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JAPAN
Oct 9, 2005

Giant salamander, green iguana captured

Following a recent rise in the number of exotic pets that have escaped or been abandoned across the country, a giant salamander and a green iguana were spotted Saturday in Kanagawa Prefecture and caught by police.
JAPAN
Oct 9, 2005

Sumitomo Trust, MUFG mediation likely to fail

The Tokyo District Court has urged Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc. to pay about 5 billion yen in compensation to Sumitomo Trust & Banking Co. for their failed trust merger, but MUFG is likely to reject the court's proposal, sources familiar with the matter said Saturday.
EDITORIALS
Oct 9, 2005

Nine numbers and 81 squares

Human beings are a famously diverse lot. We come in different colors and sizes, speak a Babel of tongues, worship a pantheon of gods or no god at all, eat our foods bland or spicy, vote or not, and are sorely divided over the value of poetry. But those distinctions pale compared to the big one: the gulf...
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Oct 9, 2005

America's war criminals pass the buck to underlings

'I was only following orders." With these words, that have entered our language as a cliche reeking of bitter irony, SS-Obersturmbannfurer Karl Adolf Eichmann (1906-62) defended his part in the murder of innocent prisoners in Nazi death camps. The court in Jerusalem, where Eichmann was put on trial in...
Japan Times
Features
Oct 9, 2005

Building a bridge to forgiveness

Takashi Nagase still breaks down when he remembers the young British man he helped torture. "I couldn't bear his pain," he says, choking back tears. "He was crying 'Mother! Mother!' And I thought: What would she feel if she could see her son like this? I still dream about it."
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Oct 9, 2005

Breaking the silence on sexuality in Japan

GENDERS, TRANSGENDERS AND SEXUALITIES IN JAPAN, edited by Mark McLelland and Romit Dasgupta. London: Routledge, 2005, 218 pp., £60 (cloth). Now that the conspiracies of silence have begun to evaporate, scholarly works on gender and transgender have begun to proliferate. This very interesting collection...
JAPAN
Oct 9, 2005

Supreme Court rejects appeal in Itoman art case

The Supreme Court has rejected an appeal by Heo Young Joong, a defendant in a high-profile corporate scandal that surfaced at the height of the economic bubble, judicial sources said Saturday.
JAPAN
Oct 9, 2005

Air gun capable of killing: police

A 17-year-old boy on a motorcycle was shot with an air gun Saturday by someone in a passenger car, police said. The incident took place at around 4:40 a.m. on National Road No. 24 in Iwade, Wakayama Prefecture, when the teen was on his way home, police said.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / NATURE TRAVEL
Oct 9, 2005

Not much to declare about Andorra

Andorra is one of the very few countries on Earth that no one has ever bothered invading. True, Hannibal passed through with his elephants, but he had the Roman Empire to destroy and didn't stay long. Napoleon once planned to annex it, but the Andorran delegation to Paris decided not to go to the talks....
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Oct 9, 2005

Why has militant extremism become such a strong force for radical Islam?

JEMAAH ISLAMIYAH: Radical Islam in Indonesia, by Greg Barton. Ridge Books: Singapore, 2005, 118 pp., $15 (paper). Eerily the news of the recent Bali bombings broke as I was reading this concise analysis of why radical Islam remains a potent threat in Indonesia and the region. It is believed that there...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Oct 9, 2005

Roll up! Roll up! For a freak show starring 'Koizumi's children'

Adding salt to its wounds, it was reported recently that the Democratic Party of Japan paid 129 million yen to the American public relations firm Fleischmann-Hillard to buff its image in 2004. Though it might have helped in last year's Upper House election, the company's strategy didn't seem to work...
SOCCER / PREMIER REPORT
Oct 8, 2005

Pressure on Eriksson to lock up World Cup berth for England

LONDON -- There are two ways of looking at the likely inclusion of Peter Crouch in the England team to face Austria in a crucial World Cup qualifying tie on Saturday.
MORE SPORTS
Oct 8, 2005

Sugiyama crashes out at Ariake

Fifth-seed Ai Sugiyama was sent crashing out in the women's quarterfinals by teenager Tatiana Golovin of France as the host saw its final player knocked out of the singles competition at the AIG Japan Open on Friday.
JAPAN
Oct 8, 2005

China and Hong Kong set forex landmark

The combined foreign-exchange reserves held by China and Hong Kong as of the end of June topped those held by Japan for the first time, according to Finance Ministry data released Friday.
JAPAN
Oct 8, 2005

Jenkins memoirs published

U.S. Army deserter Charles Jenkins recounts his life in North Korea, including his encounters with Japanese nationals, in his memoirs that went on sale Friday.
JAPAN
Oct 8, 2005

Homemaking guru in hot water for talking about food in lieu of Diet

New Liberal Democratic Party lawmaker Makiko Fujino, the "charismatic housewife" elected in the Sept. 11 House of Representatives election, took heat from her colleagues Friday after she missed a Diet session the day before to make two public presentations on cooking in Fukuoka, officials of the ruling...
JAPAN
Oct 8, 2005

Resurgent interest in noodles starts fad

Japanese men who have slaved away for decades at their companies during the postwar era, and who have had quite a few chances to wine and dine after work, are rediscovering their love for "soba," the simple buckwheat noodle mainstay that's been around for more than 400 years.
JAPAN
Oct 8, 2005

Ruling on benefits for hibakusha abroad stands

The government will not appeal last week's Fukuoka High Court decision upholding a lower court ruling that hibakusha living abroad do not have to come to Japan to apply for health-care benefits, the health minister said Friday.
JAPAN
Oct 8, 2005

Philippine NGO head seeks help for poor

Mutually Reinforcing Institutions, said the lending arm of the group, CARD Bank, extends small unsecured loans to 152,000 poor women who have families in rural areas of the Philippines. The loans, which are repaid in small installments, helps borrowers launch businesses in handicrafts, food retailing...

Longform

Juzo Itami’s “Tampopo” was released Nov. 23, 1985, and though it wasn’t a hit at the time, it has gained a cult following in the years since.
Eat, slurp, love: 'Tampopo' turns 40