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Japan Times
JAPAN
Mar 25, 2008

Writer blogs her way to top literary prize

Mieko Kawakami, a former bar hostess and bookstore clerk, was just another obscure singer until she started a blog.
BUSINESS / JAPANESE PERSPECTIVES
Mar 24, 2008

Chinese frozen foodand frigid bilateral relations

Bilateral relations can be complicated by conflicting interests, which makes occasional problems inevitable. What's important, however, is whether the two countries can communicate frankly about the problems, find their causes and resolve them. This is one reason wh countries set up hot lines between...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Mar 23, 2008

You'd have to be drunk to be fooled by Japan's booze commercials

A few weeks ago the Asahi Shimbun printed a letter from a 59-year-old man who complained about a TV commercial for Kirin's Tanrei, one of those beerlike beverages known as happoshu. In the spot, world-famous alpinist Ken Noguchi is seen climbing a mountain, the Gipsy Kings howling away on the soundtrack....
COMMENTARY
Mar 22, 2008

Iraq after five years of war

LONDON — March 20 marked five years since U.S. President George W. Bush launched the invasion of Iraq. Can Iraq emerge from this ordeal as a place where people lead reasonably safe and happy lives?
COMMENTARY
Mar 21, 2008

Tibet and Olympic Games

Events in Tibet have turned ugly. Once again we see the harm caused by Beijing's heavy-handed bureaucracy, and its panicky, untrained soldiers used for crowd control. But even when combined with all of Beijing's other alleged sins — Darfur, pollution, human rights and other issues — does Tibet justify...
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 20, 2008

Last chance for millions of Zimbabweans

PRAGUE — As the world rooted for former United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan in his recent efforts to end the violence in Kenya, many also found themselves wondering whether a weary Annan, or some other global leader, will be battling another fire by the end of this month: this time in Zimbabwe....
Reader Mail
Mar 20, 2008

Tale of two independence struggles

Most people would not hesitate to give a helping hand to a hapless kindergarten pupil being bullied by peers. But would they do the same if they came across a man under attack from a group of well-built aggressors with baseball bats? Probably not. The difference between the two situations is analogous...
JAPAN
Mar 20, 2008

Aum's bankruptcy proceedings to end 13 years on

The bankruptcy proceedings for Aum Shinrikyo will conclude on March 26 even though the doomsday cult will pay only 40 percent of the ¥3.8 billion owed to victims of the crimes it committed more than a decade ago.
EDITORIALS
Mar 19, 2008

Litmus test for Mr. Hu

Around the time when anti-Chinese protests took place in Tibet's regional capital Lhasa last week, Mr. Hu Jintao, who calls for establishment of a harmonious society in China, was re-elected president of the country at a session of the National People's Congress in Beijing. How he will handle Tibetan...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Mar 18, 2008

Seniors benefiting from animal therapy

No words are exchanged, but just staring into their big round eyes and patting their furry heads is enough to brighten the mood.
Reader Mail
Mar 16, 2008

Realities of caring for pets

Regarding Philip Brasor's March 9 article, "Crown Prince could lead the way in effort for mutt emancipation": Thank you for this fantastic article. I was very pleased to see this oft-neglected issue receive good coverage. Japan is very behind in education regarding pets, and it does not help that we...
Reader Mail
Mar 16, 2008

Wrong answer to angry questions

Regarding Billy Fanska's March 9 letter, "Negative rhetoric defeats everyone": Fanska may be right in pointing out that the U.S. military in Japan has the lowest crime rate of any population group in Japan. So much so that he takes outright umbrage at the nation's over-reaction to the recent case in...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Mar 15, 2008

G8 offers forum for territory dispute

NEMURO, Hokkaido — Hirotoshi Kawata hopes the Group of Eight summit in July will be an opportunity to tell the world about his 62 years as a displaced person, banished from a Soviet-seized island when he was a preteen.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Mar 15, 2008

The lowdown on Hokkaido bears

Let's talk about bears, big Hokkaido bears called higuma in Japanese. Bears can be dangerous in Hokkaido, where hikers may encounter them in the mountains. There have been 86 attacks and 33 deaths from bears since 1962 when the government started keeping records.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Mar 14, 2008

Noriko Tujiko: not merely sweet, cute and aggressive

N oriko Tujiko meets me in Shibuya wearing a multicolored outfit of clashing greens and reds. On her feet are velvet slippers.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / HOTELS & RESTAURANTS
Mar 14, 2008

Spring party hampers and Belgian beer cabaret

The Delicatessen at the Park Hyatt Tokyo has put together a "Spring Party" hamper set that is ideal for all alfresco dining occasions, whether beneath your favorite cherry tree, in your garden at home, or even out on the balcony of your apartment.
Reader Mail
Mar 13, 2008

Okinawa panel a stupid idea

In reply to the March 9 Kyodo article "New panel in Okinawa targets U.S. military-linked crimes": To what end? People can't have it both ways. Either the United States is here to protect or it is not, although I do believe that Okinawa has had to host an undue number of service members. They should have...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / VIEWS FROM THE STREET
Mar 11, 2008

Should foreign residents be made to sit Japanese tests?

COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
Mar 11, 2008

Tying the knot; furry fallout

Cats in Kobe Paul, his wife and children lived for some years in Kobe. They arrived shortly after the devastating earthquake of 1995, before the infrastructure had been rebuilt. Part of the fallout, he writes, was cat colonies living in the local parking lot.
JAPAN
Mar 11, 2008

Tokyo air raid survivors sue for redress

Survivors of the numerous U.S. air raids on Tokyo in 1945 sued the central government for compensation Monday, demanding an apology and a combined ¥220 million in reparations for its failure to assist the wounded.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle / COSPLAY CULTURE
Mar 9, 2008

A global dress-up

"I get e-mails all the time from Brazil and the United States," said Tatsumi Inui, a staffer at Japan's largest kosupure ("cosplay" or "costume play") Web site, Cure.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Mar 9, 2008

The art of Frances Blakemore: a love affair with Japan

AN AMERICAN ARTIST IN TOKYO: Frances Blakemore — 1906-1997, by Michiyo Morioka. Seattle: The Blakemore Foundation/University of Washington Press, 2007, 200 pp., profusely illustrated, $35 (cloth) Living more than 50 years of her life in Japan, artist Frances Blakemore was a close and sympathetic observer...
Japan Times
LIFE / COSPLAY CULTURE
Mar 9, 2008

School offers costume-play way to 'cool' English

Learning a foreign language is never easy, and for many it can even be a painful process.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Mar 6, 2008

The mathematics of music

So forward-looking that it's hard to categorize him — Is he an artist? A musician? A conceptualist? — Ryoji Ikeda makes the music that we'll lull the robots to sleep with when they ultimately try to take over. Or that we'll use to convince ourselves that we are the robots.
CULTURE / Art
Mar 6, 2008

39art Day

Taking place internationally on March 9

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’