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BASEBALL / MLB
Sep 1, 2003

Abe posts first win as Rhodes hits 43rd homer

Rookie Kenta Abe set the pace by allowing just one run over 6 2/3 innings and Tuffy Rhodes capped the scoring for the home team with his 43rd homer of the season as the Kintetsu Buffaloes beat the Nippon Ham Fighters 3-1 in the Pacific League on Sunday.
BUSINESS / JAPANESE PERSPECTIVES
Sep 1, 2003

Surge in JGB issuance proves need for Koizumi reform drive

The preliminary GDP figures for the latest quarter, released Aug. 12, show that Japan's economy grew at an annualized rate of 2.3 percent in the April-June period. The economy is on a continuing uptrend, with GDP having expanded six quarters in a row since the January-March period of last year.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 1, 2003

Japan's lesson for Europe

LONDON -- At some point last year, it became fashionable to compare the economic plight of Germany and, by extension, the euro zone as a whole with the situation in Japan. As recession bit into the country that used to be Europe's motor and as the 12-nation euro area began recording declining growth...
MORE SPORTS
Sep 1, 2003

Sugiyama battles into quarters

NEW YORK -- Japan's Ai Sugiyama produced a hard-fought come-from-behind win over Australia's Nicole Pratt on Saturday to advance to the U.S. Open women's singles quarterfinals for the first time in her career.
Japan Times
JAPAN / AFTER 2 1/2 YEARS
Sep 1, 2003

Koizumi renews confrontational posture

When he became prime minister in April 2001, Junichiro Koizumi boasted high public support, portraying himself as a lone wolf fighting old-guard politicians in the Liberal Democratic Party.
COMMENTARY
Sep 1, 2003

Merger of opposition parties may bring grand reform era

On July 24, lawmakers of the Democratic Party of Japan and the Liberal Party approved an agreement for the two opposition parties to merge before the end of September. Some pundits criticized the scheduled merger as "unprincipled," but I disagree. I believe it has major significance for the nation.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 1, 2003

Mess with the bull and you might get gored

GUATEMALA CITY -- At last, the Nikkei stock average has risen above 10,000 points for the first time in more than a year, rebounding from 7,600 in April. Much of the rally is due to the net buying of Japanese shares by foreign investors as global money managers increase their holdings.
EDITORIALS
Aug 31, 2003

A hopeful start

The much-heralded six-nation talks in Beijing ended Friday without any specific progress on North Korea's nuclear weapons development. But all parties agreed to resolve the issue peacefully while addressing Pyongyang's security concerns. Japan and North Korea reached no explicit agreement on the abduction...
BASEBALL / MLB
Aug 31, 2003

Tigers maul Swallows, cut magic number to 12

Akihiro Yano drove in a pair of runs and rookie Tomoyuki Kubota went 7 2/3 solid innings Saturday as the Central League-leading Hanshin Tigers cruised to a 9-3 win over the Yakult Swallows.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Aug 31, 2003

Tips from the top

Feeling lucky? This time, you're certain, you just know the takarakuji is as good as yours.
COMMUNITY
Aug 31, 2003

What's it really like to win?

Everyone who buys a takarakuji ticket dreams of winning big, but what is it like to actually hit the jackpot? The Japan Times spoke with a 36-year-old who won a 100 million yen jackpot seven years ago, and heard how his win brought him a fortune -- and some hard lessons in life as well.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Aug 31, 2003

Great wave of artistic influence

HOKUSAI, by Gian Carlo Calza. London: Phaidon Press, Ltd., 2003, 336 pp., 700 illustrations, $59.95 (cloth). It was the West that first discovered the art of the Japanese woodblock print. Though popular in Japan, the prints were denied any kind of artistic standing until it became understood that abroad...
COMMENTARY
Aug 31, 2003

France's long, hot summer

PARIS -- Fifty-three thousand deaths in August against 40,000 the same month in 2002: This has every chance of being the minimum toll of the unprecedented heat wave France has known this summer, with daytime peaks of more than 40 degrees Celsius vs. a seasonal norm of 27 degrees.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Aug 31, 2003

A better forecast for South Korea's Sunshine Policy

SUNSHINE IN KOREA: The South Korean Debate Over Policies Toward North Korea, by Norman D. Levin and Yong Sup Han. Rand Center for Asia Pacific Policy, 2002, 143 pp. (paper). Although Kim Dae Jung is no longer president of South Korea, his "Sunshine Policy" toward North Korea lives on. His successor,...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / J-POPSICLE
Aug 31, 2003

Buffalo Daughter's deeper grooves

It's usually not a good idea to go into the recording studio without having some idea of what you're going to record. Most artists have a demo or a written score to work from; some even have full-fledged arrangements down on paper before they start recording.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Aug 31, 2003

Reform is required to untangle pension system

A woman I know recently went to her local Social Insurance Agency office to find out about her pension. Since she is 68, she is past the age when she should have started collecting benefits, but she was never sure what she was supposed to do because the SIA never contacted her.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Aug 31, 2003

Lottery yarns of yore

For at least 300 years, lotteries in Japan have been the stuff of dreams -- and nightmares. This is most evident in the stories about tomikuji (fortune lotto), a lottery that flourished in the Edo Period (1603-1867). These tales are found in the repertoire of rakugo comic monologues.
MORE SPORTS
Aug 31, 2003

Ichihara still perfect

Kyodo News Brazilian striker Sandro bagged a goal in each half as JEF United Ichihara came from behind to win 3-1 at Nagoya Grampus Eight and preserve its perfect record in the J. League second stage on Saturday.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / JAZZNICITY
Aug 31, 2003

Jazz and more under one roof

The exaggerated rumors of jazz's demise can be put to rest. The second annual festival Tokyo Jazz 2003 showed that jazz is not ready to be relegated to the museum of past musical styles quite yet. An amazing (for jazz anyway) 40,000 fans headed to Ajinomoto Stadium in western Tokyo for two days of music...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Aug 31, 2003

When your number's up ...

Emiko Kameyama has two close friends she likes to hang out with. In addition to their monthly dinners and the occasional trips they take together, two years ago the trio began a new tradition -- playing the Jumbo takarakuji (lottery).
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 31, 2003

Enthusiasm for EU club has evaporated

PRAGUE -- When communism in Eastern Europe collapsed, the region's new democratic leaders agreed that joining the European Union -- fast -- must be their priority. "Back to Europe!" became the slogan, one enthusiastically backed by a majority of their populations. Yet eight months before that dream formally...
JAPAN
Aug 31, 2003

Firm told to recall Chinese diet aid

Tokyo's Shibuya Ward has ordered the recall of a diet food product imported from China after it was found to contain excessive levels of a sweetener that can cause diarrhea, metropolitan government officials said.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Aug 31, 2003

Enjoy it while you can

The Ibaraki House in Bunkyo Ward (above) is a fine -- and rare -- example of Tokyo's prewar residential architecture.
MORE SPORTS
Aug 30, 2003

Sugiyama leads Japanese trio into third round of U.S. Open

NEW YORK -- Japan's Ai Sugiyama, Shinobu Asagoe and Saori Obata all advanced to the third round of the U.S. Open on Thursday, an impressive Grand Slam showing by rising tennis stars from the Land of the Rising Sun.

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