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Your world around you

Media: School meltdownOverworked teachers, a rise in bullying and drops in students’ math and science literacy — is Japan facing an education crisis? Page 16

Food: Slovenia’s Ana RosAward-winning chef speaks about Japanese cuisine and gender equality Page 14

Lifestyle: Why Did You Leave Japan?Tomoko Sauvage searches for freedom through sound Page 13

Books: Picture thisThe story of how the visual arts shaped modern Japanese literature Page 18

Also inside today > World page 4 | Opinion page 7 | Diversions page 19 | Cartoons/Weather page 20 | Letters page 21 | Sports page 22

Linda SiegReuteRs

A fast-growing challenge by Tokyo Gov. Yuriko Koike, often floated as the nation’s first possible female prime minister, to Shinzo Abe’s ruling bloc has highlighted the risk of his gamble on a snap poll as she tries to replicate a historic defeat of his party.

Abe called the Oct. 22 election in the hope his improved ratings and a struggling opposition would help his Liberal Democratic Party-led coalition keep its majority in the Lower House, where it now holds a two-thirds supermajority.

However, Abe’s bet now looks increasingly shaky, given growing support for Koike’s fledgling Kibo no To (Party of Hope) — launched last week — and the opposition Democratic Party’s move to have its candidates leave the party and run on her ticket.

No general election needed to be held until late 2018.

Abe’s decision has evoked com-parison’s to British Prime Minister Theresa May’s move to call a snap election in June, only to see her Conservative Party lose its overall majority, although analysts noted Koike might have become an even bigger threat had Abe waited.

“Abe thought the risk worth tak-ing. Maybe he didn’t anticipate what Koike would do,” said Dan-iel Sneider, a Stanford University scholar currently doing research in Japan.

The growing momentum of Koike’s party has also revived memories of a 1993 political drama when a coalition led by another reformist governor, Mori-hiro Hosokawa, ousted the LDP for

the first time since its founding four decades earlier.

Clearly, the historical parallels are weighing on Abe’s mind. Abe, Koike and DP leader Seiji Maehara were elected to the Lower House for the first time that year, Koike and Maehara from Hosokawa’s Japan New Party and Abe from the LDP.

“There was a new party boom in the 1990s and the result was politi-cal confusion and a long period of economic stagnation,” Abe said in a campaign speech on Thursday. Hosokawa’s alliance fractured after less than one year.

Abe also cited the 2009-12 rule of the then-Democratic Party of Japan, whose policy flip-flops and infighting many voters recall.

“What would be born of a (new party) boom is confusion, not hope,” Abe said.

Another key player in 1993, Ichiro Ozawa, who bolted the LDP and helped engineer Hosokawa’s coalition as well as the DPJ’s 2009

surge to power, is also playing a role now. His tiny Liberal Party may also merge with Koike’s party.

Like anti-LDP forces in 1993 and the DPJ in 2009, Koike is promis-ing to “shed the shackles of vested interests” — a slogan appealing to voters seeking an alternative to the LDP.

Former Prime Minister Junich-iro Koizumi — who mentored Koike after she later joined the

LDP — also skillfully painted the old guard in his own party as obstacles to reform in a 2005 elec-tion, winning a massive victory.

To succeed, however, Koike may have to take a big gamble of her own by running in the election herself, risking a backlash for quit-ting as governor and ending up an opposition leader.

Koike, who compares herself to French President Emmanuel Macron and his meteoric rise, has repeatedly said she’ll stay on as governor, but her carefully parsed comments have failed to dampen speculation.

“Koike is saying she won’t run, but … I think she will run,” Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga told reporters on Friday, one day after Abe called the Lower House poll.

“It would be great if she announced that boldly and debated policies head on,” he added, in an apparent challenge.

Despite Koike’s efforts to broaden her party base by absorb-ing many DP candidates, fielding a big enough slate to take a majority in the 465-member Lower House could be tough. Candidates must register on Oct. 10.

She said on Friday she won’t accept all DP members who want to run on her ticket, and liberals will probably be left out.

Even if Koike, who defied the LDP to run for governor last year and whose local party trounced it in a July Tokyo assembly election, decides not to run herself, her par-ty’s challenge can still weaken Abe if the LDP fares badly.

“If the LDP loses 40 seats or more, she looks good,” said Columbia University professor emeritus Gerry Curtis.

Insurgent Koike puts Abe at risk• Support grows for Kibo no To

• Abe’s gamble likened to U.K.’s May

• Backroom drama evokes past polls

Tokyo Gov. Yuriko Koike raises her fist with members of Kibo no To during a news conference in Tokyo on Wednesday. REUTERS

To succeed, Koike may have to take a big gamble of her own by running in the election, risking a backlash for quitting as governor and ending up an opposition leader.

WORLD

Trump to visit Asia amid North crisis PAge 4

Surviving breast cancer

Women share their stories to educate others about

the disease TIMEOUT PAge 10

MEDIa

It’s all about getting olderIs retirement age the key to labor issues? PAge 17

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In brief

N. Korea moving missiles: reportSeoulREUTERS — Several North Korean missiles were recently spotted being moved from a rocket facil-ity in Pyongyang, South Korea’s Korean Broadcasting System reported late Friday amid speculation that the North is preparing to take more provoca-tive actions.

The report cited an unnamed intelligence source as saying South Korean and U.S. intel-ligence officials had detected missiles being transported from North Korea’s Missile Research and Development Facility at Sanum-dong.

The report did not say when or where they had been moved.

The missiles could be either intermediate-range Hwasong-12 or intercontinental Hwasong-14 missiles, according to the report. The missile facility at Sanum-dong has been dedicated to the production of intercontinental ballistic missiles.

A source from South Korea’s Defense Ministry could not confirm details of the report or whether there has been unusual activity in the area mentioned.

South Korean officials have voiced concerns that North Korea could conduct provoca-tive acts near the anniversary of the founding of its communist party on Oct. 10, or possibly when China’s Communist Party holds its congress on Oct. 18.

South Korea and U.S. forces recently held their first joint short-range air defense training exercise in South Korea, accord-ing to the U.S. Pacific Command.

China to prosecute ex-Chongqing chiefBeijingREUTERS — The southwestern Chinese megalopolis of Chongq-ing said Saturday it will purge the “vile influence” of former top official Sun Zhengcai after he was expelled from the Com-munist Party for corruption.

Sun, once considered a con-tender for top leadership, was party chief of the city until it was abruptly announced in July that he had been replaced by a rising political star close to President Xi Jinping, Chen Miner. He was put under inves-tigation later in July.

On Friday, the party announced he would be pros-ecuted for corruption, accusing him of leaking secrets, bribery and abusing his power.

Sun is certain to be found guilty when his case comes before a court. The accusations include sloth and trading power for sex. The government has yet to give exact details of what Sun is suspected of.

Chongqing, one of China’s most important cities, is per-haps best known for its associa-tion with former party boss Bo Xilai, who was once a contender for top leadership before being jailed for life in 2013 in his own dramatic corruption scandal.

Sun had been seen as a poten-tial future premier. But sources with ties to the leadership and foreign diplomats say Sun had been out of favor after the party’s corruption watchdog in February criticized Chongqing authorities for not doing enough to root out Bo’s influence.

U.N. to probe war crimes in YemenGenevaAFP-JIJI — The U.N. Human Rights Council agreed Friday to send war crimes investigators to Yemen, overcoming resis-tance from Saudi Arabia, which sought to fend off an indepen-dent international probe.

In a resolution adopted by consensus, the council man-dated U.N. rights chief Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein to send a group of “eminent experts” to Yemen, where a Saudi-led coali-tion has been bombing Houthi rebels since March 2015.

The group will then “carry out a comprehensive examina-tion of all alleged violations and abuses of international human rights” in the conflict.

Launching the probe marks a victory for a group of European states and Canada that pushed hard for an international inquiry fully independent of the Yemeni national investigation, which the Saudis support.

The Saudi-led coalition has been accused of bombing schools, markets, hospitals and other civilian targets in support of Yemeni President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi.

The Iran-backed Houthi reb-els have also been accused of major violations, which the U.N. team will also probe.

The war in Yemen has killed 8,500 people and wounded nearly 49,000, according to the World Health Organization. More than 17 million Yemenis face dire food shortages, and a cholera epidemic has killed more than 2,100 since April.

Washington AP

The United States on Friday warned Americans to stay away from Cuba and ordered home more than half of the U.S. diplo-matic corps, acknowledging that neither the Cubans nor the FBI can figure out who or what is respon-sible for months of mysterious health ailments.

No longer tiptoeing around the issue, the Trump administration shifted to calling the episodes “attacks” rather than “incidents.”

At least 21 diplomats and fam-ily members have been affected. To medical investigators’ dismay, symptoms have varied widely. In addition to hearing loss and con-cussions, some people have expe-

rienced nausea, headaches and ear-ringing. The Associated Press has reported that some now suffer from problems with concentration and recall of common words.

Some U.S. diplomats reported hearing loud noises or feeling vibrations when the incidents occurred, but others heard and felt nothing yet reported symptoms later. In some cases, the effects were narrowly confined, with vic-tims able to walk “in” and “out” of blaring noises audible in only cer-tain rooms or parts of rooms

Though the incidents stopped for a time, they recurred as recently as late August.

The U.S. Embassy in Cuba will lose roughly 60 percent of its American staff and will stop processing visas for prospective Cuban travelers to the United

States indefinitely, officials said. Roughly 50 Americans had been working at the embassy.

President Donald Trump said that “they did some very bad things” that harmed U.S. diplo-mats in Cuba, but he didn’t say who he might mean by “they.”

Though officials initially sus-pected some futuristic “sonic attack,” the picture is muddy. The FBI and other agencies that searched homes and hotels where incidents occurred found no devices.

The administration has point-edly not blamed Cuba for per-petrating the attacks. Some investigators have theorized that the attacks have been committed by an outside power such as Rus-sia or Venezuela to drive a wedge between the U.S. and Cuba.

U.S. warns on Cuba sonic ‘attacks’

Washington AP

U.S. health chief Tom Price resigned Friday after his costly travel triggered investigations that overshadowed the admin-istration’s agenda and angered President Donald Trump.

The Health and Human Services secretary became the first member of the Cabinet to be pushed out in a turbulent young administration that has seen several high-ranking White House aides ousted. A for-mer GOP congressman from the Atlanta suburbs, Price served less than eight months.

Publicly, Trump had said he was “not happy” with Price for repeatedly using private charter aircraft for official trips on the taxpayer’s dime, when cheaper commercial flights would have done in many cases.

Privately, Trump told associates in recent days that his health chief had become a distraction. Trump felt Price was overshadowing his tax overhaul agenda and under-mining his campaign promise to “drain the swamp” of corruption, according to three people familiar with the discussions.

On Friday the president called Price a “very fine person” but added, “I certainly don’t like the optics.”

Price said in his resignation let-ter that he regretted that “recent events have created a distraction.”

The flap prompted scrutiny of other Cabinet members’ travel, and the House Oversight and Government Reform committee launched a government-wide investigation of top political appointees. Other department heads have been scrambling to explain their own travel.

Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke faced scrutiny over three charter flights while in office, includ-ing a $12,375 late-night trip from Las Vegas to his home state of Montana in June. On Friday, he dismissed the controversy over charter flights as “a little BS over

travel,” but he said taxpayers do have the right to know official travel costs.

Price’s repayment of $51,887.31 for his travel costs did not placate the White House. The total travel cost, including his entourage, was unclear. It could amount to several hundred thousand dollars.

Following Price’s resignation, White House Budget Director Mick Mulvaney informed Cabinet secretaries and agency heads in a memo that approval from chief of staff John Kelly will be required for any travel on government-owned, rented, leased or chartered aircraft.

An orthopedic surgeon turned politician, Price rose to Bud-get Committee chairman in the House, where he was known as a fiscal conservative. When Price joined the administration, Trump touted him as a conservative policy expert who could write a new health care bill to replace the Obama-era Affordable Care Act.

But Price became more of a supporting player in the GOP’s futile health care campaign while Vice President Mike Pence took the lead, particularly with the Senate. The perception of Price jetting around while GOP lawmak-ers labored to repeal “Obamacare” —including a three-nation trip in May to Africa and Europe— raised

eyebrows on Capitol Hill. Price flew on military aircraft overseas.

Although much of Trump’s ire over the health care failure has been aimed at the Republican-controlled Congress, associates of the president said he also assigns some blame to Price, who he believes did not do a good job of selling the GOP plan.

Democrats were glad to see Price go. Some urged Trump to appoint an HHS secretary who would reach out to them.

Seema Verma, a Pence protege, has been mentioned as a possible successor to Price. Verma already leads the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, which runs health insurance programs that cover more than 130 million Americans.

Another possible HHS candi-date is FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb, who won some biparti-san support in his confirmation and is well known in policy, gov-ernment and industry circles.

Trump named Don Wright, a deputy assistant secretary of health, to serve as acting secretary.

Price, 62, was seen in Congress as a foe of wasteful spending. As HHS secretary, he led a $1 trillion department whose future is the key to managing mounting federal budgetary deficits.

U.S. health chief Price resigns in travel flap

WashingtonREUTERS, KYODO, AFP-JIJI

Donald Trump will travel to Asia in November for the first time since becoming U.S. president, stopping in Japan, South Korea, China, Vietnam and the Philip-pines on a trip expected to be dominated by the North Korean nuclear threat.

