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Japan Times
Features
Jan 23, 2005

Women to the fore in study of statues

At midday on March 29, 1914, a yacht named Mana, flying the British colors, dropped anchor in the tiny inlet of Cook's Bay, Hanga Roa. On board was an anthropologist who would carry out the first systematic survey of the Easter Island statues, and who would also record the last memories of a dying generation...
JAPAN
Jan 22, 2005

Crown Princess may take in games

Crown Princess Masako may accompany Crown Prince Naruhito to attend the opening ceremony for the 2005 Special Olympics World Winter Games next month in Nagano Prefecture, Imperial Household Agency officials said Friday.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Jan 22, 2005

Cotton Club's pianist records album with friends

It takes awhile to link up with Noriko Kamo, who keeps going adrift in the snowfalls of Hokkaido's Hakodate. Since her mother is now living alone, Noriko tries to come back to Japan every year to keep her company through the hardest month of the year. It helps, she says, that "it's quiet in New York...
JAPAN / 10 YEARS AFTER
Jan 21, 2005

Quake-preparedness a patchwork effort

The thicket of wood houses and small shops that line the warren of alleys just east of Tokyo's Sumida River in the Higashi-Mukojima 1-chome district has been deemed "highly dangerous" by disaster-preparedness authorities.
BUSINESS
Jan 21, 2005

Nissan may pass steel price to buyers

Nissan Motor Co. said Thursday it might have to pass the added cost from soaring steel prices on to consumers if the current trend continues over a long period.
EDITORIALS
Jan 20, 2005

Unfinished tasks for Mr. Koizumi

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, speaking at the Liberal Democratic Party's annual convention Tuesday, again expressed his resolve to privatize postal services, saying that "without constant efforts for reform, possibilities for Japan's development will be closed." Mr. Koizumi defines postal privatization...
JAPAN
Jan 19, 2005

Defiant Koizumi tells LDP convention he's going full-bore on postal reform

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi said Tuesday he is determined to privatize the nation's massive postal services despite strong opposition from the Liberal Democratic Party, which he heads.
JAPAN
Jan 18, 2005

Visa ban lifted to boost Aichi expo crowds

The government may temporarily lift regional restrictions for issuing visas to Chinese tour groups, allowing visitors from any part of China to enter Japan during the 2005 World Expo in Aichi Prefecture, which will run from March 25 through Sept. 25, transport minister Kazuo Kitagawa said Monday.
JAPAN
Jan 18, 2005

Don't expect end to isles tiff during Putin's visit: Koizumi

issue, but it's not that easy," Koizumi told reporters. The dispute is "not an issue that can be resolved immediately if Japan becomes hasty in trying to settle it," he said.
JAPAN
Jan 17, 2005

Japan moves to drill in East China Sea

Japan Petroleum Exploration Co. and Teikoku Oil Co. are in talks with the government on their plans to drill for natural gas in the East China Sea near areas claimed by both Japan and China, government sources said Sunday.
MORE SPORTS
Jan 16, 2005

Zico's deal renewed

The Japan Football Association said Friday it has renewed the contract of national team coach Zico until mid-December 2005 to keep the Brazilian at the helm for the Asian final-round qualifiers for the 2006 World Cup in Germany.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Jan 15, 2005

Student summit: food safety a growing concern

While his two brothers followed their father into local government service, Akimi Fujimoto took a different path. "My father had two working lives, as a government official and helping my mother farm our land in Niigata. There was no way I ever wanted a desk job."
JAPAN
Jan 14, 2005

Roh says Emperor is welcome but Koizumi feels time not ripe for visit

SEOUL -- South Korean President Roh Moo Hyun said Thursday his country would welcome a visit by Emperor Akihito, despite the sensitive issue of Japan's past colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula.
LIFE / Lifestyle / ON THE BOOK TRAIL
Jan 13, 2005

"The Time Wreccas," "Winnie's Magic Wand"

"The Time Wreccas," Val Tyler, Puffin Books; 2005; 338 pp. Children's fiction these days is so all-knowing, so cynical, even, that possibly only a first-time writer can bring back to it the naivete that it has all but lost. Perhaps Val Tyler, author of "The Time Wreccas" has not noticed how popular...
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Jan 12, 2005

What's in a name? The good, the bad and the absurd

From the (e-)mail bag, Patrick O'Mara from Washington, D.C., sent the following message: "I'm writing as a new fan to the game; my wife got me into (baseball) this past season, when the Red Sox finally overcame the Yankees. My question is why do they call it the "World" Series?
EDITORIALS
Jan 12, 2005

A permanent Security Council seat

Japanese diplomacy faces formidable challenges in 2005, the 60th anniversary of the end of World War II. With momentum building for reform of the United Nations, this will be a crucial year in Japan's bid for permanent membership on the powerful U.N. Security Council.
CULTURE / Art / NEW ART SEEN
Jan 12, 2005

Blue skies over architectural utopias

The latest offering from the Mori Art Museum lives up to its big name: "Archilab: New Experiments in Architecture, Art and the City, 1950-2005." The first architecture exhibition at the Mori, this is a big show, ambitious in both scale and manner of presentation. Featuring drawings, videos and maquettes...
JAPAN
Jan 11, 2005

Japan to work on svelte spy satellite

Japan wants to scale down the size of its spy satellites to enhance their maneuverability and hopes to launch a small fourth-generation satellite by around fiscal 2010, government sources said Monday.
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
Jan 11, 2005

Habitat destruction, work gear and photos

A distressing end to 2004 . . . off to a resilient and positive start in 2005.
Rugby
Jan 10, 2005

Waseda reclaims rugby title from Kanto

The 41st University Rugby Football Championship final was the fourth time in a row that Waseda University has taken on Kanto Gakuin University and this year it was Waseda that walked away with the silverware following its 31-19 win at Tokyo's National Stadium on Sunday.
COMMENTARY
Jan 10, 2005

Improving Japan's leverage

To promote national interest in diplomacy, it is essential to set goals, establish basic policies to achieve them and work out overall strategies, while keeping in mind the links between individual goals and between those of nations and regions. However, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi lacks such strategies....
EDITORIALS
Jan 9, 2005

Serendipity on Mars

A year ago last Monday, an ungainly little robot spacecraft named Spirit boinged down onto the rocky surface of Mars. Three weeks later, Spirit was joined by Opportunity, and the pair began separate exploratory sojourns designed to last about 90 days. Twelve months later, amazingly, they are still going....
EDITORIALS
Jan 8, 2005

Mideast peace staked on Sunday's poll

On Sunday, Palestinians in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip will go to the polls to choose the successor to the late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, who died in a Paris hospital in November. With the Middle East locked in a vicious cycle of hatred and bloodshed, it is hoped that the election is completed...
JAPAN
Jan 7, 2005

LDP will push Yasukuni visits, patriotism in '05

The Liberal Democratic Party's policy goals for 2005 are to revise the Fundamental Law of Education and urge lawmakers to continue visiting Yasukuni Shrine, party sources said Thursday.
JAPAN
Jan 7, 2005

Postal privatization, budget issues await Diet on Jan. 21

The Diet will convene Jan. 21 for this year's ordinary session, which is scheduled to run through June 19, the government said Thursday.
JAPAN
Jan 7, 2005

NHK chief indicates he may quit

The president of scandal-plagued public broadcaster NHK indicated Thursday that he might step down before his current term expires in July 2006.

Longform

A man offers prayers at Hebikubo Shrine in Tokyo's Shinagawa Ward. The shrine is one of several across the country dedicated to the snake.
Shed your skin and reinvent yourself in the Year of the Snake