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Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WORDS TO LIVE BY
Feb 26, 2009

Jazz Taxi driver Toshiyuki Anzai

Toshiyuki Anzai, 67, is a cabbie in central Tokyo whose love of jazz drove him to start a unique Jazz Taxi service. His 90-minute cruises pair cityscapes with the most fitting music. Anzai plays songs that match not only the view but his passengers' moods — though he is partial to jazz, he sometimes...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Feb 21, 2009

Living life like a fairy tale

It's 5:40 a.m. Dawn has yet to peek over the mountains, and the forest surrounding Shonenji temple in Takachiho-cho still waits for morning.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle
Feb 19, 2009

Tokyo Taste summit provides food for thought

These days, the mere mention of Tokyo is enough to make gourmands drool. After garnering a staggering 227 Michelin stars this year, the city became the focus of the culinary world. So for several internationally renowned chefs who look to Japan for inspiration, traveling here last week to participate...
COMMENTARY
Feb 18, 2009

Face up to a common threat

Despite a spreading jihad culture, U.S. President Barack Obama has ended America's global "war on terror" as dramatically as his predecessor had initiated it. With the stroke of his pen, Obama has effectively terminated the war on terror that President George W. Bush had launched to defeat terrorists...
BUSINESS / THE VIEW FROM EUROPE
Feb 16, 2009

Germans, Japanese have good reasons for shunning equities

S tock markets around the world are really beginning to feel the effects of the financial crisis of 2008, with some industry watchers estimating that as much as $30 trillion of total market capitalization has been lost worldwide since 2007. This is hurting investors everywhere, big and small.
COMMENTARY
Feb 11, 2009

Casualties of mixing culture with politics

CHENNAI, India — Even in the best of times, politically, it is difficult to interpret Indian culture, which encompasses an ocean of thoughts and ideas and a river of traditions and beliefs. Yet, some rightwing political organizations have prepared their own treatises, or just about, on what the nation's...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Feb 6, 2009

'The Curious Case of Benjamin Button'

Director David Fincher is probably best known for his films "Seven" and "Fight Club." His star in both was Brad Pitt, whose iconic turn as an anticonsumerism terrorist in "Fight Club" was so sensational that it inspired an entire generation of men to go out and by maroon faux-leather jackets.
EDITORIALS
Feb 5, 2009

Other side of Sri Lanka's civil war

As the Sri Lankan military closes in on the remaining core of Tamil Tiger rebels, there is growing concern about the fate of civilians trapped in the conflict zone. The government, guerrillas and human rights groups trade accusations over who is responsible for the lives of thousands of noncombatants...
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 2, 2009

Chance to lift social equity in Latin America

WASHINGTON — In 2009, Latin America will move from a period of expansion to one of adjustment. Because of the global financial crisis, growth will slow down, unemployment rates will rise, and poverty will increase. And there will be fewer public resources to face enlarged social needs.
COMMENTARY / World / SENTAKU MAGAZINE
Jan 19, 2009

Aso getting the brushoff

As the approval rate for the government of Prime Minister Taro Aso plummets, bureaucrats have begun to distance themselves from him in favor of establishing closer ties with the No. 1 opposition Democratic Party of Japan, which they apparently think has at least a fair chance of displacing Aso's ruling...
EDITORIALS
Jan 9, 2009

Emperor's spirit of peace

Twenty years ago on Jan. 7, 1989, the Emperor ascended to the Chrysanthemum Throne immediately after the death of his father, the Emperor Showa. This year, the 20th anniversary of the Emperor's enthronement will be followed on April 10 by the 50th anniversary of his marriage with the Empress. We pray...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jan 9, 2009

'Kanna-san Daiseiko Desu!'/'Pride'

Female ambition, friendship and rivalry can, mixed together, make for a potent cinematic brew. "All About Eve" is one well-known example, though the relationship between Bette Davis' insecure middle-aged actress and Anne Baxter's worshipful, secretly scheming acolyte can hardly be called "friendship."...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jan 9, 2009

Pianist Kawai seeks out the real Chopin

"I had the sense I was on a mission when I decided to do this project," recounts Poland-based Japanese pianist Yuko Kawai, who has been introducing authentic versions of the works of Chopin (1810-49) — as restored in musical scores published as the National Edition — through her Chopinissimo recital...
CULTURE / Books
Jan 4, 2009

The beauty of imperfection and much more

"Wabi-sabi," which is two words combined, represents in abbreviated form an elusive concept that is key to the understanding of traditional Japanese aesthetics. Indeed, rather than a single concept, it is a cluster of ideas that permeate artistic practice in Japan, or at least did so in the past. Now,...
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 1, 2009

Will Obama's promise of change include U.S.-Japan relations?

