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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...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Nov 24, 2010

Japanese open about being part of Sea Shepherd crew

For Kuniko Oyakawa, that cetaceans may be more intelligent than, say, cows, pigs or chickens is not why she opposes whaling — she is against eating any wild creature.
BASKETBALL / NBA / NBA REPORT
Nov 24, 2010

Nash, Parker divorces remain under the radar

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — Divorce stories these actuality-disfigured days normally generate a heated rush of page-turning; they're as monotonous as the bores getting unshackled.
Japan Times
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Nov 23, 2010

Move over 3G, LTE new kid on the block

Mobile communications have become part of daily life and the trend is accelerating. This has fueled the development of Long Term Evolution, a next-generation communications network.
COMMUNITY / MIXED MATCHES
Nov 23, 2010

For couple, home is where the heart is

Andrew Pickard, 42, from Leeds in northern England, and Kayoko Hirayama, 35, of Tokyo, met seven years ago at an aikido dojo in Tokyo.
COMMENTARY / World / SENTAKU MAGAZINE
Nov 22, 2010

Japan shouldn't bet farm on China's 'middle class'

Many Japanese corporations are pinning their hopes on what they see as the expanding "middle class" in China, which they think will offer a huge potential market for their products. In reality, that class is a mirage created politically by the Chinese Communist Party and is on the verge of disintegrating....
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Nov 21, 2010

Icon's advice on Japan's plight may not be everyone's cup of tea

One of the immutable principles of cosmology states that wherever you are in the universe, everything appears to be streaming away from you. This certainly seems to be the case with Japan.
JAPAN / History / JAPAN TIMES GONE BY
Nov 21, 2010

Death before dishonor, more rights for Ainu, J.F.K. elected, Swatches hit Japan

100 YEARS AGO
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 21, 2010

Suu Kyi: free to do what?

HONG KONG — Aung San Suu Kyi regained her freedom last weekend, but walked into a "free" life that is still misgoverned by one of the most repressive and stupid regimes in the world, which only days before had thumbed its nose at its own people by conducting fake elections.
LIFE / WEEK 3
Nov 21, 2010

Heading for the hills — in style

One sunny Saturday a couple of weeks ago, this writer joined five women and three men who met up at Ikusabata Station on the JR Ome Line in the mountains of western Tokyo.
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Nov 21, 2010

Children chasing their dreams; falconry with Tamori; CM of the week: Solmac

The two-hour travel documentary special "Chikyu Show Gakko" ("World Elementary School"; TBS, Mon., 9 p.m.) presents children living under difficult circumstances while "working toward their dreams" in various places throughout the world.
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Nov 21, 2010

Tossing our leaders to the lions

In Tokugawa days (1603-1867), criticizing the government was a capital offense. Rulers, not only in Japan but the world over, expected to be — and generally were — not only obeyed but revered, sometimes as gods, sometimes as beings only slightly less exalted. "God," wrote the French bishop and political...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Nov 20, 2010

Companies going all-out in English

Enhancing employee English-language skills has become a high-priority management challenge for Japanese corporations, regardless of their size and industry.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Nov 20, 2010

Everyone chime in . . .

Classes start early on our island — 6 a.m. every day, even on Sundays. At least that's what any teacher visiting for the first time would think. This is because there is a "chime" that sounds over the island's PA system at 6 a.m., which lets islanders know that it is time to wake up. The chime happens...
EDITORIALS
Nov 20, 2010

Too close to the death penalty

Six lay judges and three professional judges at the Yokohama District Court on Tuesday handed down a death sentence to a 32-year-old man for murdering two men in a Chiba Prefecture hotel in June 2009 — the first death sentence under the lay judge system introduced last year.
JAPAN / Media / Japan Pulse
Nov 19, 2010

Anti-virus products diversify as fear sells

Consumers fearing infection have got an arsenal of virus-fighting products at their gloved fingertips.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Nov 19, 2010

UNHCR chief praises asylum system's meaningful progress

Japan's acceptance of asylum-seekers has made meaningful progress, including its serving as a trial "third country" in a United Nations-promoted trial resettlement program, U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres said Thursday in Tokyo.
CULTURE / Film
Nov 19, 2010

'The Experiment'

With some movies, there's nowhere to go but down. "The Experiment" is one such experience, when, after the first few minutes of cozy hopefulness (a loving couple discussing a trip to India and how to finance it), darkness closes in, smothering the senses like a polyester blanket. Oxygen, please!
JAPAN
Nov 19, 2010

Jack Seward, leading expert on Japan, dies

Jack Seward, a U.S. Army veteran and Japan expert who served under Gen. Douglas MacArthur's staff command during the Allied Occupation, died Nov. 10 in Houston. He was 86.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Nov 19, 2010

Van Gogh: Sanity behind madness

In recent years there has been a sea change in the official cult surrounding the Post-Impressionist Dutch painter Vincent van Gogh (1853-1890). For the masses he is still the archetypal "crazy artist": razor blade in one hand, severed ear in the other, and a lovely picture of sunflowers on the easel...

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’