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COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM NEW YORK
Mar 29, 2004

Fear and loathing in the U.S. workplace

NEW YORK -- A friend wrote to say that a professor both of us know was summarily fired on charges of sexual harassment. Not long afterward it was found that the accusation had no basis, but by then it was too late. Our friend had moved out of the region with his family.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 29, 2004

Australia awakening to threat

SYDNEY -- A test on how well Australians can cope with an increasingly expected Islamic terrorist attack showed last week how little we have learned from New York, Bali and Madrid.
BASEBALL / MLB
Mar 29, 2004

Godzilla stomps on old team

It all seemed so natural for Hideki Matsui. He was treated like royalty when he returned to the Tokyo Dome, and he didn't take much time to reward his adoring fans.
BUSINESS / JAPANESE PERSPECTIVES
Mar 29, 2004

Hooked on China's seven percent solution

For Mr. Sherlock Holmes, a seven percent solution provides solace in times of intellectual inactivity, when the game's not afoot, and his brain craves for stimulus. On those occasions, he turns to a seven percent solution of cocaine injected into the forearm to compensate for the lack of vibrant mental...
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 29, 2004

Kala azar casts shadow over Nepal's poor

KATMANDU -- Nepal, the "country of a thousand gods," presents a sad paradox. Endowed with exquisite beauty, it is at the same time home to a series of infectious diseases that take a heavy toll on its population. Perhaps the less known among them, and the most neglected, is kala azar. The name literally...
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 29, 2004

Afghanistan deserves the world's support

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COMMENTARY / World
Mar 29, 2004

U.S. forces prepare for surprises in Asia

HONOLULU -- They call it the "tyranny of distance," and it ranks up there in U.S. strategic thinking with conventional threats like that from North Korea and unconventional dangers posed by terrorists in Southeast Asia.
COMMENTARY
Mar 29, 2004

Environment tax can work

On Nov. 18 the Japan Federation of Economic Organizations (Nippon Keidanren) issued a statement opposing a proposed environment tax. Keidanren noted that it had set its own fiscal 2010 targets for reducing carbon-dioxide emissions generated by the industrial and energy-conversion sectors below 1990 levels,...
JAPAN
Mar 29, 2004

Camera recorded fatal door accident at Roppongi Hills

A security camera recorded the fatal accident in which a 6-year-old boy got his head caught in an automatic revolving door at the Roppongi Hills complex in Tokyo, police said Sunday.
JAPAN
Mar 28, 2004

Suspects to get notebooks to record interrogations

Beginning next month, the Japan Federation of Bar Associations will begin printing and distributing formatted notebooks in which criminal suspects can keep records of interrogations by police and prosecutors.
EDITORIALS
Mar 28, 2004

The little horse that couldn't

Haruurara, the chestnut mare famous for having now lost 106 races in a row, must be a secret fan of Samuel Beckett, the acerbic Irish playwright who died in 1989. We are thinking in particular of Beckett's late play "Worstward Ho," a line from which is said to have become the mantra of a thousand struggling...
JAPAN
Mar 28, 2004

Koizumi favors unifying pensions

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi said Saturday he supports integrating the three public pensions to correct the burden imbalance among premium payers depending on occupation.
JAPAN
Mar 28, 2004

40% worried domestic security is waning

Nearly 40 percent of people responding to a survey said they feel that security in Japan is deteriorating, the government said Saturday.
Events
Mar 28, 2004

KANSAI: Who & What

Major antique fair to be held in Kyoto: A major antique fair will be held April 2 to 4 at Pulse Plaza in Fushimi Ward, Kyoto.
Japan Times
Features
Mar 28, 2004

Irene & Matilde

"SO IT STRUCK YOU AS ODD."
BASEBALL / MLB
Mar 28, 2004

Marines rock Matsuzaka on Opening Day

TOKOROZAWA, Saitama Pref. -- Bobby Valentine has said over and over that he wants to have fun this season. Well, the fun has started.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Mar 28, 2004

Missy Elliott

What becomes a legend most? In Missy Elliott's case, it's not the minimal beats, which were revolutionary before their time, or the effortless wordplay that sticks to the roof of your brain, but rather an attitude that cuts straight through the usual hip-hop nonsense and speaks directly to her audience....
Japan Times
SOCCER / J. League
Mar 28, 2004

Defending Nabisco Cup champion Reds suffer early setback

Urawa Reds' hopes of successfully defending their Nabisco Cup title suffered an early setback after a surprise 3-2 defeat at home to Oita Trinita in the first round of group-stage matches on Saturday.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Mar 28, 2004

Freedom is flagging in Japan's public-school system

Few people are probably aware that the national flags of many countries are not, strictly speaking, national flags. There is no law, for example, that designates the Union Jack as the national flag of the U.K. In most countries, the national flag and national anthem are defined, as such, by custom rather...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Mar 28, 2004

History behind a rocky democracy

INDONESIAN DESTINIES, by Theodore Friend. Cambridge: Belknap/Harvard University Press, 2003, 628 pp., $35 (cloth). INDONESIA: People and Histories, by Jean Gelman Taylor. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2003, 420 pp., $39.95 (cloth). These two books complement each other nicely and contribute greatly...
JAPAN
Mar 28, 2004

China urged to prevent landings on disputed isle

Foreign Minister Yoriko Kawaguchi has asked China to prevent a recurrence of similar incidents following the landing of seven Chinese activists on one of the disputed Senkaku Islands last week, the Foreign Ministry said Saturday.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Mar 28, 2004

A subversive sampler of the future

Since the '80s -- when the first samplers came on the market -- sampling in music has evolved from a revolutionary and barely understood practice to become a standard tool in the production of even the most mundane pop song. It's all in the hands of the user -- and when those hands belong to Coldcut,...
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 28, 2004

The Iraq war in retrospect

The question that crops up repeatedly when we register our opposition to the Iraq war is: Would you rather then have Saddam Hussein still in power? It's a fair question that deserves a serious answer. Unlike in 1990, when Hussein did have a few admirers, last year he had none. This makes the failure...

Longform

The volunteer lifesavers of Nishihama Surf Lifesaving Club never know what's in store at the start of their day.
It's no simple day at the beach for Japan's volunteer lifesavers