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Features
Jun 26, 2005

Learning to fly

He had been looking for someone to commit suicide with for a long time. Now that he had found the right person, Ken had traveled half the way around the world in order to carry out his plan. He was nevertheless surprised to find himself standing on a familiar-looking train platform with his hands tucked...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Jun 26, 2005

The Red emperor's new clothes

MAO, THE UNKNOWN STORY, by Jung Chang and Jon Halliday. Jonathan Cape, 2005, 814 pp., £25 (cloth). It is savagely ironic that just when China is viciously attacking Japan for trying to rewrite its history, here is a book that claims that the whole official history of the revered founding father of Communist...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Jun 26, 2005

Intriguing mix of loose ends and aimless youth

THE METHOD ACTORS, by Carl Shuker. Washington, D.C.: Shoemaker & Hoard, 2005, 512 pp., $16 (paper). There has been a great deal of discussion and debate about where literary modernism ends and postmodernism begins. The confusion arises in part because, far from being something entirely different than...
COMMENTARY
Jun 26, 2005

The beginning of empathy?

HONOLULU -- The strains in the Japan-South Korea relationship are far too deep-rooted for any single summit meeting to assuage. Rather, the objective of any summit should be setting the proper tone for bilateral relations. By this yardstick, the meeting Monday between Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi...
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 25, 2005

EU lessons for East Asian regionalism

SINGAPORE -- Recent referendums in both France and Netherlands dealt a blow to European integration as voters overwhelming rejected the proposed EU Constitution 55-45 percent and 64-37 per- cent, respectively. Nine countries, including Germany, Spain and Italy, have already approved the constitution...
COMMENTARY
Jun 25, 2005

Helping Africa to help itself

Systemic risks are factors that threaten not only individual countries themselves but also the whole global system. Africa is the scene of numerous systemic risks that must be overcome for the sake of both Africa's own development, and global security and prosperity. Infectious diseases like AIDS, disputes...
EDITORIALS
Jun 24, 2005

Okinawa is the best teacher

For people of Okinawa Prefecture, June 23 carries a special meaning. On that day in 1945, as the Battle of Okinawa entered its last phase, the Imperial Japanese armed forces ended organized resistance to the U.S. armed forces in the Mabuni area on the southern tip of the main island of Okinawa.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Jun 19, 2005

Life and times of a Heian-Period crime sleuth

Scrolling back in history THE DRAGON SCROLL, by I.J. Parker. New York: Penguin, 2005, 432 pp., $13.00 (paper). Now beginning a new series with Penguin, Parker has just released "The Dragon Scroll." While the third full-length novel to be published, it is the first, chronologically, in her series and...
Japan Times
Features
Jun 19, 2005

Filming rough

If you are a documentary filmmaker, one surefire way to impress viewers is to expose some aspect of your chosen subject that conventional reporting chooses to ignore.
Japan Times
Features
Jun 19, 2005

Tomb raver

Teenage years are often a time of confusion. But for one 37-year-old who goes by the pen name Kajipon Maruko Zangetsu, it was a time of torment due to family problems and a majorly broken heart.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / PERSONALITY PROFILE
Jun 18, 2005

Setsuko Ishii

"Art exists at the border between the ordinary and the extraordinary," Setsuko Ishii said. "Light is something that essentially cannot be bent, nor shaped, nor even held. Yet in holography light can be molded like clay, or woven like thread. Through holography I want to create a certain set of circumstances...
EDITORIALS
Jun 17, 2005

Sewing up a textile deal

China and the European Union last weekend worked out a deal that limits Chinese exports of textiles and heads off a dangerous trade confrontation between them. Both sides, as well as Beijing's other trade partners, are hailing the arrangement as a "win-win" solution to trade disputes. Ultimately, however,...
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital / NAME OF THE GAME
Jun 16, 2005

