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JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Jun 29, 2008

Akihabara killer followed plot mapped by the media

After serial killer Tsutomu Miyazaki was hanged on June 17, some death-penalty opponents wondered out loud if Justice Minister Kunio Hatoyama had signed the execution order as a response to the indiscriminate murders of seven people on the streets of Akihabara nine days earlier. Of course, Hatoyama didn't...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives
Jun 29, 2008

David Bull: In the wake of Hokusai

From behind his shaggy beard, affable British-born Canadian woodblock printmaker David Bull ended our interview at his studio in western Tokyo with what sounded like a challenge.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Jun 29, 2008

Having faith in traveling

EXCURSIONS IN IDENTITY: Travel and the Intersection of Place, Gender and Status in Edo Japan, by Laura Nenzi. Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press, 2008, 267 pp., illustrations IX, $57 (cloth) During Japan's Edo Period (1603-1867), Dr. Laura Nenzi tells us, "physical mobility (traveling along horizontal...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives
Jun 29, 2008

Jero: U.S. enka singer takes Japanese soul by storm

Decked out in his broad-brimmed baseball cap, silver necklace and jeans, the young man stands alone on a black stage. With his voice full of emotion, he begins to sing in Japanese:
BUSINESS
Jun 28, 2008

Mitsubishi buys 34% stake in Cima

Mitsubishi Corp., the nation's biggest trading company, bought a 34 percent stake in Houston-based natural gas and oil wholesaler Cima Energy Ltd. to tap demand in the world's biggest energy market.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 27, 2008

LDP's future as dicey as Humpty Dumpty's

BRUSSELS — Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda has been in office less than 12 months, yet polls show popular support for his administration running around 20 percent. Fukuda and his Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) face a bleak future.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jun 27, 2008

'Aruitemo Aruitemo'

Family drama is the default setting of serious Japanese cinema. No matter what genre first brings Japanese directors fame or fortune, be it Sci Fi/fantasy, yakuza epics or horror, they often end up making a family drama, especially if they want to establish their auteurist credentials. The Western used...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jun 27, 2008

Joan of Arc

American label Polyvinyl Records is promoting "Boo Human," the latest effort from the Chicago band Joan of Arc,as their "most accessible, cohesive" work since 1998's "How Memory Works."
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 26, 2008

Balancing act across Taiwan Strait

WASHINGTON — So far, events have proven the optimists to be correct. The dialogue between Taiwan's Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) and China's Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait (ARATS) has resumed. As the basis, the Taiwan side only pledged adherence to the "1992 consensus," and...
Reader Mail
Jun 26, 2008

The real risks from mad cows

The June 21 feature "South Korean Netizens mad over mad cow" wastes a great deal of space detailing the more ridiculous fears of South Koreans while ignoring the very real threat that does exist, not only to Koreans but to Japanese alike.
EDITORIALS
Jun 26, 2008

Divided Diet on break

The ordinary Diet session ended last week, but an extraordinary session will begin in late August with the Diet as divided as it is now. Despite confusion, the divided Diet produced some desirable results. Based on their experiences in the ordinary Diet session, both the ruling and opposition forces...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jun 26, 2008

The soul of the samurai on show

Referred to as the soul of the samurai, the Japanese sword is a wonderful blend of elegance and power, artistry and craft.
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
Jun 25, 2008

All hail capitalism, mendacious destroyer of life on Earth

If you're hoping that the representatives of the world's richest nations meeting in Hokkaido for the G8 Summit next month will take action on climate change, you're in for a disappointment.
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital
Jun 25, 2008

Japanese Facebook takes Model T approach

Late last month, as part of a rare work-vacation trip to Asia, Mark Zuckerberg made a quick stop in Tokyo to announce the launch of Facebook Japan.
Japan Times
BASKETBALL / ONE-ON-ONE WITH ...
Jun 22, 2008

Aoshima provides enthusiastic analysis for Japan's hoops fans

The Japan Times will be featuring periodic interviews with players in the bj-league — Japan's first professional basketball circuit — which wrapped up its third season in May.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jun 22, 2008

Nobel laureate raps Japan for avoiding midterm carbon goal

YOKOHAMA — Japan's reasons for not committing to a medium-term target for cutting carbon emissions are "unfounded," the chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change told The Japan Times on Saturday.
LIFE / Travel
Jun 22, 2008

In the footsteps of Dylan Thomas

SWANSEA, Wales — Thursday night in Swansea and it's a full house. Outside, it's the kind of night that Dylan Thomas would have described as "starless and Bible black." Inside, text-messaging teenagers and polite pensioners count the seconds to the interval and the ritual stampede for ice-cream as the...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Jun 21, 2008

An up-close look at global intelligence

Jun Isomura is delighted to meet twice. The first time I am in the front of a car, taking notes, he in the back, out of sight, answering questions in impeccably accented British English. It is only when we disembark that we finally meet face to face.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jun 20, 2008

'The Magic Hour'

Koki Mitani is the reigning king of comedy in Japan, as the writer and sometimes director of a string of hit stage plays, TV series and three feature films that culminated in 2006 with "The Uchoten Hotel (Suite Dream)." This laugh-packed take-off on the 1932 Greta Garbo classic "Grand Hotel," based on...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jun 20, 2008

The rhythm is gonna Gotye

"There are just tons of bands in Melbourne, and I think there is a bit of a chip on the shoulder that too many of them are going unrecognized." So says Wally De Backer, aka Gotye.
Japan Times
JAPAN / G8 COUNTDOWN
Jun 20, 2008

Ambassador touts biofuel as climate change cure

Criticism that Brazil has prioritized the manufacture of biofuel at the expense of food production is preposterous and flies in the face of a superb solution for global warming, according to the Brazilian ambassador to Japan.
Japan Times
JAPAN / RETRACING ROUTES
Jun 19, 2008

'Nikkei' craft own unique ethnicity, samba to manga

Igor Inocima's face filled with contentment as he described the achievement of introducing the culture of manga to Brazil, where his grandparents emigrated to some 80 years ago.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jun 19, 2008

Kiyoshiro Imawano at Fuji Rock Festival

Legendary rip-roaring rocker Kiyoshiro Imawano — who bears the soul of Otis Redding and the flamboyance of Marc Bolan — hasn't had the best of times over the last few years. The keen cyclist first had his bicycle stolen, which seemed a threat to future Fuji Rock performances as he has been known...
COMMENTARY
Jun 18, 2008

Is the India and China hype true?

Today it has become commonplace to speak of India and China in the same breadth as two emerging great powers challenging the two-century-old Western domination of the world.

Longform

Japan's growing ranks of centenarians are redefining what it means to live in a super-aging society.
What comes after 100?