Joined by his wife, Melania, Trump will travel from Nov. 3 to 14. He will attend two major sum-mits: the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum in Vietnam and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations conclave in the Philippines.

An itinerary for the five-nation trip — which also includes a stop in Hawaii — has not been released. But Trump will start the tour with a visit to Japan around Nov. 5 and will meet with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Nov. 6, according to diplomatic sources.

Making Japan the first destina-tion shows Trump attaches impor-tance to Washington’s alliance

with Tokyo, a U.S. official said. Trump will then travel to South

Korea, China, Vietnam and the Philippines, in that order.

Trump’s attendance at the Manila summit had been in doubt until recent days, with officials saying he was reluctant to show support for Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, who has been responsible for a number of anti-American outbursts.

A U.S. official said Asian lead-ers who met Trump at the United Nations General Assembly in late September helped persuade him to attend in unity with key allies.

An Asian diplomat welcomed Trump’s decision to visit Manila “because that reassures the region that Asia policy is not just about North Korea, it’s about Southeast Asia as well.”

The diplomat said Trump’s decision to withdraw from the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal early this year had raised questions about the adminis-tration’s commitment to the region. But visits by senior offi-cials, including the secretaries of

state, defense and commerce, and Trump’s planned trip show Wash-ington intends to remain engaged.

Philippine Foreign Secre-tary Alan Peter Cayetano said Duterte was looking forward to meeting Trump, adding that the relationship between the two countries is so resilient that ties will always recover, regardless of disagreements.

Trump, who has been locked in an increasingly bitter war of words with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, will have the opportunity to bolster allied resolve for what he calls the “complete denuclear-ization” of Pyongyang.

He has denounced Kim as a “rocket man” on a suicide mis-sion for launches of ballistic mis-siles and for nuclear weapon tests. He has warned that North Korea would face total devastation if it threatened the United States. Kim has blasted Trump as “mentally deranged.”

“The president’s engagements will strengthen the international resolve to confront the North Korean threat and ensure the com-

plete, verifiable, and irreversible denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula,” the White House said in announcing the trip.

Trump’s visit to China will reciprocate a trip to the United States made in April by President Xi Jinping. Trump has applied heavy pressure on China to rein in North Korea. While his efforts have had limited success thus far, he went out of his way to thank Xi on Tuesday for his efforts.

“I applaud China for break-

ing off all banking relationships with North Korea — something that people would have thought unthinkable even two months ago. I want to thank President Xi,” Trump said at a news confer-ence with Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy.

At the same time, Trump’s national security team is conduct-

Trump to visit Asia amid North crisis

First Japan, then South Korea, China, Vietnam, Philippines

ing a broad review of American strategy toward China in search of ways to counter Chinese trade practices and open up market access, a senior administration official said.

The United States also consid-ers Chinese entities behind the theft of intellectual property and cyberattacks and wants to find ways to address these concerns, the official said.

Aides were left trying to con-vince Trump — who has also been

skeptical of multilateral institu-tions and shown modest inter-est in Southeast Asia — that it is important to attend.

Fast-growing Southeast Asia has become a focus point for U.S. trade and sits astride a major geo-political hot spot, the South China Sea.

U.S. governments have tried to defend the right of free passage there as China and other countries make increasingly forceful mari-time and territorial claims.

Washington AP

The new Republican tax plan delivers a big tax cut to the wealthiest Americans while some in lower tax brackets would end up paying more, according to an analysis Friday from prominent nonpartisan researchers.

The plan being touted by Presi-dent Donald Trump as the biggest tax cut ever delivers 50 percent of its total tax benefit to taxpayers in the top 1 percent, those with incomes above $730,000 a year, according to the Tax Policy Center of the Urban Institute and Brook-ings Institution. For those wealthy taxpayers, after-tax incomes would increase 8.5 percent next year.

For other taxpayers, though, the benefits are far more modest or nonexistent, the report finds. Taxpayers in the bottom 95 per-cent would see tax cuts averaging 1.2 percent of after-tax income or less next year.

And about 12 percent of taxpay-ers would face a tax increase next year, of $1,800 on average. That includes more than a third of taxpayers making between about $150,000 and $300,000, mostly because of the elimination of many itemized deductions.

The findings came as Senate Republicans unveiled a budget plan that lays the groundwork for their effort to overhaul the nation’s tax system. Provisions in the budget would allow Sen-ate Republicans to pass the tax

package with a simple majority of votes, preventing Democrats from being able to block the legislation and rendering Democratic votes unnecessary.

The Tax Policy Center’s analysis was based on an ambitious frame-work released Wednesday by the Trump administration and con-gressional Republicans that aims to reform the loophole-ridden code and dramatically cut corpo-rate rates, from 35 percent to 20 percent. It is the GOP’s marquee legislative project this year, fol-lowing the embarrassing failure on health care.

Trump described the tax plan Friday as a “giant, beautiful, mas-sive — the biggest ever in our country — tax cut.”

Republicans immediately disputed the Tax Policy Center analysis. “This so-called study is misleading, unfounded and biased,” said House Ways and Means Chairman Rep. Kevin Brady. “TPC makes a variety of overreaching and unrealistic assumptions about policy deci-

sions members of Congress still have to make as we draft pro-growth tax legislation. Republi-cans are unified in delivering tax reform that will lower taxes on middle-class Americans, ensure they are able to keep more of their hard-earned money and grow our economy.”

The tax legislation can advance only after House and Senate pas-sage of the budget blueprint. The Senate Budget Committee intends to vote on its plan in the coming week. A companion measure is headed for a House vote in the coming week as well.

The new budget plan would permit the upcoming tax measure to add $1.5 trillion over the coming decade to the $20 trillion national debt. The Tax Policy Center finds the GOP tax plan would reduce federal revenues by $2.4 trillion over the next decade.

Without the budget passage, Senate Majority Leader Mitch

McConnell of Kentucky said in a statement, “Democrats will con-tinue to play partisan politics and obstruct our efforts to get our economy flourishing and growing at its full potential.”

More broadly, the Senate plan promises a balanced budget over the coming decade but relies on rosy projections of economic growth and spending cuts that Republicans have no plans to deliver.

It would keep Pentagon spend-ing mostly frozen at current levels, rather than the almost $90 billion increase demanded by GOP mili-tary hawks.

The budget also contains a pro-vision that could allow the Senate to approve legislation opening up drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. That is a long-time goal for Republicans, includ-ing Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski, a moderate whose vote will be needed on tax legislation.

Trump tax plan helps top 1% the most: report

The tax cut delivers 50 percent of its total tax benefit to taxpayers in the top 1 percent, those with incomes above $730,000 a year.Tax Policy Center of the Urban Institute and Brookings Institution

A woman protests as U.S. President Donald Trump delivers a speech at the Indiana State Fairgrounds in Indianapolis on Wednesday. REUTERS

U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price speaks at a National Foundation for Infectious Diseases news conference in Washington on Thursday. Price announced his resignation Friday amid criticism of his travel on private planes. AP

U.S. President Donald Trump waves before speaking in Indianapolis on Wednesday. AP

News | World World | News

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● エスカレートするトランプ大統領とNFLの対立トランプ米大統領がNFLの試合で国歌斉唱の際に人種差別

に抗議するため片膝をついたまま起立しない選手を非難したことを受け、各方面で抗議活動が広がっている。

brutality 残忍さ。 kneeling ひざまずく。 roar 騒ぎ。locking arms 腕を組む。 rallying 集まる。 decry 〜を非難する。 weighed in 介入した。defiance 反抗的な態度。discourse 対話。 had morphed into 〜 〜に形を変えた。First Amendment

米国憲法修正第1項 (言論の自由の条項）。 gridiron フィールド。fanned by 〜 〜に煽られて。incendiary 扇動的な。dilute 〜を薄める。 dissent 異議。 ashamed 恥ずかしい。 petition 嘆願書。leveraging 〜を利用する。 perceived 〜と見なされる。 rebuking 〜を強く非難する。 punitive actions 罰則措置。 with impunity 罰を受けずに。●解散総選挙後に待ち受ける困難

衆院が解散し、総選挙が行われることになった日本。選挙に

勝利した次なるリーダーが抱える課題は山積みだ。snap election 解散総選挙。 capitalize on 〜 〜を利用する。

fractured ばらばらになった。 at the helm of 〜 〜を支配する。 in-tray 未解決の問題。 simmering ふつふつとした。 (has) atoned for 〜 〜を償った。 ticking 差し迫る。 tempered 〜を和らげた。 dish out 〜 〜を出す。 migrate 〜に移住する。 be swamped by 〜 〜でいっぱいになる。 sluggish 低迷した。 eking out 〜 何とか〜を出す。pep up 〜 〜を元気にする。

high-profile よく知られた。 blitz 作戦。 shrugging off 〜 〜を振り切る。 has plagued 〜を悩ませた。lumbering 動きが鈍い。●麻生副総理「武装難民きたら射殺するか？」

raised the specter of 〜 〜の可能性を語って不安にさせた。 armed 武装した。 contingency 不測の事態。 ●上野動物園のパンダの名前は「香香」

record-breaking 記録的な。 narrowed down from 〜 〜から絞られた。

●共和党、オバマケア廃案ならずGOP (= Grand Old Party) 共和党のこと。 falters 行き

詰まる。 last-gasp 最後の。 cluster 一団。 premiums 保険料。scrap 〜を廃案にする。●オウム分派「ひかりの輪」観察処分取り消し

splinter group 分派。 surveillance 監視。 offshoot 分派。successor 後継者。 Public Security Examination Commission 公安審査委員会。 remains on death row 死刑囚

監房に入っている。 focal point 焦点。 ●トランプ大統領「軍事攻撃なら北朝鮮は壊滅」

Bellicose 好戦的な。 untold 計り知れない。 ramifications 予期しない結果。●東芝、半導体会社売却

inks 〜 deal 〜の契約に署名する。contentious 論争を起こす。 consortium 企業体。delisted from 〜 〜から上場廃止になる。

World

Washington/PhiladelphiaAP

What began more than a year ago with an NFL quarterback protest-ing police brutality against minori-ties by kneeling silently during the national anthem before games has grown into a roar with hundreds of players sitting, kneeling, locking arms or remaining in locker rooms

— their reasons for demonstrating as varied as their methods.

Yet people rallying to defend players or decry the protests aren’t talking about police bru-tality, or the fact that former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick is no longer employed by an NFL team. Especially after President Donald Trump weighed in repeatedly to say that players should stand for the anthem or be fired for their defiance.

Before NFL games began Sunday, the discourse had morphed into a debate over the First Amendment, Trump’s insults, how much the NFL has been paid by the U.S. govern-ment for its displays of patriotism and the overall state of race rela-tions in America. Support and criti-cism came from fields well beyond the gridiron, including NASCAR, the NBA, MLB, activists, journalists, entertainers and politicians.

Some worry that the expanded reasoning for the protests — fanned by the president’s incendiary stance

— could dilute the passion and the permanence of its original cause, drawing attention to interactions between police and minorities.

“The issue has morphed beyond that because Mr. Trump has inter-ceded,” the Rev. Jesse Jackson said.

More than 200 NFL players and owners — even anthem perform-ers — found ways to show dissent during pro football games last weekend.

Trump continued to criticize protesters Tuesday, saying in a news conference that he was

“ashamed of what was taking place” with the kneeling protesters.

“They were fighting for our flag, they were fighting for our national anthem and for people to disre-spect that by kneeling during the playing of our national anthem, I think that’s disgraceful,” the presi-dent said.

Trump’s remarks set off a fire-

storm on social media. Ken Miles, a community organizer and entre-preneur living in Harlem, created a petition on Saturday around the emerging #TakeTheKnee hashtag in response.

“This weekend was just a reminder of the role that power plays in this conversation,” said Miles, 32. “The president of the United States leveraging his influ-ence to call out players exercising their rights is an abuse of power.”

The topic continued to dominate discussion in sports Monday as NFL players reflected, NBA teams met with reporters and Trump doubled down on his position with tweets, saying the issue had noth-ing to do with race and using the hashtag “#StandForOurAnthem.”

“He doesn’t understand the power that he has for being the leader of this beautiful country,” Cleveland Cavaliers star LeBron James said.

Trump has rallied those to his side who are less interested in athletes’ opinions than a perceived lack of patriotism. The American Legion has called the protests and protesters “misguided and ungrateful.”

“It wasn’t political when it was written and it shouldn’t be political today,” American Legion National Commander Denise H. Rohan said.

“Having a right to do something does not make it the right thing to do.”

Fans are also noting the mixed messages. “The original issue was police brutality,” said Myles Conley, 42, a sales consultant from Atlanta. “The issue has moved past police brutality. Now it’s ... racism in the NFL.”

Conley said fans watch the NFL for entertainment and “now it’s turning into an activists’ platform,” referring to domestic violence, player safety, race and other issues.

“All of these issues the NFL is making part of their program,” he said. “No one wants to hear that.”

Protesters have supporters as well, including NAACP President Derrick Johnson. “This isn’t about football; it’s about freedom,” John-son said Monday. “It’s about the ability of Americans to utilize their constitutional rights without puni-tive actions from their employers.”

It’s unclear whether — or how

— the momentum will continue. On Monday, Jackson called for a boycott of the NFL — some Afri-can-Americans have been doing that since the start of the season last month — and picketing at pro football stadiums.

