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Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Aug 16, 2007

Obsessed with the super-real

Regardless of one's own relationship to religion, many of us are disposed to believe we can transcend the present world, rising above it to another super-reality, to a surreal world.
SUMO / SUMO SCRIBBLINGS
Aug 14, 2007

Close the door on the way out Asashoryu

Every sport has its ups and downs. Every sport has its bad boys. Sumo, in as far as it is classified as a sport, is no different.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Aug 10, 2007

A playground by the sea

Naughty Atami is the Shizuoka resort with the beachfront soaplands and other salacious establishments. It's got the fraying Hihokan (literally: House of Secret Treasures), likely the world's least scholarly sex museum, with its holographic strippers and a Marilyn Monroe mannequin that exposes itself...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Aug 10, 2007

'One Day in Europe'

"One Day in Europe" is a comedy of cultural and linguistic misunderstanding that toys with the idea of a unified Europe, where everyone shares the same singular, unifying identity. Unlike many Americans, who proudly admit to being "American," Europeans — single currency and the EU notwithstanding —...
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 9, 2007

High expectations for APEC meeting

SYDNEY — Ten years after the last Asian financial crisis hit world markets, the leading countries in the region need to work harder to ensure that the next downturn does not descend into a global collapse. Have the region's financial regulators gotten the message?
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Aug 7, 2007

Still the king of alcohol in Japan

The unbearably hot and humid summer is peak beer season in Japan. Here are some facts about the nation's beer market and its taxes, as well as regulations related to the alcoholic beverage:
EDITORIALS
Aug 6, 2007

Flagging spirit to abolish nukes

The 62nd anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, the first use of a nuclear weapon in history, comes amid circumstances not necessarily favorable for abolishing nuclear weapons. The Aug. 6, 1945, bombing of Hiroshima killed some 140,000 people; the bombing of Nagasaki three days later, some 70,...
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 5, 2007

Conversion in France's Foreign Ministry

PRAGUE — French President Nicolas Sarkozy's appointment of Bernard Kouchner as France's foreign minister was a brilliant political stroke. Having beaten his Socialist rival, Segolene Royal, Sarkozy decided to compound the Socialists' crisis by appointing to his government several political figures...
EDITORIALS
Aug 5, 2007

A special relationship endures

The departure of British Prime Minister Tony Blair raised questions in London and Washington about the future of trans-Atlantic relations. At their summit last weekend, U.S. President George W. Bush and his new British counterpart, Prime Minister Gordon Brown, made it clear that the personnel change...
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Aug 5, 2007

Tojo and Bush: Trumpeting delusion on their way to defeat

Writing in the New York Times on July 17, the newspaper's well-known columnist David Brooks reported on a White House press conference he attended on July 13. "[Pres.] Bush was assertive and good-humored," Brooks noted.
Japan Times
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Aug 3, 2007

Sensitive spin on an all-time classic

Britain's world-famous Imperial Ice Stars arrive in Japan for the first time to perform "Swan Lake on Ice" in Nishinomiya City, Hyogo Prefecture and Tokyo this summer.
COMMENTARY
Aug 2, 2007

Expect oil to hit $100 a barrel and beyond

LONDON — Nine of the last 10 serious downturns in the world economy followed a spike in the price of oil, and we are heading for another spike, with oil back up near the peak of $78.40 a barrel that it reached almost exactly a year ago.
COMMENTARY
Aug 2, 2007

What the Japanese election really means

LOS ANGELES — The country is deadlocked. The people are divided. The stock market is grumbling. The leader is discredited — but vows to govern onward anyhow.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Aug 2, 2007

Last words on hell from the skies

"Moreover, the enemy has begun to employ a new and most cruel bomb, the power of which to do damage is, indeed, incalculable, taking the toll of many innocent lives."
BUSINESS / THE VIEW FROM EUROPE
Jul 30, 2007

