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Japan Times
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Jul 13, 2007

Step into her world

For more than a decade, DJ Mary Anne Hobbs has built a reputation at BBC Radio 1 for having musical tastes that are as cutting edge as they are eclectic.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jul 13, 2007

'The Magic Flute'

"The Magic Flute" is one of the most familiar and best-loved operas in the world, but barring Mozart and opera enthusiasts, how many can claim to have sat through the whole thing and er, understood it all?
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jul 12, 2007

From a whim to pottery passion

Masayuki Inoue's repertoire includes sky-high monoliths and massive sculptures that span several meters. Many of these monumental works are held together by metal bolts and industrial adhesive, which in itself is not particularly unusual in the world of contemporary art. But here's the twist: Inoue is...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jul 12, 2007

Speaking up for the 'divine' but undiscussed

Summer is the time of year when the Japanese remember the dead, most notably during the Bon festival, and the end of World War II, though the collective memory of the latter fades with each passing year. The Japanese are probably better at forgetting than other people in the world (indeed, the culture...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jul 12, 2007

Japan's saucy chameleon of Modernism

Japanese modernist art is often described as being derivative of its Western counterpart, but beneath the surface a real difference between them can be likened to that between religion in Japan and the West.
Reader Mail
Jul 11, 2007

Slow response to toxic pollution

Regarding Stephen Hesse's June 27 article, "Is this a poisons coverup?": Some other questions might be: Who was responsible for building the Jinkanpo incinerator so close to a housing area at the U.S. Naval Air Facility at Atsugi? Why didn't the Japanese government take greater care to safeguard the...
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER
Jul 11, 2007

Rock swallow

* Japanese name: Iwa tsubame * Scientific name: Delichon dasypus * Description: The translation of the Chinese name for this bird is smoky-bellied hair-leg swallow. It is also known as the Asian housemartin. It's a small bird, some 12-cm long, and is colored a dark steel-blue above and is white —...
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 11, 2007

Palestinians' 'Blair option' needs help

LOS ANGELES — The release of an abducted BBC journalist in Gaza is being seen by some as an attempt by Hamas (which denies any part in the kidnapping) to curry favor with Tony Blair, who on stepping down as Britain's prime minister was appointed international envoy to Israel and Palestine. Blair has...
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Jul 10, 2007

Allure of cakes too much for housewives to resist

Twenty years ago, Japanese girls were told that marriage should be the last item on the list of to-dos after college, that hankering after a wedding ring was idiotic and that the first and foremost concern should be work and a career.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Jul 10, 2007

Hawker T-shirt campaign launched

In March, 22-year-old Nova teacher Lindsay Ann Hawker was brutally murdered in Ichikawa, Chiba Prefecture. Tatsuya Ichihashi remains the Japanese police's only suspect and has still not been found.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 8, 2007

How the West lost its nerve with Russia

MOSCOW — Nation-states are built on ethnic and territorial unity, and their histories and political development are grounded in a sense of collective identity. Empires emerge when a national group considers its existence inside its territorial borders either risky or ineffective, and embarks on a forced...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Jul 8, 2007

Take a slab of meat, beef up the label on it and Hope for the best

There's a stereotype that says the Japanese possess a refined palate. The French are said to possess it, too, but have you seen a French movie lately? All they eat is spaghetti.
LIFE / REFUGEES AND JAPAN
Jul 8, 2007

Kleptocracy to 'freedom'?

Hla Aye Maung's nightmare began in the central Tokyo district of Nishi Nippori when he went shopping. A police car pulled up beside him and the officers found he was one of the more than 250,000 illegal aliens apparently working in Japan. They took him to a police station in nearby Ueno, from where he...
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Jul 8, 2007

Separated siblings family drama, young romantic comedy, melodrama of women competing for the same man

This summer's crop of drama series is dominated by young female leads as opposed to the usual bunch of cute boys. In its most crucial time slot, Monday at 9 p.m., Fuji TV is offering up "First Kiss," which is about a pair of siblings who were separated as small children when their parents divorced.
Japan Times
LIFE / REFUGEES AND JAPAN
Jul 8, 2007

'Liars' who won lottery

Just 410 — the number of refugees accepted by Japan since 1982 — says a lot about government policy toward those who flee political persecution in their home countries. They wouldn't fill more than a few cars on a rush-hour commuter train!
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Jul 7, 2007

'Bad-boy papa' puts kids on track to fame, glory

The doors to Seisaku Watanabe's workshop cum salesroom cum clubhouse in west Tokyo's Inagi stand open to all. Waving from inside, he motions passersby to drop in, take a look, have a chat.
COMMENTARY
Jul 6, 2007

Low-cost investments to save children

NEW YORK — In the world today there are over 600 million children under 5 years old. They represent the best hopes for the planet, yet more than 5 million of them die every year as a result of environment-related diseases. Their deaths could be prevented by using low-cost and sustainable tools and...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jul 6, 2007

'Koi Suru Nichiyobi Watashi Koi Shita'

In the 1990s the WOWOW satellite station financed a series of films under the banner J Movie Wars. With producer Takenori Sento at the helm, J Movies Wars became a fertile breeding ground for young directing talent, including Naomi Kawase, who won the Cannes Camera d'Or prize in 1997 for her debut feature...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jul 6, 2007

Crystal Kay is all yours

"I've been on the Crystal Kay train," says the R&B diva sitting across the table. Twenty-one-year-old Crystal Kay isn't speaking figuratively, or in some sort of existential code; she's referring instead to Tokyo's Yamanote Line, whose carriages were recently plastered inside and out with her visage...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jul 5, 2007

"Katsutoshi Yuasa: The World is Overflowing with Light"

Cibone Gallery Closes in 55 days
BASKETBALL / NBA / NBA REPORT
Jul 4, 2007

Lakers won't buckle and trade Kobe

NEW YORK — Before I go away for the summer (to camp . . . at least that's what my family is telling me), there are certain things I want to get off my chest.
Reader Mail
Jul 4, 2007

'Creator' assumed in the past

Regarding Peter Milward's June 24 letter, "Cute description of creation": Milward clearly rates himself alongside the "true scientists" in history as opposed to ordinary scientists such as Richard Dawkins, who "merely looks at what he sees and verifies it in the material universe." There are objections...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Jul 3, 2007

Eight-year ordeal nears end for Kurdish family

Visitors to the Tokyo Regional Immigration Bureau can't miss a giant banner strung over the main hall of Shinagawa JR Station. Sponsored by the bureau, the sign implores those who pass under it to obey the rules as Japan globalizes. In the household of Erdal Dogan, it provokes hollow laughs.
BUSINESS
Jul 3, 2007

'Tankan' shows big makers still optimistic

Business sentiment for big manufacturers remained optimistic in the Bank of Japan's latest "tankan" survey released Monday, fueling market speculation the central bank will raise the interest rate as early as next month.
Reader Mail
Jul 1, 2007

Considerations of a troublemaker

I assent from the bottom of my heart to Roger Pulvers' description of compulsive reverence toward others in his June 10 Counterpoint column, "In Japan show reverence where it's due." There is nothing that alienates me more from this country and its people than what I would call "the double-edged sword...
MORE SPORTS
Jun 30, 2007

WWE hysteria all McMahon's doing

NEW YORK — Hucksters make their living ahead of the curve, or at the very least, by selling that illusion.

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