The Jan. 20 inauguration of the U.S. administration of Barack H. Obama is not only of historic consequence for the United States in terms of his being the first black president as well as first chief executive from the post-Vietnam War generation, but it also has aroused extremely strong interest worldwide....
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 1, 2009

Is Aso only postponing the inevitable?

The political news that will have the most far-reaching repercussions into the new year is the plummeting approval rating of Prime Minister Taro Aso and his Cabinet, and his delay in dissolving the Lower House of the Diet for a general election.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jan 1, 2009

The battle for 2009's box office starts here

The Japanese film industry — particularly at the top, where Toho and the TV networks dwell — had a terrific 2008. Boosted by Hayao Miyazaki's animation "Gake no Ue no Ponyo" ("Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea"), which earned a splendiferous ¥15 billion, Toho passed the ¥70-billion box-office mark...
ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER
Dec 24, 2008

Common catfish

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.
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.
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Dec 7, 2008

Past events' bloodstained light casts a long and lasting shadow

On Dec. 7, the day of the Pearl Harbor attack in 1941 in Hawaii, the thoughts of many turn to wars, how they begin and the course they take.
JAPAN
Nov 30, 2008

Conference in Nagoya provides writing tips

NAGOYA — Japan has long been a favored destination, and a favorite subject, for Western scribes. In the 19th century, Laficadio Hearn and Isabella Bird penned books that were widely read in Europe and the United States. In the 20th century, novelists like James Michener and beat poet Gary Snyder were...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Nov 28, 2008

'1408'/'Diary of the Dead'

"1408" is the latest story by Stephen King to make it to the big screen, and it's quite similar to one of the first King movies, "The Shining." There's a cynical writer — John Cusack this time, instead of Jack Nicholson — who goes to stay at a spooky hotel, but it's OK, because he doesn't believe...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Nov 28, 2008

'252 — Seizonsha Ari'

Disaster pics have been big in Japan since the days of "Godzilla," the 1954 classic whose title monster served as a rubber-suited symbol for everything from earthquakes (that stomp) and fires (that breath) to atomic bombings (that city-wrecking power).
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Nov 20, 2008

You and whose Ami?

When singer and actress Ami Suzuki appears in the TBS drama "Love Letter" this month, she'll finally realize the end of a remarkable comeback.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle
Nov 18, 2008

Dancing babies get mom out of the house

In the last year, my son and I have seen concerts by Bob Dylan, Spoon, Alice Cooper, The Raconteurs, The Roots (twice) and Cheap Trick. He worships Ray Charles but is anxiously waiting for The Zutons and AC/DC to tour. His iPod spins a similarly eclectic mix. His younger sister is already showing a marked...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Nov 16, 2008

The billionaire bad boys' club

Takafumi Horie, the former CEO of Internet company Livedoor whose trial for insider trading continues in the courts, recently made his first TV appearance in three years on TBS's new talk show "Terebitte Yatsu wa?" ("What the Hell is TV?").
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Nov 7, 2008

'Sakura no Sono'

In 1990, Shun Nakahara — a religion-studies major at the University of Tokyo who later became a porno director — released his first straight feature, "Sakura no Sono" ("The Cherry Orchard"). Based on an Akimi Yoshida manga, the film described the day a drama club at an exclusive girls' school stages...
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 29, 2008

Obama, McCain all but ignore poverty issue

PRINCETON — Barack Obama worked for three years as a community organizer on Chicago's blighted South Side, so he knows all about the real poverty that exists in America. He knows that in one of the world's richest nations, 37 million people live in poverty, a far higher proportion than in Europe's...
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 29, 2008

Time to rescue Chris Patten

HONG KONG — His hair has turned white, but his voice is as mellifluous as ever and his wit just as eloquent and rapier-quick in puncturing balloons of self-importance and pomposity. It was a real delight to watch him in a BBC Hardtalk discussion on the economic crisis as he pricked pretentious statements...

Longform

After pandemic-era border regulations eased, Indian migrants began returning to Japan. Their population now stands at more than 50,000 across the country.
How remote work is rewriting the migrant experience in Japan