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COMMENTARY
Oct 12, 2006

Koizumi vs. Abe economics

A popular pun in Japanese is to take the word kaikaku (reform, or change for the better) and turn it into kaiaku (to change for the worse.)
BASKETBALL / NBA / NBA REPORT
Oct 11, 2006

Bad sign for Suns: Stoudemire ailing

NEW YORK -- Anyone not a Phoenix fan (exempting Marlow's crew, of course) has to be at least a little unnerved by the menacing news on the "Wire" concerning Amare Stoudemire's surgically-scarred knees.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER
Oct 11, 2006

Spangle

* Japanese name: Kuro-ageha * Scientific name: Papilio protenor * Description: This is a stunning, exotic and beautiful butterfly with black-and-white forewings patterned almost like a zebra, and black hindwings with a delicate white border and deep red eyespots with black centers. The borders of the...
BUSINESS
Oct 11, 2006

Corolla gets 10th makeover, for luck

Toyota Motor Corp. on Tuesday launched revamped Corolla models -- the 10th time the best-selling car that spearheaded the nation's motorization in the 1960s has been changed -- in the hope of stimulating the sluggish market.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 9, 2006

Foley makes a Democratic victory likely

The Rev. Elmer Gantry was reading an illustrated pink periodical devoted to prize-fighters and chorus girls in his room at Elizabeth J. Schmutz Hall late of an afternoon when two large men walked in without knocking.
BUSINESS / JAPANESE PERSPECTIVES
Oct 9, 2006

Abe must speed up reforms, forge new model of growth

Newly-elected Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, the nation's first leader born after World War II, has launched his Cabinet with veteran lawmakers capable of taking the lead -- rather than relying on the bureaucracy -- in the implementation of fresh policy initiatives. Keidanren fully supports Abe's determination...
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Oct 8, 2006

With a month to go, baseball season here far from over

Do you think the professional baseball season ends in Japan in October?
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Oct 8, 2006

TBS's "The World's Super Doctors" and more

Japanese boys' interest in insects goes beyond the universal male childhood fascination with creepy-crawlies. Often, this obsession continues into adulthood and explains the hugely profitable trade in giant beetles.
EDITORIALS
Oct 8, 2006

Mr. Bush, a period and a comma

Copy editors and others who are persnickety about the English language probably know the witty American usage guide "Lapsing Into a Comma." The book is all about grammar and style and is well worth reading. But it's the title that's truly memorable -- and it has been in the air again recently thanks...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Oct 8, 2006

Getting real in the way you dress with grass-roots fashion in Japan

In the movie "The Devil Wears Prada," which opens in Japan next month, an imperious fashion magazine editor played by Meryl Streep upbraids her new assistant, who has dared to snicker at a cerulean belt that the editor is considering for an ensemble. With withering condenscension, the editor somehow...
EDITORIALS
Oct 7, 2006

Consequence of skating on thin ice

Mr. Katsuichiro Hisanaga, former head of the Japan Skating Federation, and two others have been arrested on suspicion of embezzling 5.8 million yen from the organization in 2002. The arrests are regrettable especially since Japan has produced world-class figure skaters in the past decade. This year Ms....
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Oct 6, 2006

Oz wine, photography

In commemoration of the 2006 Australia-Japan Year of Exchange, Otemachi Cafe in Tokyo is currently hosting an Australia Festival. The festival features a wine evening tonight (Oct. 6, 7:30 p.m.-8:30 p.m.). The first 50 people to arrive can enjoy Australian wines for free.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Oct 6, 2006

Old school rappers look to new schools

Since hip-hop emerged in the late 1970s, it's been closely linked with basketball. But just as the United States is no longer the dominant force in international hoops, its dominance in the world of beats and rhymes is also waning.
CULTURE / Music
Oct 6, 2006

