The Japan Times: All Stories

Kimono like never before

Sat, 20 Mar 2010 13:10:00 PDT

In 1974, Hideko Kariya represented Japan in the Miss Internationals finals, a beauty pageant that started in California in 1960 and moved to Japan in 1968. She placed fifth. Then, in 1981, she...

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Jankovic, Wozniacki make BNP Paribas final

Sat, 20 Mar 2010 13:11:00 PDT

INDIAN WELLS, Calif. (AP) Jelena Jankovic defeated Samantha Stosur 6-2, 6-4 Friday to reach the women's final of the BNP Paribas Open, where she'll play Danish teenager Caroline Wozniacki. ...

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Olympic sprinter Collett dead at 60

Sat, 20 Mar 2010 13:12:00 PDT

LOS ANGELES (AP) Wayne Collett, a silver medalist in the 400-meters at the 1972 Munich Olympics who starred in the hurdles, sprints and relays at UCLA, died Wednesday. He was 60. He passed away at...

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Protecting the right to education

Sat, 20 Mar 2010 13:13:00 PDT

What does China have to gain?

Sat, 20 Mar 2010 13:14:00 PDT

In his March 14 article, "Assuaging China's expanding 'core' concerns," writer Michael Richardson concludes his stale review of China's "core concerns" by offering two standard simplistic solutions:...

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Lawmaker didn't clarify beliefs

Sat, 20 Mar 2010 13:15:00 PDT

Democratic Party of Japan lawmaker Yukihisa Fujita's March 14 letter, "An interview that ran off the track," does little to quell concerns that his ideas are bizarre. His continued use of the...

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Can doggy bags save the world?

Sat, 20 Mar 2010 13:16:00 PDT

It can be a bit embarrassing at a restaurant to say that you'd like to take your leftovers away with you. That's probably why people the world over often ask for the food to be put in a "doggy bag,"...

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Seventh-inning rally sparks Lions in PL opener

Sat, 20 Mar 2010 13:17:00 PDT

TOKOROZAWA, Saitama Pref. — The Saitama Seibu Lions failed to accomplish their goal of scoring early during the first game of the season. Better late than never.

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Quartet still unbeaten in Spring Tournament

Sat, 20 Mar 2010 13:18:00 PDT

OSAKA (Kyodo) Baruto snatched victory from the jaws of defeat and moved into the second week of the Spring Grand Sumo Tournament still tied for the lead after seeing off top-ranked maegashira Kakuryu...

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Three perish in GSDF field blaze

Sat, 20 Mar 2010 13:19:00 PDT

SHIZUOKA (Kyodo) Three men died after strong winds disrupted a controlled fire at a Ground Self-Defense Force training field in Gotenba, Shizuoka Prefecture, on Saturday morning, police said. Local...

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Trouble in the workers' paradise

Sat, 20 Mar 2010 13:20:00 PDT

The reported execution of a ranking North Korean economic official is a reminder of the high personal price that can be paid for policy failures in that country. The official may be a scapegoat, but...

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Online escrow service for security

Sat, 20 Mar 2010 13:21:00 PDT

JBA opens door for bj-league

Sat, 20 Mar 2010 13:22:00 PDT

The Japan Basketball Association announced on Saturday it has finalized the process of giving recognition to the bj-league, opening the door for the 13-team league to have its players try out for the...

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Where history whiffs in the air

Sat, 20 Mar 2010 13:23:00 PDT

As anyone with even a scant knowledge of Japanese history is probably aware, the Battle of Sekigahara in 1600 was the "Big One." The absolute victory of Tokugawa Ieyasu made shoguns of him and his...

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Toyota kept 2007 recall to minimum

Sat, 20 Mar 2010 13:24:00 PDT

NEW YORK (Kyodo) Toyota Motor Corp. kept the scope of a 2007 recall concerning trapped gas pedals to a minimum, even after U.S. authorities warned the automaker that the problem could affect more...

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Davis put up numbers, stories in Japan stint

Sat, 20 Mar 2010 13:25:00 PDT

Last week I read three obituaries about Willie Davis, the former Los Angeles Dodgers great center fielder who died March 9 in Burbank, Calif. Predictably, they focused on his career in L.A. as a...

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Joho's passion gives Lakestars a real boost

Sat, 20 Mar 2010 13:26:00 PDT

His familiar face has been a part of some of the bj-league's brightest moments. He appeared in four bj-league title games and won a pair of championships with the Osaka Evessa.

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Flames drop shaky Sharks

Sat, 20 Mar 2010 13:27:00 PDT

CALGARY (AP) Mikael Backlund was able to laugh off an embarrassing mistake that almost let the San Jose Sharks back in the game. The Calgary rookie set up second-period goals by Nigel Dawes and...