Ancient China never looked so good

Buyers of "Jade Empire" are greeted with laughable cover art and silly character names like "Furious Ming." At first glance, the mythological theme appears to be a mockery of ancient Chinese culture. But beneath the regrettable packaging lies an honest and fun game that engulfs players in an awe-inspiring...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art / NEW ART SEEN
Jun 15, 2005

The art that rocks the boat of war in Iraq

If you don't like U.S. President George W. Bush -- particularly if you don't support his war in Iraq -- then there is a new gallery exhibition in Tokyo that you will relish.
COMMENTARY
Jun 11, 2005

Slots, cops, and deception

LAS VEGAS -- The Japanese have been kicking around the idea of building American-style casinos in Japan for four years now. The Parliament Committee on Casinos with 100 Diet members has been gathering information on casinos, and Tokyo Gov. Shintaro Ishihara has been a major proponent of the idea. In...
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 9, 2005

Hardest steps to harmony

CHIANG MAI, Thailand -- The recent turmoil in Sino-Japanese relations has caused anxiety in Thailand. People here would clearly prefer a calmer atmosphere between the two giant powers of East Asia, as their future is linked to both and they stand to lose if there is a collision. Many believe that the...
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Jun 9, 2005

TM bolsters notion of a Japanese mind-set over mortality

As we heard in a government white paper on the elderly last week, the number of people aged 90 or over topped 1 million in Japan for the first time in 2004. Japan has long held the record for its citizens having the longest life expectancy in the world. And the government is only too aware of the graying...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Jun 8, 2005

A fling to remember

The all-male reworking of "Swan Lake" by English choreographer Matthew Bourne has become a dance and stage legend since its November 1995 premiere at Sadler's Wells Theater in London. This powerful piece of ballet zeitgeist toured widely before arriving in Japan in spring 2003. With nonstop curtain calls,...
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 6, 2005

China showing a knack for taking risks

SINGAPORE -- A China that is willing to take ideological and political risks is emerging not only in affairs involving Hong Kong and Taiwan but also in the increasingly troubled relations with Tokyo and Washington.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 6, 2005

Getting Japan off their back

SYDNEY -- Japanese whalers are coming and there appears no way of stopping them. Worse, their harpoons are about to slaughter more of the ocean mammals than ever.
MORE SPORTS
Jun 4, 2005

Takahira books ticket to worlds

Sprinter Shinji Takahira won his second straight 200-meter title at the national championships Friday and secured a spot in this summer's track and field world championships. Takahira breezed to victory in 20.89 seconds at Tokyo's National Stadium in the absence of world bronze-medalist Shingo Suetsugu,...
JAPAN
Jun 3, 2005

Japan to hold major fashion event in autumn

A group of Japanese designers, apparel industry experts and textile makers will organize a major fashion event in Tokyo this fall after the Paris Collection in France, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry said Tuesday.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / OLD NIC'S NOTEBOOK
Jun 2, 2005

'Weed' of wonder fresh from the sea

I first consciously ate kelp when I came to Japan in 1962. Slowly stewed, it took the form of those small, almost black bows of a soft and tasty vegetable in the traditional, souplike dish of oden. Later I ate it wrapped around fish, or used it with dried bonito as a base for soup stock. I chose the...
EDITORIALS
May 30, 2005

A neighborly foothold in Asia

Moves to reform the U.N. Security Council, which plays a major role in United Nations decision-making, are approaching a crucial phase. The so-called Group of Four countries (Japan, Germany, India and Brazil) — which are bidding for permanent seats on the council — have issued a framework draft resolution...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
May 29, 2005

Diva sings hot and cold on solo debut

It is 11 on a Sunday morning and Roisin Murphy has just arrived back at her London flat. Another big night out in the city's kinetic clubland?
MORE SPORTS
May 26, 2005

Murofushi set for season debut

Athens Olympic hammer throw champion Koji Murofushi will make his delayed season debut at the upcoming national track and field championships, athletics officials said Wednesday.

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