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BASEBALL / MLB
Oct 2, 2005

Kiyohara, Giants to part company

The Yomiuri Giants said Saturday they will release veteran slugger Kazuhiro Kiyohara and three Pacific League clubs have shown interest in acquiring him.
JAPAN
Oct 2, 2005

Japan proposes joint use of deposits in East China Sea fields

Japan proposed to China on Saturday that they jointly develop the gas fields in a disputed area of the East China Sea as two days of working-level talks on the issue drew to a close.
EDITORIALS
Oct 2, 2005

Theory, antitheory and folk tale

A t the end of "A Brief History of Time," his 1988 best-seller about the latest scientific thinking on the cosmos, the British physicist Stephen W. Hawking posed a tough question in deceptively simple terms. "Why," he asked, "does the universe go to all the bother of existing?"
JAPAN
Oct 2, 2005

Telecom exec wanted over share-price scam

A former executive of a failed telecommunications firm has been placed on the nationwide wanted list on suspicion of announcing an unrealistic mobile phone service to raise the stock price of its parent company, investigative sources said Saturday.
COMMENTARY
Oct 2, 2005

Katrina relief wrings contributors dry

WASHINGTON -- Americans are proving yet again that they are a generous people. They have contributed more than $1.2 billion to aid the victims of Hurricane Katrina.
JAPAN
Oct 2, 2005

Four expressway firms privatized

The four expressway public corporations were privatized Saturday, 4 1/2 years after Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi launched his structural reform initiatives to transfer as many public operations to the private sector as possible.
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Oct 2, 2005

TV Asahi's "Bakusho Mondai and Japanese Citizens Ask Sensei to Explain" and more

The term sensei is used quite casually. Though it is meant to mark someone of skill or learning, it is mostly applied to individuals because of their position regardless of how they obtained it. One can understand why doctors and teachers are called it, but politicians?
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Oct 2, 2005

Timeless complement of form and function

INSPIRED SHAPES: Contemporary Designs for Japan's Ancient Crafts, by Ori Koyama, translated by Charles Whipple, photographs by Mizuho Kuwata. Tokyo: Kodansha International, 2005, 112 pp., 3,900 yen (cloth). Life in urban Japan is so suffused with artificial, factory-produced materials that the soul can...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Oct 2, 2005

Killing your career in the media to keep your superiors happy

The vocation of journalism in Japan is not exactly the same as it is in the West. The "kisha club" system makes reporters beholden to the bureaucrats and politicians they cover rather than to the public they're supposed to serve, while the Japanese corporate tradition of on-the-job training means that...
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Oct 2, 2005

A stinging voice of conscience who told it like it is

He would have turned 80 this month. And in our time of ill-lived religious fanatics and retrograde policy planners, we feel his loss all the more.
JAPAN
Oct 2, 2005

Chinese warship pointed gun at MSDF plane

A Chinese military vessel aimed a gun at a Maritime Self-Defense Force surveillance plane last month near the disputed site of the Chinese Chunxiao gas field in the East China Sea, a government source said Saturday.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Oct 2, 2005

The looking glass of Chinese history

MIRRORING THE PAST: The Writing and Use of History in Imperial China, by On-cho Ng and Q. Edward Wang. Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press, 2005, 307 pp., $50 (cloth). It was the 19th-century English historian E.A. Freeman who observed that "history is past politics, and politics is present history."...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / CLOSE-UP
Oct 2, 2005

Harumi Kurihara: Homing in on success

As a cook and lifestyle guru, Harumi Kurihara has often been dubbed Japan's answer to America's Martha Stewart or Britain's Delia Smith. But in February this year, she scaled new heights when the English-language edition of her book "Harumi no Japanese Cooking" -- titled "Harumi's Japanese Cooking" --...
SOCCER / PREMIER REPORT
Oct 1, 2005

Liverpool-Chelsea rematch unlikely to feature many thrills

LONDON -- Sequels are rarely as good as the original but English football is hoping Sunday's Premiership showdown between Liverpool and Chelsea is better than the goal-less, soul-less Champions League draw at Anfield on Wednesday night.
MORE SPORTS
Oct 1, 2005

Ando, Suguri set for NHK Cup

Figure skaters Miki Ando, Fumie Suguri and Yukina Ota will appear at the NHK Cup International meet in December, the Japan Skating Federation said Thursday.
JAPAN
Oct 1, 2005

U.S. eight years behind on rent for embassy

The United States hasn't paid the rent for its embassy in Tokyo since 1998, according to a government document released by the Cabinet on Friday.
JAPAN
Oct 1, 2005

Plaintiffs fume over Ishihara's French slur

A French teacher suing Tokyo Gov. Shintaro Ishihara over his disparaging remarks about the French language said in court Friday he would like the outspoken politician to explain why he believes French is an intellectually defective language.
JAPAN
Oct 1, 2005

Officials need manual to deal with Muneo

The Foreign Ministry has drawn up an instruction manual detailing how bureaucrats should deal with corrupt Lower House member Muneo Suzuki, notorious for his past meddling in ministry affairs, officials said Friday.
JAPAN
Oct 1, 2005

LDP faction lists mystery outlays over 1.5 billion yen

A major faction of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party once led by former Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto has listed 1.56 billion yen in unaccounted-for expenditures in its 2004 political funds report released Friday.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Oct 1, 2005

Execs avoid prison over Roppongi Hills fatality

The Tokyo District Court found three former company executives guilty Friday of professional negligence resulting in the death of a 6-year old boy who was crushed in an automatic door at the Roppongi Hills complex in March 2004.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Oct 1, 2005

Food industry joins 'food education' bandwagon

A law enactd in July aimed at improving children's eating habits has triggered moves in the domestic food industry to enlighten youngsters on what constitutes a healthy diet.
JAPAN
Oct 1, 2005

Yokota base civil flights have merit: researchers

Allowing civilian flights at the U.S. Air Force Yokota Air Base would have positive effects on the local economy, including the creation of 8,000 jobs and an additional 3.4 billion yen in tax revenue for Tokyo municipalities, researchers studying joint use of the base said Friday.
BUSINESS
Oct 1, 2005

Analog TVs to get deadline stickers

The Internal Affairs and Communications Ministry said Friday it will introduce stickers from Oct. 22 that alert buyers of analog television sets that all terrestrial analog transmissions will be terminated in July 2011.

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?