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COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
Oct 16, 2007

From ants to antiques

Insect infestations A concerned reader writes: "We live in a traditional Japanese house, and have noticed with some alarm that the step into our "genkan" (hallway) is being eaten away. The wood is crumbling into dust from the inside and spreading. Any idea what might be the problem?"
Japan Times
Reference / SO WHAT THE HECK IS THAT
Oct 16, 2007

Sake barrels at shrines

Dear Alice,
LIFE / Language / KANJI CLINIC
Oct 16, 2007

Self-study sites welcome you to the world of kanji

When I first suggested in this column using Internet resources for learning kanji in 2001, a Yahoo search yielded 12,700 hits for "kanji learning." That number has now reached a staggering 1.4 million. New, sophisticated online kanji self-study resources are increasingly enabling foreign kanji learners...
Reader Mail
Oct 14, 2007

Society must de-commercialize

David Howell's Oct. 9 article, "The vanity in 'green' virtues," was good to read: Japan has made a beginning. But cleaning up one's own space and throwing the garbage outside a neighbor's door will not help society as whole.
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Oct 14, 2007

Obscure family drama, prefecture identities, national food issues

Idol-actress Aya Ueto does a serious number on her image in the new drama series "Abarenbo Mama" (Rowdy Mama; Fuji, Tuesday, 9 p.m.). Ueto plays Ayu, a tomboy from the countryside who speaks like a man and lacks feminine wiles. However, she falls for hairdresser Tetsu (Yo Oizumi), who's 12 years her...
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / ON THE ROAD
Oct 14, 2007

Yaki-imo: A hot potato for Japan's traffic authorities

As the cicadas of summer finally go silent, a well-known autumn vocalist is bursting into song — and, fingers crossed, nothing else.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Oct 14, 2007

Searching through the past to find someone you can (or can't) love

Many Japanese families were split up during World War II — men sent to the front-lines, women and children evacuated to the countryside, workers shipped to factories far from home. In the chaos that followed surrender, it was difficult for people to reunite with loved ones. For years, even decades,...
SOCCER / PREMIER REPORT
Oct 13, 2007

Trip to Euro 2008 on the line for McClaren, England

LONDON — By Wednesday evening England will either have one foot in the Euro 2008 finals and Steve McClaren will have most of the nation eating humble pie or the national team will be on the brink of a European Championship exit with the head coach's job hanging by the most slender of threads.
JAPAN
Oct 13, 2007

Japan lauds U.N. Myanmar statement

Gambari and others, and that this will lead to the improvement in the democratization process and human rights conditions." Machimura, the government's top spokesman, acknowledged that the statement's wording was "softened" in order to coax China and Russia into signing the unanimous agreement. But he...
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Oct 13, 2007

Mammograms — with a little bit of sunshine

My neighbor Kazu-chan came over to my house for dinner the other night and while she was here said, "Amy, zannen. The hospital boat was just at the island next door giving free mammograms to women." We will have to go all the way to the mainland to get ours.
MORE SPORTS
Oct 12, 2007

Another perspective

Here's what I saw on Thursday night:
JAPAN
Oct 12, 2007

Alleged suicide helper for hire held in slaying

The operator of an Internet suicide site has been arrested for allegedly killing a woman who paid him to kill her, an official said Thursday.
BUSINESS
Oct 12, 2007

Sony Financial rises 3.8% in biggest Japan IPO of year

Sony Financial Holdings Inc. gained 3.8 percent Thursday on its first day of trading on the Tokyo Stock Exchange after raising ¥320 billion in Japan's largest initial public offering this year.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Oct 12, 2007

Dedicated followers of suburbia

Think of New York and rock musicians and you might well think of Lou Reed, whose identification with his home town is so secure that he remains the only rock star with the guts to actually title an album "New York." Even Billy Joel restricted himself to "52nd Street."
Japan Times
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Oct 12, 2007

Be baffled and awed

The New National Theatre, under the aegis of recently appointed director Hiroshi Wakasugi, opens its 2007/8 season with Richard Wagner's 1845 grand Romantic opera "Tannhauser."
BUSINESS
Oct 12, 2007

Moody's raises Japan's rating

Japan's local currency debt rating was raised one level to A1 from A2 by Moody's Investors Service, Moody's said Thursday, citing confidence that the government will pursue debt-cutting measures.
Reader Mail
Oct 11, 2007

Staggering blow to sumo

Regarding the Oct. 6 article "Sumo stable boss axed for death": The unanimous decision by the Japan Sumo Association executive committee to sack stable master Tokitsukaze (following the death of a teenage wrestler) has somewhat assuaged the heavy damage to the reputation of this traditional Japanese...
COMMENTARY
Oct 11, 2007

'Silly summit' produced serious results

LOS ANGELES — It sure opened up as one big oddball of a summit.
JAPAN
Oct 11, 2007

Death penalty foes hit Hatoyama over accountability snub

Opponents to capital punishment took issue Wednesday with Justice Minister Kunio Hatoyama's recent remarks suggesting a system should be established whereby he did not personally have to sign execution orders, saying he was trying to dodge accountability and also lacked regard for human rights.
BUSINESS
Oct 11, 2007

Ford, Mazda to spend $500 million on new plant in Thailand

Ford Motor Co. and its affiliate, Mazda Motor Corp., will spend more than $500 million to set up a plant in Thailand to expand in Southeast Asia.
BUSINESS
Oct 10, 2007

Pratt & Whitney picked by MHI for new jetliner

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. said Tuesday it has chosen Pratt & Whitney of the U.S. to supply the engines for its planned regional jets, taking Japan a step closer to building its first domestic commercial aircraft in about four decades.
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
Oct 9, 2007

Saito still struggling when it comes to playoffs

CHIBA — Softbank pitcher Kazumi Saito will have to wait for redemption a little while longer.
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design / ON: FASHION
Oct 9, 2007

Actress Devon Aoki in Tokyo with Levi's, Toga in the parking lot and more

Denim diva
TENNIS
Oct 8, 2007

Ferrer downs Gasquet to win Japan Open final

Top-seeded David Ferrer of Spain coasted to a 6-1, 6-2 win over third-seeded Richard Gasquet of France on Sunday to win the Japan Open.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Oct 8, 2007

Chinese suffering from poverty, uneven development, experts say

The widening economic divide between rural and urban China — and between its coastal and western regions as well — will only get worse as its spectacular economic growth continues, a Chinese scholar warned at a recent symposium in Tokyo.

Longform

Passengers that were on a morning train attacked by members of the Aum Shinrikyo group wait for medical assistance outside Kasumigaseki Station on March 20,1995.
The day a religious cult brought terror to Tokyo