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Japan Times
CULTURE / Art / ART BRIEF
Apr 9, 2010

"A Requiem: An Another story"

Shugo ArtsCloses April 28
JAPAN
Apr 8, 2010

Hog story ties Iowa, Yamanashi

Tokyo and Washington are now locking horns over Japan's import restrictions on American beef, but when it comes to pork the story is a little bit different.
JAPAN
Apr 8, 2010

Japan's eco-credentials assailed

OSAKA — Six months before Japan hosts a major U.N. conference on biodiversity, the government and major corporations involved in the issue are conducting a series of events to raise public awareness about threats to the world's ecosystems and what can be done to save natural habitats.
COMMENTARY
Apr 8, 2010

Reverse Japan's insularity

Nine of the top 10 countries sending students to study at Harvard University, where I attended graduate school, have more students studying at the university now than 10 years ago. The only exception is Japan, where the number of students has declined. A decline in Japanese presence was also pointed...
COMMENTARY
Apr 7, 2010

Getting along with China

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, delivering a government work report at the third session of the 11th National People's Congress in March, claimed that China was "first in the world to realize economic recovery and positive turnaround" following the international financial crisis, and that its strategies...
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital
Apr 7, 2010

Game director Mikami ups speed, action in 'Vanquish'

Fifty-two floors above the ground in Tokyo's Roppongi district, one man is reaping all the applause. As he soaks it up, the look on his face is difficult to read. It has been over four years since he last received such attention, and he has yet to impart the information he came to relay; has yet to experience...
COMMUNITY / Issues / JUST BE CAUSE
Apr 6, 2010

Japan, U.N. share blind spot on 'migrants'

On March 23, I gave a speech to Jorge Bustamante, United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights of Migrants, for NGO FRANCA regarding racial discrimination in Japan. Text follows:
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Apr 6, 2010

'Non-Japanese only' Okinawa eatery turns tables

Okinawa Prefecture is home to three-quarters of America's military bases in Japan. The vast majority of these, including Kadena Air Base, Torii Station and the contentious Marine Corps installation at Futenma, are located in the central part of the main island.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Apr 4, 2010

Warming to Ryukyu culture

The air is stifling in the cement interior of the Ishikawa Dome, despite the sides being open to the weather. I shift my limbs, in danger of losing circulation on the unforgiving benches, while my right arm furiously works my paper program as a fan in a desperate effort to gain respite from the Okinawan...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / CLOSE-UP
Apr 4, 2010

Mika Tsutsumi: Spotlight on the States

Mika Tsutsumi is a spirited journalist and writer whose work turns a spotlight on the widespread hardships and poverty caused by official policies and the behavior of businesses in the United States.
JAPAN / ARRIVAL OF E-READERS
Apr 3, 2010

Publishers don't see iPad revolution anytime soon

Many in the U.S. publishing industry feel Apple's release of the iPad, a multipurpose tablet computer with a built-in electronic reading device, will revolutionize the way consumers read and push the market into the digital age — just as the firm's iPod and iTunes did with music.
COMMENTARY
Apr 3, 2010

Did China trash a treaty?

The high profile case of Rio Tinto executive Stern Hu closed with the three-judge court sentencing the Australian citizen to 10 years in prison on charges of corruption and stealing commercial secrets.
JAPAN
Apr 2, 2010

Sugaya case truly flubbed: prosecutors

The wrongful conviction of Toshikazu Sugaya for the 1990 murder of a 4-year-old girl in Tochigi Prefecture was the result of prosecutors' failure to follow the basic rules of an investigation, the Supreme Public Prosecutor's Office admitted Thursday.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Apr 2, 2010

Lights, camera, Sakanaction!

"I hope foreign listeners can persevere with Japanese music," laughs bespectacled musician Ichiro Yamaguchi. "Sure, there's a lot of crap music here, but there's a lot of good stuff, too. Intelligent music is in the minority now, but I believe it will become mainstream in the future."
Japan Times
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Apr 2, 2010

Acrobatic troupe flips in from China

The China National Acrobatic Troupe is flipping and somersaulting across Japan, and they are bringing with them a young magician who has already wowed audiences in his home country.
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Apr 2, 2010

Exhibit illustrates the joy of reading

Parents looking to get their kids hooked on reading could benefit from an upcoming picture book event in Nagano.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Apr 2, 2010

Cost-cutting brings classics to the masses

"Rather than managing an opera house, I wanted to create a 'structure' for a new event," says French producer Rene Martin in a book published in Japan last month titled "How a Classical Music Festival Gathered 1 Million People."
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Apr 2, 2010

More than a few favorite things

Museum curators are usually in the position of assessing an artist's career, but rarely turn that same critical lens upon themselves. However, the exhibition "My Favorites-Index of a Certain Collection: Selections from the MoMAK Collection," which opened to the public on March 24 at the National Museum...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Apr 2, 2010

Getting round the censors can make art even more creative

There are two main arguments to support censorship. One is that it protects the tender sensibilities of a weak-minded public prone to be led astray into immorality and depravity. The other is that it actually stirs the creative powers of artists to new heights by placing obstacles in their way. While...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Apr 2, 2010

The Waraku Ensemble

Traditional Japanese music is called wagaku; using the same Chinese characters, a new band calls itself the Waraku Ensemble, with the change in pronunciation signifying "ease" or "comfort." Their first album, "Japanese Cafe Music," released last month, features traditional instruments playing Japanese...
JAPAN
Apr 1, 2010

Groups concoct iffy bid to turn Futenma plot into theme park

GINOWAN, Okinawa Pref. — A new rub, or possibly an incentive, has been stirred into the mix of opinions, debate, politicking and posturing that is the pressure-cooker of U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma in Okinawa.
JAPAN
Apr 1, 2010

Chinese consortium bids to purchase Tokyo Tower

When Japan changes from analog to terrestrial digital TV broadcasting from July 24, 2011, the Tokyo Sky Tree, now under construction in Tokyo's Sumida Ward, will be the source of these transmissions for the Greater Kanto area. One big question that has remained unanswered up to now is what will become...
Reader Mail
Apr 1, 2010

Media rush aimed at tarring pope

There is no doubt that many bishops in the Catholic Church have failed miserably in their duty to protect children and should be removed. However, the orchestrated media rush to tar the pope with these offenses — of which Gwynne Dyer's March 26 article, "Pedophile-priest coverup transcends 'secular'...
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Mar 30, 2010

Capital crimes soon to lose statute

The Democratic Party of Japan-led government recently approved a bill to abolish the statute of limitations on crimes that could be punishable by hanging in a move experts say signals a major shift in the justice system.

Longform

Sumadori Bar on Shibuya Ward's main Center Gai street targets young customers who prefer low-alcohol drinks or abstain altogether.
Rethinking that second drink: Japan’s Gen Z gets ‘sober curious’