Some want the original intent of the protests to become the focus again. Congressional Black Caucus chair Cedric Richmond noted that while some NFL owners, coaches and officials put out state-ments rebuking Trump, they didn’t include why players originally felt the need to protest.

NFL anthem protests evolve after Trump

National

Tuesday, sept. 26

Tokyo’s panda cub named Xiang Xiang stAff rePort — The new star at Tokyo’s Ueno Zoo has been named Xiang Xiang, the kanji for which can mean either “fra-grance” or “popular” in Chinese.

After months of waiting and a record-breaking number of suggestions, Tokyo Gov. Yuriko Koike on Monday announced the name of the female giant panda cub born in June at Japan’s oldest zoo.

Cameras flashed as the pan-da’s name appeared on a tele-vision monitor during a news conference at Tokyo Metropoli-tan Government headquarters.

“I hope you will all love Xiang Xiang the panda,” Koike said, explaining that out of the eight final candidate names, narrowed down from a long list, Xiang Xiang was the most popular.

Koike said that Xiang Xiang will make her public debut with her mother in December.

The city received a record

322,581 suggestions from the public to name of the panda cub, which was born on June 12. According to the rules, each per-son was allowed to submit only one entry, and each suggestion had to be written in katakana.

Xiang Xiang was suggested 5,161 times.

“The name is easy to say,” Koike said. “The name is cute and sounds as though it has a fragrance.”

The previous record for sug-gestions received was around 273,000 for the panda cub that was born in 1986. That panda ended up being named Tong Tong.

World

Thursday, sept. 28

Use of force not first choice: TrumpWashingtonreuters — President Donald Trump warned North Korea on Tuesday that any U.S. military option would be “devastating” for Pyongyang, but said the use of force was not Washington’s first option to deal with the country’s ballistic and nuclear weapons program.

“We are totally prepared for the second option, not a pre-ferred option,” Trump said at a White House news conference, referring to military force. “But if we take that option, it will be devastating, I can tell you that, devastating for North Korea. That’s called the military option. If we have to take it, we will.”

Bellicose statements by Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in recent weeks have created fears that a mis-calculation could lead to action with untold ramifications, particularly since Pyongyang

conducted its sixth and most powerful nuclear test on Sept. 3.

Despite the increased ten-sion, the United States has not detected any change in North Korea’s military posture reflect-ing an increased threat, the top U.S. military officer said Tuesday. The assessment by Marine Corps Gen. Joseph Dunford, chair-man of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, about Pyongyang’s mili-tary stance was in contrast to a South Korean lawmaker who said Pyongyang had boosted defenses on its east coast.

In terms of urgency, “North Korea certainly poses the great-est threat today,” Dunford said.

World

Wednesday, sept. 27

GOP’s latest health care repeal faltersWashingtonAP — The last-gasp Republican drive to tear down former U.S. President Barack Obama’s health care law essentially died Monday as Maine Sen. Susan Collins joined a small but deci-sive cluster of GOP senators in opposing the push.

The Maine moderate said in a statement that the legislation would make “devastating” cuts in the Medicaid program, drive up premiums for millions and weaken protections Obama’s law gives people with pre-exist-ing medical conditions.

Collins said she made her deci-sion despite receiving a phone call from President Donald Trump, who’s been pressing GOP senators to back the measure.

The collapse of the legisla-tion marks a replay of the embarrassing loss Trump and party leaders suffered in July, when the Senate rejected three

attempts to pass legislation erasing the 2010 statute. The GOP has made promises to scrap the law a high-profile campaign vow for years.

With their narrow 52-48 majority and solid Democratic opposition, three GOP “no” votes would doom the bill. GOP Sens. John McCain, Rand Paul and Ted Cruz have said they oppose the measure.

Collins announced her deci-sion after the Congressional Budget Office said “millions” of Americans would lose coverage under the bill and projected it would impose $1 trillion in Med-icaid cuts through 2026.

National

Wednesday, sept. 27

Aum splinter group surveillance liftedjiji — The Tokyo District Court on Monday lifted government sur-veillance on Hikari no Wa (Circle of Light), an offshoot of Aum Shinrikyo, but left the measure in place for Aleph, the successor to the doomsday cult that carried out the deadly March 1995 sarin attack on Tokyo’s subway system.

The decision represents the first time that Aum surveillance has been lifted through a trial.

In 2015, the Public Security Examination Commission decided to extend the surveil-lance period on both groups until 2018. The panel had viewed both groups as a single entity under the influence of Aum guru Chizuo Matsumoto, 62, who went by the name of Shoko Asahara and remains on death row. Aum’s sarin attack killed 13 people left over 6,000 injured.

The surveillance law allows authorities to conduct on-site inspections and other checks.

Both groups filed legal com-plaints against the decision.

The focal point of the lawsuit was whether Hikari no Wa and Aleph can be viewed as a single group spreading Matsumoto’s doctrine. Aleph is deepening its ties to Matsumoto’s doctrines but Hikari no Wa has rejected them, the presiding judge, Toshiyuki Hayashi, said in the ruling.

“I’m relieved that the court recognized the measure against Hikari no Wa is illegal,” former Aum spokesman Fumihiro Joyu, the 54-year-old head of the splinter group, said at a news conference. Joyu said Hikari no Wa plans to sue the government.

National

Monday, sept. 25

Should SDF shoot refugees, Aso asksKyodo — Deputy Prime Minister Taro Aso raised the specter of armed North Korean refugees flooding Japan after a contin-gency on the Korean Peninsula, and asked if they would be shot as part of Tokyo’s response.

In a speech in Utsunomiya, Tochigi Prefecture, on Saturday, Aso, who is also the finance minister, asked how authorities would respond if that should happen.

“Can the police handle them? Will the Self-Defense Forces be dispatched and shoot them down? We’d better think about it seriously,” he claimed, citing an estimate of over 100,000 appearing along Sea of Japan coast prefectures from the impoverished, starving nation.

Aso also suggested that the government should discuss where such refugees would be held. “It may not be an event in the distant future,” he added.

Business

Friday, sept. 29

Toshiba inks chip unit deal with Bainbloomberg, — Toshiba Corp. signed a final agreement to sell its flash memory chip business to a group led by Bain Capital for about ¥2 trillion ($18 billion), moving a step closer to com-pleting the deal after months of contentious negotiations.

The Bain consortium includes major technology players Apple Inc., Dell Inc., SK Hynix Inc. and Japan’s Hoya Corp., while Toshiba itself will maintain a stake, the company said Thursday.

The deal is aimed at keeping control of the important busi-ness in Japan, while securing the funding needed to help Toshiba repair its damaged balance sheet.

Toshiba is selling the unit to pay for billions of dollars in losses in Westinghouse, its U.S. nuclear business. The company needs the funds by March to avoid seeing its shares delisted from the Tokyo Stock Exchange.

“They are taking a knee to protest police officers who kill unarmed African-Americans — men and women, adults and children, par-ents and grandparents — with impunity,” the Democrat from Louisiana said. “They are taking a knee to protest a justice system that says that being black is enough reason for a police officer to fear for his or her life.”

Jozen Cummings, a columnist at VerySmartBrothas.com, wrote in a column Monday that the #TakeTh-eKnee movement has evolved into an “all-lives-matteresque, watered-down version of NFL players and owners against Trump.”

“Kaepernick’s cause got dis-torted into a protest about flags and against Trump when it was never intended to be against any-body,” Cummings wrote. “It was for people of color.”

National

AfP-jiji

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has called a snap election, seeking to capitalize on a fractured opposi-tion to win a fourth term at the helm of the world’s third-largest economy. The winner of the elec-tion faces a daunting in-tray, rang-ing from North Korean missiles to a rapidly aging society. Here are some of the key challenges for Japan and its next leader:

North KoreaNorth Korea’s leader Kim Jong Un has threatened to “sink” Japan into the sea and blasted two mis-siles over the island of Hokkaido in the space of less than a month.

Both missile launches prompted emergency evacuation orders but, with so little time to seek shelter, many Japanese feel a sense of help-lessness in the face of the unpre-dictable threat from Pyongyang.

Abe has steadily upgraded Japan’s military to counter the North’s threat, saying the time for talk is over and urging the interna-tional community to apply more pressure on Pyongyang.

Adding to the friction between the nations is a simmering anger in Japan after North Korea admitted to kidnapping 13 Japanese nation-als in the 1970s and ’80s to train its spies. Many Japanese suspect more people have been kidnapped and kept alive in North Korea.

On the other side of the conflict, North Korea says Japan has not suf-ficiently atoned for its brutal colo-nial rule of the Korean Peninsula through the end of World War II.

Demographic time bombDomestically, the most pressing issue for Japan is a ticking demo-graphic time bomb that affects all areas of life from the economy to society.

Japan is on its way to becoming the world’s first “ultra-aged” coun-try, meaning more than 28 percent of its population will be over 65.

Very low birthrates and an expanding elderly population mean a shrinking workforce is hav-ing to pay for the ballooning cost of welfare.

Despite a labour shortage, wages have not risen in a meaningful way and tempered domestic consump-tion, forcing policymakers to dish out a generous stimulus package to safeguard the fragile economy.

The mix of problems has pushed many young people to postpone marrying and starting a family, only adding to the demographic

problem. The government has done its best to encourage young people to start a family and called on firms to raise wages and help employees achieve a healthy work-life balance. But the efforts have not resulted in significant changes.

As people migrate from the countryside to the cities, experts predict that Japan’s regional com-munities will gradually fade away and urban centers will be swamped by an elderly population.

Economic growth, but slowJapan has managed six straight quarters of economic growth — its best run in a decade — but at a rate far behind Asian competitors such as China and India.

The latest annual growth rate stood at a sluggish 1.3 percent, eking out a slight gain from the 0.9 percent when Abe took power.

Abe has sought to pep up the

world’s third-biggest economy with a high-profile blitz dubbed Abenomics, a combination of big government spending and ultra-loose monetary policy from the Bank of Japan. But while it fattened corporate profits and sent the stock market higher, it has failed in the goal of shrugging off the deflation that has plagued Japan for decades.

Ballooning debtGovernment debt is the worst of any industrialized nation, more than double the size of its economy.

Experts have long warned Japan must shrink its debt mountain or face a sharp increase in its borrow-ing costs and even a risk of default.

But Abe has continued to issue new debt to fund stimulus pack-ages to prop up the lumbering economy. He has also delayed a second consumption tax hike, a step economists say is needed to rein in debt. Most of the debt is held by domestic, long-term, insti-tutional players, shielding Tokyo somewhat from moves by fickle foreign investors.

Changing business culture Japan has struggled to keep pace with globalization and chang-ing times, especially in its once mighty corporations, which now lag behind their foreign competi-tors in terms of innovation.

The country’s firms have been slow to get women in top positions and have struggled to integrate the older population.

Abe has attempted to cut red tape and encourage innovation, but critics say reform is proceed-ing at a snail’s pace.

After election, challenges loom

Then-San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick (center) kneels in protest during the playing of the national anthem before a game against the Arizona Cardinals in Santa Clara, California, in October 2016. USA TODAY SpOrTS

Xiang Xiang kYODO Susan Collins BlOOmBerg Fumihiro Joyu kYODO

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe attends a news conference to announce a snap election at his official residence in Tokyo on Monday. reUTerS

Donald Trump reUTerS

• Originally response to police brutality

• U.S. president’s words prompt shift

• Focus moves to race relations

News | Week in Review Week in Review | News

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masami itoStaff writer

Oct. 1 marks the start of the annual Pink Ribbon cam-paign to raise awareness about breast cancer.

To highlight the begin-ning of the campaign, prom-

inent landmarks such as the Tokyo Skytree, Tokyo Metropolitan Government building, Himeji Castle in Hyogo Prefec-ture and Kobe Port Tower will be illumi-nated in pink.

Breast cancer is the most common cause of death for women aged between 30 and 64 in Japan. Experts say that 1 in 11 people are currently suffering from the disease and, in 2016, 14,015 women died from it.

Early detection and treatment is key to overcoming breast cancer. To herald the start of the Pink Ribbon campaign, The Japan Times talks to three survivors who are out there trying to make a difference.

Sayaka Matsu, writerWriter Sayaka Matsu will never forget the time an editor at a publishing house told her that “cancer books don’t sell if the author is still alive.” She still finds the sentiment rather shocking. She is a breast cancer survivor and is not about to let a stereotypical image of what people think a cancer patient should be like define her.

So what does she do? She writes a book about her life and her battle with cancer called “Kanojo Shikkaku: Koi Shiteru dato ka, Gan dato ka” (“Disqualified Girlfriend: Being in Love and Having Cancer”), which was published by Gentosha Inc. in 2013.

It’s far from your typical “cancer book.” It is not a memoir of a beautiful loving relationship with her family that was strengthened because of her illness, nor is it a tragic love story (although it is in a way — more on that later). It’s not a tear-jerker; it’s raw, it’s funny and absolutely nothing is off-limits.

“I know, it’s vulgar!” Matsu says with a laugh. “But that’s life. It is not beautiful nor perfect. … I am just one example and the book reflects how I viewed my life.”

In truth, the book isn’t vulgar, it’s just very, very real. It tells the story of a young, unmarried working woman in Tokyo struggling with a new job who happens to be diagnosed with a deadly disease.

