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Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Mar 3, 2013

Sensual poetry on love, marriage

ONNA NI, by Shuntaro Tanikawa, with etchings by Yoko Sano, translated by William I. Elliott and Kazuo Kawamura. Shueisha, 2012, 80 pp., ¥1,470 (paperback)
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 28, 2013

High stakes in cyberspace

As China catches up with the West in technology and relies increasingly on cyberspace for business and security, it may seek a cyberspace detente.
Japan Times
WORLD / Crime & Legal
Feb 25, 2013

North Dakota activist goes against the grain of her state's gun culture

One recent afternoon, Susan Beehler, who may be the only gun-control advocate in all of North Dakota, walked into VFW Post 762, a dimly lit, wood-paneled bar in downtown Fargo.
CULTURE / Film
Feb 24, 2013

Recommended reading

Donald Richie was a scrupulous writer who paid finite attention to language and content. The following are 10 outstanding choices — titles that should be on any discerning readers' bookshelf.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives
Feb 23, 2013

Akiko Kuno's strength as a woman stretches back through generations

Akiko Kuno, 72, believes her destiny is tied with a red string to the United States. So she says as she speaks of her and her family's life at the Foreign Correspondents' Club of Japan in Tokyo, where as a child she first tasted Coca-Cola and a hamburger.
Japan Times
JAPAN / History / CHUBU CONNECTION
Feb 23, 2013

Women see, touch war-era paper again

Three former students who were involved in making paper balloon bombs at a Nagoya school during the war saw and touched the "washi" (traditional Japanese paper) used to make the balloons for the first time in 68 years on Feb. 16.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Feb 22, 2013

Tokyo literary festival writes its opening chapter

Every time David Karashima took a Japanese author to New York or London to do a reading, the local audiences would ask two questions: "Who's the next Haruki Murakami?" and "Why isn't there an international literary festival in Tokyo?"
SUMO
Feb 20, 2013

Harumafuji dreaming big after overcoming early setback

Yokozuna Harumafuji insists the prospect of being forced to retire never once crossed his mind ahead of last month's dominating victory at the New Year Grand Sumo Tournament, but the Mongolian refuses to speculate on how much more success he can achieve before he calls it a day.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Feb 17, 2013

Kanai's provocative, textured 'girls' fiction' wistfully surprises

INDIAN SUMMER, by Mieko Kanai, translated by Tomoko Aoyama and Barbara Hartley. Cornell East Asia Series, 2012, 149 pp., $24 (paperback)
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Feb 14, 2013

'The Beauty in Everyday Life: Musée Hamaguchi Yozo — Spring Exhibition'

Printmaker Yozo Hamaguchi (1909-2000) is best known for his ground-breaking work in colored mezzotints. His predominant use of soft but dark coloring, which gave the mezzotints a peaceful and serene quality, differentiated his work from other print artists, and led to the global recognition of his aesthetic...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Feb 8, 2013

The Hitler home movies: how Eva Braun documented the Nazi dictator's private life

Lutz Becker was born in Berlin, he says, "during the anno diabolo, 1941. Mine was the generation that was sent into a dark pit." Meeting this survivor of the Third Reich, now in his 70s and living in Bayswater, London, it's hard to suppress the thought that Becker, a distinguished artist and film historian,...
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Feb 5, 2013

Missteps bedevil U.S. counterterrorism efforts in Africa

The U.S. military was closely tracking a one-eyed bandit across the Sahara in 2003 when it confronted a hard choice that is still reverberating a decade later. Should it try to kill or capture the target, an Algerian jihadist named Moktar Belmoktar, or let him go?
ENVIRONMENT
Feb 4, 2013

Composting food waste growing trend in America

Roy Derrick maneuvered his forklift with a pallet of neatly boxed expired produce and flowers and dropped it into an industrial compactor at Safeway's cavernous return center in Upper Marlboro, Maryland. As the compactor hummed, compressed food and floral scraps spilled through a chute into a 12-meter...
Japan Times
WORLD / Science & Health
Feb 1, 2013

