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EDITORIALS
Jan 16, 2006

Running on empty in Ukraine

New Year celebrations were colder than usual in Ukraine. On Jan. 1, Russia cut off supplies of natural gas over a contract dispute. Frantic negotiations produced a new contract, but the terms outraged Ukraine's Parliament. Ukraine President Viktor Yushchenko was not the only casualty in the affair, however....
JAPAN
Jan 16, 2006

Nippon Life plans first yield rise in two decades

Nippon Life Insurance Co. is planning its first increase in 21 years in the investment yield promised to policyholders of some products, which means that new policy buyers will be paying less in premiums, sources said Sunday.
JAPAN
Jan 16, 2006

Top-level council to formulate strategy on foreign aid

The government and ruling Liberal Democratic Party decided Sunday to set up a council led by Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi to work out strategies on how to disburse official development assistance, sources said.
JAPAN
Jan 16, 2006

Death toll from snow rises to 94

Four people died Sunday in snow-related accidents in Yamagata, Tottori, Gifu and Akita prefectures, raising the death toll from snow-related incidents since December to 94.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 16, 2006

Concern grows in Japan over Asian ties

SINGAPORE -- From a Southeast Asian perspective, recent developments underscore an internal angst in Japan over the growing "China threat" and how Japan will come to terms with its military aggression of the 1930s and '40s. Meanwhile, debate continues in Japan on revising its "pacifist" Constitution...
COMMENTARY
Jan 16, 2006

Heretical to the Asia concept

The European Union is a community founded on the concept of Europe. This concept has been nurtured by the historical consciousness of Europeans to overcome national rivalries and to maintain European traditions. The process of consolidating such consciousness has, however, been accompanied by a process...
SUMO
Jan 15, 2006

Asashoryu wins, stays one off pace

Grand champion Asashoryu overpowered Tokitenku on Saturday to remain one win behind co-leaders Tochiazuma and Hokutoriki at the New Year Grand Sumo Tournament.
MORE SPORTS
Jan 15, 2006

Teen shocks medalist Uchishiba

Teenage hopeful Hiroyuki Akimoto defeated Athens Olympic gold medalist Masato Uchishiba in an all-Japanese final Saturday to claim the 66-kg title at the Kano Cup international judo tournament.
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Jan 15, 2006

Japan's 'Fields of Dreams' provide fans unique opportunities

Reader Matthew C. Fisk e-mailed this column with the following: "How do you rate the stadiums used sometimes for pro baseball games played in the smaller cities and towns? My family would like to attend a game at one of them and combine it with visiting an historic smaller city or town nearby."
EDITORIALS
Jan 15, 2006

A psychedelic anniversary

'M ost human beings live nowadays in big cities, in a dead world. They go to the moon, but don't even know how to look at a starry sky." The Swiss scientist who made that remark in a television interview ahead of his 100th birthday last Wednesday certainly did his bit to promote star-gazing -- of a sort....
JAPAN
Jan 15, 2006

New Post job may go to ex-Toyota exec

The government is eyeing Toshihiro Takahashi, currently vice president of Japan Post and a former Toyota Motor Corp. managing director, to assume the post of president of a company that will manage over-the-counter services of post offices starting Oct. 1, 2007, sources said Saturday.
JAPAN
Jan 15, 2006

Five people die in snow-related mishaps

At least five people died Saturday in snow-related incidents in Niigata, Nagano and Akita prefectures, and five avalanches were reported as the weather turned warmer throughout the country.
JAPAN
Jan 15, 2006

Controversial substitute prison system likely to survive

A panel advising the Justice Ministry and National Police Agency has come out in favor of maintaining the controversial substitute prison system, known as "daiyo kangoku," in effect guaranteeing the system will be maintained.
JAPAN
Jan 15, 2006

Maehara ties his future to policy results

Seiji Maehara, chief of the opposition Democratic Party of Japan, said Saturday he will not run in the party's presidential election in September if he fails to unify views within the party on foreign affairs, security and other basic policies.
JAPAN
Jan 15, 2006

Murakami ups Matsuzakaya stake

An investment fund led by financier Yoshiaki Murakami has become the top stockholder of department store operator Matsuzakaya Co. with a 5.46 percent stake, Matsuzakaya officials said Saturday.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 15, 2006

Infamous English word is just an import

HONG KONG -- Apart from Thatcherism and the creation of the modern game of soccer, some cynics say that the major English contribution to modern international life has been the widespread promulgation of the dreadful "F" word.
Japan Times
Features / WEEK 3
Jan 15, 2006

Go shop where it's Christmas every day of the year

As memories of festive fun fade and the world returns to its regular routine, spare a thought for the man behind the all-year-round Christmas shop in Takanawa, near JR Shinagawa Station in Tokyo.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Jan 15, 2006

Spreading the word on popular literature

THE BAMBOO SWORD AND OTHER SAMURAI TALES by Shuhei Fujisawa, translated by Gavin Frew. Tokyo: Kodansha International, 2005, 254 pp., 2,400 yen (cloth). Japanese critics have long made a distinction between taishu bungaku, "popular literature," which is simple entertainment, and jun bungaku, "pure literature,"...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Jan 15, 2006

Two writers, two very different North Koreas

NORTH KOREA: The Struggle Against American Power, by Tim Beal. Pluto, 2005, 352 pp., £18.99 (paper). NORTH KOREA: The Paranoid Peninsula, by Paul French. Zed Books Ltd., 2005, 352 pp.,£17.95 (paper). The subtitles of these books reveal the sharply differing points of departure on North Korea for writers...

Longform

A store clerk tries to cool things down in front of their shop by spraying a hose.
Is extreme weather changing the way Japan shops?