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EDITORIALS
May 30, 2006

The means to a sustainable end

The Cabinet has adopted the third Basic Environment Plan since the first one was approved in 1994. Based on a report by the Central Environment Council, the latest plan, a revision of the second plan (adopted in 2000), is titled "The Way to a New Rich Lifestyle in a Sustainable Society."
Japan Times
LIFE
May 28, 2006

Manga by any other name is . . .

With the video-game business now outgrossing Hollywood's box office, and anime being distributed to destinations as diverse as Patagonia and Phuket, the influence of Japan's entertainment industry on young people worldwide has never been as powerful.
EDITORIALS
May 27, 2006

Meetings fail to thaw chill

Foreign Minister Taro Aso held separate meetings with his South Korean and Chinese counterparts earlier this week -- the first such get-together in five months and one year, respectively. Although he managed to clinch agreements on some bilateral issues, Japan's relations with its closest neighbors remain...
JAPAN
May 27, 2006

Ruling coalition, DPJ submit own bills for referendum

The ruling bloc -- the Liberal Democratic Party and New Komeito -- and the Democratic Party of Japan submitted separate bills Friday to the Diet with their separate visions for procedures for holding a national referendum to amend the Constitution.
JAPAN
May 25, 2006

Abe looks to enter LDP race after G8

Chief Cabinet Secretary Shinzo Abe hinted Wednesday he will officially announce his candidacy to succeed Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi as president of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party after the mid-July summit of the Group of Eight industrialized nations in St. Petersburg, Russia.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
May 25, 2006

Writing a challenge in clay for his proteges

When asked "What kind of ware do you make?," ceramic artist Kimpei Nakamura's tongue-in-cheek response is "Tokyo yaki (Tokyo Ware)." It's a label of his own invention that pokes fun at the traditional system of classifying ceramics by their ties to ancient kiln sites that existed long before the city...
Japan Times
SUMO
May 24, 2006

F2 is born -- you read it here first!

F2! F2! F2! Rather a strange way to start an article on the recently completed Natsu Basho but as the dust continues to settle and as sumo fans around the world slowly adjust to life after the tournament, I for one believe the man with the Emperor's Cup now sat proudly on his sideboard is increasingly...
LIFE / Language
May 23, 2006

Opening up to difference: The dialect dialectic

Many people in Japan lead a double life -- linguistically speaking, that is. In their community, they speak the hogen (dialect) of their city, town or village, while outside it they may be accustomed to use hyojungo (standard Japanese). Their native language, in the true sense of that word, is their...
SOCCER / PREMIER REPORT
May 21, 2006

Henry says money not reason he chose to stay with Gunners

LONDON -- According to Thierry Henry, he had not thought about signing a new contract with Arsenal before last Wednesday's Champions League final defeat by Barcelona. The match over, Henry said he would start to think about his future.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
May 21, 2006

Lurking in the shadows, following in Edgar Allan Poe's footsteps

THE BLACK LIZARD AND BEAST IN THE SHADOWS, by Edogawa Rampo, translated by Ian Hughes, introduction by Mark Schreiber. Fukuoka: Kurodahan Press, 2006, 284 pp., $15.00 (paper). Edogawa Rampo, the pen name Taro Hirai (1894-1965) adopted in homage to Edgar Allan Poe (think phonetically), is the father of...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
May 21, 2006

Yukio Mishima's prequel to the end

YUKOKU (Patriotism), 1966, produced, written and interpreted by Yukio Mishima, associate producer Hiroaki Fujii, associate director Masaki Domoto, photographed by Kimio Watanabe. Tokyo: Toho DVD, 2006, Disc One: 28 minutes, Disc Two: 175 minutes, 6,300 yen. In 1961 Yukio Mishima published a short story,...
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST
May 20, 2006

How sweet it is -- or isn't

My wife bakes in flurries and when the storm hits hardest, our kitchen becomes a virtual hurricane of flour and dough, not to mention Category 5 aromas.
BUSINESS
May 20, 2006