Matsu had just turned 30 in January 2007, had a loving boyfriend and had landed a dream job as an editor at a major publishing firm when she was diagnosed with stage 2b breast cancer. She didn’t have cancer insurance and had only lim-ited savings. The doctor had warned her that the treatments could take about five years and she was at a loss. She didn’t

know how she would cope with the reality of a mastectomy and chemotherapy, all the while continuing to work and pay off the expensive medical bills as well as just making ends meet.

However, when she went to hunt down books on survival, all she found were — just as the editor had warned her —

“beautiful” memoirs and haiku poems of love and bonding.

“I faced real problems and I urgently needed information, but there was literally nothing,” Matsu says. “Poetry wasn’t going to help me figure out my life, my job, money and the treatments that lay ahead of me. I was an information refugee.”

The thought of chemotherapy fright-ened Matsu so much that the night before her first treatment she drowned her fears in alcohol. She spent about four hours at the hospital the next day, getting injected with various chemicals, including saline and granisetron to prevent nausea and vomiting, and epirubicin, a chemotherapy drug. Before going home she was pre-scribed numerous anti-nausea pills, laxa-tives, anti-bacterial drugs and painkillers. Despite taking the medication, Matsu vomited repeatedly that night and fell asleep by her toilet.

To prepare for hair loss, she carefully braided her long hair, praying that she would be able to overcome the cancer. She later lopped off 25 centimeters before shaving off the rest. Unable to afford a ¥300,000 medical wig, Matsu bought a wig online for ¥29,800.

In her book, Matsu is also very open about her relationship with her then-boy-friend, whom she calls “ossan” (middle-aged man). She discusses not only the emotional turmoil the two went through as a result of her cancer, but also reveals how they became sexless due to the physi-cal side-effects of chemotherapy. At one point, she recalls being deeply embar-rassed after throwing up all over the floor in front of him after one of her chemo-therapy sessions.

“I wrote about money and sex because I knew that the issues would catch the attention of both patients and nonpa-tients,” she says. “This is something that can happen to anyone tomorrow … and I had no reservations about describing the reality as it really is.”

In June this year, the nation’s media mourned TV anchorwoman Mao Kobayashi, who was just 34 years old when she died of breast cancer. Up until the last couple of days before her death, she had written in a blog about her life, her family and her illness. People empa-thized with her as a mother, as a child, as a spouse and as a person.

And while Matsu also recognizes the sadness of Kobayashi’s death, she feels uncomfortable with the way the media

treated the wife of renowned kabuki actor Ichikawa Ebizo: as a tragic heroine who fell victim to breast cancer.

“Most stories of cancer patients are not actually that beautiful and not everyone can be like Ebizo-san and Mao-san,” says Matsu, adding that she has often been asked by the media to comment on Kobayashi’s case. “I couldn’t comment because although we might have been diagnosed with the same disease, every-thing was completely different for me … and that’s why I stress that my story is just one example. I am certainly in no position to represent every cancer patient in the country.”

Matsu is painfully honest about how difficult it was to continue working as an editor while undergoing chemotherapy. Somehow, she made it through all of the cycles and the doctor successfully per-formed a mastectomy almost a year after she was first diagnosed with cancer. She later completed her five-year hormone treatment and, so far, she has experienced no relapses.

But as life goes on, it continues to be a bumpy ride. She broke up with her boy-friend who, while supporting Matsu through her breast cancer battle, started cheating on her as well. She quit her job as an editor and moved to Taiwan, where her mother is from.

When she returned to Japan in 2013, she couldn’t find a job because the com-panies kept highlighting her breast can-cer. She eventually landed a position as a cabin attendant for a low-cost carrier for a couple of years, flying on both domestic and international flights.

Despite what the editor told her about cancer books, Matsu did find a publisher and has written not just one book but is about to release another at the end of October. And to her surprise, she married a man who proposed to her on their third date. This is a woman who is truly living life to its fullest.

“I don’t want to live the rest of my life in fear of a relapse,” Matsu says. “Nothing in life goes according to plan and, right now, I am just happy living a carefree life.”

Naoko Kuroda, financial plannerIt is after hours on a weekday at St. Luke’s International Hospital in Tokyo’s Tsukiji

district. The lights are dim and the halls quiet, completely different from the hus-tle and bustle during the day at one of the largest hospitals in central Tokyo.

One seminar room, however, is lit brightly. Three women enter separately, smiling but looking somewhat nervous. And at 6:30 p.m. sharp, financial planner Naoko Kuroda begins “O-saifu Ringu” (“Wallet Ring”), her two-part session on cancer and money.

“Cancer treatments cost a lot of money, even with the various subsidies provided by the government,” Kuroda explains to the three breast cancer participants. “It would be ideal to talk about the costs with the hospital, but the reality is that doctors need to talk to you about a whole lot of other important things besides money.”

Kuroda began O-saifu Ringu with St. Luke’s hospital in 2015 as a breast cancer survivor herself. She was 40 when she was diagnosed with breast cancer and her daughter was just 5 years old. It was a cold winter’s day in December 2009 in Toyama Prefecture when she was diagnosed. She says she allowed herself to cry that one night.

“I saw my daughter sleeping after I got home and couldn’t help but cry,” Kuroda says. “I allowed myself to be sad for one day, but from then on I didn’t have time to cry. There was nothing I could do about having cancer so I needed to start making plans about what to do from then on.”

Nothing, however, was how Kuroda had imagined it would be. She had walked into her doctor’s office ready to tell him what she wanted — that she would rather die than have a mastectomy.

However, before she could even begin to open her mouth, her doctor began to talk matter-of-factly, telling her she had stage 2b cancer, which meant she would need chemotherapy and a full mastec-tomy. He told her that her hair would fall out, so she should get a wig immediately, and that her survival rate in five years was 50 percent.

She said that whole conversation was a blur.

“As a financial planner, I had the basic knowledge of cancer and knew the differ-ent types of insurance and had more of an understanding of the disease than many other people. Or so I thought,” Kuroda says. “I realized the reality for cancer patients was completely different and I really only found that out because I became one myself.”

It is often said that the family of cancer patients becomes the second patient. Her husband blamed himself for not noticing and made it his mission to support her, telling her what food and drinks she should take or avoid and making sure she didn’t work too hard.

Continued on page 12

Features | Lifestyle & Culture | Food | media | Books | Diversions

TimeOut

‘I faced real problems and I urgently needed information, but there was literally nothing. … I was an information refugee.’Writer Sayaka Matsu

As Japan marks breast cancer awareness month, we talk to three women who are sharing their experiences in order to educate others about the disease

Winning the battle against breast cancer

Pretty in pink: Tokyo Skytree is illuminated in pink on Oct. 1 last year to mark the beginning of breast cancer awareness month. Courtesy of estĒe LAuDer CoMPANIes

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Although her daughter was just 5, Kuroda did not hide her illness. A few years later, however, Kuroda discovered that her daughter had actually misunder-stood her illness, after her daughter partic-ipated in CLIMB (Children’s Lives Include Moments in Bravery), a program created to educate the children of cancer patients.

“My daughter thought cancer was like a cold and that she would also catch it,” Kuroda says. “It nearly broke my heart to hear that. Children often blame them-selves as well. It is really difficult to explain cancer to children.”

Kuroda sought a second opinion and, in the end, was diagnosed with stage 2a breast cancer, so she did not have to undergo chemotherapy, just a mastec-tomy and hormone treatment. Looking back, she notes, costs start even before the treatments begin, with ¥20,000 here and ¥30,000 there for MRIs and CT scans. She also had reconstructive surgery, which was not covered by health insur-ance at the time. Kuroda ultimately paid more than ¥3.5 million.

As a patient herself, Kuroda knows firsthand what it is like to be in a doctor’s office and not have the courage to ask how much a treatment or test costs every time the doctor suggests one. And in many cases, the doctors themselves are unaware of how big of a financial burden these costs can be on patients, she says.

There are various government systems to support cancer patients financially, including a high-cost medical expense benefit, which puts a cap on the monthly medical fees depending on several factors, including a person’s income. On average, the cap is a little more than ¥80,000 a month, but if you have a higher salary, the cap could go up to more than ¥250,000 per month. However, the benefits are not widely advertised, Kuroda says, so some people don’t know they exist.

“These are public systems, which means they are self-service — you can benefit from them only if you know such support exists,” Kuroda says. “I feel bad that some people are not given the proper information about money or treatment and end up with regrets. I want to do something to help.”

The discussions at Kuroda’s sessions at St. Luke’s are very real. The atmosphere is lively as they laugh and share their experiences.

One woman, who is currently undergo-ing hormone treatment after chemother-apy and a mastectomy, says she paid more than ¥200,000 for a wig and advises the other women to wear it a few times

before going out because it is “very shiny.” Another woman says she has spent a lot of money trying out various alternative medicines and therapies. The women have jobs and express concern about receiving a poor evaluation or even being fired because of the lengthy treatment.

Kuroda says she hopes more hospitals will create sessions like O-saifu Ringu where cancer patients can address their financial needs and questions so that they can feel secure moving forward with treatments.

“You need money to survive but cancer patients have piles of problems: the illness itself, their mental state, their work, money,

their marriage, having children and so on,” Kuroda says. “These problems are all inter-twined and deeply affect one another … and that is why it is very important that cancer patients are provided information and support from everywhere.”

Kae Fujimori, modelModel Kae Fujimori stands gracefully in front of our photographer as she clicks away. The changes in her expressions are natural, sometimes looking directly at the lens with a soft smile and at others look-ing away as if lost in thought. Fujimori appears completely at ease in front of the camera and it is perhaps no wonder, con-sidering she has been modeling since the age of 11.

It’s hard to imagine that six years ago, Fujimori’s whole world changed when she was diagnosed with a rare stage zero breast cancer and had a mastectomy. She owes her good fortune to a friend, a friend who had stressed the importance of get-ting regular checkups before her death from breast cancer in 2010 at the age of 26. Her friend also had a 2-year-old boy.

Before her funeral, Fujimori applied makeup to her deceased friend’s face.

“Seeing her after she had passed away was surreal,” Fujimori says. “She was still so

young and her skin was so soft and smooth.”In 2011, Fujimori noticed a small lump

in her breast and went to get it checked out. The doctor told her that the area where she had found the lump didn’t appear white on the X-ray, which is how cancerous cells usually appear, and so he guessed that it might be a type of abscess. Still bothered by the lump, however, Fuji-mori sought a second opinion in 2012 and, this time, the doctor performed a biopsy, which she recalls was terrifying because the “needle” looked like a drinking straw but worked like a nail gun. As a result, Fujimoto was informed that she had very early-stage cancer.

The first thing Fujimori did upon learn-ing the news was talk to her management company to discuss her work engage-ments so that she could schedule her sur-gery around them, and about whether or not she would go public with her illness. After careful consideration and with the support of her management company, Fujimori decided she would reveal her ill-ness to the public immediately after her surgery.

“In the world of modeling, your body is your capital … I was terrified of going pub-lic and not knowing how people on social media and other media were going to react,” Fujimori says. “But it was because of my friend that I am alive today, and I felt I needed to pass the baton to others out there.”

After further testing, Fujimori found out that she had more cancerous tumors in her right breast, and her doctor advised her to have a total mastectomy.

Having a mastectomy was obviously going to affect Fujimori’s job as a model. She frequently had to change in front of other models and stylists, and wondered if they would be able to see the scar. She also wondered whether she would have to place a special pad inside her bra that could change the balance of the clothes she wears. And, naturally, it also affected her emotionally as well.

“I know that some people might say it’s only a breast but, to be honest, I was extremely shocked to lose a part of my body,” Fujimori says. “That’s why some patients go against their doctor’s recom-mendations and insist on keeping their breasts. However, there is a lot of informa-tion out there to see what reconstructive surgery is actually like, and that should help ease people’s fears.”

In a mastectomy, Fujimori says, a doctor removes a patient’s mammary glands and fat, leaving bone, muscle and skin. In Fuji-mori’s case, a plastic surgeon took over immediately after the mastectomy and

began the reconstructive surgery by plac-ing a balloon-like vessel on the bottom of her breast. Over the course of the next few months, the doctor injected liquid into that vessel little by little to stretch the skin, sort of simulating what happens to the skin of a pregnant woman’s stomach. Once the size was right, the vessel was replaced by a sili-con substance under general anesthesia.

Fujimori was able to complete the entire process for less than ¥100,000, waiting a year until the surgery was cov-ered by national health insurance.

“It was very painful … but when I first saw myself in the mirror, I was actually relieved that the doctor did a very good job,” Fujimori says.

Since her mastectomy in April 2013, Fujimori has been on the go. Three weeks

later, she was already taking part in a TV program and, a month later, participated in a 5-kilometer charity run in Honolulu.

In 2016, Fujimori co-founded the non-profit organization C-ribbons to support cancer patients. The organization’s web-site provides information for cancer patients, including interviews with vari-ous cancer survivors about their way of life. Fujimori also travels across the coun-try, speaking about her experiences with breast cancer.

The nonprofit group also holds events periodically that are open to both patients and nonpatients. The first event was a beauty session featuring a professional makeup artist. The second was a workout session with both a pilates instructor and Fujimori, who is a balance-ball instructor as well.

Fujimori says many former cancer patients struggle with their life after the ill-ness. As a survivor, her advice is for women to enjoy what they like doing. As a 41-year-old single woman, she says she gets drunk with friends, complains about men, loves to shop and enjoys traveling.

