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Japan Times
Reference / Special Presentations / WITNESS TO WAR
Oct 10, 2007

Hellcat bent for leather — a navy flyboy's tale

From 26,000 feet he punched through a hole in the overcast over Tokyo early on a freezing Feb. 12, 1945, rolled into a roaring 60-degree dive and fired his rockets at a Mitsubishi engine plant.
EDITORIALS
Sep 23, 2007

Beautifying Kyoto, at last

In early September, the Kyoto city government began enforcing regulations against ugliness in the city. Yes, ugliness. The mayor of Kyoto, Yorikane Masumoto, and his municipal government found the political will to think beyond the immediate concerns of day-to-day business demands, and to consider how...
COMMENTARY
Sep 21, 2007

China revisits a contradiction

HONG KONG — More than 25 years ago, China's paramount ruler Deng Xiaoping criticized excessive concentration of power within the Communist Party as the cause of grave problems, including the precipitation of the Cultural Revolution.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 17, 2007

Once again, musical chairs at the Kremlin

VIENNA — It's that time again: Russia's pre-election season when prime ministers are changed as in a game of musical chairs. The last one seated, it is supposed, will become Russia's next president. As the end of his rule approached, Boris Yeltsin went through at least a half-dozen prime ministers,...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Sep 13, 2007

An excess of curating

One of the key elements of the Istanbul Biennial is the city itself. Founded by the Roman emperor Constantine the Great in A.D. 330 as the first world's Christian capital, it was long the glorious center of the Byzantine Empire, before becoming the capital of the Ottoman Turks. Today, it's a megacity...
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...
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...
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...
COMMENTARY
Sep 8, 2007

ASEAN at 40: coming of age?

KUALA LUMPUR — The Association of Southeast Asian Nations turned 40 this summer. Is it facing a mid-life crisis? Or is it on the verge of maturing into a more cohesive, more relevant organization capable of promoting peace and stability not only in Southeast Asia but beyond, given its self-proclaimed...
COMMENTARY
Sep 7, 2007

Muslim nation minus 'idiotic autocrats'

LONDON — It was not a tactful way to start out his new job as a Turkish government spokesman, but Suat Kiniklioglu did cut to the heart of the matter.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Aug 31, 2007

'Because I Said So'

As a longtime fan of Diane Keaton, it's always disheartening to see her in roles that seem inadequate for the Oscar-winning, lean and brainy hipster icon of the 1970s ("Annie Hall," "Manhattan" and "Interiors," to name just a few). But her most recent foray into mainstream rom-com is just plain painful....
COMMENTARY
Aug 28, 2007

America's dirty little victory

NEW YORK — "Just about everyone agrees that the recent conviction of Abdullah al-Muhajir, aka Jose Padilla, is a good thing," wrote rightwing pundit Neil Kressel in The New York Post.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Aug 24, 2007

'Oyaji'

Action stars in Hollywood tend to have long shelf lives. Jackie Chan, born in 1954, is still making slick kung-fu moves in "Rush Hour 3," while Sylvester Stallone, born in 1946, returned to the ring this year in "Rocky Balboa." And Harrison Ford, born in 1942, is back again for a fourth round as Indiana...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Aug 16, 2007

Flying high and free

On a sweltering summer day recently, members of the Condors dance troupe were pouring with sweat as they practiced for their upcoming national tour. Choreographer and lead dancer, Ryohei Kondo, was in the center of a circle of the dancers, who were voicing their opinions freely.
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.
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Aug 5, 2007

Superstar fortuneteller, Nuremberg trials special, manga dramatization of WWII

Superstar fortuneteller Kazuko Hosoki usually works her caustic consultations on pliable, willing celebrities, most of whom take her harsh criticisms to heart. It will be interesting to see how her style goes down in Hollywood.
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.
COMMENTARY
Aug 2, 2007

What the Japanese election really means

LOS ANGELES — The country is deadlocked. The people are divided. The stock market is grumbling. The leader is discredited — but vows to govern onward anyhow.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 2, 2007

The best and brightest of the fanatics

KIRKSVILLE, Missouri — In Britain and Australia, several Muslim medical doctors and engineers have been arrested following a series of failed car bombings. The arrest of these well-educated professionals, together with the Egyptian doctor Ayman al-Zawahiri's role as al-Qaida's deputy leader, raises...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Aug 2, 2007

Last words on hell from the skies

"Moreover, the enemy has begun to employ a new and most cruel bomb, the power of which to do damage is, indeed, incalculable, taking the toll of many innocent lives."
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Aug 2, 2007

"Les noirs de Redon: The Monstrous Friends You See When You Close Your Eyes"

Bunkamura Closes in 25 days
LIFE / Digital / IGADGET
Aug 1, 2007

Yamanote Line clocks — perfect for torturing Tokyo commuters

C locks make marvelous torture de vices. For sheer infliction of pain it's hard to top a creation that's dedicated to wrenching you out of your hard-won sleep. Throw in the fact that they insist on rousing you in time to cram yourself into a sardine can on wheels known as a train and you are adding pain...
Japan Times
LIFE
Jul 29, 2007

Kaiten zushi

It was a season of long days, heavy rain, loquats, hollyhocks and hydrangea.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jul 27, 2007

Akon

"Trouble" is about right.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jul 26, 2007

Demented in NY

It's almost counterintuitive — in the midst of the glorious chaos that is China as it modernizes itself, Chinese painters are technically spotless. In their hands, paint has been tamed, a tool with which they slickly create canvases with flawless surfaces that almost hide their workmanship.
Rugby
Jul 16, 2007

Japan rugby players benefit from ATQ training

The 2007 Rugby World Cup might only be months away, but behind the scenes tier-two nations are already eyeing the quarterfinals four years from now.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film / SHORT TAKES
Jul 13, 2007

Lights in the Dusk

Director: Aki Kaurismaki Language: Finnish and Russian
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 8, 2007

How the West lost its nerve with Russia

MOSCOW — Nation-states are built on ethnic and territorial unity, and their histories and political development are grounded in a sense of collective identity. Empires emerge when a national group considers its existence inside its territorial borders either risky or ineffective, and embarks on a forced...
BUSINESS
Jun 30, 2007

JAXA sets ISS Japanese menu

Astronauts in for long-term stays at the International Space Station can look forward to having ramen, rice balls and green tea on their menus, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency said.

Longform

Rock group The Yellow Monkey played K-Arena Yokohama in June as part of a nationwide tour. Concerts are increasingly popular in the age of social media as users value in-person experiences.
Inside Japan’s arena boom: Sports, sound and city-building