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Plushenko withdraws from world championships with foot injury

Sat, 20 Mar 2010 13:28:00 PDT

MOSCOW (AP) Olympic silver medalist Evgeni Plushenko will skip the world championships in Italy after experiencing pain while landing a quadruple jump. Plushenko's agent Ari Zakarian confirmed...

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89ers rout Grouses, extend win streak to eight games

Sat, 20 Mar 2010 13:29:00 PDT

For the Sendai 89ers, unselfish team play has been a key to their success this season. That characteristic was once again on display on Saturday in the 89ers' 100-78 home victory over the Toyama...

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Peace link to base relocation

Sat, 20 Mar 2010 13:30:00 PDT

News coverage of discussions between Washington and Tokyo over the relocation of U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma, Okinawa, has curiously been silent on the connections with Japan's "peace"...

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Diet on the verge of a blunder

Sat, 20 Mar 2010 13:31:00 PDT

Regarding the March 17 article "Lower House passes tuition, allowance bills": Under one of the bills the Lower House passed last week, central and local government-run schools plus private schools...

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Channel surf

Sat, 20 Mar 2010 13:32:00 PDT

This week's edition of the business-related nonfiction series "Rubicon no Ketsudan" (The Rubicon Decision; TV Tokyo, Thurs., 10 p.m.) covers the rise and rise of Hiroshi Mikitani, the man behind the...

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Ishikawa misses cut despite second-round 71

Sat, 20 Mar 2010 13:33:00 PDT

PALM HARBOR, Fla. — Ryo Ishikawa failed to qualify for weekend play at the Transitions Championship on Friday. Ishikawa followed a disastrous first-round 83 with a 71 that left him in 140th at 12...

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Who ever could make war if they saw it through children's eyes?

Sat, 20 Mar 2010 13:34:00 PDT

The misery of war remains for many long years as scar tissue in the minds of children deeply traumatized by it. And yet, there are not many works of fiction or nonfiction that have conveyed the...

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DNA data entry snafu fingers innocent man

Sat, 20 Mar 2010 13:35:00 PDT

YOKOHAMA (Kyodo) A registration error in the DNA database of the National Police Agency prompted the Kanagawa Prefectural Police to obtain warrants to arrest an innocent man and search his house over...

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Priorities backward on bad air

Sat, 20 Mar 2010 13:36:00 PDT

Regarding the March 12 editorial, "Exposure to tobacco smoke": The specter of secondhand smoke is being used to justify a "green eggs and ham" ban on a legal product. Lengthening the list of no...

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Savoring the beauty of winter's final fling

Sat, 20 Mar 2010 13:37:00 PDT

An indefinable quality in the light somehow signals the air temperature. Airflows from the north and northwest have, for many days this late February just gone, kept Hokkaido frigid. An intangible...

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Roof blown off in gale kills woman

Sat, 20 Mar 2010 13:38:00 PDT

KITAKYUSHU, Fukuoka Pref. (Kyodo) A 47-year-old woman died from loss of blood Saturday after the roof of a parking lot in Kitakyushu, Fukuoka Prefecture, was blown off in a gale and hit her, police...

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Let 'occupation tax' make the settlers pay

Sat, 20 Mar 2010 13:39:00 PDT

CAIRO — Arab intellectuals and policymakers have often accused Europe of using financial generosity to cover up its political impotence over the Arab-Israeli conflict. If Europe is to be taken...

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From the edge of darkness, a diary of wartime Burma

Sat, 20 Mar 2010 13:40:00 PDT

"Theippan Maung Wa" is the pen name under which a Burmese member of the Indian Civil Service wrote stories about his work for the British administration in the 1930s. The 150 tales that he composed,...

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Moves afoot to make Japanese holidays a pleasure not a pain

Sat, 20 Mar 2010 13:41:00 PDT

It's a seasonal phenomenon in Japan: lines of cars 40-km long and more clogging expressways; super- jammed shinkansen terminals and airports; and hot-spring resorts besieged by visitors crammed cheek...

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Japan Times gone by

Sat, 20 Mar 2010 13:42:00 PDT

Tuesday, March 29, 1910 The jury system With regard to the question of the jury system in this country, Dr. Yokota, a judge of the Tokyo Court of Cassation, who has recently returned from a trip of...

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Duke cruises into second round

Sat, 20 Mar 2010 13:43:00 PDT

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (AP) Duke's confident mascot wore a piece of tape across his forehead that read: "Played In, Blown Out." The Blue Devils didn't disappoint.

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Osako's late heroics lift Antlers over Ardija

Sat, 20 Mar 2010 13:44:00 PDT

SAITAMA — Teenage substitute Yuya Osako scored with his first touch less than a minute after coming off the bench to give Kashima Antlers a 1-0 win over Omiya Ardija on Saturday. The J. League...

