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COMMENTARY / World
Jan 19, 2009

In vitro fertilization stands test of 30 years

MELBOURNE, Australia — Louise Brown, the first person to be conceived outside a human body, turned 30 last year. The birth of a "test-tube baby," as the headlines described in vitro fertilization, was highly controversial at the time.
Reader Mail
Jan 18, 2009

A 'right' that should be abhorred

I am very positive about my life in Japan, and came here to leave Britain behind, which is less comfortable both economically and socially. Every country has something minor that one can gripe about endlessly, be it the political system, bureaucracy or public transport. Griping about these things helps...
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Jan 18, 2009

Finding the fabled Snow Country

"The special delights of the hot spring are for the unaccompanied gentleman," states the introduction to Yasunari Kawabata's "Snow Country," instantly seizing the attention.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / WILD WATCH
Jan 18, 2009

Karori: A wildlife sanctuary for our times

A new year has begun, signs of change abound, and this column has migrated to a new page. The economic crises of 2008 are still with us and the nightmare of global climate shock is not one that we can awaken from. But among all this there are signs of hope.
EDITORIALS
Jan 18, 2009

Househusbands on the rise

A recent survey conducted by the Kaji Kentei Jikko Iinkai (Housework Aptitude Test Association) reveals a great deal about the aspirations inside Japanese homes. Apparently, a surprisingly large number of married Japanese men — nearly 30 percent — would not mind being househusbands. This may not...
Japan Times
LIFE / WEEK 3
Jan 18, 2009

Urban hogs dig Setagaya

From the outside Yukihiko Yoshioka's property could easily be mistaken for a traditional Japanese-style house with a small garden. After all, this is Tokyo's Setagaya Ward, a premier residential neighborhood in central Tokyo, and Yoshioka's property is only a few minutes' walk from the local shopping...
CULTURE / Music / FUZZY LOGIC
Jan 16, 2009

School's out

Matilda isn't waltzing. She's sprinting toward me outside Shinsaibashi Station in Osaka with the speed of a Jamaican Olympian chewing cheetah gonads. A meter from me she screams "Simon!" and takes a flying leap, so I instinctively reach out and I'm holding this tiny 18-year-old in my arms like she's...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / FUZZY LOGIC
Jan 16, 2009

School's out

Matilda isn't waltzing. She's sprinting toward me outside Shinsaibashi Station in Osaka with the speed of a Jamaican Olympian chewing cheetah gonads. A meter from me she screams "Simon!" and takes a flying leap, so I instinctively reach out and I'm holding this tiny 18-year-old in my arms like she's...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jan 16, 2009

'Hell Ride'/'Filth and Wisdom'

Glancing at the poster for "Hell Ride," you'd think it was the second coming of some long-lost 1968 biker flick, some Roger Corman-produced exploitation nasty like "The Wild Angels" or "Chrome and Hot Leather." But no, this is a homage to '60s biker flicks, produced by trash-movie sommelier Quentin Tarantino,...
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jan 15, 2009

Toy makers concentrate on robots that can soothe a harried populace

In the hustle and bustle of everyday life, people need some relaxation, and that's what the Japanese toy industry will be selling this year.
BASKETBALL / NBA / NBA REPORT
Jan 14, 2009

Time for Knicks to get tough with Marbury

NEW YORK — If I were the Knicks' supreme commander, the moment Stephon Marbury contemptuously announced he wouldn't accept a Lincoln penny less than his final season's $20.8 million salary calls for to become a free agent, I would have ended any and all absurd conjecture about him saddling up somewhere...
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital / IGADGET
Jan 14, 2009

New cameras aim to make kids more than just a blur

Focused product: Gadgets can help transform the difficult into the routine and make the impossible possible. In the world of home movies, the current challenge is developing the technology that drives autofocus in video cameras. This is tougher than it seems, because the average camcorder user makes...
COMMUNITY / Voices / HOTLINE TO NAGATACHO
Jan 13, 2009

Digital 'big switch' is big con

Visit any electronics shop and you cannot escape reminders that in July 2011, Japan will end analog TV broadcasts and switch over to digital. After that time, existing analog TV sets will require adapters, but over the next 2 1/2 years most people are expected to discard their set for a digital model....
COMMUNITY
Jan 13, 2009

Have your say: Back to the baths

Following are a selection of responses to Paul de Vries' "Back to the baths: Otaru revisited" (Zeit Gist, Dec. 2).
Japan Times
Events / WHERE IT'S AT
Jan 13, 2009

Women's Group kicks off with lucky tour

Members of the Tokyo American Club Women's Group participated in the Seven Lucky Gods Tour in Tokyo's old and picturesque district of Yanaka on Saturday.
Reader Mail
Jan 11, 2009

Losing patience with U.S. system

George Will's Jan. 4 article, "The increasing costs of longevity," simply underscores the ignorance most Americans have of both alternative health-care systems and the power of special interest lobbies. The 15 percent or so of Americans who listen to National Public Radio or the Public Broadcasting...
LIFE
Jan 11, 2009

A meeting of minds

OXFORD ENGLAND — The last leaves were falling and the world was plunging into an economic crisis as journalists from around the world gathered for a meeting in England. The venue, though, was not a conference room in the financial hub of the City of London, but the ancient university city of Oxford,...
Japan Times
LIFE
Jan 11, 2009

Asia University for Women: magic in the making

Perhaps it is only fitting in this time of dismal economic news that Bangladesh, a country known principally for natural disasters and human misery, provides an inspiring and uplifting story to relieve the gathering gloom.
SOCCER / PREMIER REPORT
Jan 10, 2009

Documentary on Gascoigne an absolute disgrace

LONDON — It is rare that a television program involving football makes you feel so uncomfortable that you turn it off.
Japan Times
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Jan 9, 2009

Simple stage for classic poem

If soaring words and soulful music are what you seek from theatergoing, then look no further than "Enoch Arden," the first program in Tokyo-based production company Total Stage Produce's series, titled "A Link Between Words/Language and Music."
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jan 9, 2009

In the space

Synesthesia is a condition in which stimulation of one sense triggers sensation in another. While very few people have it, most of us are able to understand it at the level of analogy. Musicians, for example, use "chromatic" scales (derived from the Greek word for color), while visual artists routinely...
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 / Music
Jan 9, 2009

LAZYgunsBRISKY — "Catching!"; Jonny — "Cake Album"

Typical. You wait an apparently interminable period for a decent new grrrl-punk band (it's been at least three months!) and then two turn up at once.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jan 9, 2009

LAZYgunsBRISKY — "Catching!"; Jonny — "Cake Album"

Typical. You wait an apparently interminable period for a decent new grrrl-punk band (it's been at least three months!) and then two turn up at once.

Longform

In 2020, 38% of all households were single-person. That figure is projected to rise to 44.3% by 2050.
The rise of AI companionship in a lonely Japan