“Inside, I am just like any other woman,” Fujimori says. “When you get sick, there is a lot that you lose or have to give up. The message I want to get across, however, is that you don’t have to give up being true to yourself.”

‘There is a lot of information out there to see what reconstructive surgery is actually like, and that should help ease people’s fears.’Model Kae Fujimori

‘I feel bad that some people are not given the proper information about money or treatment and end up with regrets. I want to do something to help.’Financial planner Naoko Kuroda

From above left to right: Naoko Kuroda, Sayaka Matsu and Kae Fujimori SatoKo KawaSaKi

Continued from page 10

Timeout | Surviving breast cancer

 第３種郵便物認可 見本 | OCtOBeR 00, 2017 | the japan times on sunday | 13

Tomoko Sauvage is sipping mat-cha latte in a Shibuya cafe, try-ing to articulate the search for sound that first drew her abroad and, ultimately, led her to create a new musical instrument.

For the Paris-based musician who grew up in Yokohama, the call to music came early. She began classical piano lessons from age 4, which she enjoyed, though any thought of a professional career was discouraged by her parents (“It’s not the normal path,”) or teachers who cited insufficient talent.

“Maybe that’s why I had to go (abroad), to be free from this,” Sauvage says.

Sauvage attended Gaigo-Kanagawa Pre-fectural High School for Foreign Studies, a now-defunct high school that special-ized in foreign languages, where she stud-ied English for 10 hours a week and French for four. The public school had optional uniforms and “it was very free,” she remembers, “which is very rare.” In many ways, a search for freedom has been the driving force in her life.

Sauvage came from a conservative fam-ily. Her father traveled the world as a busi-nessman, which she thinks may have helped to kindle her interest in foreign countries. Her mother graduated from Keio University and occasionally taught calligraphy. Growing up, Sauvage was often advised to err on the side of confor-mity: “They wanted me to marry a rich businessman, and be stable and normal.” She has a younger sister, who also chose to break the mold of the traditional female role and became a hardworking, successful freelance designer.

Through piano, a budding sensitivity to sonic nuance alerted Sauvage to some-thing she was only able to fully articulate much later — that the piano doesn’t sound quite right in a Japanese home.

“A piano is made of wood, which absorbs water in humid climates such as Japan, so it sounds totally different from country to country,” she says. Later, when she had the chance to play the instrument amid European architecture, including stonework, in France, “it sounded totally different. It sounded right. There’s some-thing in the air, and the piano also sounds different.” When Japanese musicians bring shamisen (a traditional string instrument) to Europe, she explains, they wrap them with lettuce to keep the mois-ture in.

“It’s supposed to be played in a Japa-nese room with wood and paper, where it sounds good and right,” she says. It is a telling observation.

At age 15, Sauvage fell in love with jazz, and while pursuing a liberal arts degree at International Christian University in Tokyo, she was dreaming of taking off to New York to pursue music, though she was persuaded by her parents to gradu-ate first.

In New York she studied piano at The New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music, where she met many serious tal-ents and came to understand that, even with years of practice, the highest levels of

jazz piano would be out of reach. “When you see this kind of genius at a

young age, you really think about it,” she says. “New York was very exciting, but musically it was quite frustrating. I didn’t find my place, my thing. I’m a frustrated pianist even now.”

What began as a pursuit of freedom through jazz now became more clearly defined: Sauvage was searching for a sound all her own.

But she returned to Tokyo. “I wanted to see how it was to live in Japan, so that I wouldn’t regret anything in the future. I knew that it was not my place, but I wanted to try,” she says.

She took a variety of piano gigs in the lounges of various high-class hotels, recorded and toured with a reggae rock band. She also leveraged her English abil-ity at various office jobs, developed a hatred for Tokyo’s rush-hour trains and, feeling generally depressed, decided on a move to Paris to join her boyfriend at the time.

“For me, Tokyo was always very much about outer stimulation. That’s how we live here, but it’s all about consumption, actually. So when I went to Paris, I thought it was gray and boring and the shopping is so much less interesting.”

She took a cue from the change in tone and began a period of introspection and musical experimentation. She lived with her then-partner and the government cov-ered half their rent. “All I had to say was that we lived together, and the next day I had free health insurance,” she says.

Sauvage read about Daoism, practiced meditation and listened to Alice Coltrane and the American minimalist composer Terry Riley. This led naturally into Indian

music, which Sauvage insists she studied but did not learn. (“It would take more than 20 years, because it’s very deep.”)

In 2006, she attended a performance in Paris at which the south Indian musician Anayampatti Ganesan played the jalathar-angam, a series of bowls filled with water. She was “fascinated, blown away” by the sound and went home to begin experi-menting with water.

It was a pivotal moment that recalled an earlier epiphany Sauvage had while snorkeling near a coral reef in Okinawa:

“Underwater life, fish and seaweed, every-thing was moving, like on the land with the wind, so the waves are the wind and everything is waving.”

After hearing the jalatharangam, she recognized the Okinawa moment as true inspiration. “I think it’s one of the best sensations that we can have, and I wanted to make music like this,” she says.

Soon after, she bought a hydrophone (underwater microphone), inserted it into a porcelain bowl of water, and her instru-ment, which she calls waterbowls, was born. In 2010, she developed a way to manipulate feedback from the sensitive mics. She notes that no two waterbowl performances are alike.

“I learned that this is not an instrument you can control,” she says. “There are so many uncontrollable elements depending on many factors such as room acoustics, human presence, humidity, the change in pitch that occurs due to evaporation.” Some people liken waterbowls to a Japa-nese suikinkutsu: buried earthen bowls outside temples that catch the water peo-ple wash their hands with to great acous-tic effect.

“To me it’s obviously alchemical, because water becomes music,” she says of her medium. Since inventing it she has performed dozens of live shows, not just in Europe but worldwide, and often in col-laboration with other artists. Her second album, “Musique Hydromantique,” to be released Oct. 26, chronicles her explora-tion of waterbowls over 10 years.

Sauvage continues to live in Paris, but considers herself a product of multicul-turalism and very much a citizen of the world. “I’m not just a Japanese living in Paris. I’m very connected to a community of artists which is very international — it’s a special milieu,” she says.

Although she continues to live happily abroad, Sauvage does listen to Japanese music from the 1970s and early ’80s every day. “I think it’s my way of being home-sick,” she says. “But it’s difficult to tell what is homesickness and what is nostalgia.”

Musician searches for freedom with soundWhy Did You Leave Japan? by Tyler Rothmar

Name: tomoko sauvageProfession: musicianHometown: YokohamaKey moments in career: 2000 — moves back to japan after study-ing jazz piano at the new school for jazz and Contemporary music 2003 — moves to paris 2006 — attends a concert of anayampatti Ganesan, a virtuoso of jalatharangam2009 — Releases first solo album

“Ombrophilia”Words to live by: “Warau kado ni wa fuku kitaru.” (“Fortune smiles on those who laugh.”)

Profile

● トモコ・ソヴァージュ職業：音楽家出身地：神奈川県横浜市転機：2000年　NYのニュースクール大学でジャズ ピアノを学び帰国2003年　パリに移住2006年　AnayampattiGanesanによるジャ ラタランガムの演奏を見て衝撃を 受ける座右の銘：笑う門には福来たる

娘には「普通の」幸せをつかんでほしいと願った両親の下で育ったトモコ・ソヴァージュ氏は、自由と独自の音を探求し続け、現在はパリでその探求を続けている。４歳からピアノを始め、15歳でジャズに魅せられた。言語に強い高校に通い、英語と仏語を学び、国際基督教大学を卒業後、念願叶ってジャズピアノを学ぶためにニューヨークに向かった。才能ある音楽家と出会い、多くの刺激を受けたが、ジャズというジャンルに自身の音を見い出すことはできなかった。帰国し、複数の仕事を経験後、パ

ートナーの暮らすパリに渡った。街の雰囲気にも影響内されて省的だった時期、インド音楽に傾倒。水を入れた磁器の器を竹の棒でたたくインドの伝統的な打楽器ジャラタランガムの演奏を見た時、かつて沖縄でシュノーケリングをした際の水中浮遊の感覚が蘇り、作りたい音はこれだと実感した。磁器の器に水を入れ、水中マイクを使う独自の楽器ウォーターボウルを生み出し、現在は世界各国で演奏している。パリ在住ながら、国際的な芸術家たちのコミュニティーの一員だと考えている。 Tomoko Sauvage tyler rothMar

Acoustic sensation: Tomoko Sauvage performs with her waterbowls. AsIer GoGorTzA

Lifestyle & Culture | Timeout

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melinda joespecial to the japan times

Early one September morning, Ana Ros, Slovenia’s most famous chef, is receiving a crash course in Japanese seafood at Tsukiji fish market.

At one stall, she samples two kinds of sea urchin from Hokkaido, along with an assortment of shellfish that includes ishigakegai, a large cockle with a speckled auburn shell. As Ros lifts a slice of the clam from the plate, the fishmonger scoops up a few live specimens from a tank. The bivalves appear to dance as their long, tongue-like necks dart out and curl around their shells.

“Incredible,” she murmurs, chewing thoughtfully. “The texture is really beautiful.”

Ros, who was named the World’s Best

Female Chef this year by the U.K.-based World’s 50 Best Restaurants organization, had traveled to Tokyo from the tiny Alpine village of Kobarid — located on the border between Slovenia and Italy, where she runs the restaurant Hisa Franko — to cook with chef Luca Fantin, of Bulgari Il Ristorante Luca Fantin, as part of the res-taurant’s annual Epicurea collaboration dinner series. Over the course of about a week she immersed herself in Japanese food culture, exploring Tokyo’s dining scene and learning about local ingredi-ents from Fantin, who goes foraging for wild mushrooms near Mount Fuji and has traveled the country to source products for his contemporary Italian cuisine.

Cooking collaborations are the latest culinary trend to sweep Tokyo, but chefs from abroad have been making food pil-grimages to Japan for more than a decade

— a phenomenon that has been intensified in part by cheaper airfares and favorable currency exchange rates in recent years.

The country has been viewed as a gas-tronomic mecca ever since the publica-tion of the first Michelin Guide to Tokyo in 2007, which awarded the Japanese cap-ital more stars than any other city.

For those in the trade, however, the fas-cination goes deeper: “If there is one place in the world that every chef should go, it’s Japan. Regarding quality of prod-ucts and hospitality, perfection is every-

where — even in simple pastry shops,” Ros tells me.

She first visited Japan as a tourist 12 years ago, only five years into her career as a chef. At that time, the flavors and cus-toms of Japanese cuisine were intriguing but entirely unfamiliar to Ros, a self-taught cook who was on the path to becoming a diplomat before her husband, sommelier Valter Kramer, persuaded her to take over the kitchen at Hisa Franko, his family’s restaurant and inn. When a

Japanese friend took her for dinner on that first visit at Mibu, an exclusive mem-bers-only kaiseki (Japanese multicourse haute cuisine) restaurant in Tokyo’s Ginza district, Ros says she felt “like Alice in Wonderland,” recalling “a tatami-mat room with only one table, and a branch with cherry blossoms.”

Since then, her experience both as a chef and a diner has grown considerably. Looking back at her first meal at Mibu, Ros remembers thinking that “the food had nothing in common with European culture.” What she perceived then as a lack of contrast between savory, sweet, and sour tastes — “the way Europeans typically compose dishes” — she now sees as an acute focus on a single ingredient. This minimalist approach to cooking is at the heart of Japanese cuisine. While com-plex flavor compositions are valued over-seas, the task of the chef in Japan is to highlight the quality of the natural prod-ucts and let them shine.

“I was so impressed by how Japanese chefs explore all aspects of an ingredient,

Slovenia’s Ana Ros rediscovers Japan

At last, Kentaro Henry Nakahara has an outlet to match the quality of the meat he uses and the scale of his ambition. When he opened the first branch of his eponymous

burger restaurant in Daikanyama back in late 2015, the justifiable excitement was inevitably tempered by the diminutive scale of the operation.

No such reservations at the new Henry’s Burger Akihabara. Not only does his new kitchen boast a rather larger teppan grill, but he now also has an upstairs dining room with lots of space to settle in and wait for your order to be brought to your table.

But Nakahara hasn’t made any changes to his recipe. Why should he? After all, he has developed a 100-percent wagyu burger that is rich, juicy and distinctively different from any other in town, especially the recent wave of premium American chains. Not that everyone loves the coarse-cut tex-ture of the patties — he uses off-cuts from the same quality beef he serves at his high-end yakiniku grill, and you are likely to find occasional chewy bits of cartilage — but it’s hard to argue with such great flavor.

As before, there are no side dishes or extras. It’s all about the burgers. But here they’re not offered separately, only in com-bos together with fries and a soft drink.

The main innovation is the introduction of a Triple Burger — three patties sandwiched in between those light-as-air buns (¥1,944 for the combo). That’s a healthy serving of wagyu. Now if only Henry’s had some tasty craft beers on the menu to go with it.

3-7-13 Soto-Kanda, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo; 03-6206-8841; open daily 11 a.m.- 8 p.m.; burger combos from ¥1,188; closest station: Suehirocho; no smoking; major cards accepted; English menu; some English spoken

If you judge restaurants solely by their architecture and decor, you’d probably finger 336 Ebisu as a temple of modern Scandinavian cuisine. The interior is so simple and airy — all big windows, curving arches, light-wood furniture,

unadorned walls — that you expect dishes of Nordic precision. You’d be wrong.

