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EDITORIALS
May 28, 2007

Strategic Economic Dialogue stumbles

The increasingly shrill dialogue between the United States and China over economic issues should sound familiar to many Japanese. A swelling U.S. trade deficit with China has led to demands by Washington for the revaluation of the Chinese currency, threats of trade sanctions from Congress, and angry...
COMMENTARY
May 28, 2007

Apathetic clouds of smoke

Two years after the World Health Organization's Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) took effect, many countries are coordinating efforts to curb tobacco use.
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM NEW YORK
May 28, 2007

Rooting out the purplish, yellow perils

NEW YORK — A certain plant of the pea family has been appreciated in Japan — poetically, dietarily and medicinally — since ancient times. So, in the oldest extant anthology of Japanese poetry, the "Man'yoshu," it is used as an epithet for "without interruption," "for a long time" and so forth,...
COMMENTARY
May 28, 2007

More compelling than common sense

The following statement appeared in an article on the opinion page of The Japan Times in July 2003: "The main result of the U.S. action (in Iraq) will probably be to turn a nation free from al-Qaida links into yet another hotbed of anti-U.S. 'terrorism,' and to push one of the few secular Middle Eastern...
COMMENTARY / World
May 28, 2007

Sarkozy should look north for a model

PALO ALTO, Calif. — In gearing up to take France on a new economic course, French President Nicolas Sarkozy's choices are not confined to Anglo-American neoliberalism and the dying French model of social protection. There are other viable alternatives, one of which is the German model. Germany, after...
BUSINESS / THE VIEW FROM EUROPE
May 28, 2007

Russian car boom catches eye of Japan, Germany

Look at any atlas, and it is plain to see that what is separating Germany from Japan is the world's largest country, Russia. As a land mass, it is indeed a behemoth, spanning over 10,000 km and eleven time zones.
SUMO / Basho reports
May 27, 2007

Hakuho wraps up Summer Basho title

Mongolian Hakuho overpowered Chiyotaikai on Saturday to win his second straight Emperor's Cup and virtually assure himself of promotion to yokozuna.
Rugby
May 27, 2007

Japan stumbles against fired-up Fiji

LAUTOKA, Fiji — Japan played its first-round game Saturday in the Pacific Nations Cup against Fiji at the Churchill Rugby Ground here in hot afternoon conditions.
JAPAN
May 27, 2007

First privately run prison opens in Yamaguchi

Japan's first privately built prison has begun accepting inmates as the nation desperately seeks to relieve overcrowding behind bars, officials have said.
Reader Mail
May 27, 2007

Short shrift to victims' claims

Hisahiko Okazaki adds insult to injury when he refers to the Imperial Japanese Army's forcing 200,000 women into sexual servitude during World War II as "a fantastic story" ("Abe steering Japan adeptly on 'comfort women' issue," May 21). Outside of Japan, this matter is not in doubt. The United Nations...
Reader Mail
May 27, 2007

Constructive mayor will be missed

Misawa Mayor Shigeyoshi Suzuki passed away on May 1 at age 66. I was shocked to hear this, having met him in my previous capacity as director of the Status of U.S. Forces Agreement Division of the Foreign Ministry.
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
May 27, 2007

MLB should eliminate 'rookie' label for Japanese veterans

Last week an Associated Press photo appeared in these pages with a caption that began, "Boston Red Sox rookie hurler Daisuke Matsuzaka . . . "
Reader Mail
May 27, 2007

Alienation at the police station

Two weeks ago my husband and I went to the Azabu police station in Tokyo to report that my wallet had been stolen. At the time it was stolen, I was at an English pub with my non-Japanese friend. The police insisted that they get her last name and address even though she wasn't the one who was suspected...
Reader Mail
May 27, 2007

Are defibrillators worth it?

I read with interest Alice Gordenker's column about the legal change that permits laypeople in Japan to operate the automated external defibrillator (AED), and the installation of AEDs in public places ("So what the heck is that?" April 17).
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
May 27, 2007

Marines duo sparks club against BayStars

CHIBA — There's something about Shunsuke Watanabe that just brings out the best in Daisuke Hayakawa. Neither can really explain it, but for some reason they just click.

Longform

An illustration features the Japanese signs for "ganbare" (good luck) and the Deaflympics, which will be held between Nov. 15 and 26.
A century of Deaf sport finds its moment in Tokyo