Foreign competition begins to overshadow Japan's solar industry

Japan is often seen as the motherland of the photovoltaic industry. Back in 1993, the government started its New Sunshine Project, a massive subsid program that helped to equip 300,000 Japanese houses with solar panels over the following decade. During that time Japan became the undisputed world market...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jul 27, 2007

'Inland Empire'

A man and a woman are glimpsed, in murky black-and-white images, in a Polish hotel room, their faces mosaiced out. "You want to f*** me?" she asks. "Shut up and take off your clothes," he answers. "I'm frightened." she says. Cut to full color and a girl wrapped in a red sheet, crying, and watching TV....
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jul 26, 2007

Demented in NY

It's almost counterintuitive — in the midst of the glorious chaos that is China as it modernizes itself, Chinese painters are technically spotless. In their hands, paint has been tamed, a tool with which they slickly create canvases with flawless surfaces that almost hide their workmanship.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 22, 2007

Video crime peril vs. virtual pedophilia

PRINCETON, New Jersey — In a popular Internet role-playing game called Second Life, people can create a virtual identity for themselves, choosing such things as their age, sex and appearance. These virtual characters then do things that people in the real world do, such as having sex.
SOCCER
Jul 21, 2007

Japan, Australia both try to play down talk of grudge match

HANOI — Ivica Osim told reporters to "get a life" as his patience wore thin over constant quizzing about Japan's World Cup loss to Australia last year and said the result won't have an effect on Saturday's Asian Cup quarterfinal clash between the two teams.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST
Jul 21, 2007

The all-in-one conspiracy theory

"Life in Japan is like tofu," announces a friend over drinks at a late night eatery. "It's much too bland. What this country needs is a good dose of . . . evil."
SOCCER
Jul 20, 2007

Teams clamoring for underdog label

HANOI — Australia and Japan have been throwing the favorites tag back and forth like a hot potato ahead of their Asian Cup quarterfinal clash, and Shunsuke Nakamura is the latest to play down his team's chances.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jul 20, 2007

Serving up some piping-hot salsa

Calling Oscar D'Leon a salsa superstar doesn't do justice to his stature in the world of Latin music. Over the course of his 36-year-career, the bassist and singer has acquired more nicknames than the late James Brown.
SOCCER
Jul 19, 2007

Sir Alex: Trip's timing not sign of disrespect

SAITAMA — Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson has dismissed accusations of disrespect for Asian soccer on his club's current tour of the region.
Japan Times
CULTURE / OTAKOOL
Jul 19, 2007

'Heavy-metal suicide'

Marty Friedman looks very metal.
SOCCER
Jul 17, 2007

Man Utd arrive in Tokyo for tour

Manchester United arrived in Tokyo on Monday for the first leg of its Asian tour, boasting a roster packed with the biggest names in world soccer.
Rugby
Jul 16, 2007

Japan rugby players benefit from ATQ training

The 2007 Rugby World Cup might only be months away, but behind the scenes tier-two nations are already eyeing the quarterfinals four years from now.
MORE SPORTS
Jul 16, 2007

United States rallies to beat gutsy Japan

KAWASAKI — It was a really hard-fought thriller. And it was fitting that the tournament concluded in the most dramatic fashion imaginable with a finale between the two-time defending champions and the motherland of football.
MORE SPORTS
Jul 15, 2007

Walker thrilled to play in Japan

In addition to representing his country there has been a bigger reason for Brig Walker's excitement about playing in the World Championships.
SPORTS / MULLY'S MISSIVES
Jul 13, 2007

Stylish Metsu holds court before match

HANOI — Frenchman Bruno Metsu acted every bit le grand fromage as he held court in front of journalists in the lobby of the Hanoi Sheraton after his press conference on Thursday.

Longform

Tetsuzo Shiraishi, speaking at The Center of the Tokyo Raids and War Damage, uses a thermos to explain how he experienced the U.S. firebombing of March 1945, when he was just 7 years old.
From ashes to high-rises: A survivor’s account of Tokyo’s postwar past