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COMMENTARY
Jul 7, 2008

Light in Iraq won't burn on optimism alone

LOS ANGELES — A measure of self-delusion can be healthy if it deters the outbreak of another round of perhaps even more dangerous and destructive self-delusion. This scenario was on display the other night at a presentation at the Los Angeles World Affairs Council, a traditional major forum for world...
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 7, 2008

Tensions strain 'strategic' Russia-China ties

SINGAPORE — To judge from the recent exchanges between the leaders of China and Russia, all is sweetness and light in the strategic partnership between the two leading Eurasian powers. But beneath the surface, problems over military sales, trade and energy are weakening Sino-Russian relations just...
Reader Mail
Jul 6, 2008

Refute opinions, don't ban them

The intolerant attitude displayed in Bruce Collins' June 26 letter, "A name for indentured servitude," is unfortunately fairly commonplace among Americans. This is no doubt why they have a Patriot Act, have continued to hold prisoners at Guantanamo Bay for years without either indictment or trial, and...
Reader Mail
Jul 6, 2008

Customary trust on shaky ground

Regarding the July 1 article "Customs officials had habit of planting drugs" (which reported that three customs officials at Narita airport had planted cannabis resin in travelers' bags more than 160 times to train drug sniffer dogs in violation of Tokyo Customs' rules): Might the same officials have...
CULTURE / Books
Jul 6, 2008

The shrine of controversy

YASUKUNI: The War Dead and the Struggle for Japan's Past, edited by John Breen. London: Hurst Publishers, 2007, 202 pp., £25 (cloth) Yasukuni Shrine resonates powerfully in contemporary Asia, dividing Japanese and alienating regional neighbors. In April, some conservative Japanese politicians' criticisms...
JAPAN
Jul 6, 2008

Glimpses into Japan's frontier

Hokkaido is seen as a prefecture apart, where the vastnesses are vaster, the wilds wilder and the splendor more splendid than anywhere else in Japan. The Group of Eight summit attendees and other summer visitors will have a chance to see for themselves at the 11 national or quasi-national parks in Hokkaido,...
Reader Mail
Jul 6, 2008

Foreigners who became geisha

Regarding the June 29 article "Aussie geisha speaks out": Why does The Japan Times identify Fiona Graham as the first foreign geisha? American anthropologist Liza Dalby (who spent her first year in Japan with a Saga City family in the 1960s) became a geisha more than 20 years ago. james guthrie
JAPAN
Jul 6, 2008

Creation of low-carbon societies demands wholesale changes on national, global level

"In pursuit of Japan as a low-carbon society" was the theme of Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda's speech at the Japan Press Club on June 9. The following is an abridged excerpt from a translation of his remarks.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jul 6, 2008

Fukuda's low-carbon society 'vision' needs to shorten its sights, include medium-term target

On June 9, Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda released his "vision" for creating a low-carbon society in a determined bid to fulfill his responsibility as chairman of the summit of the Group of Eight industrialized nations in Toyako, Hokkaido.
BASKETBALL
Jul 5, 2008

Munakata named Alvark coach

Koju Munakata is the Toyota Motors Alvark's new head coach, replacing German Torsten Loibl, who coached the JBL team for the past two seasons. The Alvark made a formal announcement earlier this week.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jul 5, 2008

State, Chiba to fund international school

The nation's first international school subsidized by the central government will open next April in Makuhari, Chiba Prefecture, Chiba Gov. Akiko Domoto said Friday.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jul 5, 2008

Only world-record-setting Japanese plane remembered

On the evening of May 15, 1938, the Koken Long Range Monoplane, known as the Kokenki in Japan, landed on a runway in Kisarazu, Chiba Prefecture, to great public acclaim.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST
Jul 5, 2008

Deja vu . . . or biting the bullet train

They say deja vu occurs when your brain burps and somehow interprets what is happening now as a memory.
EDITORIALS
Jul 5, 2008

Yet another food scandal

The agriculture and fishery ministry has found that an Osaka-based firm shipped 2.05 million Chinese grilled eels after labeling them as domestically produced. The firm, Uohide, says it wanted to clear Chinese eel inventories, the sales of which had had plummeted in the wake of food poisoning incidents...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jul 4, 2008

'Speed Racer'

Here at The Japan Times, my job is officially that of "reviewer," but some days I feel more like the guy whose job it is to taste the king's food for poison. If the taster doesn't drop dead, the king digs in. Similarly, if I emerge from the latest Hollywood popcorn flick without having suffered severe...
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.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jul 4, 2008

Egypt envoy looks to attract tourism, investment from Japan

Egypt Ambassador Walid Mahmoud Abdelnasser said Thursday one of his main tasks in Japan, where the people's "love of ancient Egypt" is strong, is to make them more interested in today's Egypt.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Jul 4, 2008

Antica Vineria Giuliano: A slice of Italy in Shirokanedai

There's nothing remotely antique about Antica Vineria Giuliano. It's barely been open a month; you can still smell the paint as you make your way down the stairs. And yet this cozy basement wine bar already exudes the kind of self-assurance that can take other places years to accrue.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jul 3, 2008

'Speed Racer': drawing on an anime legend

Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / OLD NIC'S NOTEBOOK
Jul 2, 2008

The right way to reconstruct rivers

It's the end of June and, after three weeks of travel, I'm back at my desk in Kurohime up here in the beautiful hills of Nagano Prefecture.
BUSINESS
Jul 2, 2008

Sentiment tanks in latest 'tankan'

Business sentiment among large manufacturers plummeted in June for the third straight quarter, with rising oil and raw material prices gouging into profits, according to the Bank of Japan's "tankan" survey released Tuesday.
Japan Times
JAPAN / G8 COUNTDOWN
Jul 2, 2008

Talks may heat up and go nowhere but global warming isn't waiting

Eleven of the 12 years between 1995 and 2006 ranked among the 12 warmest years since 1850, and since 1993 the global sea level has risen by an annual rate of 3.1 mm.
COMMENTARY
Jul 1, 2008

Iraqi refugees desperate for a haven nation

NEW YORK — Several recent reports on the situation in Iraq draw attention to the desperate plight of nearly 5 million Iraqi refugees. If the situation is not better addressed, hundreds of thousands of lives, including women and children, will be jeopardized. The world cannot continue to turn deaf ears...
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle / ON THE BOOK TRAIL
Jul 1, 2008

"The Roar," "Waves"

"The Roar," Emma Clayton, Chickenhouse; 2008; 473 pp. 'The sun was setting over the Atlantic and as it ran like molten gold into the waves, a girl in a Pod Fighter ripped through the scene, like graffiti sprayed across a landscape painting, and for a few startled moments, the sun and the sea trembled."...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / VIEWS FROM THE STREET
Jul 1, 2008

Do you think that it's easy to make close friends in Japan?

JAPAN / G8 COUNTDOWN
Jul 1, 2008

Foreign reporters covering G8 face harassment: media group

When Chu Hoi Dick arrived at Narita International Airport last Thursday to cover events related to next week's Group of Eight summit in Toyako, Hokkaido, he never imagined it would take nearly 20 hours to clear Immigration and set foot on Japanese soil.

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