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Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Nov 19, 2010

Van Gogh: Sanity behind madness

In recent years there has been a sea change in the official cult surrounding the Post-Impressionist Dutch painter Vincent van Gogh (1853-1890). For the masses he is still the archetypal "crazy artist": razor blade in one hand, severed ear in the other, and a lovely picture of sunflowers on the easel...
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Nov 19, 2010

Mix and mingle in Fukuoka

Now Lounge, a dance party in Fukuoka, hopes to bring together the area's internationally minded people.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Nov 19, 2010

Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs

When it comes to recognizing the latest trends and artists causing a stir abroad, the Japanese club scene sometimes seems to suffer from perennial jet lag.
CULTURE / Film
Nov 19, 2010

'Yukizuri no Machi (Strangers in the City)'

Japanese films targeted at adult men, particularly those made by Toei, often have a dark, heavy, turbulent quality. Japanese has a wonderful, hard-to-translate word for it — dorodoro. Think of slogging across a muddy field at 3 a.m. in the driving rain; or being a middle-aged guy with a troubled past,...
CULTURE / Music
Nov 19, 2010

Envy take 'Recitation' out on the road again

Tokyo-based Envy issued their fifth full-length album, "Recitation," in September. To celebrate its release, the quintet embarked on their first North American tour in four years. On this, their longest international trek, the postrock and hardcore hybrid act played 25 shows in the span of a month. ...
CULTURE / Music
Nov 19, 2010

Ash

Proving they're far from burned out, indie rockers Ash return to Japan next week to promote the release of "A-Z Vol. 2," the culmination of an ambitious project that saw the band releasing a single every fortnight via digital download.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle
Nov 18, 2010

Worlds of Flavor conference adds Japan to its menu

Japan's ailing economy may lack the impact it once had on global finance, but there's one area of influence where the country's significance is on the rise: the world of gastronomy. Earlier this month, a team of 39 top-tier Japanese chefs wowed an international audience with dazzling displays of technique...
COMMENTARY
Nov 17, 2010

Unrepentant Bush still backs use of torture

In his recently published memoirs called "Decision Points," and in interviews publicizing those memoirs, former U.S. President George W. Bush makes it clear his stand on what many consider a basic human rights violation: the use of waterboarding as a torture technique. With characteristic insouciance,...
BUSINESS
Nov 17, 2010

Ichigo to boost assets for Tokyo land funds

Ichigo Group Holdings Co. aims to boost assets to at least ¥300 billion by February for funds that will invest in Tokyo office buildings.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 16, 2010

Consumers should demand diamond clarity

PRINCETON, New Jersey — Diamonds have an image of purity and light. They are given as a pledge of love and worn as a symbol of commitment. Yet diamonds have led to gruesome murders, rapes and amputations.
Japan Times
Events / WHERE IT'S AT
Nov 16, 2010

Minato foreigners' language needs met

Minato International Association, which arranges activities and programs mainly for foreign residents in Minato Ward, Tokyo, offers a unique program in which Japanese volunteers give foreigners individual Japanese conversation lessons.
JAPAN
Nov 16, 2010

LDP slams ruling bloc over leak

The Liberal Democratic Party on Monday submitted no-confidence motions in the Diet against two Cabinet ministers, holding them to blame for the leak of a sensitive video of collisions involving a Chinese trawler and two Japan Coast Guard cutters in September off the Senkaku Islands.
COMMUNITY / Voices / HAVE YOUR SAY
Nov 16, 2010

The final word on JET, for now

Arudou misses the mark Debito Arudou's recent article on the JET (Japan Exchange and Teaching) Programme (Just Be Cause, Sept. 7) and many of the responses which followed (Have Your Say, Oct. 12):
BUSINESS / ASEAN JOURNALIST SYMPOSIUM
Nov 16, 2010

Japan urged to cope with changing landscape in Asia

Japan needs to come to terms with its declining influence in Asia and readjust its strategy toward Southeast Asia, where its once-dominant position has been replaced by rising China, veteran journalists from the region said at a recent symposium in Tokyo.
JAPAN
Nov 14, 2010

