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Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / CLOSE-UP
Apr 3, 2005

Ryu Murakami: Straight-talking wordsmith wields his pen like a sword

For nearly three decades since his seismic debut with "Almost Transparent Blue," which delved into the sex- and drug-fueled lives of Japanese youths in a town hosting a huge U.S. military base, author Ryu Murakami has often used his trademark explicit, offensive and guiltlessly cheerful language to dig...
CULTURE / Film
Mar 16, 2005

Directing duo blossoms

In 1990, shortly after I started reviewing for The Japan Times, I saw a film by a former porno director, Shun Nakahara, that made me think I was not wasting my time after all.
Japan Times
Features / WEEK 3
Feb 20, 2005

Tears and fears on the road from 'normality'

Everyone loves a hero, and the media loves creating them. So it is hardly a surprise that Alastair Humphreys' five-year round-the-world bicycle odyssey has been largely portrayed as a charitable undertaking.
MORE SPORTS
Feb 11, 2005

Kitajima says that despite the fame, he is still the same

It has been nearly six months now since he shot to stardom at the Athens Olympics, but swimmer Kosuke Kitajima says that, in spite of all that has transpired since, fame has not altered his personality, though it has changed his life.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 22, 2004

Education for sustainable development

2005 will mark the start of the United Nations Decade of Education for Sustainable Development. The Decade offers a vital opportunity to make real progress toward putting human society on the path to sustainability. More than one-fourth of humankind lives in conditions of chronic poverty. Famine, military...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Nov 13, 2004

How mum juggles racing, soccer, K1, Portugal

Last Tuesday, Sonia Ito is busy with household chores in Zushi, Kanagawa Prefecture. Early evening she leaves husband Yuta with 2-year old daughter Julia and catches the train for Tokyo. By 7:30 p.m. she's seated on a purple "zabuton" in Fuji TV's headquarters at O-Daiba, recording the soccer program...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Oct 31, 2004

At-home dads

Kazuyuki Yamamura is a tall, good-looking man in his 30s, who was also good at his job. In fact, not so long ago he bought a house for himself, his wife and their kindergarten-age daughter in a leafy suburb of Tokyo. Then, unexpectedly, his company found itself in choppy financial waters -- and he was...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art / NEW ART SEEN
Oct 6, 2004

A leaf out of a scrapbook of depravity?

In this world, most people get to be teenagers for exactly seven years. And then there's the artist Larry Clark. Born in Tulsa, Okla., in 1943, Clark has been living and reliving the teen experience for some six decades.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Aug 28, 2004

Hammer throwing for the whole family

Every time I turn on the TV, the Japanese are winning Olympic medals -- mostly the same ones -- over and over again. But this is Japan, where repetition is highly prized as a way to impress upon us the vital importance of repetition. Practice, practice, practice and you will succeed.
MORE SPORTS
Aug 4, 2004

Tiger's agent Steinberg says business better than ever

Mark Steinberg is the agent for the world's No. 1 golfer Tiger Woods.
CULTURE / Books / THE BOOK REPORT
Jul 27, 2004

Publishers bid to halt reading slump with flood of new youth-oriented titles

"Reading at Risk," a report published in the United States this month by the National Endowment for the Arts, deplores the decline of reading. Now, fewer than half of American adults read fiction, with the rate of decline especially sharp among those who are 18 to 24 years of age. Newsweek (7/19) notes...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jul 21, 2004

Dancing as hard as they can

The Company Rating: * * * (out of 5) Director: Robert Altman Running time: 112 minutes Language: English Opens July 24 [See Japan Times movie listings] What does it mean to be a ballet dancer who lives, breathes and looks to be ready to die for his or her art?
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 12, 2004

Death-penalty debate rages anew in India

MADRAS, India -- India is once again hotly debating capital punishment. This time the discussion has been provoked by the death sentence given to Dhananjoy Chatterjee, who was convicted of raping and murdering a 14-year-old schoolgirl. Indian President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam has stayed Chatterjee's hanging...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jun 16, 2004

Follow this flowery Lane

Under the Tuscan Sun Rating: * * * (out of 5) Director: Audrey Wells Running time: 112 minutes Language: English Currently showing [See Japan Times movie listings] Sometimes, when you've reached a certain age, love's not enough. It's gotta be supported with real estate. This is the moral...
EDITORIALS
Jun 7, 2004

What was the girl thinking?

