Tokyo

Johannesburg, South Africa -- In December, leaders of South Africa's ruling African National Congress will pick a successor to Thabo Mbeki, the party's current president. The election will have huge implications. In South Africa the dominant political party chooses the nation's president, and the ANC has 70 percent of the seats in Parliament. The party's next leader will almost certainly lead the nation. Another reason it will be huge is that the party is sharply divided over how best to lift millions of blacks out of poverty, 13 years after the end of the racist apartheid system.

TOKYO -- I almost packed a fishing rod. But the thought of making the local newspapers for illegally taking carp from the Imperial Ponds gave me pause. It's tough to recall what day it is here at the World Figure Skating Championships, where Bel Air's Kimmie Meissner was defending her title. If you want to try something different, try keeping skaters and stripers straight. Can't wait to get back and do some fishing. Right now, the only fish I'm seeing is sushi, and that's nothing but fancy bait.

The cherry blossoms are proclaiming the end of winter at Shinjuku Gyoen, a huge swath of green not far from the municipal gymnasium, the site of the World Figure Skating Championships. Hundreds of lunchtime strollers, fresh off Wednesday's national equinox holiday, filled the paths to look at more than 1,500 trees that decorate the gardens and with other flowering trees fill the air with a delicate fragrance. It costs 200 yen, about $2, to join the celebration. The respite is priceless.

Is this a great country, or what? Imagine Cocoa Puffs sharing the same breakfast buffet with grilled salmon. Cinnamon buns and steamed broccoli. Sausage links and bacon glistening with fat and smoked trout. Why, in less than a half-hour of cruising the Hotel JALCity lineup, it's easy to be both slothful and virtuous while trying American and Japanese cuisine. One can only imagine what the chef looks like. I imagine a daffy cross-breeding of John Belushi's irresponsible Bluto Blutarsky and the no-nonsense woman from my junior high school cooking class.

TOKYO -- It can take Kimmie Meissner nearly a half-hour to walk the two blocks from the Meiji Jingo practice rink to the main venue at the municipal gymnasium. Girls holding World Figure Skating Championships programs squeal, "Kimmie, Kimmie, please stop." World Figure Skating Championships Through Sunday, Tokyo TV today: Women's short program, 7:30 p.m., ESPN (tape) Meissner's short program Meissner's short program components, skated to "Snow Storm," by Georgy Sviridov Choreographer: Nikolai Morozov Personal best score: 60.17 at 2006 world championships Triple lutz-triple toe loop combination Triple flip Layback spin Spiral sequence Double axel Flying sit spin Straight line step sequence Combination spin with foot change

TOKYO -- The man whose voice has been the soundtrack of figure skating for decades stood in a dank hallway beneath the stands at the U.S. championships two months ago and acknowledged that his long broadcasting career was on thin ice. Dick Button, a two-time Olympic gold medalist and television analyst, said his network contract was nearing an end, with no renewal in sight. ESPN, which is in the final year of a four-year contract, has not been in any hurry to fork over millions for a new deal, and therefore in no rush to re-sign Button, 77, or his broadcast partner Peggy Fleming, 58. Figure Skating worlds Through Sunday, Tokyo TV today: Men's short program, 7:30 p.m., ESPN (tape)

When it comes to candlepower, Times Square and "Neon" Deion Sanders have nothing on Shinjuku Station, which seems to be the center of the universe no matter what the hour. Bright tubes of colored light, proclaiming a destination or a product, pierce the night sky at this transportation and commercial hub and make darkness disappear. Business people, shoppers and tourists all hustle under the rainbow of advertising, a light so bright that they barely cast a shadow. Sunglasses would not be out of place, and coming off a 14-hour flight, are the only line of defense.

TOKYO -- Another quarter of record profits and sales released by the Toyota Motor Corp. yesterday painted a picture of a company whose forward momentum is pushing it into a virtuous cycle of sorts, allowing the auto company to stay on a roll, analysts said. Toyota said that its net income rose 7.3 percent in its fiscal third quarter that ended Dec. 31 to a record 426.8 billion yen, or $3.54 billion, from 397.5 billion yen in the comparable quarter of 2005. The automaker said its revenue rose 15.2 percent to 6.15 trillion yen, another record.

TOKYO -- Hoya Corp., Japan's largest optical glass maker, agreed to buy camera maker Pentax Corp. for 90.6 billion yen ($765 million) to add endoscopes and surgical scissors. Hoya will pay 0.158 of stock, or 709.42 yen, for each Pentax share, the companies said yesterday. The offer is 10.5 percent higher than yesterday's closing stock price. Medical equipment sales at Pentax grew 23 percent in the year that ended March 31 as the company cut its reliance on single-lens reflex cameras because of increased digital competition from Canon Inc. and Sony Corp.

TOKYO -- For those who view Japan's swelling nationalism through suspicious eyes, there is plenty of evidence that the country is straining at its pacifist shackles. New Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has vowed to rewrite Japan's war-renouncing constitution. He yearns for a robust role in world affairs and has even mused about the possibility of a pre-emptive military strike against North Korean missile sites. Abe's talk of a "new Japan" also includes a plan to inculcate patriotism in schools and put an end to teaching what he calls a "masochistic" version of Japanese history.