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Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Sep 14, 2007

The guitar skeptic

For a guy who's routinely credited with revolutionizing the sound of jazz, Pat Metheny sounds surprisingly detached from his mode of musical expression.
BUSINESS
Sep 14, 2007

Guidelines on takeover defenses to be reworked

Spurred by a rancorous battle for control waged by Steel Partners' activist hedge fund and Bull-Dog Sauce Co., the government plans to revise guidelines on corporate defenses against hostile takeovers, an official said Thursday.
COMMENTARY
Sep 13, 2007

Lashing out at U.S. won't help Taiwan

TAIPEI — For all the divisions that define Taiwan politics, parties on both ends of the political spectrum agree on one thing: The island is in trouble. At that point, however, they part ways.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Sep 13, 2007

Memories of fortresses and clouds

Watching on television as the second plane hit the World Trade Center in 2001, Japanese sculptor Masayuki Nagare's thoughts were not with his most famous sculpture, "Cloud Fortress" (1975), which was located at the base of the towers. The then 78-year-old was recalling a time 58 years earlier when, as...
EDITORIALS
Sep 12, 2007

Mr. Abe tones down rhetoric

In his policy speech in the Diet on Monday, the first day of the extraordinary Diet session following his Liberal Democratic Party's devastating defeat in the July 29 Upper House election, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe toned down rhetoric on his conservative political agenda and touched more on issues closely...
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER
Sep 12, 2007

Carp

* Japanese name: Koi (Nishiki-goi) * Scientific name: Cyprinus carpio * Description: A big, colorful fish, with large scales and barbels (those are the "whiskers" growing down from the upper lips). They can grow to well over a meter in length, and live for more than 15 years. They are related to other...
COMMENTARY
Sep 11, 2007

Stopping sexual abuse of Russian kids

NEW YORK — One of the regrettable consequences of the uneven economic expansion that Russia has experienced in recent times has been the increase in child abuse, particularly child prostitution.
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Sep 11, 2007

Funds law no match for wily politicians

Almost every day it seems another politician is making headlines over a money scandal. Four members of embattled Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's Cabinet — administrative reform minister Genichiro Sata, and farm ministers Toshikatsu Matsuoka, Norihiko Akagi and Takehiko Endo — have been forced from their...
EDITORIALS
Sep 9, 2007

Surviving in Net cafes

Over 5,000 people in Japan spend their nights at 24-hour Internet cafes every night, according to the first, but certainly not the last, survey on so-called Net cafe refugees by the labor and welfare ministry. On one hand, it seems that school refusers were first, then job refusers, now "home refusers,"...
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Sep 9, 2007

Americans share blame for Bush's 9/11 'devil'

There is no worse tragedy than one transformed into profanity. The profanity is compounded when it is not recognized as such by the mass of people.
Japan Times
LIFE
Sep 9, 2007

Extragalactic androgyny cuts a dash in roster of chic, high-energy shows

While trivial matters such as global warming get blamed for weather going awry, Japan Fashion Week being moved forward this season by more than a month has caused more angst than a whole panorama of melting ice caps.
COMMENTARY
Sep 9, 2007

Extreme events fire up the Greek fringe

LONDON — "How are our children going to survive in a land that is dead?" asked a survivor of the wildfires that seared much of southern Greece during the last week of August.
CULTURE / Books
Sep 9, 2007

From the Beatles concert to royal tattoos in Japan

Britain & Japan: Biographical Portraits, Volume VI, compiled and edited by Hugh Cortazzi, Global Oriental, Kent, 2007, 368 pp., £60 (cloth) This book is the latest (and, sadly, probably the last) of the volumes about Anglo-Japanese relations that have been sponsored by the Japan Society of London since...
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design
Sep 9, 2007

Yamamoto protege debuts stoic new line

While his daughter Limi prepares to present her Limi Feu line at the Paris collections for the first time in October, Yohji Yamamoto has selected another protege to take her place on the Tokyo runways.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Sep 9, 2007

Taking a good look at Tokyo's eclectic fashion

The Tokyo Look Book: Stylish To Spectacular, Goth To Gyaru, Sidewalk To Catwalk by Philomena Keet, photographs by Yuri Manabe. Tokyo: Kodansha International, 2007, 224 pp., profusely illustrated, ¥3,000 (paper). It was the philosopher George Santayana who penned these wise words: "Fashion is something...
Japan Times
LIFE
Sep 9, 2007

Tokyo revival

Taking on the task of reinvigorating Tokyo's beleaguered attempt at producing a world-class fashion week requires a good deal of gumption. In this regard, Nobuyuki Ota, CEO of leading fashion house Issey Miyake, is relishing the task and achieving a measure of success.
Reader Mail
Sep 9, 2007

Image of wasteful planning

The front page of The Japan Times on Sept. 1 shows a picture of a Patriot Advanced Capability-3 missile battery at the Air Self-Defense Force base in Iruma, Saitama Prefecture. The accompanying article says Harumi Pier Park is a prime candidate site for deployment of the missile system in the defense...
SOCCER / PREMIER REPORT
Sep 8, 2007

England needs big lift from Heskey against Israel

LONDON — Any suggestion at the end of last season that Emile Heskey should be recalled to the England team would have been met with ridicule. Wigan Athletic was the only club in 2006-07 not to supply a player to the England squad, but now its center forward has gone from international underachiever...
BUSINESS
Sep 8, 2007

GE delays auction of lender Lake

General Electric Co., the world's second-largest company by market value, has delayed an auction of its Japanese consumer lending unit Lake, it was learned Friday.
Japan Times
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Sep 7, 2007

Goerne but not forgotten

Matthias Goerne, the world- renowned German baritone, attempts the formidable challenge of singing Schubert's three major song cycles over three days in Tokyo this month. This will be his third appearance at the Tokyo Opera City Concert Hall, following rapturous praise for his performances in 2003 and...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Sep 7, 2007

The king of Kita Kyushu

Shinji Aoyama was in an up mood when The Japan Times met him at the office of his distributor, Style Jam. His new film, "Sad Vacation," opened the Horizons section at the Venice Film Festival last week, and though, when we met, he confessed himself nervous at the prospect of facing a foreign audience,...
CULTURE / Stage
Sep 6, 2007

The magic of noh by firelight

At this time of year — and also in April and May, when it is neither too hot nor too cold for performers or audiences — takigi (firelight) noh is performed throughout Japan. Preferred venues are outdoor noh stages in the precincts of shrines, but as these are rare, special ones are often built in...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Sep 5, 2007

Clock ticking as Councilor Kawada goes after what has long ailed Japan

Newly elected Upper House lawmaker Ryuhei Kawada was diagnosed with hemophilia soon after he was born.
BUSINESS
Sep 4, 2007

Capital spending drops on pullback by services firms

Corporate investment unexpectedly declined in the second quarter after services providers pared back spending, the Finance Ministry said Monday.

Longform

Sumadori Bar on Shibuya Ward's main Center Gai street targets young customers who prefer low-alcohol drinks or abstain altogether.
Rethinking that second drink: Japan’s Gen Z gets ‘sober curious’