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COMMENTARY
Oct 10, 2005

No 'Koizumi power' in Europe

PARIS -- As the London Economist wrote, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's "Revolution" was a "very Japanese" one indeed. What European politician today could dream of calling a general election designed to punish Parliament for having rejected his legislation and being rewarded with an electoral victory?...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Oct 10, 2005

Disaster relief team heads to Islamabad

Japan sent a disaster relief team to Pakistan on Sunday to provide emergency assistance a day after a huge, killer earthquake hit the country.
JAPAN
Oct 10, 2005

Japan Post turns to employee ratings

Japan Post has introduced a rating system for its 340,000 employees who deal directly with customers, based on the quality of their service and their ability to explain its products, Japan Post sources said Sunday.
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Oct 9, 2005

Dark season for Giants comes to quiet end at Tokyo Dome

The atmosphere was very strange at Tokyo Dome last Wednesday, Oct. 5, as the Yomiuri Giants closed out a dismal 2005 season and two years of something between mediocrity and futility under the leadership of manager Tsuneo Horiuchi.
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
Oct 9, 2005

Marines grind out win

CHIBA -- The Seibu Lions couldn't get Koji Mitsui off the mound fast enough.
MORE SPORTS
Oct 9, 2005

Golovin, Vaidisova storm into Japan Open final

Third-seed Tatiana Golovin of France overpowered India's Sania Mirza on Saturday to set up a meeting with Czech Nicole Vaidisova in the final of the AIG Japan Open women's singles.
JAPAN
Oct 9, 2005

Asbestos-linked cancer deaths doubled in last decade

Deaths from mesothelioma, a rare cancer often caused by asbestos exposure, almost doubled to a record 953 in 2004 from 500 in 1995, according to government statistics.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Oct 9, 2005

Giant salamander, green iguana captured

Following a recent rise in the number of exotic pets that have escaped or been abandoned across the country, a giant salamander and a green iguana were spotted Saturday in Kanagawa Prefecture and caught by police.
JAPAN
Oct 9, 2005

Sumitomo Trust, MUFG mediation likely to fail

The Tokyo District Court has urged Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc. to pay about 5 billion yen in compensation to Sumitomo Trust & Banking Co. for their failed trust merger, but MUFG is likely to reject the court's proposal, sources familiar with the matter said Saturday.
EDITORIALS
Oct 9, 2005

Nine numbers and 81 squares

Human beings are a famously diverse lot. We come in different colors and sizes, speak a Babel of tongues, worship a pantheon of gods or no god at all, eat our foods bland or spicy, vote or not, and are sorely divided over the value of poetry. But those distinctions pale compared to the big one: the gulf...
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Oct 9, 2005

America's war criminals pass the buck to underlings

'I was only following orders." With these words, that have entered our language as a cliche reeking of bitter irony, SS-Obersturmbannfurer Karl Adolf Eichmann (1906-62) defended his part in the murder of innocent prisoners in Nazi death camps. The court in Jerusalem, where Eichmann was put on trial in...
Japan Times
Features
Oct 9, 2005

Building a bridge to forgiveness

Takashi Nagase still breaks down when he remembers the young British man he helped torture. "I couldn't bear his pain," he says, choking back tears. "He was crying 'Mother! Mother!' And I thought: What would she feel if she could see her son like this? I still dream about it."
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Oct 9, 2005

Breaking the silence on sexuality in Japan

GENDERS, TRANSGENDERS AND SEXUALITIES IN JAPAN, edited by Mark McLelland and Romit Dasgupta. London: Routledge, 2005, 218 pp., £60 (cloth). Now that the conspiracies of silence have begun to evaporate, scholarly works on gender and transgender have begun to proliferate. This very interesting collection...
JAPAN
Oct 9, 2005

Supreme Court rejects appeal in Itoman art case

The Supreme Court has rejected an appeal by Heo Young Joong, a defendant in a high-profile corporate scandal that surfaced at the height of the economic bubble, judicial sources said Saturday.
JAPAN
Oct 9, 2005

Air gun capable of killing: police

A 17-year-old boy on a motorcycle was shot with an air gun Saturday by someone in a passenger car, police said. The incident took place at around 4:40 a.m. on National Road No. 24 in Iwade, Wakayama Prefecture, when the teen was on his way home, police said.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / NATURE TRAVEL
Oct 9, 2005

Not much to declare about Andorra

Andorra is one of the very few countries on Earth that no one has ever bothered invading. True, Hannibal passed through with his elephants, but he had the Roman Empire to destroy and didn't stay long. Napoleon once planned to annex it, but the Andorran delegation to Paris decided not to go to the talks....
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Oct 9, 2005

Why has militant extremism become such a strong force for radical Islam?

JEMAAH ISLAMIYAH: Radical Islam in Indonesia, by Greg Barton. Ridge Books: Singapore, 2005, 118 pp., $15 (paper). Eerily the news of the recent Bali bombings broke as I was reading this concise analysis of why radical Islam remains a potent threat in Indonesia and the region. It is believed that there...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Oct 9, 2005

Roll up! Roll up! For a freak show starring 'Koizumi's children'

Adding salt to its wounds, it was reported recently that the Democratic Party of Japan paid 129 million yen to the American public relations firm Fleischmann-Hillard to buff its image in 2004. Though it might have helped in last year's Upper House election, the company's strategy didn't seem to work...
SOCCER / PREMIER REPORT
Oct 8, 2005

Pressure on Eriksson to lock up World Cup berth for England

LONDON -- There are two ways of looking at the likely inclusion of Peter Crouch in the England team to face Austria in a crucial World Cup qualifying tie on Saturday.
MORE SPORTS
Oct 8, 2005

Sugiyama crashes out at Ariake

Fifth-seed Ai Sugiyama was sent crashing out in the women's quarterfinals by teenager Tatiana Golovin of France as the host saw its final player knocked out of the singles competition at the AIG Japan Open on Friday.

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?