One look at the menu, one glance down the wine list, and it’s clear that 336 Ebisu is of French lineage. But it’s not the clas-sic version, with pretensions of Gallic grandeur. Nor does it evoke the bustling, no-frills virtues of old-style brasserie culture.

The inspiration at this calm, welcoming little restaurant on the nether side of Yebisu Garden Place is the new wave of Parisian neo-bistros, where quality cooking and a well curated cellar are de rigeur but dressing up and putting on airs is decidedly passe. You go to eat and enjoy, not to see or be seen. And the wine is picked and priced for your enjoyment, not for name-brand status.

That’s the admirable approach of the youthful owner, Tomotaka Yamazaki. As a sommelier, he has a substantial CV to his name, both in Japan and France. Besides working in wineries in the Champagne, Burgundy and Cotes du Rhone regions, he spent two years at Passage 35 in Paris, the first restaurant in France with a Japanese

chef to achieve two Michelin stars.If Yamazaki’s career trajectory is quite

straightforward, you could hardly say the same for the chef he picked to work with him after returning to Tokyo to open 336 Ebisu last autumn. Hayato Saito initially trained as a piano tuner, and it was only later that he turned to cooking.

He has a confident, contemporary style and his repertoire displays a strong individ-

uality. But he can also prepare the standard dishes with great precision. A plate of freshly baked gougeres (individual gruyere puff pastries) makes for some excellent nib-bles to go with that first glass of wine — Yamazaki pours a Swartland Chenin Blanc, as if to demonstrate that his expertise extends well beyond French borders.

A small but tasty pot of rillettes offers no lack of refinement along with its rusticity.

And the substantial salad that follows is generously topped with mushroom, bacon and oozing grilled goat cheese. This is one of Saito’s signature appetizers and, like everything on the menu, is intended to be shared between two or more people.

He also serves an excellent confit of duck. The contrast of crisp skin and tender meat inside is exactly as it should be. It comes on a mound of green olives and rai-sins simmered down in Madeira, a rich, sweet-savory counterpoint that makes this dish a highlight of any meal here.

If there’s a downside, it’s that by the time you have explored the charms of Yamaza-ki’s Rhone reds and segued onto dessert wines, it feels very hard to tear yourself away when the taxi arrives to whisk you back to the station.

3-36-1 Ebisu, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo; 03-6277-2282; 336ebisu.favy.jp; open 6 p.m.-midnight; also Sat. & Sun. 12-2 p.m. (irregular holidays); dinner a la carte (about ¥5,000 plus wine), weekend lunch ¥2,900; closest station: Ebisu; no smoking; major cards accepted; Japanese menu; French spoken. Robbie Swinnerton blogs at www.tokyofoodfile.com.

336 Ebisu: Neo-bistro has food and style all its own

halloween is now an established event here in japan. While the revelry differs greatly compared to other places (it’s less about collecting candy and more about clogging shibuya crossing), the country has got the marketing part of it down pat. Companies now roll out special items featuring ghosts and skeletons on the packaging well ahead of time.

pepsi japan has gotten into the October spirit over the last few years, putting out special editions of their carbonated beverage to coincide with the spooky holiday. This year’s contribution, simply dubbed pepsi halloween Cola,

features cute pink imagery. The drink (¥140) comes in a bright shade of pink

that might not feel very halloween-like but matches the soda’s theme of

celebrating candy.The 2017 version features some

similarities to the 2015 pepsi Ghost variety, which bore a strong resem-blance to Cherry pepsi. While this

year’s soda has some cherry taste, it gets countered by an aftertaste that is closer to (extremely sugary) bubble gum. a few sips are OK, but trying to get through the whole bottle can be a challenge. it may be good for shots on the night of Oct. 31, but it’s probably best shared with friends. (Patrick St. Michel)

Konbini Watch

Nicely in tune: Owner/sommelier Tomotaka Yamazaki (left) and chef Hayato Saito in the kitchen of 336 Ebisu. Robbie SwinneRton

Henry’s burger Akihabara: Grander digs, great wagyu

Heavenly match: The Triple Combo at Henry’s Burger Akihabara. Robbie SwinneRton

Tokyo Food File Robbie swinnerton

If you’ve lived and worked in Japan for any length of time, there’s a chance you’ve at least daydreamed about how great it would be to run your own res-taurant or bar.

The idea seems so much more excit-ing than a standard office job, so much more interesting than another year of teaching English.

Establishment owners can set their own hours and don’t need to deal with nagging bosses, so the thinking goes. They can make money just by providing a place for their friends to come and hang out. It’s like an expat’s dream — and in March of 2015, I fulfilled that dream when my wife and I opened a restaurant in Tokyo’s Aoyama district. Then, in June of the same year, I became part of a statistic: the nearly 60 percent of restaurants that fail before their first anniversary, accord-ing to an Ohio State University study.

The reality is there are hundreds of ways a restaurant or bar can fail. Poor location, failure to understand and track costs, inexperienced management, bad food and a lack of understanding of what the market will sustain are just a few.

Sometimes it can even be simple bad luck. In my case, the structure that housed our shop lost its lease and was torn down. I knew it was a possibility when I signed our rental agreement, but we were assured it was highly unlikely. My wife and I had a great location, built a loyal following, received positive reviews and generated good word of mouth, and although we only lasted three months, we were already turning a profit. We were lucky beyond all expectation, until the one time that we weren’t, and that was the end of our restaurant.

As a result of my experience, people sometimes ask me for advice on their own ventures. My first response is very simple: Don’t do it.

I do realize, however, that no matter what I say people are going to try. And despite my warnings, Tokyo is full of suc-cessful businesses, so there must be a way. With that in mind, in this column I intend to outline the pitfalls and give pointers for driving up the odds of success, looking at everything from investment, licensing and regulations and location to menu choices, design, promotion, staffing and more.

To start off, that daydream of how much fun it will be is largely fantasy. Yes, you do set your own hours, but unless they revolve around the hours that will attract customers, your business will fail. And no, you won’t have a nagging boss —

you’ll be left alone (or with your partner) with the need to push yourself 14 to 15 hours a day to succeed.

You’re going to need to appear happy and full of energy in front of your custom-ers no matter how tired you are, or how badly things are going. And, through no fault of your own, you won’t be seeing the friends that said they’d be there all the time. Sure, they’ll stop in from time to time, but they won’t be there every night, because who wants to eat the same thing all the time? And when they do stop in, you’ll probably be too busy to do more than say hello because, with luck, you’ll have other customers to attend to.

Having said that, if your heart is still set, or if you know someone who is con-sidering taking the plunge, please read on. It won’t all be doom and gloom. Opening a restaurant was the most brutal, painful, exhausting job I’ve ever had, and I’ve never loved anything more, never felt bet-ter about anything I’ve done.

But for now, some basic advice: If you want to start a restaurant or bar, you’re going to need to see how it’s done. Find a place that’s in line with what you want to do and get a job there. A few hours a week is a start, but more is better, because one surefire avenue to restaurant failure is to have an owner who has never worked in one. Get your hands dirty. Get some experi-ence. Watch, listen, ask questions and keep notes. Oh, and start saving money, because it’s going to take more than you think.

This is the first of a six-part series that will appear on the first Sunday of the month through March 2018.

the do’s and don’ts of opening a restaurantworld’s best Female

Chef holds court during collaboration event visit

The author at his establishment in Tokyo on opening day in March 2017. mASAmi wilGuS

‘I was so impressed by how Japanese chefs explore all aspects of an ingredient.’2017 world’s best Female Chef Ana Ros

but you need the experience of working in the kitchen to fully appreciate it,” Ros says.

She is known for her highly personal style of cooking, which draws on the tra-ditions of her native Slovenia and takes in the influence of her extensive travels. The dishes she prepared for the Epicurea event displayed an effortless harmony between European and Japanese sensibil-ities. Kinmeidai (golden-eye snapper) was

covered with fresh herbs, wild tamago-dake (ovoli mushrooms) and edible flow-ers, bathed in a delicate broth scented with verbena.

Ros sees this trip as the beginning of a long relationship with Japan and is already planning to return next year: “I don’t know how I’ll get here, but I’m posi-tive that I’ll make it happen.” I have every confidence that she will succeed.

Strong impact: Revival of brodetto, a deconstructed bouillabaisse by Slovenian chef Ana Ros.

Thanks in part to chefs such as hisa Franko’s ana Ros, the issue of gender equal-ity in the restaurant business has been attracting attention around the world.

Launched five years ago, the Euro-pean nonprofit organization parabere Forum holds an annual conference that showcases women’s perspectives on industry-related topics ranging from entre-preneurship to sustainability.

in late august, Ros joined 22 top chefs — including noma’s Rene Redzepi, momo-fuku’s David Chang, and Little Bao’s may Chow — at an avant-garde culinary gath-ering called Gelinaz, which took place in Upper austria. The event was the first of its kind to feature equal numbers of male and female chefs.

however, awareness lags behind in japan, where women are largely absent in high-end kitchens. a japanese chef has yet to receive the title of san pellegrino asia’s Best Female Chef since the award was introduced in 2012.

“The industry seems to be more male-dominated in japan,” remarks Ros, who speculated that, in addition to the pressure to choose between family and career, the perfectionism that pervades japanese culture might hinder young women in restaurants.

“anyone with a career has to make com-promises between work and family, and women chefs need to accept this,” she says.

“You can’t be perfect, but you can be good.” (Melinda Joe)

Ana Ros on gender equality among chefs

A formidable pair: Luca Fantin (left) intoduces Ana Ros in Tokyo. melindA joe

Restaurant Do’s and Don’ts jeremy Wilgus

timeout | Food Food | timeout

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Damian Flanagan SPECIAL TO THE JAPAN TIMES

Early on in Natsume Soseki’s 1908 campus novel “Sanshiro” — one of the most important exposi-tions of the inter-connectedness of visual and literary art ever written — a young scientist,

Nonomiya, looks up at a long, thin, white cloud floating diagonally in the sky.

“Do you know what that is?” he asks the titular Sanshiro. “That’s all particles of snow. When you look at it down here, it’s not moving in the least. But up there, it’s moving with a velocity greater than that of a hurricane. Have you read Ruskin? ... It would be interesting to sketch this sky.”

When people think about the literature of modern Japan, they tend to think that most of its influences have been, well, liter-ary, whether native or foreign in origin. But in fact — as I would like to show in this four-part series tracing the story from the 19th century to the present — revolutions in painting and visual art have played a defining role in the creation of diverse and often unappreciated aspects of modern Japanese literature.

When Japan emerged from two centu-ries of seclusion to enter the modern world with the Meiji Restoration of 1868, it strug-gled to reform and standardize its lan-guage and create literary works that could realistically depict the world in the manner of the Western novel.

The difficulties were considerable — the Japanese language itself needed new grammar, such as standardized verb tenses, the merging of literary and collo-quial forms and even the creation of third-person pronouns. (The modern word for

“she” — kanojo — was not in common cur-rency until the Taisho Era (1912-26)).

Yet even as Japan was absorbing the influence of the Western novel, it was also undergoing a revolution in the visual arts.

When Futabatei Shimei wrote Japan’s first modern novel, “The Drifting Cloud,” in 1887-88, even the title corresponded to one of the revolutions in painting of the 19th century. The enormously influential art critic John Ruskin — partly in defense of the startling cloud-scape paintings of J. M. W. Turner — had argued in “Modern Paint-ers” (1843-60) that painters should free

themselves from convention and paint the exterior world with fresh vision, informed by scientific knowledge and insight.

One area to which Ruskin devoted par-ticular emphasis was the painting of clouds, which he analyzed at length, inspiring a new generation of mid-Victo-rian painters.

When Japan evolved new literary forms in the novel, poetry and on the stage from the mid-Meiji Era onward, it was not sim-ply a matter of reinventing ways of writing

— it was a revolution in the way people saw the world.

In painting, if you followed Ruskin’s advice, no longer would you render clouds in the tired, manneristic way that whole schools of painters had done before; now, you would actually observe the reality of clouds closely as they appeared before your eyes. And you would augment your own observation with up-to-date scientific understanding of what you could not physically see.

But, by extension, both literary and visual artists could apply this fresh vision and rational analysis not just to clouds but to every nebulous aspect of human society around them, right down to individuals.

In “The Drifting Cloud,” Futabatei dis-penses with the outlandish, didactic plots of Edo Period (1603-1868) fiction and con-centrates his vision on the interactions of just four characters, particularly the inte-rior world of his frustrated, socially alien-ated protagonist, Bunzo, a recently unemployed clerk.

This is a milieu completely different from anything that had been described in Japanese literature before. And it required a literary artist with fresh vision and pow-ers of analysis to get this modern, interior-ized world down on paper.

As Western painting (yōga) was being introduced to Japan by artists such as Antonio Fontanesi (1818-1882) at the Tech-

nical Fine Arts School in the late 1870s, and as Japan began to find its first native masters in the new medium such as Chu Asai (1856-1907) and Kuroda Seiki (1866-1924), new painterly ways of seeing began to transform Japanese literature.

Through Asai, the poet Masaoka Shiki (1867-1902) met a Western-style painter called Nakamura Fusetsu (1866-1943) who turned Shiki decisively in the direction of realism and the adoption of a literary style known as “sketching from life” (shasei). This allowed Shiki to bring a crisp new vision to haiku poetry, encouraging a direct description of the world around him rather than a rehashing of previous literary forms.

