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COMMENTARY
Mar 5, 2008

Sovereign funds rescue West

LONDON — Ten years ago some commentators, including myself, were forecasting that the age of Westernization was over and that the age of Easternization was about to begin. Capital and technology that had flowed from the West to the East for several centuries past was now about to start flowing the...
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 3, 2008

Keynes and the end of economic history

PARIS — Some academic works, for reasons that are at least partly obscure, leave a persistent trace in intellectual history. Such is the case with John Maynard Keynes' paper "Economic Possibilities for our Grandchildren."
BUSINESS / JAPANESE PERSPECTIVES
Mar 3, 2008

No place for celebrity currencies in global jungle

Just recently I took part in a very interesting discussion program for NHK television in which economists and strategists from around the world came together to debate the state of the global economy and what kind of a beating the financial markets were liable to take as a result of the ongoing subprime...
LIFE / Language
Feb 26, 2008

Get into electronic touch with kanji

'A lot of squinting and counting.' That is how Dries Durnez, a Belgian graduate student at Doshisha University in Kyoto remembers how he used to look up kanji, those intricate Chinese-based characters that make up a sizable chunk of the Japanese syllabary.
Reader Mail
Feb 26, 2008

Reflecting on 'Sorry Day'

Regarding Alan Goodall's Feb. 18 article, "Australia's historic apology": Goodall's rendition of the mood of the "Sorry Day" apology by Prime Minister Kevin Rudd was apt. Although the reply by the opposition leader Brendan Nelson was criticized by some, it provided the balance that many thought was...
Japan Times
LIFE / THE SKY'S THE LIMIT
Feb 24, 2008

Polar pioneer sets her sights high

For her doctoral thesis, Kazuyo Sakanoi studied the mechanisms of flickering auroras — those luminous phenomena in the atmosphere that appear like curtains of light.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Feb 21, 2008

A living play appears from the past

"I have absolutely no idea beforehand what exactly I am going to do. Everything comes together really at the last minute," says 50-year-old English dramatist Simon McBurney when asked how he's approaching his latest collaboration. Working with Japanese actors, McBurney is producing "Shunkin," a play...
COMMENTARY
Feb 15, 2008

U.S. campaign fires up Brits

LONDON — "A woman president, a black president or the oldest president — which would you prefer?"
JAPAN
Feb 13, 2008

Election of new Iwakuni mayor may speed U.S. realignment

IWAKUNI, Yamaguchi Pref. — Sunday's mayoral election, in which Yoshihiko Fukuda, a former Diet member, narrowly defeated former Mayor Katsusuke Ihara, is expected to ease tensions between Tokyo and Iwakuni over the planned relocation of U.S. military aircraft to a base here.
EDITORIALS
Feb 10, 2008

Entrance exam blues

Entrance exam season is here again. All over the country, students hoping to enter universities are showing their ID cards, sitting down at desks and answering question after question. The hope and anxiety of many young people and their families, not to mention that of their teachers and principals,...
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 7, 2008

Five uncertainties about China's future

A former senior Chinese diplomat praised the journey of Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda to Beijing last December as a "wonderful visit."
EDITORIALS
Feb 6, 2008

Going after Google

The high-technology world is abuzz following Microsoft Corporation's $44.6 billion bid for Yahoo! Inc. last week. The takeover is an assault on Google's dominance of the online world, and on paper the two companies make a good match. But there are plenty of reasons to be skeptical about the deal's eventual...
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / OLD NIC'S NOTEBOOK
Feb 6, 2008

Talking sense about deer

We were filming a television documentary in the mountains of Hokkaido. It was winter, and bitterly cold. Through the trees, bare of leaves, we could see floe ice, dotted with eagles, gulls, crows and a few ravens. Then a raucous gathering of crows ahead drew our attention and we trudged through the crisp...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Feb 1, 2008

New magazine takes aim at wrongful convictions

A court ruling last fall changed a man's life. After Hiroshi Yanagihara was found guilty of rape in Toyama Prefecture and served about two years in prison, the Toyama District Court's Takaoka Branch officially found him not guilty.
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM NEW YORK
Jan 28, 2008

Watching the world's biggest roadshow

NEW YORK — I was recently amused to read the following observation quoted in an intellectual history of modern Japan: "The system in which people vie to get elected head of state through indulgence in garrulity and by flaunting gestures like those of low-class actors is a singularly bizarre custom...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jan 24, 2008

The girl in the corner

She's one of the most admired actresses in Hollywood, both for her talent and versatility.
BASKETBALL / NBA / NBA REPORT
Jan 23, 2008

Bay Area fans unfair to target Dunleavy

NEW YORK — Warriors fans who booed Mike Dunleavy when he played for their team and continued to do so each time he touched the ball last week at Oracle Arena, his first appearance there since being traded to the Pacers, are easily the NBA's most unrefined.
COMMENTARY / World / SENTAKU MAGAZINE
Jan 21, 2008

Fukuda's house won't stand

It appears all but certain that the Japanese political landscape will undergo a drastic change this year as a result of general elections following the dissolution of the House of Representatives by Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda.
EDITORIALS
Jan 18, 2008

Reality check in the Middle East

American President George W. Bush has just completed his first extended Mideast trip of his presidency. The visit was remarkable on two counts. First, there is the fact that Mr. Bush has not been to the region before despite its centrality to U.S. foreign policy in general and his administration's policies...
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Jan 13, 2008

Japan's wild genius of slime-mold fame and more

First of two parts
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jan 10, 2008

Expat artists 'making a home' in NYC have little in common

For many Japanese artists who want to make it in the art world, New York City has yet to shake its image of being an art utopia where anyone can succeed: You'll find representation by a hip gallery! Share cerebral discourses with art star Jeff Koons! And work in a loft of immense dimensions in the Lower...
JAPAN
Jan 10, 2008

Fukuda, Ozawa hold first Diet faceoff

Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda maintained his humble tone Wednesday in his first one-on-one debate with Democratic Party of Japan President Ichiro Ozawa.
EDITORIALS
Jan 6, 2008

Political temblors in Iowa

The United States has just concluded the first stage in the quadrennial spectacular — or is it a spectacle? — that is a presidential campaign. The Iowa caucuses were held Thursday evening and the two winners, Sen. Barack Obama and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, confounded their party establishments...
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 1, 2008

Political inertia, public indifference

Japanese politics and politicians continue to face an overriding question: What kind of nation should Japan become? The question needs to be discussed among all political parties in ways that inspire the public. Unfortunately, that is not about to happen. Preoccupied with short-term responses to immediate...
COMMENTARY
Dec 26, 2007

A man of principles in desperate times

LOS ANGELES — There are times when — from a moral standpoint — men and women simply should not remain silent. In such times, seemingly fine lines need to be turned into unequivocal hard lines. This is when the men and women of conscience stand out.
LIFE
Dec 23, 2007

One missionary's 'swamp' is another's 'religion allergy' challenge

"For 20 years I labored in the mission. The one thing I know is that our religion does not take root in this country."
Japan Times
Reference / Special Presentations / WITNESS TO WAR
Dec 20, 2007

A long life of peace that sprung from war

Twelfth in a series

Longform

Mount Fuji is considered one of Japan's most iconic symbols and is a major draw for tourists. It's still a mountain, though, and potential hikers need to properly prepare for any climb.
What it takes to save lives on Mount Fuji