I had never seen a 'kubariya,' but I knew they existed. For me the kubariya was an unidentified mysterious animal (UMA) in which I fervidly believed, just as some Japanese believe in the existence of the 'kappa,' a mischievous water sprite with a saucerlike object on its head. It was perhaps 10 years ago...

The nurse filling out the prescription said that they would give our daughter Tamiflu. We were concerned at hearing that, since we'd heard the media reports about the drug and didn't want to take any chances. But the nurse told us that the alternative drug was "sold out" because everyone was looking to switch from Tamiflu. So it was either the Roche drug...

Terrie LloydBy Terrie Lloyd
On February 26, 2007, the Nikkei 225 Stock Average hit an 81-month high of 18,215.35 points, the highest close since May 2, 2000. While it could be that this is just another temporary year-end closing blip for the market, by companies bundling their profits into the final quarter, most analysts are saying that it is more likely a milestone on the way to the Nikkei hitting 20,000 later this year. The reasoning behind this is that due to the low yen, exporters are making some quite massive local profits, and these will be reflected in the stock prices moving forward.