Warrior Charge, Dry & Heavy and icchie

'The most talented producers in Britain. . . . the Sly and Robbie of 2006" is how rapper Tricky has described the rhythm unit of Perry Mellus and Wayne Nunes, better known as Warrior Charge.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Oct 5, 2006

A daughter's conversation

At last year's Venice Biennale, photographer Miyako Ishiuchi (b. 1947) represented Japan with her "mother's" photography series. Featuring mostly black-and-white prints of her late mother's possessions -- lingerie, shoes and cosmetics -- it was one of the biennale's highlights.
COMMENTARY
Oct 5, 2006

The right kind of nationalism

LONDON -- The appointment of Shinzo Abe as Japan's new prime minister has aroused considerable Western interest, and not a little enthusiasm. People in the West like to see a clear-thinking younger leader emerge. And they like what they hear from Abe about Japan becoming fully qualified as a normal nation...
EDITORIALS
Oct 4, 2006

Dearth of life-giving kidneys

A man who received a kidney for transplant from a living donor at Tokushukai Hospital in Uwajima, Ehime Prefecture, and a woman close to him have been arrested on suspicion of giving cash to the donor for the donor's left kidney. Since monetary exchange between a patient and donor threatens the ethical...
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 3, 2006

Repression belies rhetoric in Georgia

TBILISI -- In recent weeks, leaders of various opposition organizations in Georgia, such as Antisoros and Fairness, have been jailed on unfair accusations of plotting a coup on behalf of Russia. But the wave of political repression merely reflects President Mikhail Saakashvili's desperate effort to cling...
EDITORIALS
Oct 2, 2006

A few words about golf

What is it about golf? Such a silly game when you think about it -- traipsing thousands of meters cross-country to whack a tiny ball into teeny holes with a skinny stick. Whoever invented it -- probably the Scots -- had a diabolically twisted sense of fun. And yet, as we are constantly reminded, no other...
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 2, 2006

China losing its battle with corruption

SINGAPORE -- China's rulers rarely wash their dirty linen in public. So the arrest of Politburo member and Shanghai Communist Party boss Chen Liangyu on corruption charges has sent shock waves across the country. Some speculate that the arrest is really part of a power struggle, with President Hu Jingtao...
JAPAN
Sep 30, 2006

Abe looks to compel schools to push 'patriotism'

As the extraordinary Diet session began Friday, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe laid out his legislative agenda and left political observers speculating over the government's apparent tilt to the right and its push for "patriotism."
Japan Times
BUSINESS / CABINET INTERVIEW
Sep 30, 2006

Single rate cap needs five years, FSA chief says

A transition period of about five years in introducing a lowered, single interest-rate ceiling for consumer loans is necessary to meet potential demands from customers who want to borrow money for a short period, Financial Services Agency chief Yuji Yamamoto reckons.
BUSINESS
Sep 30, 2006

Keidanren, Itochu chiefs on economic policy panel

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has named the head of the nation's most influential business lobby, the chief of a major trading house and two university economists to his key economic policy-setting panel, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuhisa Shiozaki said Friday.
BUSINESS
Sep 30, 2006

Microsoft won't market Zune player in Japan

NEW YORK (Kyodo) Microsoft does not currently have plans to release its new Zune digital music player in Japan, Darren Huston, president and chief executive officer of Microsoft Co., the Japan unit of Microsoft Corp., told Kyodo News on Thursday.
Japan Times
JAPAN / CABINET INTERVIEW
Sep 29, 2006

Abe hopes shrine coyness won't miff China: Aso

A Japan-China summit could be in the works, but Tokyo is waiting for Beijing to move forward on negotiations, reappointed Foreign Minister Taro Aso said Wednesday.

Longform

Ayumi Matsuki, a priestess at Yoshiwara Shrine, shows off some "o-mamori" charms. She says visitors to the shrine have increased since the NHK drama “Unbound” began airing this month.
Tracing Tsutaya Juzaburo, Edo’s media maverick