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Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / ON THE ROAD
Dec 2, 2007

'Godzilla' stomps on the competition

They called it "Godzilla" — and with good reason. When the original turbocharged Nissan Skyline GT-R emerged in 1989, it was hailed as the greatest ever Japanese sports car, a coupe to challenge Europe's top speedsters such as the Porsche 911 and Ferrari Testarossa. It was never officially exported...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Dec 1, 2007

Company has visions of a brighter future

Have you heard of a sustainable plant that produces fuel as well as homeopathic medicines? Or a revolutionary process that turns garbage or plants into fuel?
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / MAKING A DIFFERENCE
Dec 1, 2007

Group helps volunteers get their hands on work

No matter how badly someone wants to put their good will to use, getting a handle on where to start is often the hardest thing to grasp. Realizing this difficulty, a group of U.S. volunteers in the late '80s got together to create New York Cares, an organization that helps link the ambitious aims of...
BASKETBALL / HOOP SCOOP
Dec 1, 2007

Winless Grouses shooting for turnaround

This is a tale of two expansion teams. One had a banner season in 2006-07; the other experienced growing pains from the get-go.
BASKETBALL / BJ-LEAGUE NOTEBOOK
Nov 30, 2007

Golden Kings' No. 1 draft pick Takushi realizing big potential

Ryukyu Golden Kings point guard Naoto Takushi, the No. 1 pick in the 2007 bj-league draft, is living up to the high expectations placed on him.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Nov 30, 2007

'Hannari — Geisha Modern'

Over the years, many people have asked me why I bother to review Japanese films, when so few non-Japanese-speaking foreigners can fully appreciate them.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Nov 29, 2007

Translator of the universal and the local

In his 1987 book "Ireland Kiko (Travels in Ireland)," the renowned historical novelist and essayist Ryotaro Shiba (1923-96) observed that "the typical Irish character could easily be dramatized," and that "Ireland is one of the richest countries for the literary arts, with people whose daily lives are...
SUMO / SUMO SCRIBBLINGS
Nov 28, 2007

Hakuho notches another as the ozeki raise eyebrows

This year's Kyushu Basho, which ended Sunday, saw Hakuho stride through the muck and grime to claim the fifth title of his career with a 12-win, 3-loss record. When push came to shove, his class shined through. Hakuho, who is looking more and more like the second coming of the great yokozuna Futabayama,...
BASEBALL / SPORTS SCOPE
Nov 28, 2007

Ueda may excel on LPGA Tour where Miyazato has not

Not too long ago the general consensus was that Ai Miyazato would become Japan's first breakthrough star on an American golf tour. She may yet become a superstar, but there's another Japanese player that may get there first.
COMMENTARY / World / SENTAKU MAGAZINE
Nov 27, 2007

Politicians who took a stand

We often hear nowadays that politicians in Japan are "smaller" than they used to be. The reference, of course, is not to physique but rather to the capacity of today's politicians to demonstrate broad-mindedness and magnanimity as their predecessors did.
MORE SPORTS
Nov 26, 2007

Sports sound bites beginning to bite back

Boxers earn their money saying things that might get people to buy tickets. So it wasn't exactly surprising when Floyd Mayweather Jr. suggested to Ricky Hatton the other day that they might enjoy being prison cellmates together.
SPORTS / SPORTS SCOPE
Nov 25, 2007

Lack of sponsor hurting Nakano

It's amazing how vast the difference between perception and reality can be.
Reader Mail
Nov 25, 2007

Why aim for permanent residency?

Regarding the Nov. 21 article "Foreign arrivals get biometric scan": I became a permanent resident of Japan in 2003 after going through so many administrative headaches and being fingerprinted and photographed quite a few times (the process took nearly 20 years!) We foreigners all know how protectionist...
CULTURE / Books
Nov 25, 2007

Tales of Meiji love, lust and drinking tea

Mistress Oriku: Stories from a Tokyo Teahouse by Matsutaro Kawaguchi. Tuttle Publishing, 280 pp., 2007, ¥1,785 (paper) During the middle to late years of the Meiji Era, factories, cement works and commercial shipyards began to spring up like noxious mushrooms along the embankments of Tokyo's Sumida...
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / NATURE TRAVEL
Nov 25, 2007

The rigors of indolence!

After a week of decadent inactivity in the Aegean Dream resort on the coast of Turkey's Bodrum Peninsula I woke (late) to the disturbing realization that — as I confessed on this page last month — I had ceased to be a travel writer.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Nov 25, 2007

Oh mother, I can feel the soil falling over your head

As shown by the media frenzy sparked by lapses in decorum on the part of women like Lindsay Lohan, Paris Hilton and Britney Spears, the value of a person's sins increases exponentially in direct proportion to her fame. Women celebrities are subject to closer scrutiny for their mistakes than are men,...
Japan Times
LIFE
Nov 25, 2007

Polishing a paradox high up in the sky

In the 1987 Japanese film "Gondola," a lonely window cleaner — mid-wipe, no less, and maneuvering high up on the side of an apartment building — catches sight of a young woman inside. She returns his glance and, with the sun's rays sparkling on the freshly cleaned pane of glass between them, a deep...
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Nov 25, 2007

Salvation Skype's out for a state of despair

I must confess this Sunday. No, I am not about to blurt out my sins. I would rather keep those to myself, thank you. The confession today is out of total despair. Despair for this country we are living in: Japan.
SOCCER / World cup
Nov 21, 2007

Okada now frontrunner to replace stricken Osim

Takeshi Okada has emerged as the frontrunner to take over from the stricken Ivica Osim as Japan national team coach and is expected to be named the Bosnian's successor, The Japan Times learned late Tuesday evening.
ENVIRONMENT / WILD WATCH
Nov 21, 2007

Biodiversity to take your breath away

I promised that I would write more about my recent visit to South America, and as the first snows are now regularly dusting the mountains on view from my window here in Hokkaido — and even coating my balcony — it's hard not to reflect on times spent in warmer climes.
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design
Nov 20, 2007

A support service for sufferers

Phones ring off the hook in the office of VOL-NEXT, a Tokyo-based company that offers various goods and services for women battling breast cancer. Chiharu Soga, the demure 42-year-old who runs the three-year-old company, has just fielded a phone call made in desperation by the sister of a recently diagnosed...
LIFE / Language
Nov 20, 2007

Dial up a good impression with denwa echiketto

"Moshi-moshi. Kochira wa Japan Taimuzu no Shuraibaa to moshimasu. Itsumo wo sewa ni natte orimasu" ("Hello, this is Schreiber of the Japan Times. Thanks as always for your kind support.")

Longform

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