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Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER
Aug 26, 2004

Brown-lined puffer

* Japanese name: Kitamakura * Scientific name: Canthigaster rivulata * Description: Puffer fish have plump bodies and thick, smooth skin interrupted by large bulging eyes. In many parts of Japan, puffer fish are called fugu, which is written using Chinese characters that mean "river pig." In western...
Japan Times
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Aug 26, 2004

Thinking aloud

Does language determine thought? Are there concepts in some languages that can't be understood in others because that language doesn't have the word for it?
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Aug 25, 2004

No easy answers from Kore-eda

Directors who have been on the PR circuit long enough often have their answers ready before the interviewer's questions are halfway out of his mouth. Not Hirokazu Kore-eda. Despite the dozens of interviews he's given since "Nobody Knows (Daremo Shiranai)" screened in competition at this year's Cannes...
JAPAN
Aug 25, 2004

Attacks raise fears for security of troops in Iraq

Ground Self-Defense Force troops deployed to the southern Iraqi city of Samawah have found themselves threatened by mortar and rocket attacks for three straight nights, prompting concerns about the security situation.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Aug 24, 2004

Pension system a riddle wrapped in an enigma

Help, police! For foreigners staying in Japan for more than three and less than 25 years, there is only one word for the Japanese pension system -- ROBBERY! -- Bhupesh
COMMENTARY
Aug 24, 2004

Dressing Japan for success

To play a positive role in the international community of the 21st century, Japan should lift its self-imposed ban on the exercise of the right to collective self-defense, reinvent itself as a political power and win a permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council, according to Yukio Satoh, president...
COMMENTARY
Aug 23, 2004

Foreign workers at the gates

negotiations with South Korea and members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, Japan faces mounting pressure to open its labor market to foreigners. Among industrial nations, Japan has maintained the toughest exclusion policy toward foreign workers and remains extremely cautious. Japan should...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Aug 22, 2004

N.K. officials bitten by bulldog Japanese journo makes good TV

One of the problems the Japanese government has to contend with in its dealings with North Korea is the fact there is interaction between the two countries that it can't control, such as that which travels over the airwaves. Being a totalitarian dictatorship, North Korea doesn't have the same problem,...
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 21, 2004

Singapore's new foreign policy troika

SINGAPORE -- On Aug. 12, Lee Hsien Loong became Singapore's third prime minister since its independence in 1965. However, his predecessors, Goh Chok Tong and Lee Kuan Yew, remain in the Cabinet: Goh as senior minister and Lee as minister mentor.
JAPAN
Aug 20, 2004

NPA wants new laws on terror attacks, immigration control

In its first policy outline on antiterrorism measures, the National Police Agency called Thursday for new legislation to prevent terrorist attacks and improve the capability of police to respond to nuclear, biological or chemical attacks.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Aug 20, 2004

Chilling out with noodles in summertime

These are days of heat and tribulation. For 40 days and 40 nights we sweltered and sweated through that record heat wave -- and there's plenty more of the summer yet to come. Not surprisingly, given these almost biblical weather conditions, our main source of solace and sustenance has been noodles --...
LIFE / Lifestyle / MATTER OF COURSE
Aug 19, 2004

City kids bring diversity to countryside schools

I was a little nervous when we went to pick up my son, who was returning from an extended stay in the Japanese countryside. He's 13, an age when kids go through tremendous physical and emotional changes. There have been days when he was a different person at dinner than he was at breakfast. And when...
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / WILD WATCH
Aug 19, 2004

Down in the grim intertidal zone

A coffee-shop friend of mine recently summed up his appreciation of our local lowland forest just outside Sapporo, saying: "You know, it's wonderful here; every season is the best season." And, you know, he has a powerful point.
BUSINESS
Aug 19, 2004

Seiyu posts 2.88 billion yen net loss

Seiyu Ltd., an affiliate of U.S. retail giant Wal-Mart Stores Inc., reported Wednesday a group net loss of 2.88 billion yen in the first half.
BUSINESS
Aug 18, 2004

Regional division of postal services may be postponed

Dividing up the four postal services by region is unlikely to occur when privatization begins in 2007, government sources said Tuesday.
BUSINESS
Aug 18, 2004

