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COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Dec 4, 2010

Secret life of ikebana

Several days ago, I started finding yellow stains on my clothes. I'd be stain-free when I woke up in the morning, but by the end of the day, I'd look down and see a yellow stain somewhere on my shirt. Sometimes it was just a faint suggestion, other times it was a big stripe of yellow. They started appearing...
COMMUNITY
Dec 4, 2010

American artist's creativity never stops in Kyoto

Daniel Kelly's immaculate central Kyoto atelier is empty upon arrival, but soon the artist comes bounding in, extending warm greetings before leading a quick tour of the two-floor studio-living quarters. Then we're off again, dashing around the corner to check out his kura (warehouse)-cum-art storehouse...
CULTURE / Film
Dec 3, 2010

'Whatever Works (Jinsei Banzai!)'

If I were to tell you that Woody Allen's new film, "Whatever Works" (opening locally as "Jinsei Banzai!"), involves a nubile, rather dim young girl falling for a cantankerous, neurotic, much older guy, your reaction might be: "Not again!"
CULTURE / Film
Dec 3, 2010

'Robin Hood'

Ridley Scott has never been one to cushion the blow when it comes to sticking it to modern consumerist society. From "Blade Runner" to "Thelma & Louise," "Black Hawk Down" to "American Gangster," the diseases of so-called civilization become exposed in tableaux of greed, discontent and a cunningly concealed...
EDITORIALS
Dec 3, 2010

Flu season is upon us

Vaccination against influenza started in October. This year's vaccine targets three types of flu: H1N1 influenza, which broke out last year, and the A/Hong Kong-type and B-type influenza. In the last flu season, the damage from H1N1 influenza was not as serious as had been feared, probably because its...
BASKETBALL / NBA / NBA REPORT
Dec 1, 2010

Conversations with Karl, Anthony prove enlightening

NEW YORK — Every now and then you have to hit the bricks to hit home . . . to hear stories unlikely shared except in person and witness uncensored scenes.
EDITORIALS
Dec 1, 2010

Vote of confidence for the KMT

Local elections in Taiwan are considered a bellwether for national politics. By that standard, the Kuomintang (KMT), the ruling party on the island, should be feeling good. KMT candidates won three of five mayoral seats in the local elections held Saturday. While a lot can change between now and 2012,...
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL: KEYES' POINT
Dec 1, 2010

Kako ni kampai — let's drink to the past!

"Omedetō, omedetō (おめでとう, congratulations)! A superb kōgi (講義, lecture)! Daiseikō (大成功, a rousing success!) Welcome back, Professor Keyes!"
COMMENTARY
Nov 30, 2010

Recalcitrant Indian state turns a corner

WATERLOO, Ontario — Writing here on March 13, 2005 ("The deep end of Indian state democracy"), I noted descriptions of Bihar's first city Patna as the capital of hell on earth, its Hobbesian quality of life with large-scale kidnappings for ransom as the only growth industry, the destruction of infrastructure...
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHO'S WHO
Nov 30, 2010

Frenchwoman's passions realized with Japanese help

Florence Roca, 45, is a French mother of three married to a fellow countryman who has lived on and off in Japan for 10 years. Aside from family, she has a passion for painting porcelain and making jewelry.
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
Nov 30, 2010

Bothered by night flight racket from Futenma air base

Reader M.A. lives next to U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma in Okinawa and is bothered by the noise from the airport.
COMMUNITY / Voices / HAVE YOUR SAY
Nov 30, 2010

High praise for piazzas; Japan not so clean, friendly

A must for societal well-being I read your article on public space ("Plans for public space need public's input," Hotline to Nagatacho, Oct. 26), and I couldn't agree more.
Japan Times
BASKETBALL / ONE-ON-ONE WITH ...
Nov 28, 2010

Nakanishi draws on vast experience to help Rizing

The Japan Times will be featuring periodic interviews with players and other individuals from the bj-league. Rizing Fukuoka guard Jun Nakanishi is the subject of this week's profile.
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
Nov 28, 2010

Veering off the path of mutually assured destruction

As individuals, we usually recognize when we're heading off in the wrong direction and then have the good sense to get ourselves back on the right track.
JAPAN / Media
Nov 28, 2010

Nicholas Bornoff, Japan Times writer and author of 'Pink Samurai,' dies aged 61

Nicolas Bornoff, who died of cancer in London on Oct. 30, was my predecessor as a film critic at The Japan Times, starting in the late 1970s and continuing for nine years. His style, in contrast to fellow reviewer Andy Adams' slangy journalese, aimed for the elevated and authoritative, which made me,...
CULTURE / Film
Nov 26, 2010

'Space Battleship Yamato'

The "Space Battleship Yamato" franchise, known abroad under such titles as "Star Blazers" and "Space Cruiser Yamato," began life in 1974 as a TV cartoon space opera, then generated a hit animated film in 1977. Two more TV series and four more films followed, concluding the saga with the 1983 feature...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Nov 26, 2010

Looking beyond art's boundaries

Art, it is often said, is a lens through which to see the world differently. "Differently" could mean more intensely, or more clearly, or in a new and unfamiliar way. This inevitably requires a separation between the artwork and the world. Art so understood thus sets up territories and borders, the lines...
CULTURE / Music
Nov 26, 2010

The 'weird' world of techno's Ishino

"Salarymen are fantastic," says DJ and producer Takkyu Ishino. "If there weren't so many of them doing their thing, then people like me would not be able to exist. If more people acted like me (outside the norm), then I wouldn't have had the life that I've had."
COMMENTARY / World / SENTAKU MAGAZINE
Nov 26, 2010

Highhanded prosecutors get judicial pat on the back

The arrogance and self-complacence of public prosecutors have been exposed with the acquittal of a high-ranking former welfare ministry official who had been indicted on a charge of forgery, and the subsequent arrest and indictment of two prosecutors accused of hiding evidence of data tampering. The...
CULTURE / Music
Nov 26, 2010

Accordionist brings his Argentine roots to French musette

Sitting in the same room with Argentine accordionist Raul Barboza, you start to notice that even the way he speaks is musical.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Nov 26, 2010

Loosening ties to the kitchen sink

One of the reasons the Germans lost WWII, it has been argued, was because they failed to mobilize their female labor force to the same degree as their enemies. This had much to do with a "Kinder, Kuche, Kirche" (children, kitchen, church) mentality that consigned women to a world of old-fashioned domestic...
JAPAN
Nov 25, 2010

Kan confers with Lee on North threat

Prime Minister Naoto Kan and his Seoul counterpart, Lee Myung Bak, agreed Wednesday their countries and the United States must work closely to confront any provocations by North Korea, which the previous day shelled a South Korean island in the Yellow Sea, causing four confirmed deaths.
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Nov 24, 2010

Death comes in many written forms

Poet Kenji Miyazawa (1896-1933) wrote about himself on the verge of death in his poem "Speaking with the Eyes." Unable to talk due to blood gushing from his lungs, he tried to tell his attending doctor with his eyes that, despite the suffering, he knew that he was departing to a better place. (He didn't...

Longform

Ichiro Suzuki, one of the most iconic players in NPB and MLB history, was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame with 99.7% of the vote.
With Hall of Fame induction, Ichiro makes himself heard loud and clear