Beef safety audit passes muster

The U.S. has resolved most of Japan's concerns about U.S. beef processors, Japanese government officials said Friday, clearing the way for Japan to lift its import ban on U.S. beef.
COMMENTARY / World
May 19, 2006

Russian flirtation with the fascist threat

MOSCOW -- Today's Kremlin thinks that democracy was being built too quickly in Russia. The government does not say that it is against democracy, only that it is untimely and needs to be delayed -- a logic that manifests itself in most official decisions. Thus, at the beginning of the current decade,...
EDITORIALS
May 19, 2006

Inequalities of pensions

In 1984, the government decided to rectify inequalities between the pension plan for company employees (kosei nenkin) and the one mainly for public servants (kyosai nenkin). Public servants are entitled to receive more benefits by paying smaller amounts of contributions than company employees.
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
May 16, 2006

Airports, pensions, cell phones

Immigration change I am reading a lot about the new immigration laws and the possible changes that could apply in regards to airport arrival/re-entry.
COMMENTARY
May 13, 2006

A quiet burial of a scandal that will haunt Washington

NEW DELHI -- With global attention focused on the U.S.-led face-off with Tehran over the nuclear issue, Pakistan has ingeniously seized the opportunity to give a quiet burial to the worst proliferation scandal in world history, involving the Pakistani transfer of nuclear knowhow and equipment to three...
COMMENTARY
May 12, 2006

Beijing flouts an old rule of separation

LOS ANGELES -- "Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and unto God the things that are God's."
COMMENTARY
May 12, 2006

Fixing the freedom to move

LONDON -- Recent marches in the United States by Latin Americans calling for some 12 million illegal immigrants to be given the right to reside and work in "the land of the free" are the most striking manifestation of a problem that affects every advanced country, although the issue is disguised in Japan....
EDITORIALS
May 11, 2006

Conspiring on a weak bill

The ruling and opposition parties are waging a battle in the Lower House's Judicial Affairs Committee over a bill that would introduce the "crime of conspiracy." The crux of the proposal is that one would be punished for joining others to plan a crime even if the crime was not actually carried out or...
BUSINESS
May 11, 2006

Coke recall jumps to 2.37 million bottles

The Coca-Cola group in Japan will increase the number of soft drinks it is recalling, due to suspected iron contamination, to 2.37 million bottles from the initially planned 570,000.
COMMENTARY / World
May 10, 2006

North-South fault line in global politics

On April 28 developing countries voted as a group at the United Nations to shelve management reforms proposed by Secretary General Kofi Annan in the wake of the oil-for-food scandal. Annan had requested more discretion and latitude in hiring, shifting and firing his staff, and controlling the organization's...
COMMENTARY / World
May 8, 2006

Japan's 'strategy' criticized

Most of the Southeast Asian intellectuals and lawmakers I met with recently while visiting the region made remarks critical of Japan's regional strategies. Some said Japan was unenthusiastic about negotiations on economic cooperation with Southeast Asian countries and instead was giving priority to solving...
Japan Times
JAPAN
May 8, 2006

Mahjong banking on an infusion of new blood

shows banker Liam Hearns which tile to discard during a mahjong lesson in Shinjuku Ward, Tokyo.
COMMENTARY / World
May 8, 2006

Tibetans' next hope after Dalai Lama

MADRAS, India -- Railway lines fulfill dreams -- at least in modern times. But the one about to link central Tibet with China threatens to dash hopes.
SOCCER / PREMIER REPORT
May 7, 2006

Bungling F.A. suits have gone for second best in McClaren

After countless interviews, cloak-and-dagger meetings, secret talks and public humiliation for the Football Association after being turned down by Portugal's Luiz Felipe Scolari, Steve McClaren was named the next England head coach on Thursday -- 99 days after Sven-Goran Eriksson announced he was leaving...
EDITORIALS
May 3, 2006

Old woes for Italy's new government

Three weeks after losing a national election, Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has finally conceded the vote. His decision to step down eliminates one headache for the winner, Mr. Romano Prodi, but it is not the most important challenge the prime minister-to-be faces.
COMMENTARY
May 2, 2006

Limiting the economic gaps

Japan is rich because Japanese are poor.

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