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Japan Times
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Dec 28, 2008

ONE for ALL

COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Dec 28, 2008

'The noise of time' ensures that art's unbowed spirit is heard

We live apart from our land Our words dying at 10 paces And anything put edgewise Concerns the Kremlin backwoodsman His coarse fingers are thick, like worms His statements trusty, like the weights on a scale Cockroaches smile on his upper lip And the rims of his shoes blind He is surrounded by a flock...
LIFE / Lifestyle / 2008 MEDIA ROUND-UP
Dec 28, 2008

Making sense of the strange changes of 2008

Every year, the Japan Kanji Aptitude Testing Foundation selects a "kanji of the year." This year's is "hen," meaning "change" or, equally, "strange, peculiar."
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Dec 27, 2008

Who said no man is an island?

I saw 81-year-old Man-chan, along with the plumber, putting up Christmas decorations in the park next to the ferry port. This is the third year Man-chan has headed up this Christmas illumination project with the help of the plumber who puts up the Christmas lights. Each year the display expands — an...
JAPAN
Dec 26, 2008

Spike feared in idled-temp suicides

Nonprofit organizations and Diet members fear they will see a surge in suicides among temporary workers subjected to massive dismissals as the plunging economy gives them no room to survive with little financial or housing support.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Dec 26, 2008

Frogman's unique slant on politics

Animator Ryo Ono, a 37-year-old Tokyo native, achieved his dream of making films by changing his career as a movie production assistant.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Dec 26, 2008

Kicking back in Kurohime

A school friend of mine did his in Nagoya. An American I met the other day did hers somewhere in Kyushu. I was sent to central Hokkaido, where I did my one-month home stay in a tiny town called Otofukecho. I occasionally check the map to make sure it's still there. But, I have to admit, I've never been...
Reader Mail
Dec 25, 2008

Questionable slang about Asia

In response to Ed Smith's opinion in his Dec. 18 letter, " 'Rice' remark hardly racist," I feel that he has fully illustrated a disturbing yet unfortunately common problem with the American English vernacular: If a word or phrase in "common usage" is not deemed as racist by the user, then this same principal...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Dec 25, 2008

Originality and flair hits 2008

A year ago, I was sad to report on the sluggish condition of the Japanese contemporary theater world. Now, I am delighted to have had to struggle to select just five of the best of plays of 2008 from so many worthy contenders — many of them new and original works concerned with the current social situation...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art / INSIDE ART
Dec 25, 2008

If you don't get them with art, give them architecture

Struggling to maintain visitor numbers, often in the face of drastic cuts to their budgets, many of Japan's museums have been turning to an unlikely source of respite: architecture.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
Dec 24, 2008

Overseas aid benefits whom?

PHNOM PENH CAMBODIA — Despite widespread awareness and censure of human rights violations, Japan, the United States and member nations of the European Union continue to give aid to governments that use the money to enrich themselves while ravaging ecosystems and brutalizing their own citizens. China...
COMMENTARY / World / SENTAKU MAGAZINE
Dec 23, 2008

DPJ has a foot in the door

As the odds grow that the No. 1 opposition Democratic Party of Japan will take the reigns of government after the next general elections, the focus in the Japanese political arena is shifting to the lineup of a Cabinet headed by DPJ leader Ichiro Ozawa, and to who would succeed him if he retired early...
Japan Times
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Dec 23, 2008

Gay scene: Tolerance, legal limbo

Some countries see homosexuality as a crime punishable by death, while others are open to diversity and make no judgment on the basis of one's sexual orientation.
Reader Mail
Dec 21, 2008

The source of manga culture

Regarding the Dec. 2 Kyodo article "Late 'manga' pioneer Tezuka still the king": I'm a Japanese student studying communications in the United States. I strongly believe that Osamu Tezuka's wonderful manga stories had a lot of influence in Japan. He established the manga culture in Japan, creating a new...
JAPAN
Dec 21, 2008

Budget won't spark growth, experts warn

The fiscal 2009 draft budget unveiled Saturday isn't likely to help Japan recover because the recession will probably accelerate the ongoing decline in tax revenues, economists warn.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Dec 20, 2008

Mail from the countryside

I went to the post office today and was third in line. This is very unusual on our island of just 687 people. I've never seen more than two people in the post office at any time. Then it hit me: It's Daikon December. December is when the daikon radishes are harvested.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Dec 19, 2008

'Lars and the Real Girl'

If 27-year-old Lars Lindstrom (Ryan Gosling) in "Lars and the Real Girl" had lived in another community, perhaps life would have been easier for him. As it is, the citizens of a friendly little town located in the American Midwest look upon Lars with protective tenderness.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Dec 19, 2008

From music to funk

"The Orphanage" is 33-year-old director Juan Antonio Bayona's first feature film, and while it's a striking enough film in and of itself, certainly the presence of Guillermo del Toro ("Pan's Labyrinth") in the role of producer helped the film get the attention it deserved. Dressed in standard directorial...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Dec 18, 2008

Rocking around the Hanukkah menorah

What is the most popular Hanukkah song? It's probably "I Have a Little Dreidel," which even a lot of gentiles learn as children. It tends to be the token Jewish song sung in elementary schools during the holiday season, which, of course, is dominated by Christian themes.
EDITORIALS
Dec 16, 2008

Afghanistan in trouble

The Taliban, which was ousted from power by U.S.-led coalition forces seven years ago, is stepping up its efforts to regain power in Afghanistan. Coupled with an increase in militant attacks in Pakistan and the November terrorist attacks in Mumbai, India, the deteriorating situation in Afghanistan symbolizes...
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / ON THE ROAD
Dec 14, 2008

Nostalgia drives Japanese classic car scene

In recent years, America has developed a fast-growing interest in Japanese cars from the 1960s and '70s. It used to be that only the most obsessive of auto aficionados were even aware such cars existed, but now they've begun to appear in an increasing number of books, TV shows and magazines. Car shows...
Japan Times
JAPAN / History
Dec 14, 2008

Mystery shrouds the ancient Oshoro circle

In 1861 at Oshoro, southwestern Hokkaido, a party of herring fishermen, migrants from Honshu, were laying the foundation for a fishing port when they saw taking shape beneath their shovels a mysterious spectacle — a broad circular arrangement of large rocks, strikingly symmetrical, evidently man-made....
Reader Mail
Dec 11, 2008

One tradition that's out of hand

Regarding the Observer feature "Where a baby girl is a mother's awful shame," printed in The Japan Times on Nov. 29: It was disturbing to learn that, because of the dowry obligation and perhaps a general inferior perception of women in Indian society, people have turned a blind eye to the fact that they...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Dec 11, 2008

Keanu Reeves boldly goes for box-office biggie

Keanu Reeves is a creature from outer space. More precisely, he is playing Klaatu, a superior being from beyond the stars who takes the form of a human male visiting a planet that, despite millions of years of evolution, remains too fond of violence for its own good.
EDITORIALS
Dec 10, 2008

Health net for children

A September survey by the health and welfare ministry has found that about 32,900 children throughout the country were not covered by health insurance because their parents had failed to pay premiums to the National Health Insurance system (Kokumin Kenko Hoken). Irregularly employed workers, unemployed...

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’