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EDITORIALS
Apr 9, 2007

Dark cloud over baseball

An investigative committee has found that the Seibu Lions, a Pacific League baseball club, paid from 100,000 yen to 10 million yen to 170 managers and others affiliated with amateur baseball teams for 27 years until 2005 as rewards for helping the pro baseball team acquire new players. The revelation...
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 9, 2007

Only one way to move forward in Ukraine

KIEV -- Suddenly, Ukraine faces another stark choice: Dismiss the government and Parliament and hold new elections, or see the country's independence surrendered bit by bit. There is renewed talk, too, of violent civil unrest. None of this should be surprising, given how our corrupt rulers systematically...
BASKETBALL
Apr 8, 2007

Aoki named to all-league team

Lynn Washington, the reigning bj-league league MVP and star power forward for the defending champion Osaka Evessa, is back where you'd expect him to be at the end of the regular season: on the all-league team.
SOCCER / J. League
Apr 8, 2007

Ponte's late tally propels Reds to thrilling win over Jubilo

SAITAMA -- A late strike from Robson Ponte gave Urawa Reds a 2-1 victory over Jubilo Iwata in a pulsating game Saturday evening watched by 45,025 at Saitama Stadium.
MORE SPORTS
Apr 8, 2007

Big plans for hockey during centennial year in Japan

Those who follow the sport of hockey in Japan will be as enthusiastic as ever from now on.
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Apr 8, 2007

Nice debut for 'Dice-K', Eagles day games, MLB events

Nice major league debut for "Dice-K," eh?
Reader Mail
Apr 8, 2007

Not what you'd call simple R&R

As for the March 24, 2007, article "Nakasone claims his 'ian-jo' was for R&R": I've seen a book of World War II battleground photographs, one of which showed a building with a sign reading "ian-jo."
Reader Mail
Apr 8, 2007

Giving Tokyo what it needs

The candidates in Sunday's Tokyo gubernatorial election seem at a loss for innovative ideas. The current governor has done a middling job on crime (Kabukicho, curfews for kids) and has banished diesel fumes, but he's a xenophobic blowhard who, among his many irrational proclamations, has averred that...
Reader Mail
Apr 8, 2007

Disaster from good intentions

Having heard the news of the murder of the British woman Lindsay Ann Hawker within the first few days of arriving in Tokyo from London, I have been feeling rather distressed about what has happened.
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
Apr 8, 2007

Tigers rough up Kadokura

In their last game the Yomiuri Giants ran Hanshin starter Tsuyoshi Shimoyanagi out of the game in 3 2/3 innings. On Saturday night, the Tigers returned the favor.
Reader Mail
Apr 8, 2007

A joke that can fan prejudices

Although the front-page April 1 article "Shibuya's loyal dog Hachiko vanishes" was clearly an April fool's joke, I don't think The Japan Times should do things like this at the expense of minority groups. (In this case the story suggested that soaring prices for copper and other metals, spurred by the...
EDITORIALS
Apr 8, 2007

The annual 'hanami' rethink

Though it happens every year, cherry blossom season still functions as a vibrant experience in Japan. As the blossoms open up, somehow, so do people. Time spent walking or partying under the falling petals makes most people slow down to reconsider what is essential in life. It may be just a bunch of...
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Apr 8, 2007

Seeing yourself through the literary ways of others

With the 2007 academic year now about to begin in Japan, it's a good time to take a look at English-language teaching in the nation's universities. Yes, the tides are indeed running there. The emphasis is shifting determindly toward the utilitarian: English as a tool for Internet communication; English...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Apr 8, 2007

'Mr. Irresponsible' -- the humanitarian comedian -- passes on

The media has been filled with tributes to comedian Hitoshi Ueki since he died of respiratory failure March 27 at the age of 80, but compared to the intense public mourning that followed the deaths of other, equally influential Showa Era pop icons, the eulogies have been notably subdued. One explanation...
CULTURE / Books
Apr 8, 2007

Broadening the literary view of choosing a purposeful death

SUICIDAL HONOR: General Nogi and the Writings of Mori Ogai and Natsume Soseki, by Doris. G. Bargen. University of Hawaii Press, 2006, 289 pp., $42 (cloth) The name of Maresuke Nogi (1849-1912) reverberated through the world twice: when he subdued the Russian fortress at Port Arthur (Luxu) during the...
Reader Mail
Apr 8, 2007

Loss of national identity

In his March 28 letter, "National anthem out of place?," Eric Hilton asks whether it is usual in other countries for the national anthem to be sung at school ceremonies. As far as Britain is concerned, certainly not!
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Apr 8, 2007

Coming-of-age comedy drama, family business sitcom, high school sitcom

Spring is in the air, and a batch of new drama series is being launched this week. Family themes seem to be dominant, but, of course, romance is never far away.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Apr 8, 2007

New look for Japan's oldest book

THE KOJIKI, edited by Yoshinobu Hirata, illustrated by Yuko Mori. Tokyo: Kumon Shuppan (5-bancho, Chiyoda-ku), 2004, 160 pp., 951 yen (cloth) "The birth of Japan. The gods give us a story of love and violence." Thus is introduced this Japanese-language manga-illustrated edition of the "Kojiki" (Record...
Japan Times
LIFE
Apr 8, 2007

'Killing people won't cut crime; there's no data to prove this'

The gallows, like much of the rest of Japan's prison system, are shrouded in thick veils of government secrecy.
Japan Times
LIFE
Apr 8, 2007

Japan's way of judicial killing

Japan's application of the death penalty is cruel, secretive and out of step with much of the developed world, say its opponents. As a record 102 inmates now wait on death row for the hangman's noose, in this JT review of the capital-punishment system, the one man alive and free who knows the true horrors...
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 8, 2007

Ruing the death of Russian womanhood

SOUTH BEND, Indiana -- Valentina Tereshkova, the first female Soviet cosmonaut -- indeed, the first woman to go into space -- recently celebrated her 70th birthday. In an interview, she stated her only wish: to fly to Mars, even with a one-way ticket. It was an implicit wish for a spectacular form of...
Japan Times
LIFE
Apr 8, 2007

One who has lived to tell the tale

When his body isn't groaning under the weight of its 81 years, and the sun is shining in the skies over his native Kyushu, Sakae Menda sometimes forgets the ordeal he suffered and knows he is lucky to be alive.
Reader Mail
Apr 8, 2007

Japanese honesty made my day

My husband and I are Canadian citizens who were traveling in Japan for business and pleasure. On Sunday, Nov. 19, 2006, we were with friends at the Morioka JR station. Upon leaving the JR office, I did not notice that my wallet was left open while I was walking toward the department store inside the...

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