Many people must have been lost for words last week when they heard that a sixth-grade elementary school girl in Sasebo, Nagasaki Prefecture, had been slashed in the neck and killed by a female classmate. The incident took place during lunch break in a study room at the school -- the last place one would...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Apr 21, 2004

The best gift a son could give

Les Invasions barbares Rating: * * * * (out of 5) Director: Denys Arcand Running time: 99 minutes Language: French Open April 24 [See Japan Times movie listings] In "Les Invasions barbares (Barbarian Invasions)," a dying father pulls his grown-up son to his chest and says, "When you...
BUSINESS
Apr 10, 2004

Millea, BankThai to forge alliance

Millea Holdings Inc. said Friday it has agreed with BankThai Public Co. to tie up in the life insurance business in Thailand from May.
JAPAN
Mar 11, 2004

Kobe killer set free

A 21-year-old man who strangled and decapitated a boy and bludgeoned a girl to death when he was 14 in one of Japan's most notorious juvenile crimes was paroled Wednesday, having spent more than six years at a medical reformatory, the Justice Ministry announced.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / CLOSE-UP
Nov 2, 2003

Food for thought

Yukio Hattori, 'one of Japan's busiest men,' takes time to chew over the issue of food and other meaty social matters with staff writer Masami Ito.
CULTURE / Art / CERAMIC SCENE
Sep 17, 2003

Hand-made objects have a soul of their own

I've often been asked about my beginnings with Japanese pottery and how I got so deeply interested in the subject. Mostly, it was a philosophical and intuitive introduction that just struck a chord within me, as well as topics associated with Zen and the present. As with most inspiring art, words often...
COMMUNITY
Sep 13, 2003

Blue-eyed singer brings heart of Japan to world

Greg Irwin looks back to the year 2000 and can hardly believe how his life has turned around. "I was ready to quit singing doyo. I was not happy in my personal life. I was questioning living in Japan and my career seemed to have hit the glass ceiling."
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / BEST BAR NONE
Aug 10, 2003

Up-tempo hangout just down the hill

Azabu Juban is a short stroll down the hill from both the new Roppongi Hills complex and Roppongi crossing. But whereas the new Mori complex has given Roppongi a bump up in the sophistication stakes, it merely adds to what is already on offer in Azabu Juban, which has long been the neighborhood of choice...
JAPAN
Jul 12, 2003

Japanese women living longer

Japanese women, who have the longest life spans in the world, are living even longer these days.
BUSINESS
Jul 2, 2003

FSA accused of strong-arm tactics

The Financial Services Agency exerted improper pressure early last year on Tokio Marine & Fire Insurance Co. to consolidate with Asahi Mutual Life Insurance Co., a Democratic Party of Japan member said Tuesday.
EDITORIALS
Jun 6, 2003

What can revive insurance firms?

Deflation in Japan is taking its toll on life insurance companies. Since they make profits by investing policyholders' premiums and bank-supplied funds in stocks, bonds, real estate and other assets, they are more susceptible to falling asset prices and near-zero interest rates than companies in other...
BUSINESS
May 17, 2003

Takenaka backs plan to cut insurers' guaranteed yields

Financial Services Minister Heizo Takenaka expressed support Friday for a government plan to submit a bill to the current Diet session that would allow life insurers to cut yields contractually guaranteed to policyholders.
BUSINESS
May 14, 2003

Yield cut proposal goes to LDP

The Financial Services Agency presented a draft bill Tuesday to the Liberal Democratic Party that would enable troubled life insurers to lower promised yields on insurance contracts.
JAPAN
Apr 25, 2003

Key members already sentenced for crimes

Following is a list of key members of Aum Shinrikyo who have been sentenced for a series of crimes perpetrated by the cult.
JAPAN
Apr 25, 2003

Marathon trial could have gone on longer

The trial of Aum Shinrikyo founder Shoko Asahara is unprecedented both in the nature of the crimes involved and the way the court proceedings have progressed.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Apr 23, 2003

Shaking up the cityscape

Tadao Ando is not afraid to say what he thinks. More than that, when the Osaka-based architect has an idea about what life in cities should be like, he isn't afraid to radically alter the world to make his visions a reality. After the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake of 1995, he felt that it was important...

Longform

Dangami House is a 180-year-old former samurai residence of the Kato clan, who ruled over Ozu, Ehime Prefecture, until the Meiji Restoration.
A house, a legacy and the quiet work of restoration in rural Japan