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Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Mar 5, 2010

Moools "Weather Sketch Modified"

Much has been made of the strong ties Tokyo's Moools have forged with U.S. indie imprint K Records. And while the relationship has helped the underground rock trio tour overseas and earn slots supporting the seminal label's visiting bands and other acclaimed U.S. acts such as Modest Mouse and recently...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Mar 5, 2010

A rogue on high

In real life, Ishikawa Goemon was the leader of a band of burglars in Kyoto who was caught in the summer of 1594 trying to kill Toyotomi Hideyoshi, the foremost politician of his day, and was duly executed at age 36 along with many members of his family and his gang.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Mar 5, 2010

Dan Graham: In defiance of convention

New York-based Dan Graham is a pioneer of conceptual art who has defied convention throughout most of his 40-year career. Born in Illinois and raised primarily in New Jersey, he started out by creating text-based concept pieces intended for distribution in magazines. Then he moved on to performances...
BUSINESS / YEN FOR LIVING
Mar 4, 2010

Annals of cheap: Tokyo Metro kaisuken

Smart cards such as PASMO and Suica are convenient for traveling in Tokyo but there's hidden value in the Metro's kaisuken (multiple tickets).
JAPAN
Mar 4, 2010

Battle lines drawn across Nagoya land

OSAKA — Home to a biologically diverse "satoyama" ecosystem, a Nagoya land tract is at the center of a struggle between the owners who want to develop it and local citizens who want it preserved to demonstrate environmental responsibility.
JAPAN
Mar 4, 2010

Foreigners get nod to skip social insurance

The Immigration Bureau announced Wednesday new guidelines for foreign residents, stating that joining the social insurance system is not a requirement for renewing or changing one's visa status.
JAPAN
Mar 3, 2010

Dispatch of medical team to Chile called off

The government abruptly called off sending an emergency medical team to earthquake-hit Chile on Tuesday after Santiago declined the offer of assistance.
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL: KEYES' POINT
Mar 3, 2010

At times the job of a saibanin can be real murder

Reiko glances nervously about her. She's never been in a saibansho (裁判所, courthouse) before. The sixth floor, the yobidashijō (呼び出し状, summons) had said. She looks around for an elevator.
Japan Times
SOCCER / J. League
Mar 3, 2010

Frontale placing hopes on Inamoto

If there was a certain inevitability about the way Kawasaki Frontale failed to win their first piece of major silverware last season, it did not go unnoticed by anyone at the Kanagawa club.
EDITORIALS
Mar 2, 2010

Security for dispatch workers

The labor ministry last month asked an advisory body to discuss possible revisions to the law governing the dispatch of temporary contract workers. The Hatoyama administration hopes to improve the stability of dispatch workers' employment situation, and plans to send a bill containing revisions to the...
BASEBALL / SPORTS SCOPE
Mar 2, 2010

BayStars in need of revolution on mound

The Yokohama BayStars have a lot of pitchers, new and old.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 2, 2010

Whose GDP is No. 2 misses point

HONG KONG — News headlines this month proclaimed that Japan is still the world's second-biggest economy, ahead of its neighbor China. Gross domestic product figures for 2009 showed Japan with $5.085 trillion against China's $4.91 trillion.
BUSINESS
Mar 2, 2010

Desperate for jobs, U.S. town awaits Toyota plant

BLUE SPRINGS, Miss. — Terry McShan isn't thinking about car sales analyses or excess capacity when he drives by the idle Toyota plant in northeast Mississippi. He's thinking about his little girl.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHO'S WHO
Mar 2, 2010

Openness is key, bookseller says

Alastair Lamond, a 47-year-old Briton, is like many English-speaking foreigners. He began working in Japan as a teacher of his native tongue.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 1, 2010

Don't sweat decline of the traditional press

LJUBLJANA, Slovenia — Throughout history, political leaders have supported existing communication technologies in order to defend the system in which they rule. Today, too, governments may be tempted to protect newspapers and public TV on the pretext of "saving democracy as we know it."
CULTURE / Books
Feb 28, 2010

Seoul brothers take to the streets

Can the term "historical mystery" be applied to works set in the early 1970s? Perhaps not. But Martin Limon's series, now up to six volumes, reliably and compellingly captures the lives and times of George Sueno and Ernie Bascomb, sergeants assigned to the Criminal Investigation Division of the U.S....
SOCCER / PREMIER REPORT
Feb 27, 2010

Terry, injuries concern for Capello

LONDON — What a mess.
COMMUNITY
Feb 27, 2010

Something to be said for Japan's gray zone

It was an a-ha moment, an epiphany light-bolting across her face. It flickered with incredulous certainty and ended with awareness in her eyes.
Japan Times
SOCCER / J. League
Feb 27, 2010

Oliveira says Antlers hungry for another title

Kashima Antlers manager Oswaldo Oliveira insists success has left his record-breaking team hungrier than ever, and intends to prove the point in Saturday's Fuji Xerox Super Cup against Gamba Osaka.
BASKETBALL / BJ-LEAGUE NOTEBOOK
Feb 26, 2010

No excuse for poor results at free-throw line

Any league that doubles in size in its first five years will experience growing pains, and there's really no way to avoid this.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Feb 26, 2010

One of a kind

Theater programs the world over list the writer, director, cast members, designers, lighting specialists and such in their credits. Lately in Japan, though, a new role has begun to appear in among those credits — that of "dramaturge."
JAPAN
Feb 25, 2010

Japan starting to balk at footing bill for U.S. forces

GINOWAN, Okinawa Pref. — In Japan, where land is a precious commodity, many U.S. bases boast golf courses, football fields and giant shopping malls whose food courts offer everything from Taco Bell to Subway to Starbucks.
JAPAN
Feb 24, 2010

Shinjuku gay enclave in decline but not on the surface

Nothing outside Tokyo's 24-Kaikan hotel hints at what goes on behind its gray concrete walls.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 24, 2010

The IMF to Greece's rescue?

WASHINGTON — Traditionally "you should go to the IMF" was not something you would say to friendly neighbors and close allies. Over the past few decades, the International Monetary Fund became associated with excessive fiscal austerity, extreme political insensitivity, and — since the Asian financial...

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