APEC leaders in free-trade push

YOKOHAMA — Leaders from the 21 Pacific Rim economies kicked off a two-day meeting here Saturday to push free trade as a precursor to regional economic integration sometime in the next decade.
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Nov 14, 2010

Mind who you call a 'birdbrain'

Eiichi Izawa of Keio University in Tokyo calls them "feathered primates." In Japanese folklore they are the origin of the forest demons known as karasu tengu. Scientists classify them as Corvus macrorhynchos.
JAPAN / Media
Nov 14, 2010

Documenting the art world's original odd couple

"No! You do it!" yells Dorothy across a small New York apartment to her husband, Herb. Megumi Sasaki, a Japanese film director, has just asked to take a peek at a priceless artwork from the 1960s that is covered in blankets.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 14, 2010

Obama appears to punch India's buttons

LONDON — Barack Obama's visit to India last week ended on a high note. After downplaying expectations for some months now, the U.S. president made all the right noises in his address to the Indian Parliament.
COMMUNITY
Nov 13, 2010

Dream becomes reality for Scottish manga creator

It sits in a place of beauty, incongruously bordered between Japanese stone art and a vivid blue ink painting: "2000 A.D.," a classic British comic book from the 1980s. The apocalypse orange cover shrieks "Revenge of the Warlock" but — muted by a plastic overlay to protect its condition — the sci-fi...
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Nov 13, 2010

Getting around the soul of Japan

I go to Kyoto once a year. I get lost in Kyoto once a year. Kyoto makes no sense to me. I'm more of a Tokyo girl. Give me a handful of subway lines and trains to navigate and I'm fine. Give me just two and I'm lost.
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Nov 12, 2010

JILA to make debut in Osaka

This November, the Japan International League of Artists (JILA) will be raising the curtain for the first time in Osaka.
CULTURE / Music
Nov 12, 2010

Indie breakout, 'kimchibilly' rockers bring Seoul to Japan

While K-pop continues to gain greater recognition worldwide, South Korea's prolific, small underground-music scene is still struggling to find audiences outside of Seoul.
BUSINESS
Nov 12, 2010

Address trade barriers involving key markets soon, Keidanren says

Japan should start early talks with the United States, European Union, China and South Korea on abolishing trade barriers so it doesn't put itself at a competitive disadvantage, the head of a panel at the Japan Business Federation (Nippon Keidanren) said.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Nov 12, 2010

Ephemeral beauty in the lives of Edo women

The Ota Memorial Museum of Art, Tokyo, is currently hosting an exhibition of Edo Period (1603-1867) ukiyo-e woodblock prints from the Museum for Art and Craft Hamburg, Germany. The museum houses one of the finest ukiyo-e collections in Europe, and has lent 237 pieces from its 5,000 piece collection,...
EDITORIALS
Nov 12, 2010

Japan's push for open trade

The 2010 APEC forum meetings started in Yokohama on Monday and an APEC leaders summit will take place on Saturday and Sunday. As host and chair, Japan faces the task of leading the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation members to agree on steps to push for further liberalization of trade and investment....
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Nov 12, 2010

Cirque puts Xmas spin on show

With halloween now a thing of the past, it's time to start thinking about Christmas, and Cirque du Soleil is way ahead of you.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art / ART BRIEF
Nov 12, 2010

'"Home Sweet Home" by Invader'

Gallery Target
CULTURE / Music
Nov 12, 2010

Preaching to the converted

Nicky Wire is reminiscing. For the self-professed "nerdy historian" of Manic Street Preachers, the wistfulness is not misplaced. New album "Postcards From a Young Man" is Manic Street Preachers' 10th: a landmark under any criterion, but Wire is keen to accentuate what a milestone it is for a group of...

Longform

Once smoky, male-dominated spaces, today's net cafes, like Kaikatsu Club, are working to make their operations more attractive to women customers.
The second life of Japan's net cafes