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JAPAN
Jul 25, 2005

GSDF unit back from Iraq duty after six months

About 100 members of the Ground Self-Defense Force landed Sunday at Tokyo's Haneda airport after concluding a six-month tour of duty providing humanitarian and reconstruction aid in Iraq.
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Jul 24, 2005

Kroon in tune as surprise closer for BayStars

Yokohama BayStars relief pitcher Marc Kroon made headlines July 19 when he threw a 161-kph (100.6 mph) fastball in a game against the Hanshin Tigers at Koshien Stadium. However, setting a record for the fastest pitch thrown in a Japan pro baseball game was not his goal.
EDITORIALS
Jul 24, 2005

The economy of plastic bags

A s this summer marks the 10th anniversary of the promulgation of the law for recycling containers and wrapping materials, the government is moving to strengthen the law to force a change in the behavior of consumers. The target is plastic shopping bags provided for free by supermarkets, convenience...
JAPAN
Jul 24, 2005

52% of Japanese don't trust U.S. government

More than half of the Japanese public doesn't trust the U.S. government, but 59 percent of Americans consider Tokyo trustworthy, according to a joint public perception survey by Kyodo News and the Associated Press.
JAPAN
Jul 24, 2005

Japan plans to tighten up rules on fund transfers

In an effort to cut off money for terrorist organizations, the Financial Services Agency plans to check the identity of people transferring even relatively small amounts of money to other people's accounts, FSA officials said Saturday.
JAPAN
Jul 24, 2005

Japan-China-U.S. ties said vital

Scholars and experts from Japan, China and the United States agreed in a recent meeting in Beijing that stable and cooperative relations among the three countries "will be in the best interests" of them and the rest of the world, according to organizers of the event.
JAPAN
Jul 24, 2005

Vulnerability is all too apparent

The strong earthquake that struck the Kanto region Saturday reminded Tokyo residents of the city's vulnerability to natural disasters -- and left them wondering what would happen if the capital is hit by the long-anticipated Big One.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Jul 24, 2005

Race across the Pacific

IN THE WAKE OF THE JOMON: Stone Age Mariners and a Voyage Across the Pacific, by Jon Turk. New York: International Marine/McGraw-Hill, 2005, 287 pages, with b/w illustrations, $24.95 (cloth). Midway through "In the Wake of the Jomon" comes a paragraph that poses all the questions Jon Turk ponders in...
JAPAN
Jul 24, 2005

Takeda sleeping pill OK'd in U.S.

Takeda Pharmaceutical Co. said Saturday its U.S.-based research and development center has received approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for a new prescription insomnia medicine.
Japan Times
Features
Jul 24, 2005

Mama Calcutta

Emiko Dhar moved to Calcutta (now renamed Kolkata) in 1962 after she married an Indian engineer whom she met through her job in Japan. She has lived there ever since.
JAPAN
Jul 24, 2005

Seibu to hang on to Kyoto hotel

Scandal-tainted Seibu Railway Co. said Saturday it will continue to operate the Takaragaike Prince Hotel in Kyoto, the upscale hotel that hosted the 1997 conference which produced the Kyoto Protocol, reversing its original plan to sell the property under a business rehabilitation program.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Jul 24, 2005

Weaving together tales of exotic trade

THE SILK ROAD: Two Thousand Years in the Heart of Asia, by Frances Wood. University of California Press, 2004, 270 pp., $19.95 (paper). "The Silk Road, or Roads," begins Frances Wood in this fascinating book, have only been known this way since the late 19th century, when a German explorer came up with...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Jul 24, 2005

It's the black comedy of Japan: 'Don't mention the war . . .'

A point that tends to be overlooked in the debate over textbooks that whitewash Japan's actions during World War II is that Japanese junior high school history classes rarely make it past the Meiji Restoration. Whether or not "comfort women" or the Rape of Nanking is mentioned in textbooks becomes an...
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Jul 24, 2005

NHK's "Sono Toki — Rekishi ga Ugoita," TV Asahi's " Kikujiro and Saki" and more

On Wednesday, NHK will explain one of the great ironies of the Pacific War on its history series, "Sono Toki -- Rekishi ga Ugoita" (That Time -- History was Changed; NHK-G, 9:15 p.m .). On Apr. 7, 1945, the Yamato, the biggest battleship ever built by the Japanese Imperial Navy, sank in the South Pacific...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jul 24, 2005

Ryan Kisor Quartet

The "young lions" was a phrase used (in fact, overused) to describe the resurgence of young jazz musicians in New York that started in the 1980s. More marketing tool than stylistic category, young lions still felt like a term of respect, all things considered. One of the best, and youngest, of this generation...
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Jul 24, 2005

Strangelove encounters of a MAD scientist kind

Herman Kahn is back in the news.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / FUZZY LOGIC
Jul 24, 2005

We call it 'metal,' they call it 'rock'

Detroit7's new release is the sound of Led Zeppelin, Nirvana and Kiyoshiro Imawano being shackled in a shower room together and sprayed with sulfuric acid until they dissolve into a messy pile of punk-rock metal gunk -- and the detritus we get on their new five-track "EP Vol. 1" is "bad" in a very good...
CULTURE / Music
Jul 24, 2005

Adassa: "Kamasutra"

As with any musical genre that becomes popular overnight, reggaeton, the Spanish-language hip-hop form that has taken Latin America by storm, is much bigger than any of its individual stars, who are often difficult to distinguish amid the synthesized beats and rapid-fire, dancehall-style rapping.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 24, 2005

End of the 'calm' for Israel, Palestinians

LONDON -- Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas called for a "period of calm" when he took over the late Yasser Arafat's job in January, and for a while some people allowed themselves to believe that peace was within reach. But that delusion depended on the belief that Arafat had been the main obstacle to...
JAPAN
Jul 24, 2005

Data on Rakuten shoppers leaked

Personal data on 123 people who used Rakuten Ichiba, Japan's largest online shopping portal, has been leaked, its operator said Saturday.
JAPAN
Jul 24, 2005

Seibu to hang on to Kyoto hotel

Scandal-tainted Seibu Railway Co. said Saturday it will continue to operate the Takaragaike Prince Hotel in Kyoto, the upscale hotel that hosted the 1997 conference which produced the Kyoto Protocol, reversing its original plan to sell the property under a business rehabilitation program.

Longform

Mount Fuji is considered one of Japan's most iconic symbols and is a major draw for tourists. It's still a mountain, though, and potential hikers need to properly prepare for any climb.
What it takes to save lives on Mount Fuji