By the turn of the 20th century, “sketching from life” had become such a popular literary form that the editors of the literary magazine Hototogisu encouraged the submission of prose

essays in this liberating new style. What applied to revolutions in painting

should also apply to literature: that much seemed obvious. And late 19th-century European movements such as symbolism comfortably spanned the worlds of litera-ture and painting. In the case of Japan, these connections between literature and visual art were even more accentuated by the illustrative traditions of Japanese books, in which visual art and stories were often enmeshed.

Yet for all the synergy, were there not fundamental differences in the two ways of representing the world? That was a highly complex problem that would require some profound contemplation by Japan’s bright-est minds at the turn of the 20th century and lead — as I will discuss in this space in the first week of November — to the cre-ation of some of the greatest masterpieces of modern Japanese literature.

How the visual arts shaped Japan’s modern literature

“Sonic Peace,” which won the Chuya Nakahara Prize in 2006, is in the classic “artist-versus-modernity” vein. It rings with contemporary loneliness, solitary figures awake in the night and vending machines glowing in the gloom. Many of the voices are personified electronic devices, our phones and computers looking back at us from the

“electro-darkness.” The threat of surveillance, of being watched, pervades the work, which is rooted in the artificiality of modern Tokyo. As the voice in “March Road” says, even the horizon is counterfeit.

The book is split into three phases, and each poem is presented first in Japanese,

followed by the translation. Phase Two opens with “Coelacanth Weather,” whose first stanza could stand for the whole collection: “In an alley in Akihabara / there’s a shop where they

sell / words made of plastic.” We’re in Akihabara, home of the weird, of the electronic, where the blending of vital and virtual is celebrated, where nature and spirituality are absent. We’re down an alley, a tangent. Here, words are commodities to be traded

— and what trade done in an alley is ever wholesome?

Language, for Minashita, is problematic. She is interested in

naming, a process that demystifies the object or idea. The fascination for her lies in “what is lost in this conversion (from mystic to formal).” Language limits our imagination, trammels it in one direction. This paradox lies at the heart of “Sonic Peace”: How do you write poetry about the modern world when your means of expression are compromised? (Iain Maloney)

Recently published books about Japan

In “The Making of Urban Japan,” professor Andre Sorensen explains the genesis of modern Japanese cities, from bustling stations to intimate alleyways. Published in 2002, while he was a lecturer at the University of Tokyo, it remains the best introduction to Japanese urban planning in English.

Widespread urbanization began in the Edo Period (1603-1868) when castle towns became merchant centers. By the end of the 18th century, “Japan was one of the most highly urbanized countries,” and Tokyo was “probably the largest city in the world,” he writes.

After World War II, the pace of industrialization peaked. The responsibilities of national-level government planners increased

dramatically with the creation of expressways and the shinkansen. Sorensen argues that the

Tokaido Megalopolis, the “vast linear conurbation” connecting Tokyo and Osaka, motivated “virtually all subsequent planning efforts.”

In spite of globalization, Sorensen claims that “any superficial similarities” between Japanese and foreign cities “serve merely to disguise profound structural differences.” Topography, history and locally-led initiatives like machizukuri

(community-building programs) continue to shape Japanese urban space.

Japanese cities are now considered among world’s most livable, but Sorensen suggests that aging demographics, rural depopulation, and environmental challenges will keep the nation’s planners occupied for decades to come. (Don O’Keefe)

Read archived reviews of Japanese classics at http://jtimes.jp/essential.

NonfictionThe Making of Urban JapanAndre Sorensen404 pagesROUTLEDgE

Essential reading for Japanophiles

PoetrySonic PeaceKiriu Minashita (translated by Spencer

Thurlow and Eric Hyett)116 pagesPHONEME MEDIA

As Western painting was being introduced to Japan, new painterly ways of seeing began to transform Japanese literature.

Hazy gaze: The cloud-scape paintings of J.M.W. Turner, seen in this self-portrait circa 1799, played an indirect role in revolutionizing modern Japanese literature. Public Domain

見本 | OCtOBeR 00, 2017 | the japan times on sunday | 19

Sudoku http://kjell.haxx.se/sudokuUniversal Sunday Crossword: “Scramble mania” by Timothy E. Parker

7 Little Words

Complete the grid so that every row, column and 3x3 box contains a number from 1 to 9.

Solutions on page 20

— a window on the way it was, compiled by Elliott Samuels

100 YEARS AGO

Saturday, Oct. 6, 1917

Tokyo visited by the greatest typhoonA typhoon such as is rarely experienced in Tokyo at this time of year set in at about 1 a.m. on Monday and accompanied by heavy rain raged intermittently until dawn, causing considerable destruction and even deaths.

The number of deaths from the typhoon and floods alarmingly increases hour by hour. According to the Metropoli-tan Police, the death toll in Tokyo is announced of 466, of which Kasai and Sunamura villages account for 336. These two suburban villages suffered most heav-ily from the floods, and the havoc wrought there and the suffering of the flood-ridden villages and beyond imagination.

Todaijima, a small island off Urayasu-machi, Chiba Prefecture, was completely wiped out of existence by the sea, with all the islanders on it when the typhoon was at its height. It is reported that there were about 300 inhabitants on this little island, but not one of them has survived to tell the tale of the wholesale destruction. A relief party was dispatched to visit the island, but when it reached the scene it was greatly surprised to find nothing where it had once been.

Meanwhile, it is reported that the coast of Kambe Village, Boshu, Chiba Prefec-ture, was invaded by the high seas and rice fields near the shore were swamped. On Monday, some farmers discovered, to their great surprise, five whales disporting themselves in the rice field under water and caught them all. Each whale is reported to measure over 20 feet in length.

The typhoon is the worst storm to hit Tokyo Bay in the past 100 years.

75 YEARS AGO

Tuesday, Oct. 20, 1942

Crew of U.S. bombers severely punishedCaptured members of the crews of the American warplanes that raided the main-land of Japan on April 18 who ignored the principles of humanity by bombing schools and hospitals and killing non-combatants have been severely punished in accordance with military law, accord-ing to a statement issued by the Chief of the Army Press Section of the Imperial Headquarters on Monday.

The punishment was meted out as a result of the investigation of the captured enemy airmen, the statement said.

Issued the same day was a proclama-tion by the commander of the General Headquarters for Home Defense to the effect that crews of any enemy aircraft raiding Japan, Manchouko or areas of Japanese military operations committing inhuman acts will be punishable even with death.

During the investigations, it has been revealed that they stated that it was a proper act for them to deliberately bomb or burn hospitals, schools, civilian homes, etc that are not military establishments.

They killed noncombatants even after clearly recognizing an objective as a pri-mary school and seeing many children at play in the school grounds with the sud-den thought of, “Let’s give the Japs hell,” diving and machine gunning deliberately and indiscriminately. On the grounds that the Japanese cannot tolerate such a cruel and depraved mentality nor such a cow-ardly and outrageous action, the army has, therefore, in accordance with military law, severely dealt with these Americans who have perpetrated such an outrage against humanity.

50 YEARS AGO

Monday, Oct. 2, 1967

Ginza sees first and last Japan Times ‘tram tour’Perhaps the most curious sight on the Ginza Sunday was a caravan of five street cars full of assorted gaijin, sprinkled with a very few English-speaking Japanese.

The occasion, of course, was The Japan Times’ first and last annual Ginza Streetcar Tour — the first, because nobody thought of it before, and the last because the Ginza streetcars are due to disappear by the end of the year. One hundred and ten passen-gers, mostly Caucasian and ranging in hair color from strawberry blond to billiard bald, joined the tour, which began at Shi-nagawa Station and ended at Hyakkaen Garden near the Sumida River.

Unfortunately, a light drizzle prevented the complete exploration of Hyakkean Gardens, where a closing party was held, but few seemed to care as they cozily hud-dled in the garden’s shelters, enjoying their free beer and peanuts and taking in the scenery, which included the international array of passengers themselves: Germans and Filipinos speaking English; Americans and Europeans speaking Japanese; and a healthy number of charming young ladies.

25 YEARS AGO

Saturday, Oct. 10, 1992

Rush hour may be making ‘salarymen’ fitWeaving in and out of rush hour throngs to keep pace with a break-neck work schedule has helped Japanese men grow stronger and more agile over the past decade, researchers suggested Friday.

Surprisingly, Japanese fathers, much-aligned as weekend couch potatoes, actu-ally registered better scores in a battery of five strength and agility tests than their counterparts 10 years ago.

Led by Tsukuba University professor Yoshiyuki Matsuura, researchers suggested that one cause for the improvement was a reduction in work hours and introduction of two-day weekends in some companies, allowing office workers time to recover physically. The team also suggested that the stress-laden life of the “salaryman” has led to physically stronger specimens.

Men in all age groups living in metropol-itan areas scored better that those in the countryside in a timed side-to-side jump-ing test, which researchers said approxi-mated the office workers’ efforts to avoid colliding with people during rush hour.

Men aged 30-59 registered their best average time since 1974 in the zigzag bas-ketball dribble test and about a second better than the average 10 years ago.

In the side-to-side jumping test for agil-ity, the men in each group, with the exception of the 45- to 49-year-olds, man-aged an average of two to four more jumps during the 20-second test period than their counterparts in 1974.

In this feature, we delve into The Japan Times’ 120-year archive to present a selection of stories from the past. The Japan Times’ archive is now available to purchase in digi-tal format. For more details, see jtimes.jp/de.

The Japan Times Archives Preview http://ipm-archives.japantimes.co.jp/dpscripts/DpDetail.dll?DpD...

1 of 1 2017/09/14, 11:02

Across1 Be a substitute8 Be a loud obnoxious actor13 Zippy Italian sports cars, briefly18 First lights19 “Along came a ___, and sat ...”20 Opposite of fancy22 De-lump ahead of time, as flour23 Safety devices that holds “me credit notes”25 Sound a weasel makes?26 Simple crane device28 Trapper John’s show29 They contain several wks.30 Epic poetry form32 Spirits and bodies go-with33 Any two of a kind35 Happening now as opposed to recorded36 Office fillers38 Old-school “well, I’ll be”39 Delivery establishments that hold

“cope sos tiff”42 Encircled in a military maneuver44 Like testimony that leads to trouble45 CD-___46 Half guy, half fish47 ___-Davis of pharmaceutical stuff48 Instrument associated with Scotland52 One way to see if something works53 Some very noisy birds that holds “ask coco to”55 Takeaway game with matches56 “What ___ can I say?”57 Legendary actor Lancaster58 100 square meters59 Straddling60 Spread-on hair removal brand61 Computer storage units62 Less decent64 Thing often paid on the first of the month65 One of Eve’s grandsons66 Homophone of air rarely used today

67 Does more than exaggerates68 Cookie that may be stacked69 No. 50 in the 103-Across70 Old-style “formally rejects” that holds “safer rows”74 One making cuts at the home branch?76 Time in court79 Male horse and female donkey offspring80 Salad type81 Make an inaccurate decision82 Barrier or boom type83 Body-shaping garment84 Lacking sugar that holds “teens we dune”88 Solo in a film series89 game show prizes, sometimes92 Piles of fabric?93 Rousing cheers around a bullring94 gas station stores96 Something you can do in Excel97 “___ my brother’s keeper?”98 Reactor part100 They receive 93-Across102 Scot’s negative reply103 Classroom chart that contains “poetic lair bed”107 Bring to life in celluloid109 Outlined110 Sums111 Was a nitpicker112 Vehicles that don’t go uphill113 Supposed tea-leaf readers114 Some Wall Street workers

Down1 Performed like Kendrick Lamar2 Land on one side of the Urals3 Opinions formed beforehand that hold “snips sos repose”4 ___ Altos, Calif.5 Like dusty, dry land6 Small informal eateries7 Certain female hormone8 Long, spectacular films9 Coat that signifies wealth10 Poem form11 Williams the slugger12 Recluse that keeps the faith?13 Pub draft choices14 Scottish lake15 ___ Tuesday (Mardi gras)16 Type of energy17 ___ Tuesday (Ash Wednesday preceder)19 Photographer’s suggestion21 Features of Mississippi

24 Tropical starchy root27 Lamented and regretted31 Issue avoiders33 Bohemian dance34 Valuable thing on a ledger35 Walk as if lame37 Interstate rumbler39 Stop driving40 Brendan of mummy films41 Stereotypical weather feature of London43 gangster’s pistol in slang44 Undeniable truths46 “Working girl” star griffith47 Tiny skin hole48 Lazy lecturers49 Revolutionary socialist anthem that holds “Annie lie rot ant”50 Original settler51 Caveat ___ (buyer beware)52 Credos and other such beliefs53 More like a baby or puppy54 Heavenly places in deserts57 Lord of literature and poetry59 Alarm clocks and roosters61 The caption next to “After”62 Highest Alp63 Light and open to a breeze71 Did the light thing?72 Offerings in fine restaurants73 Camelot lady74 good thing to break on a golf course75 Stop working or playing77 Does darn good?78 State of infuriation80 Written agreement between two or more parties82 Chooses83 TLC word84 Not fitting85 New parents and finger-pointers86 Feature of a well-thrown football87 Spelling of “Beverly Hills 90210”88 Fast, long-eared bounders90 One involved in idle chatter91 Mighty horses94 gals of mob goons95 Submarine detector98 Like some dorms99 Things bookies set100 Way to the top of a snowy hill101 The Destroyer, in Hinduism104 Type of therapy for a sore knee105 Small digit106 Did some snacking108 Prefix for night or week

9 5 1

5 7 9 8 4 3

6

1 2

4 7

7 9

4 3

6 3

9 2 1 5

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Baseball—Giants vs. Tigers, Tokyo Dome, 2 p.m., Swallows vs. Dragons, Jingu, 6 p.m., BayStars vs. Carp, Yokohama, 2 p.m., Fighters vs. Lions, Sapporo Dome. 2 p.m., Eagles vs. Marines, Kobo Park, 2 p.m., Buffaloes vs. Hawks, Kyocera Dome, 2 p.m.