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Trial by crisis for future growth

Sat, 20 Mar 2010 13:45:00 PDT

WARSAW — Episodes like the current financial crisis seriously disrupt economic growth. But the question that we should be asking concerns such episodes' impact on longer-term development. And that...

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Amanpour to host Sunday talk show

Sat, 20 Mar 2010 13:46:00 PDT

NEW YORK (AP) ABC News has hired Christiane Amanpour, one of CNN's best- known personalities for her hard-nosed reporting from war zones over the past two decades, to host its Sunday morning...

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Producer, former boyfriend files $30.5 million lawsuit against musician Lady Gaga

Sat, 20 Mar 2010 13:47:00 PDT

NEW YORK (AP) A songwriter and music producer who claims he helped launch pop star Lady Gaga says she squeezed him out of her lucrative career after he cowrote some of her songs, came up with her...

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Tokyo marks subway sarin attack

Sat, 20 Mar 2010 13:48:00 PDT

Tokyo marked the 15th anniversary Saturday of the sarin nerve gas attack on its subway system by Aum Shinrikyo cult members, which left 13 dead and sickened some 6,300. Some 20 station workers...

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Hatoyama, ministers to meet over Futenma

Sat, 20 Mar 2010 13:49:00 PDT

Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama said Saturday he will meet with Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirofumi Hirano, Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada and Defense Minister Toshimi Kitazawa on Tuesday to discuss the...

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Japan's press play the food card in bluefin tuna row

Sat, 20 Mar 2010 13:50:00 PDT

The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species is in Qatar discussing proposed regulations covering certain plant and animal species. The main media focus is on bluefin tuna from the...

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Distilled drama from a society in ferment

Sat, 20 Mar 2010 13:51:00 PDT

Think of gin and one thinks of England. Think of tequila and Mexico, vodka and Russia, brandy and France. Think of sake and one thinks only of Japan. Mentioned in the third-century Chinese...

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Governors mull secondhand smoke action

Sat, 20 Mar 2010 13:52:00 PDT

YOKOHAMA (Kyodo) Seven governors are considering mapping out their own measures to prevent secondhand smoking, a survey showed Saturday. The survey was conducted earlier this month, before Kanagawa...

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Giants bash eight homers, crush BayStars

Sat, 20 Mar 2010 13:53:00 PDT

The Yomiuri Giants hit eight home runs and pounded out a total of 19 hits in a 15-2 rout of the Yokohama BayStars in an exhibition game Saturday. Hayato Sakamoto, Michihiro Ogasawara and Yoshinobu...

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Lions DH Brown still gets thrills on Opening Day

Sat, 20 Mar 2010 13:54:00 PDT

TOKOROZAWA, Saitama Pref. — As far as debuts go, it doesn't get much better than this. Seibu Lions designated hitter Dee Brown hit the go-ahead homer in the opening game of his first season in...

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Hollywood, Bollywood team up to act on film piracy

Sat, 20 Mar 2010 13:55:00 PDT

MUMBAI (AP) Hollywood and Bollywood linked arms Thursday to fight piracy, with the announcement of a coalition among the Motion Picture Association of America and seven Indian companies to tackle...

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POWs' memories get Death March caption altered

Sat, 20 Mar 2010 13:56:00 PDT

NEW YORK (AP) For 68 years, John E. Love has been haunted by the memory of carrying fallen comrades to a mass grave hollowed out of a Filipino rice field. Now, at last, a bit of history is being...

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China plans film to mark Communist Party's 90th anniversary

Sat, 20 Mar 2010 13:57:00 PDT

HONG KONG (AP) After its successful propaganda movie to mark 60 years of communist rule, China's leading state-run studio is working on a followup timed to coincide with next year's 90th anniversary...

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Spurs wax Warriors

Sat, 20 Mar 2010 13:58:00 PDT

SAN ANTONIO (AP) The Golden State Warriors have lost 24 consecutive times in San Antonio, but they've never seen anything here like this. Ditto for Spurs coach Gregg Popovich.

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Best Denki names new president

Sat, 20 Mar 2010 13:59:00 PDT

FUKUOKA (Kyodo) Struggling consumer electronics discount chain Best Denki Co. on Saturday promoted board member Koji Ono to president, succeeding Masakazu Fukazawa, who stepped down to board director...

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Freedom of speech under attack

Sat, 20 Mar 2010 13:10:00 PDT

The Washington Post editorial "Poisonous thinking in Japan" (which The Japan Times printed on this page March 10) is an example of an attack on freedom of speech. The editorial denounces a Japanese...

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