Consent given to Sumitomo Trust for top court appeal

The Tokyo High Court gave the go-ahead Tuesday for Sumitomo Trust & Banking Co. to appeal its ruling allowing merger talks between UFJ Holdings Inc. and Mitsubishi Tokyo Financial Group Inc.
EDITORIALS
Aug 17, 2004

No need for gloom over economy

Japan's current economy can be likened to a patient nearly recovering from illness: He is allowed to go outside the hospital when weather permits, but he is confined to bed again to rest if he is exposed to cold air and feels poorly.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Aug 17, 2004

Collecting your pension dues

After those who leave Japan, hand in their gaijin cards and apply for their 2.4 month refund, the remaining millions of yen they've paid into the system stay in Japan, where the money is used to pay pension payments for those they left behind.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 16, 2004

State debt no boon for financial markets

PRAGUE -- There is a palpable schizophrenia concerning public-sector debt. On one hand, a high proportion of public-sector debt relative to gross domestic product is seen as a warning sign that a country is suffering from macroeconomic imbalances. Similarly, a high ratio of government debt to total debt...
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 16, 2004

Sun rapidly setting on German paradise

WASHINGTON -- My summertime in Germany with family and friends gave me the warmth and many pleasures of the visitor. On the level of the economy, unfortunately, my visit provided me with the pains of the outside spectator who sees things unfold with the distinct impression that the prognosis is not good....
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Aug 15, 2004

A pair of terrifying glances back in time

THE TOKYO ZODIAC MURDERS, by Soji Shimada, translated by Ross and Shika Mackenzie. Tokyo: IBC Publishing, 2004, 252 pp., 2,400 yen (cloth). THE SPECIAL PRISONER, by Jim Lehrer. New York: Random House, 2000, 230 pp., $23.95 (cloth).
EDITORIALS
Aug 14, 2004

Casting a wider net against crime

The rising wave of international crime is making it necessary to promote international cooperation in criminal investigations. As a step in this direction, Japan and South Korea have agreed to begin preparatory work on a bilateral treaty that will enable their law-enforcement authorities to conduct joint...
OLYMPICS
Aug 13, 2004

Kashima best chance for Japan in gymnastics

Twelve years have passed since Japanese gymnasts won a medal at an Olympics, 20 years since they claimed gold and 28 years since they last triumphed in a team competition at the quadrennial event.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER
Aug 12, 2004

Black-eared kite Tobi

* Japanese name: Tobi * Scientific name:Milvus lineatus * Description: Kites are large raptors, birds of prey with a noticeably forked tail. The black-eared kite has dark brown plumage (darker than the plumage of its close relative, the red kite), and black feathers over its ears. They have large wings...
Japan Times
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Aug 12, 2004

Sensitive science in the race for glory in athletic pursuits

With the 28th Olympic Games about to start, who would put a bet on a white athlete winning the 100 meters? Certainly not the American writer Jon Entine. "The complete domination of the 100 meters by people of West African origin means no white man will ever again win the event. It simply won't happen,"...
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
Aug 12, 2004

Environment groups who do it in the streets

Hester Van Hooven Ward is pretty hard to miss when she greets you on the street with a wave and a big smile, then launches into her "rap": "Hi! How are you? Do you have a minute for the environment today?" she calls out to strangers.
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital / NAME OF THE GAME
Aug 12, 2004

Managing to make droids dull

"Front Mission 4" for PlayStation 2 is a turn-based combat-strategy game in which players pilot robots. All of these elements, except maybe the giant robots, are central to understanding the latest offering from Square Enix.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art / CERAMIC SCENE
Aug 11, 2004

National treasures of Bizen-ware pots

The city and pottery style of Bizen hold a special place in my heart; in a sense, Bizen was my "first love" in the ceramic world. When I was first given a Bizen yunomi (tea cup) twenty years ago I had never held something so earthy and "alive" -- a vessel for use in daily life, to enhance drinking pleasure,...

Longform

Totopa in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward was picked by consultants TTNE as the best sauna of the year.
Japan’s sauna movement: Relax, refresh, repeat