Basketball —B. League first division, Grouses vs. Levanga, Toyama, 1:05 p.m., Albirex BB vs. Susanoo Magic, Niigata, 2:05 p.m., Hannaryz vs. NeoPhoenix, Kyoto, 2:05 p.m., Evessa vs. Alvark, Osaka, 2:05 p.m.,

Storks vs. Jets, Nishinomiya, Hyogo Pref., 3:05 p.m.

Rugby—Top League, Spears vs. Verblitz, Ijimino Park Athletic Sports Field, 1 p.m., Sungoliath vs. Red Hurricanes, Yamanashi Chuo Bank, 1 p.m., Shining Arcs vs. Wild Knights, Miyagi, 1 p.m., Sanix Blues vs. Liners, Global Arena, 1 p.m.

Soccer—J. League first division, Vegalta vs. Reds, Yurtec, 2 p.m.

Sunday’s sports

B. League

Ed OdevenUtsunomiya Tochigi Pref.STAFF WRITER

The Kenji Hasegawa era began with his successful debut at the helm on Friday night.

The new Tochigi Brex head coach steered his team to a sea-son-opening 78-64 triumph over the visiting SeaHorses Mikawa.

Tochigi delivered a high-energy performance in its convincing win. The club’s players were effi-cient in executing the overall offensive and defensive tactics, and they seized momentum in the second quarter and held on to it.

In short, the defending cham-pion Brex picked up where they left off in May under ex-bench boss Tom Wisman — that is, with a vic-tory in their first real game since the league’s inaugural playoff finale at Yoyogi National Gymnasium.

In an on-court interview after the game before the crowd filed out of the jam-packed gym, Hasegawa commended his players for their spirited effort. He cited defen-sive energy and strong defensive rebounding as keys to victory.

Speaking in the press room later, Hasegawa said he wants defense to be a trademark of his team.

Star guard Yuta Tabuse summed up the victory by saying it was a “good feeling.”

Tochigi was firmly in control in the fourth quarter with a 68-49 lead with about 7½ to go minutes at cozy Brex Arena Utsunomiya before an announced crowd of 4,012.

The Brex lead stretched to 21 points after a pair of Cedric Boze-man free throws, the UCLA alum sinking both with 7:16 to play.

Even with a large cushion,

Tochigi, which led by as many as 22 points down the stretch, did not let up before the final buzzer.

Ryan Rossiter commented on the team’s intensity by noting he tried to encourage the team’s backups in a timeout to continue to play hard.

“Just trying to think of the big picture,” Rossiter said. “We’re try-ing to get better every game.”

Responding to a question about if other B1 teams may be overlooking Tochigi, Rossiter said: “(Regardless of what) any team thinks of us, it’s not going to change how we play. We’re going to play hard every game.”

That was the defining trait of the Brex’s season opener. Tochigi won the battle on the boards 48-34, including 22-7 on the offensive glass.

Mikawa head coach Kimikazu Suzuki said his club’s inadequate rebounding in the second and third quarters triggered the Brex’s second-chance opportunities, which they dominated (14-3 in total points).

In addition, the SeaHorses’ offense was not up to par, said Suzuki.

He quickly turned the page, look-ing ahead to Saturday’s rematch.

“We have another chance and we need to play better,” Suzuki said.

Rossiter and newcomer Bozeman paced the Brex with 15 points apiece. Rossiter hauled in a game-high 12 rebounds and shared the team lead in assists (four) with Tabuse. Shu-suke Ikuhara poured in 14 points on 6-for-9 shooting, converting 2 of 3 3-pointers on the night. Yusuke Endo and Kyle Richardson, another newcomer, both had eight points. Tabuse finished with five points.

Longtime SeaHorses leader J.R. Sakuragi had 12 points, eight rebounds and four assists. Daniel Orton added nine points with five turnovers.

Brex top SeaHorses in opener

The SeaHorses’ Ryoma Hashimoto (left) makes a pass while being defended by Brex guard Yuta Tabuse during the first quarter on Friday at Brex Arena Utsunomiya. KYODO

Phillies manager Pete Mackanin is out of a job after 2½ seasons at the helm, but will remain as a special assistant to the general manager. AP

Southern California QB Sam Darnold breaks away from Washington State’s Frankie Luvu in the first half on Friday night. USA TODAY / VIA REUTERS

Phil Mickelson hits his tee shot on the fifth hole during his four-ball match at the Presidents Cup on Friday. AP

MLB

PhiladelphiaAP

Pete Mackanin got a contract extension when the Philadelphia Phillies were scuffling and lost his job after they turned it around.

Mackanin is out as manager after 2½ seasons but will remain in the dugout for the final three games this weekend and return as a special assistant to general manager Matt Klentak in 2018.

“I’m disappointed, surely,” Mackanin said Friday. “But I under-stand it and I’m happy to be part of it down the road. I believe in Matt Klentak and I believe in what he’s doing and the fact that he wants me to continue in this (new) capacity is the most important thing.”

The Phillies are 65-95 this sea-son, last in the NL East and with the second-worst record in the

league. Philadelphia has not been to the postseason since 2011.

The 66-year-old Mackanin suc-ceeded Hall of Famer Ryne Sand-berg on June 26, 2015. His record with Philadelphia is 173-237.

“Pete is a trusted ally, a part-ner in this rebuild and a friend,” Klentak said. “I’m very happy he’s agreed to stay with us. I trust Pete and his opinion. I want to make sure that when we spill cham-pagne over each other’s head that

Pete is proudly wearing the P.”Mackanin received a contract

extension through next season on May 11 after the Phillies had lost nine of 11 games. They went 4-16 in 20 games afterward.

But Philadelphia has improved since the All-Star break, going 36-37. That wasn’t enough to secure Mackanin’s return. Klen-tak said members of the coaching staff will be determined by the new manager.

Phillies dismiss Mackanin

College Football

Washington State 30 S. California 27

Pullman WashingtonAP

Luke Falk threw for 340 yards and two touchdowns, Erik Powell kicked a 32-yard field goal with 1:40 left and No. 16 Washington State beat No. 5 Southern Califor-nia 30-27 on Friday night.

With the national stage to themselves, the Cougars proved they are ready to contend for the Pac-12 title, pulling off their first

regular-season win over a top-five opponent in 25 years. Washington State (5-0, 2-0) had lost 15 consec-utive home games against ranked opponents.

“It’s exciting. I’ll enjoy it tonight. I’ll probably enjoy it a little in the offseason,” Washing-ton State coach Mike Leach said.

Falk was excellent against Southern California’s pressure most of the time, but it was a key 35-yard run from Jamal Morrow that set up Powell’s winning field goal.

USC star Sam Darnold strug-gled through a miserable night. Darnold was 15-of-29 passing for 164 yards and an intercep-

tion. Darnold has thrown eight interceptions in five games after throwing nine interceptions all of last season.

Darnold did run for a pair of touchdowns, including a 2-yarder with 5:01 remaining that tied it 27-27. But he couldn’t pull off a final rally, fumbling when he was sacked deep in Washington State territory with 1:27 left. Falk took two kneel downs and the party erupted on the turf of Martin Stadium.

“I think it’s just a stepping stone. We expect to win games like this,” Falk said.

Falk finished 34-of-51 passing, while Morrow added 91 yards rushing on six carries.

Cougars trip up Trojans

Golf

Jersey City New JerseyAP

Phil Mickelson and Kevin Kisner rehearsed the dance from “Three Amigos.” The only question was whether to use it at the Presidents Cup, and as the veteran of 23 team events, Mickelson concluded it would need to be a big moment.

Their match was all square on the 18th hole Friday. Mickelson was 12 feet away for birdie. A vic-tory would give the Americans a record lead.

“If this putt goes in,” Mickelson said he told his rookie partner, “we’re going to dance.”

This turned out to be one big dance party for an American team that has gone nearly two decades without losing. They hammered the International teams on the back nine to go unbeaten in four-balls and build an 8-2 lead, the largest margin after two sessions since the Presidents Cup began in 1994.

Mickelson had his 24th match victory to tie the Presidents Cup record held by Tiger Woods, and he set a record with his 10th vic-tory in four-balls.

As for that dance ?It looked a little awkward,

though Mickelson did slightly bet-ter than when he cropped most of his face out of a selfie he took dur-ing the opening ceremony with the last three U.S. presidents.

“I’m clearly the worst selfie taker. I’m the worst ‘Three Ami-gos’ dancer,” Mickelson said. “But I can putt.”

So can his teammates, who have

followed the script set out by U.S. captain Steve Stricker to win every session. They won handily in the other three matches. The other match was a halve, but even in that one, Hideki Matsuyama and Adam Hadwin had a 2-up lead with four holes to play until Jor-dan Spieth and Patrick Reed ral-lied. The Americans nearly won

that one, too, except that Spieth narrowly missed birdie putts on the last two holes.

“Our guys stepped up again,” Stricker said. “They have a knack for doing that. To finish like that is huge for us going into tomorrow.”

Mathematically, the Interna-tional team could be done Satur-day, the first day of a double session

— four matches of foursomes in the morning, following by four matches of four-balls in the after-noon. The Americans are 7½ points away from clinching the cup.

“I think we saw the strength of the U.S. team come out today,” Price said.

He also saw his team play its worst golf on the back nine at Liberty National. The Americans won 13 holes on the back nine. The Internationals won three.

Price was not about to give up, hopeful of gaining some momentum in the morning and riding it into the afternoon ahead of the 12 singles matches on the final day.

“We’re only 10 points through 30. There’s 20 points left,” Price said. “We are not laying down. These guys are going to come out fighting over the next two days, and especially tomorrow.”

Justin Thomas, already with a big year behind him as a major champion and the FedEx Cup champion, teamed with Rickie Fowler for another easy victory. They have trailed only one hole in their two matches, and they became the first partnership to beat Louis Oosthuizen and Branden Grace.

They took the lead for good when Fowler made a 15-foot birdie putt on the third hole.

Americans lead Presidents Cup

Vonn wants to race in men’s downhill

Skiing

GenevaAP — Lindsey Vonn’s request to race against men in a World Cup downhill will be studied again by the International Ski Federa-tion (FIS) next week.

The United States team will make the formal proposal at pre-season meetings hosted by FIS in Zurich, the governing body announced earlier this week.

The revived plan is expected to involve a race at Lake Louise, Alberta, in the 2018-19 season.

In 2012, FIS rejected a previ-ous request on behalf of Alpine skiing great Vonn because its rules bar mixed gender races.

“Further details are still unknown, but this is certainly an

anticipated topic that divides the FIS officials,” the governing body said on Wednesday.

Vonn, who turns 33 next month, has a long-standing ambition to race competitively against men before she retires.

Of her record 39 World Cup downhill wins, 14 have been at Lake Louise where the men typically race in late November, one week before the women.

“All the men say, ‘We don’t think she’s going to beat us,’ which is what they’re going to say, and also that, ‘It will be great for our sport,’ ” Vonn told The Associated Press in April.

“So, what’s the harm?”The subject will go first to

meetings of the FIS Alpine skiing executive board that start next Tuesday, and could be resolved by a broader Alpine committee which meets on Oct. 6.

Man City’s Aguero breaks rib in crash

Soccer

Manchester England AP — Manchester City striker Sergio Aguero confirmed he broke a rib after being involved in a car accident in the Nether-lands two days before his team’s biggest Premier League game of the season so far.

Aguero attended a concert in Amsterdam on Thursday evening and was on his way to the airport for a private flight back to Man-chester when the taxi he was trav-eling in crashed into a lamp post.

The Argentina international spent the night in the hospital before returning to Manchester on Friday. He was not available for the match against Chelsea in the Premier League on Saturday.

Sports roundup

Iwakuma has shoulder surgery

MLB

Seattle AP — Seattle Mariners right-hander Hisashi Iwakuma has undergone right shoulder sur-gery that will keep him from throwing for about five months.

The Mariners announced Iwa-kuma’s surgery on Friday. The shoulder debridement was done on Wednesday in Dallas by Dr. Keith Meister. He could resume throwing in late February or early March.

Iwakuma had a contract option for the 2018 season, but needed to pitch a specific amount of innings for the contract to vest. His injury ended that chance and he is expected to be a free agent after the season.

World Series honor bestowed on Mays

MLB

New YorkAP — Major League Baseball has named its World Series Most Valuable Player award after Wil-lie Mays, who’s now 86.

The decision was announced Friday, the 63rd anniversary of Mays’ back-to-the-plate catch in deep center field at the Polo Grounds for the New York Giants against Cleveland’s Vic Wertz in the World Series opener. The Giants went on to sweep the Indians.

The Series MVP award began the following year, when it was won by Brooklyn Dodgers pitcher Johnny Podres.

Mays played in 24 All-Star Games during a 22-year career.

sports | | sports

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