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Reader Mail
May 13, 2007

Obara ruling disgraceful

I was astonished and outraged at the acquittal of Joji Obara in the Lucy Blackman rape and murder case. If Blackman did not get the justice that she deserved, at least her case will open eyes and make people question the quality of police forensic work and, above all, the credibility of the entire judiciary...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
May 13, 2007

Combining East and West in dramaturgy

AN ACTOR'S TRICKS by Yoshi Oida and Lorna Marshall, foreword by Peter Brook. London: Methuen Drama, A&A Black Ltd., 2007, 102 pp., £10.99 (paper) Yoshi Oida, born in 1933, is one of Japan's most interesting actor-directors. Trained in the classical stage disciplines, particularly that of the Kyogen,...
SOCCER / PREMIER REPORT
May 12, 2007

Gang of Four holding out hope courts will drop West Ham

LONDON — Celebratory glasses will be raised by those who escape relegation from the Premiership, but a nasty whiff of sour grapes surrounds the final round of fixtures tomorrow Sunday.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / NIHONSHU
May 11, 2007

Different regions, different sake

Sake has gone global in recent years and, as might be expected, drinkers new to Japan's signature beverage often look for parallels with more familiar tipples when choosing what to imbibe.
EDITORIALS
May 10, 2007

A shakeup for France?

Mr. Nicolas Sarkozy is the new president of France. The former interior minister bested Ms. Segolene Royal, the Socialist candidate, in the second round of the election with 53 percent of votes cast. France is bracing for real change, with the president-elect promising a package of reforms within 100...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
May 10, 2007

Modern girls and outrage

The Taisho Era (1912-1926) saw young habitues of Japan's cafe society challenging and outraging their parents as they danced, smooched and smoked cigarettes, aping their idols of the silver screen. Emblematic of the age was the moga (modan gaaru, or modern girl) with her Western shoes, dresses, makeup...
LIFE / Digital / IGADGET
May 9, 2007

BYO cool air and pet stress patches

Climbing Mount Fuji is a right of passage that comes with a price tag. Just breathing at that elevated altitude is a challenge. Technology offers a solution, at a cost, with canned oxygen. An object of some ridicule during the climb's early stages, it is a blessed relief near the top. Now, strutting...
Japan Times
JAPAN / CHARTER TURNS 60
May 8, 2007

Sakurai weighs in on patriotism

Love of nation has become a hot political debate topic in Japan.
Japan Times
JAPAN
May 8, 2007

Constitution protects all: political expert

Political science professor Kang Sang Jung had no interest in the Constitution until the 1980s.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / TAKING A CHANCE
May 8, 2007

Bomb bra put Peach John on path to popularity

Two decades ago, the ideal career path was to join a blue chip company and steadily climb the corporate ladder until retirement — a system that helped sustain Japan's economic growth.
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
May 8, 2007

Children of yesterday had more rags than riches

I saw a young girl and her sister with their parents the other day in Isetan, the department store of choice for young, hip families in the Tokyo area, probably shopping for Children's Day (Kodomo no Hi), which was last Saturday.
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
May 8, 2007

Health insurance headaches

D.C. wrote to Lifelines with a question about health insurance.
MORE SPORTS
May 6, 2007

One eye good enough for one brave horse in Kentucky Derby

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Cover your right eye.
CULTURE / Books
May 6, 2007

In Japan, dogs 'wan,' cats 'nya' and cows 'mo'

HIRA HIRA KIRARI: Michey's Word Play, Onomatopoeia 1, 2, 3, by Mitsuko Hasse, illustrated by Haruko Nakaune, translated by Darrel Frentz. Fuzambo International, 2006, 155 pp., 2,000 yen (paper) Those familiar with The Japan Times' bilingual page will know Michey, the star of Word Play, a cartoon column...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
May 6, 2007

The different cases of Inspector Hanshichi

THE CURIOUS CASEBOOK OF INSPECTOR HANSHICHI: Detective Stories of Old Edo, by Kido Okamoto, translated by Ian MacDonald. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 2007, 335 pp., $24 (paper) Between 1916 and 1937 the critic and playwright Kido Okamoto (1872-1939) published the "Hanshichi Torimonocho"; stories,...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
May 6, 2007

Baseball federation and schools cause student players to suffer

Some scandals shock the public and others don't. The latter type usually involves organizational malfeasance that people suspect is a normal fact of life. However, in some rare cases a scandal of this type will actually strike people in a contradictory way: The purported malfeasance is not a surprise,...
CULTURE / TV & Streaming
May 6, 2007

Celebrity cooking game, manga coming-of-age story and obscure hobbies variety show

No one is waiting for yet another TV variety show about food, but TV Asahi's new program "Oishinsuke" (Monday, 7 p.m.) at least has the advantage of being hosted by comedian Shinsuke Shimada, whose lightning-fast, cynical wit might give the subject matter a funnier spin.
SOCCER / PREMIER REPORT
May 5, 2007

Liverpool, Milan prove worthy Champions League finalists

LONDON — The Athens police, sponsors, television companies and millions of fans around the world can relax. The Champions League final will not be between Liverpool and Manchester United, a matchup that would virtually have guaranteed nasty scenes in the Greek capital between two sets of fans whose...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
May 5, 2007

Elvis impersonators may be answer to island's problem

Like many other places in Japan's countryside, Shiraishi Island is suffering from depopulation. When I came here 10 years ago, the population was 900. Now it is almost 700. Which goes to show that anyone can have his or her own island if one waits long enough.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
May 4, 2007

'Ahiru to Kamo no Coin Locker'

Many directors keep returning to the same themes and motifs again and again. Alfred Hitchcock liked to torture ice queens (Grace Kelly, Kim Novak, Tippi Hedren), while Luis Bunuel, the master surrealist, subverted everyday reality with bizarre and disturbing imagery, like a sleeper returning to a familiar...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
May 4, 2007

'Tsotsi'

A while back in these pages, I was dumping on a movie ("The Last King Of Scotland") for giving us the same-old white man's view of Africa. What we really needed, I wrote, was an African view of Africa, something like an African "City of God," which gave an insider's look at life and crime in Rio's favelas....
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / WALKING THE WARDS
May 4, 2007

The sun shines in spiritland

Toshima Ward is rife with zombies and familiar spirits. In the wee hours near the stationopolis of Ikebukuro, pale-faced university students, partied-out salarymen and a host of others wander the streets until the first trains arrive. These are Toshima's innocuous shades; there are others more spine...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
May 4, 2007

'The Reaping'

"Sometimes people just need to believe in miracles," goes a line in "The Reaping," but by the time you hear it, you've pretty much ditched that effort at least as far as this film is concerned. Starring two-time Academy Award winner Hilary Swank, "The Reaping" pretty much wastes her talents and those...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
May 3, 2007

Banners for the boys

Celebrated on May 5, Japan's Children's Day originated as an ancient Chinese festival from the old lunar calendar that marked a day to ward off evil spirits and pray for good health.

Longform

Figure skater Akiko Suzuki was once told her ideal weight should be 47 kilograms, a number she now admits she “naively believed.” This led to her have a relationship with food that resulted in her suffering from anorexia.
The silent battle Japanese athletes fight with weight