Rose Sawako Tani of Lombard, Illinois — the mother of NASA astronaut Daniel Tani — died in a traffic accident on Wednesday, Dec. 19, 2007. She was 90.

In what is being called a first for NASA, she passed away while her son was orbiting some 200 miles above the earth in the International Space Station.

The 41st Annual Northern California Cherry Blossom Festival invites the public to participate in the Festival's Poster Contest.

The winning entry will earn a $500 grand prize, and the artist's design will be used in posters, souvenir T-shirts and commemorative booklet covers to help promote Northern California's largest Japanese American community festival. The design should emphasize the Northern California Cherry Blossom Festival's 41^th Anniversary, and reflect the theme of "Kansha" (appreciation).

By TADASHI MINOGUCHI
Kyodo News

NEW YORK — After about a year from its debut, the popularity of Nintendo Co.'s Wii game consoles shows no signs of waning, but rather, it seems to be heating up in the United States, the world's largest game console market.

Bay City News Service

Police in several East Bay cities said Dec. 19 that they are working together to try to catch two armed robbery suspects that police believe are mainly targeting Asian restaurants.

"Commentary"
By ALEC YOSHIO MacDONALD
Nichi Bei Times

Last week, as the Nichi Bei Times editorial staff was approaching deadline for the Dec. 20 issue, we found ourselves momentarily caught up in discussion about one of our cover articles. Spurred on by this brief chat, I thought I might continue the conversation here in an op-ed, as I think the article in question warrants a second look.

photos courtesy of Vicky Mihara Avery

Vicky Mihara Avery of SF J-Town's Paper Tree shows wrapping skills to national audience

By KATHY AOKI
Nichi Bei Times

Although she did not win the $10,000 prize and the coveted title of "Scotch Brand Most Gifted Wrapper" in Scotch Brand's 11^th annual contest on Nov. 30, Vicky Mihara Avery says this is an experience she will cherish.

By BEN HAMAMOTO
Nichi Bei Times

I have numerous beefs with film criticism, and "best film" rankings embody several of them. The idea that art can be ranked by number is kind of absurd and perhaps even insulting to the work it is supposedly lauding. Giving a personal opinion on what was good or bad about a film is one thing, but assigning it a number is sort of like saying "apples are my number three fruit, oranges are number 5, and bananas came in at 2." It's completely ridiculous and it's no way to examine art.

That said, here is my list:

By MAKOTO ITO
Kyodo News

TOKYO (Kyodo) — After a 20-year wait, Asia is ready to host the Olympic Games again, as China takes its turn to stage international sport's biggest extravaganza.

China is greeting the New Year confident it can show the world it has grown as a dynamic sports power in parallel with its meteoric economic growth -- just as Japan did in 1964 and South Korea in 1988.

courtesy foxsports.net

LOS ANGELES (Kyodo) — The Philadelphia Phillies announced Dec. 23 the major league club has signed a one-year contract with Japanese outfielder So Taguchi.

According to sources close to the deal, Taguchi will make $900,000 plus incentives in 2008 while the Phillies have a club option for 2009.

photos courtesy of National Nuclear Security Administration/Nevada Site Office

by THE KAERU KID

A-Blast (nuclear weapons testing) was started out in the desert at the Las Vegas Test Site on Jan. 27, 1951 and ended in the fall of 1992 when a moratorium on all explosive nuclear testing by the United States began. A total of 928 tests were conducted during that time, 100 of them above ground.