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- A firm grip on life by the handlebarsYesterday
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"Enjoy life and laugh," says cyclist Mio Yamasaki when asked her motto for living. "No, wait," she interrupts, as she ponders the question further. "Make other people laugh. This is the happiest way to live your life."
The words are followed by a warm smile and gentle chuckle, cementing my initial impression — this 26-year-old cyclist has seized life by the handlebars. Her thrills come not just from her travels, but from watching how her rides can have a positive impact on others.
Read the full story - The festival of the long distance runnersYesterday
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Old Man Winter is about to blast his icy breath down our collective necks, but at least we get to ring in the season of sniffles, frostbite and influenza with a great lineup of holidays, highlighted by Christmas and New Year's, and then my personal favorite, Nail-Clipping Day, on Jan. 7.
Yet, there's one more celebration you should add to your holiday calendar, a festival as "Japanesey" as it gets and one that will happen not once but several times throughout the chilly weeks ahead — ekiden — the festival of the long distance runners.
Read the full story - Barely squeezing by in JapanYesterday
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I walked into a restaurant to get a quick bite for lunch. After I squeezed myself through the narrow door, I noticed the restaurant's first floor was completely full. "Packed" would be a more appropriate word: All four seats were taken.
The waitress indicated I could go up the staircase, which was similar to an attic stairway — enough for one person to climb up. Upstairs had six small two-person tables that altogether could hold a total of 12 people.
Read the full story - Disturbing rise in geriatric crimeYesterday
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Despite frequent headlines reporting heinous crimes, the Justice Ministry's 2008 white paper on crime provides somewhat assuring figures. The number of crimes, excluding traffic-related offenses, declined for five consecutive years. But Japanese society faces a new problem. Crimes committed by elderly people have been rapidly increasing, although they are rarely heinous in nature. The government needs to fully understand why an increasing number of elderly people commit crimes and implement social policy measures that will help reverse this trend.
In 2007, the police recognized 1,909,270...
Read the full story - A better built ship weathers a 'perfect storm'Yesterday
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WASHINGTON — It was short-lived, the decoupling. For a few months — from August 2007 to mid-2008 — Latin America thought it might emerge from the global financial crisis relatively unscathed. Even as the subprime cancer spread through the industrialized world, in Latin America things didn't look bad.
The decoupling oasis was the result of an accelerated increase in commodity prices. A surge of inflation, triggered by high and increasing international prices of grains and fuels and exacerbated by economic overheating in several countries was the main problem in the decoupling phase.
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