, "The Only Woman in the Room," which moved me to actually read the full Japanese Constitution in English...
EDITORIALS
Aug 21, 2008

Prevention of suicides

The Diet in 2006 enacted a basic law to help prevent suicides. And in 2007 the Cabinet adopted the goal of reducing the number of suicides per 100,000 people by 20 percent by 2016 from the level of 2005.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Aug 20, 2008

Redress eludes non-U.S. internees

LIMA — Augusto Kague was only 12 when the U.S. government reached far south to his Peruvian farming town and tore his family apart.
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
Aug 19, 2008

Be prepared for the 'Big One'

'How can we be prepared?' BJ writes in the wake of the recent spate of earthquakes. "Our family is increasingly concerned about what we can do if an earthquake or some other calamity strikes. We live in an apartment. Will we be OK? What kind of resources are there and what should we do in case of a disaster?"...
OLYMPICS
Aug 18, 2008

Gay has no excuses for failure

BEIJING — A year ago, Tyson Gay was on top of the world. He outdueled Jamaica's Asafa Powell in the 100-meter final at the 2007 IAAF World Athletics Championships in Osaka. He also took home gold medals in the 200 and 4x100-relay as well.

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