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LIFE / Lifestyle / MATTER OF COURSE
May 20, 2004

Schools sounding false alarms over child safety

A few weeks ago my younger son came home from school all excited. "Mom! Guess what?" he shouted from the entranceway as he kicked off his shoes. "The ku gave us a gohan buza!" I had been hard at work on an article and was a little slow making the transition to his eclectic mix of languages. Why would...
EDITORIALS
May 20, 2004

Widening pension scandal

Japanese politics appears to be at the mercy of a widening pension scandal as one political leader after another bows out of posts for failing to pay national pension premiums. The latest casualty is Mr. Ichiro Ozawa, who on Monday announced he will not succeed Naoto Kan as president of the Democratic...
COMMENTARY
May 20, 2004

South Asian peace can't wait

ISLAMABAD -- The surprise upset in India's recent elections, which saw the Congress Party take power, is unlikely to change the positive course Indo-Pakistani relations have taken. But given the two countries' long history of acrimony and the threat that hardline militants pose to the emerging peace...
COMMENTARY / World
May 20, 2004

India: a defeat for the government, a victory for democracy

In his concession speech on May 13, Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) thanked the people of India for having given him their support for five years; promised full cooperation with Sonia Gandhi, leader of the largest victorious party, Congress; and noted that,...
JAPAN
May 20, 2004

Congolese ex-aide to Suzuki claims state defamed him

A Congolese man who was an aide to former lawmaker Muneo Suzuki filed a lawsuit Wednesday demanding that the government pay him 10 million yen in compensation for defaming him by saying he held a forged passport.
BUSINESS
May 20, 2004

UFJ to sack top three execs over dismal result

The UFJ financial group said Wednesday its three top managers will be ousted because the group failed to achieve its profit goals, company officials said.
BUSINESS
May 20, 2004

State to maintain upbeat economic assessment

The Cabinet Office will probably maintain its upbeat assessment of Japan's economy in its monthly report due out Friday, according to government sources.
COMMENTARY
May 20, 2004

A Kerry victory would curtail spending

WASHINGTON -- Republicans control both the White House and Congress, but Washington, D.C. remains a fiscal sinkhole. The best hope for budget probity is to turn over one branch of government to the Democrats.
BUSINESS
May 20, 2004

Yanase to absorb seven sales units

Imported car dealer Yanase & Co. said Wednesday it will absorb seven sales subsidiaries Aug. 2 in a bid to increase the efficiency of operations within its group.
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital / NAME OF THE GAME
May 20, 2004

Bigger isn't always better

When I visited the Pokemon Center near Tokyo Station recently, the line into the store wrapped all the way around the block. There was a one-hour wait to get in. When I asked if the store was always this packed, a clerk said, "It's usually much more crowded."
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
May 19, 2004

Troy story: hollywood vs. homer

Troy Rating: * * 1/2 (out of 5) Director: Wolfgang Petersen Running time: 163 minutes Language: English Opens May 22 [See Japan Times movie listings] As the first major war of the 21st century rages on, continuing to dominate our collective consciousness, cinema takes us back to the...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
May 19, 2004

A crazy little film about love

Kitchen Stories Rating: * * * * (out of 5) Director: Bent Hamer Running time: 95 minutes Language: Norwegian, Swedish Opens May 22 [See Japan Times movie listings] In the early 1950s, the Swedish Home Research Institute dispatched a team of researchers to Norway to observe how middle-aged...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
May 19, 2004

Achilles battles the flu

As the price of making grandiose blockbusters creeps ever higher, so does the need to secure big openings in every market. In the case of "Troy" -- one of the most expensive films ever made, weighing in at around $175 million -- this is particularly true. Thus, when Brad Pitt sneezes, Warner Bros. catches...
JAPAN
May 19, 2004

Parties use pension scandal to score points

Is the exposure of an incessant stream of politicians who have not paid their pension premiums the result of a crusade to regain public trust in the pension system, a hysterical witch hunt or merely a political power struggle ahead of a key election?
JAPAN
May 19, 2004

State muzzles NTV over report it didn't like

Angered by a news report, the government has excluded Nippon Television Network Corp. reporters from a list of press corps permitted to accompany Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi on his weekend visit to Pyongyang, NTV officials said Tuesday.
JAPAN
May 19, 2004

Japan's greenhouse gas emissions up 2% in '02; first rise in two years

The nation's emissions of carbon dioxide and other gases linked to global warming increased 2.2 percent in fiscal 2002 from the previous year, marking the first rise in two years, the government said Tuesday.
JAPAN
May 19, 2004

Replacement troops reach Samawah

The first rotation troops of the Ground Self-Defense Force arrived Monday in the southern Iraq city of Samawah, Defense Agency officials said.
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
May 19, 2004

Hanshin's relief trio has Tigers in hunt for repeat in CL

The Hanshin Tigers have a reputation of winning the Central League pennant once every other decade. Their last three titles came in 1964, 1985 and 2003, and their fans surely do not want to wait until 22-something for the next championship.
JAPAN
May 19, 2004

GSDF gets ready to wrap up work in East Timor

The Ground Self-Defense Force will end its two-year peacekeeping mission in East Timor on Thursday, after providing support in such reconstruction efforts as repairing school playgrounds.
EDITORIALS
May 19, 2004

Chechnya explodes again

The assassination last week of Mr. Akhmad Kadyrov is a reminder of the festering sore that is Chechnya. Moscow's hopes of pacifying the restive republic have been laid to rest with the slain president. Russian President Vladimir Putin now faces difficult choices: Find a suitable local figure that both...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
May 19, 2004

Harmony of the artistic spheres

Celebrating the 20th anniversary of the establishment of the Bunrakuza Theater in Osaka, the Tokyo National Theater this month presents in its entirety "Imoseyama Onna Teikin (Admonitions to Women on Their Relationships with Men)," Chikamatsu Hanji's 1771 bunraku masterpiece.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
May 19, 2004

Surreal adventures of the image kind

The current special exhibition at the Yokohama Museum of Art deftly achieves two goals dear to public institutions everywhere: it educates the public -- and does so on a shoestring budget.
BUSINESS
May 19, 2004

Sega, Sammy set to integrate under holding firm on Oct. 1

Game maker Sega Corp. said Tuesday it will merge with pachinko machine maker Sammy Corp. on Oct. 1, thereby creating the nation's largest video game maker.
JAPAN
May 19, 2004

Parties use pension scandal to score points

Is the exposure of an incessant stream of politicians who have not paid their pension premiums the result of a crusade to regain public trust in the pension system, a hysterical witch hunt or merely a political power struggle ahead of a key election?

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?