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Japan Times
Reference / Special Presentations / WITNESS TO WAR
Aug 15, 2007

Surrender spared a young, doubting kamikaze

If Masamichi Shida, 80, had known a bit more about the world back in 1942, he might never have become a kamikaze.
COMMENTARY
Aug 14, 2007

Why test just the teachers?

Medical doctors, pharmacists, nurses, jurists and certified public accountants are among the professionals who have had to pass national licensing examinations to get started. As professionals, they must have specialized knowledge and skills.
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Aug 14, 2007

The impact of Upper House president

For the first time in the postwar period, the House of Councilors has an opposition lawmaker as president, 66-year-old Satsuki Eda.
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design / ON: FASHION
Aug 14, 2007

Marc by Marc Jacobs, Yohji Yamamoto, etc.

Harajuku's new Marc
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WORDS TO LIVE BY
Aug 14, 2007

Sumiko Sakamoto

Sumiko Sakamoto, 70, is a singer and award-winning actress whose heartfelt performances have made her a favorite of the late film director Shohei Imamura. Imamura cast her in three of his films, among them "The Ballad of Narayama," winner of the 1983 Palm d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival, in which her...
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Aug 12, 2007

Foreign players showing the way among stats leaders

Don't look now, but foreign players could possibly sweep the six offensive titles in Japanese baseball this season. Through games of Aug. 10, non-Japanese names were on top of four of the categories and right behind in the other two.
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Aug 12, 2007

Forsake not the elderly, for they bear a great bounty

They are remodeling the station near where I work in Tokyo, and I marvel at the diligence of the security guards directing pedestrians inconvenienced by the building work. Virtually all the guards are seniors, most likely retirees from other forms of employment. I usually arrive at my station by 6 a.m.,...
CULTURE / Books
Aug 12, 2007

A dark dissection of Tokyo at war

Tokyo Year Zero by David Peace. London: Faber, Aug. 2007, 355 pp., £16.99 (cloth); New York: Knopf, Sept. 2007, $24 (cloth). Aug. 15, 1945 — Emperor Hirohito broadcasts Japan's acceptance of the terms of the Potsdam Declaration, and the body of a woman is found in the flooded basement of Dai-Ichi...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Aug 11, 2007

Eda relishing new role as Upper House president

The Diet's two chambers may come to different conclusions over various bills in upcoming sessions, but this can lead to more transparent debate, the new House of Councilors president hopes.
Japan Times
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Aug 10, 2007

Festival theater heats up Shibuya

Matsuri (festivals) in Japan are not only about fireworks, as the monthlong "Summer Summit 2007" drama event attests.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Aug 10, 2007

Two fingers to the mainstream

"We were playing these 200-capacity venues that weren't really legal. There were just too many people in there, climbing on the bar, climbing on the speakers and jumping off," Chris Batten, the 20-year-old bassist from British post-hardcore band Enter Shikari tells The Japan Times.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Aug 9, 2007

After 100 years of change, Nitten moves to the NACT

R esearch the biography of any prominent Japanese artist in the last 100 years and you'll likely run into terms such as Bunten, Teiten, Shin Bunten and Nitten. Though the plethora of names may be off-putting, they all refer to the same thing: Japan's largest, annual open art exhibition.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Aug 9, 2007

A sex trip that aims to ease our anxieties

The Japan Times gets up close and personal with director John Cameron Mitchell and actress Sook-Yin Lee about the sexiest film of 2007
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Aug 9, 2007

The uncensored right to pursue intimacy

A tribute to Manhattan individuality as much as an affirmation of American-style life and personal freedom, "Shortbus" is a movie you want to hold close. It will most certainly pull you to its chest and deposit a loud kiss faster than you can define the term "orgasm." From the opening sequence, which...
COMMENTARY
Aug 9, 2007

Odds in democracy's favor

LONDON — "There's going to be a civil war." You heard it all the time in the old Soviet Union at the end of the 1980s. People fretted about it constantly in South Africa in 1994. They have been worrying about it in Lebanon for the past year. Now they're predicting it for Pakistan — but nine times...
Reader Mail
Aug 8, 2007

Photo of corpse added nothing

The photo that accompanied the Aug. 1 front-page article "South Korea reacts with outrage at murder of second hostage" was disturbing and distasteful. I cannot imagine how Shim Sung Min's family reacted to the image of his corpse. The publication of the Reuters photo comforted no one and contributed...
JAPAN
Aug 8, 2007

Eda takes helm of Upper House

For the first time in nearly half a century, the House of Councilors has an opposition lawmaker as its president.
LIFE / Digital / IGADGET
Aug 8, 2007

Cell phones may turn into boomboxes

Batteries just don't generate the respect they deserve. Imagine how much poorer your lifestyle would be if all of the miniature power cells you use just up and disappeared. Panasonic, as one of the many companies whose profit margins very much rest on these humble gadgets, knows their value and often...
BUSINESS
Aug 8, 2007

191,200 join KDDI

KDDI Corp. added 16 percent more customers in July, led by subscriptions to its high-speed network offering digital television and music downloads.
Reader Mail
Aug 5, 2007

Fujimori had duel nationality

Some Japan Times articles on former Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori (who unsuccessfully ran for an Upper House seat in last Sunday's election) have said he was "granted Japanese nationality" in 2000. But this is not true.
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Aug 5, 2007

Coolbaugh's death reminds everyone to stay alert at ballpark

You read about the recent tragedy involving Mike Coolbaugh, the minor league Tulsa Drillers first coach who died after being hit by a line drive off the bat of one of his players. I never met Mike but knew his brother Scott, who played third base for the Hanshin Tigers in 1995.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Aug 4, 2007

Uniqlo fancies M&As as it outgrows home turf

Tadashi Yanai, chairman and CEO of Uniqlo Co. and its holding company, Fast Retailing Co., strongly believes a business must keep growing and changing to survive, and is now acting aggressively on this belief.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST
Aug 4, 2007

The times, they've been a changin'

Thumbing through some faded photographs of my early days in Japan, I find a mustachioed face with shoulder-length hair and water-clear eyes, eyes perhaps indicative of a vast open space behind. My face.

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’