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Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / VINELAND
Apr 13, 2007

What the Japanese are drinking

Recent government data confirm that Japan remains a nation of beer drinkers, with beer and beer-like beverages accounting for nearly two thirds of the 9 billion liters of alcohol consumed last year.
BASEBALL / MLB'S EFFECT ON JAPAN
Apr 11, 2007

Is the MLB destroying Japan's national pastime?

Best-selling author Robert Whiting, who has penned such classics as "You Gotta Have Wa," "The Chrysanthemum and the Bat" and "The Meaning of Ichiro," has written an exclusive four-part series for The Japan Times on the effect Major League Baseball is having on the Japanese pro game, and how the poor...
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Apr 10, 2007

Nuclear power vital but fiasco-prone

Just how much does Japan rely on nuclear reactors? For nearly four decades, atomic power has, after oil and coal, played a key role in meeting Japan's energy needs. Today, 55 nuclear plants provide a third of the nation's electricity.
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Apr 8, 2007

Nice debut for 'Dice-K', Eagles day games, MLB events

Nice major league debut for "Dice-K," eh?
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Apr 8, 2007

New look for Japan's oldest book

THE KOJIKI, edited by Yoshinobu Hirata, illustrated by Yuko Mori. Tokyo: Kumon Shuppan (5-bancho, Chiyoda-ku), 2004, 160 pp., 951 yen (cloth) "The birth of Japan. The gods give us a story of love and violence." Thus is introduced this Japanese-language manga-illustrated edition of the "Kojiki" (Record...
SOCCER / PREMIER REPORT
Apr 7, 2007

Latest violence likely to cost Italy 2012 European C'ships

LONDON -- Quentin Tarantino would no doubt have been delighted by the horrendous scenes of gratuitous violence in Rome's Olympic Stadium on Wednesday night had they been for his latest movie.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Apr 6, 2007

Fast-food binge continues to take Japan

After years of staying slim on a humble diet of fish, vegetables and rice, Japanese are developing a sweet tooth. That's proving a business opportunity for Krispy Kreme and other chains from the U.S., a nation famous for knowing a thing or two about fattening food.
EDITORIALS
Apr 5, 2007

Keeping towns afloat

The first day in the financial reconstruction of Yubari, Hokkaido, has passed. On April 1, the start of the new fiscal year, the city began its 18-year-long program to repay accumulated debts of 35.3 billion yen. The central government will carefully monitor budgets drawn up by the city, which was once...
COMMENTARY
Apr 5, 2007

Shaking up Russia's Far East

LONDON -- If you Google "Vladimir Nikolaev," mayor of Vladivostok, 2007," you will come up with an interesting story about how he was recently arrested. You will also find stories about how he resisted arrest, but finished up in handcuffs.
Japan Times
LIFE
Apr 1, 2007

"Rebel" cartoonist Rieko Saibara

Rieko Saibara is a catoonist known for her work that has both a lyrical and "rebellious" side to it. While regarded as a rebel in the cartoonist world, at times shocking her readers with indecent expressions, she also brings them to tears by her portrayal of hopeless poverty, affection to her children...
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 1, 2007

French vote validated Euro-skepticism

PARIS -- Not long ago, an American political analyst compared France's loss of influence in Europe following its "no" vote in the 2005 referendum on the EU constitutional treaty with France's surrender in 1940. A provocative analogy, but is it apt?
EDITORIALS
Mar 31, 2007

Iraq, four years later

This month marked the fourth anniversary of the invasion of Iraq. To the surprise of virtually all the war's supporters, coalition forces are still present in Iraq. They are working to stabilize a country that appears to be on the brink of civil war. The continuing chaos and ever-growing number of fatalities...
BUSINESS
Mar 31, 2007

CPI down 0.1% on fall in fuel prices

Affected by a drop in fuel prices, Japan's nationwide core consumer price index fell 0.1 percent in February, marking the first decline in 10 months, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications said Friday.
EDITORIALS
Mar 29, 2007

Tamiflu decision too late?

The health ministry has banned in principle the prescription of the influenza drug Tamiflu to people aged 10 to 19 in the wake of a series of cases in which young patients exhibited abnormal and dangerous behavior after taking the drug. This represents a turnabout from the ministry's earlier negative...
EDITORIALS
Mar 28, 2007

Don't bet on a quake-free area

The major earthquake that hit the Noto Peninsula in Ishikawa Prefecture on Sunday serves as a reminder that a large earthquake can happen anytime, anywhere in Japan. The magnitude-6.9 quake with a seismic intensity of up to 6-plus on the Japanese scale of 7 happened at 9:42 a.m., killing one person,...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Mar 27, 2007

Midtown -- Roppongi just got loftier

Move over, glitzy Roppongi Hills. There's a new kid on the block in Tokyo's Minato Ward -- an even taller landmark testament to the spoils of wealth.
JAPAN
Mar 27, 2007

JAL off-duty moms raising kids awarded lost wages

The Tokyo District Court on Monday ordered Japan Airlines International Co. to pay a combined 14.9 million yen in lost wages to four female flight attendants who were compelled to take unpaid off-duty days while raising children.
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Mar 27, 2007

'Multicultural Japan' remains a pipe dream

In February, education minister Bunmei Ibuki called Japan "an extremely homogenous country." Eighteen months earlier, now Foreign Minister Taro Aso described Japan as having "one nation, one civilization, one language, one culture, and one race." What was notable about these comments is that they were...

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