Your body — not just a temple, but a laboratory too

1. Appendix to life The appendix gets a bad press. It is usually treated as a body part that lost its function millions of years ago. All it seems to do is occasionally get infected and cause appendicitis. Yet recently it has been discovered that the appendix is very useful to the bacteria that help...
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / BACKSTREET STORIES
Jan 26, 2013

Mining gems in Okachimachi

On early maps of Edo, as Tokyo was known prior to 1868, Okachimachi is rendered as a town (machi) densely packed with the tiny dwellings of okachi — low-ranked, poorly paid samurai infantry.
BUSINESS / Tech
Jan 25, 2013

U.S. resists EU push for digital privacy

The push for strict new limits on how Internet companies collect and use consumer data in Europe has hit stiff resistance from U.S. industry groups and the Obama administration, dimming hopes that the effort could lead to expanded privacy safeguards for users worldwide.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jan 25, 2013

'Life of Pi'

Director Ang Lee's adaptation of author Yann Martel's Man Booker Prize-winning "Life of Pi" feels almost like two films sandwiched into one. In the core, you have the succulent special-effects-driven story of a young Indian survivor of a shipwreck who's adrift in a lifeboat with a man-eating Bengal tiger....
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jan 23, 2013

“Mr. Children 2005-2010

My Japan Times colleague Ian Martin nailed the state of Japanese pop music when he wrote that it was "clinging on to the hoary old remains of the past." The Oricon Chart's top albums of 2012 list was dominated by "Best Of" compilations, with the top two spots going to a pair released by rock band Mr....
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jan 23, 2013

"Wang Xizhi: Master Calligrapher"

Wang Xizhi (303-361) is remembered for his major influence on Chinese calligraphic style. After his death, his works continued to be revered by emperors in China, including Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty, who publicly proclaimed a fascination with the calligrapher.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Jan 19, 2013

Epiphanies for characters, readers

WE, THE CHILDREN OF CATS, by Tomoyuki Hoshino, edited and translated by Brian Bergstrom with an additional translation by Lucy Fraser. PM Press, 2012, 266 pages, $20 (paperback)
Japan Times
BASKETBALL / BJ-LEAGUE NOTEBOOK
Jan 18, 2013

Yokohama's Geary recalls getting to meet NBA legends

Like every midseason showcase, the 1997 NBA All-Star Weekend in Cleveland was a marquee event, not only for its collection of active players — Michael Jordan, Karl Malone, Hakeem Olajuwon, et al — but also for the much-planned celebration of the league's storied history.
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Jan 13, 2013

How Japan's teens can avoid sleep demons

Have you ever woken up but been unable to move; felt a powerful pressure holding you down, gripping you tight? Haruki Murakami has, and he describes it like this: "I was having a repulsive dream — a dark, slimy dream. ... After I awoke, my breath came in painful gasps for a time. My arms and legs felt...
JAPAN / Media / CHANNEL SURF
Jan 13, 2013

A signature mystery; "Last Hope"; CM of the week: Mister Donut

The new Fuji TV drama series, "Biburia Koshodo no Jiken Techo" ("Biblia Antique Book Shop Case Notebook"; Mon., 9 p.m.) is based on a series of "light mystery novels," meaning stories where no one is killed. Ayame Goriki plays Shioriko, who runs the titular store located in an alley near Kita Kamakura...
MULTIMEDIA
Jan 12, 2013

Nomad writer and photographer keeps his passions fueled by travel

Fiction can work like a cheap flight; a good novel takes off, jetting readers to new worlds. Writers and photographers triple the distance traveled. Sean Lotman, 37, an avid reader, writer, photographer and nomad, has logged thousands of kilometers around the world.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 10, 2013

At last, Russia wins the seal of French approval

President Vladimir Putin has finally done it. Russia has been vying for the West's esteem for centuries, with approval by the French — a sought-after prize since the time of Peter the Great — coveted the most. But, despite the defeat of Napoleon and the World War I alliance, Russia could never get...
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 10, 2013

China ups the ante in space

China recently opened its domestic satellite navigation network to commercial use across the Asia-Pacific region.

Longform

Mount Fuji is considered one of Japan's most iconic symbols and is a major draw for tourists. It's still a mountain, though, and potential hikers need to properly prepare for any climb.
What it takes to save lives on Mount Fuji