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Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WORDS TO LIVE BY
Feb 11, 2010

Rights activist Chiyoko Tanaka

Chiyoko Tanaka, 81, is a volunteer lobbyist for the rights of disabled people in Japan. For the past 49 years, together with her daughter, Mariko, she has been working tirelessly to ensure that all people — regardless of the nature of their disabilities — have equal rights in education, housing,...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / CLOSE-UP
Feb 7, 2010

Taeko Tomiyama: Brushing with authority

I will never forget the day I went to a show titled "Embracing Asia: Taeko Tomiyama Retrospective 1950-2009," which was one of 370 art exhibits by creators from 40 countries comprising the fourth Echigo-Tsumari Art Triennial staged over 50 days last autumn at locations across a huge area of rural Niigata...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Feb 7, 2010

Film series reveals more than just foreign take on Japan

Many people still think Japan is inscrutable. It's a cliche reinforced on the Japanese side by another cliche that says Japan is "unique," and which is further reinforced by the tendency to explain cultural aspects as if they were museum exhibits. Much of NHK's English language content falls into this...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Dec 20, 2009

David Cozy: Best books of 2009

To grasp the achievement of Edogawa Rampo one needs to read both his stories and his essays. Thus Kurodahan Press, in making available this exquisitely edited collection of both fiction and nonfiction, has done readers a great service. Entering the fantastic twists and turns of Rampo's stories, one is...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Dec 19, 2009

Restaurateur's passion is aiding others

Christmas is a time of prayers, dreams and wishes, of children waiting for a gift from their parents and for an appearance by Santa Claus. But about 150 poor children on Smoky Mountain in Manila have a special Santa to wait for.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Dec 18, 2009

Back to basic instincts

Mamoru Oshii is best known here and abroad as an anime auteur whose works, from the seminal dystopian SF "Kokaku Kidotai" ("Ghost in the Shell," 1995) to the air-action epic "Sky Crawlers" (2008), have often viewed the future of humanity through a glass darkly.
EDITORIALS
Dec 13, 2009

An education in violence

Violent behavior in Japanese schools increased to an all-time high in 2008, according to a recent report from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT). Students, teachers and other people were victims of 60,000 violent incidents involving primary, middle and high school...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Dec 11, 2009

To the cosmos and then back down to Earth

Artist Chris Bucklow has been many things: a writer, a curator and, just as relevantly, an amateur astronomer. A trip to Botswana to view Halley's comet was the impetus to finally leave London's Victoria and Albert Museum, where he had worked for 10 years, and take up art fulltime. The now 52-year-old...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Dec 4, 2009

'Julie and Julia'

On some Hollywood actresses an apron would look all wrong. Amy Adams, however, wears the mantle of housework with a generous willingness that compensates for the occasional clumsiness of her lily white hands. After her stint in house cleaning and trash removal in "Sunshine Cleaning," Hollywood seems...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Dec 4, 2009

U.K. 'samurai' lands in Japan

When U.S. President Barack Obama bowed to the Emperor during his visit to Japan last month, the headline of The Japan Times read: "U.S. conservatives: Obama bowed too deeply to Emperor." While some Americans accused the U.S. commander in chief of "groveling to a foreign leader," however, the Japanese...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / JUST BE CAUSE
Dec 1, 2009

A level playing field for immigrants

For the first time in Japan's postwar history, we have a viable opposition party in power — one that might stick around long enough to make some new policies stick. In my last column for 2009, let me suggest how the Democratic Party of Japan could make life easier for Japan's residents, regardless...
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Nov 29, 2009

Documenting blind pianist Tsujii, an industry whistle-blower and professional matchmakers

Since winning the Grand Prix at the last Van Cliburn Piano Competition, 20-year-old Nobuyuki Tsujii has become world famous, though he was already a star in his native Japan. Blind since birth, Tsujii automatically drew attention as a piano prodigy, which is why his life has been well-documented up until...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Nov 20, 2009

Tibet to Tokyo: alan takes flight

"First of all, I am a Tibetan, 100 percent," says singer Alan Dawa Zhuoma, more commonly known by her stage name alan. "I'll never forget the many Chinese teachers and friends who gave me knowledge and encouraged me while I studied in Chengdu and Beijing, but wherever I go, I am Tibetan and I always...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Nov 13, 2009

Tarantino returns to grind up Nazis

HOLLYWOOD — Quentin Tarantino is back, making another much-publicized and controversial splash similar to (but with more sociological implications) his one-two punch with "Kill Bill: Vol. 1" in 2003 and "Vol. 2" a year later.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 6, 2009

Recalling a saint's legacy to leprosy victims

In early October, "Father Damien" was canonized by Pope Benedict XVI in Rome. This religious and spiritual ceremony is an opportunity to reflect on Father Damien's life and the lives of those with whom he was most closely associated — people affected by leprosy.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Nov 3, 2009

The fatally flawed math of risking it all in Japan

Whenever Richard Cory went down town, We people on the pavement looked at him: He was a gentleman from sole to crown, Clean favored, and imperially slim.
JAPAN / HOT BUTTON HENOKO
Oct 20, 2009

Clock ticking on base, its delicate environment

Second of two parts
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Oct 11, 2009

Musical hails a messenger killed for exposing Japan's dread trinity

When the Special Higher Police, the dreaded Tokko, returned his body to his mother and brother, it was hard to believe their official report that he had died of "a heart attack."
Japan Times
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Oct 2, 2009

Documentary follows struggles of an addict

Tokyo-based U.S. filmmaker Ian Thomas Ash's debut feature documentary will be shown for the first time in Japan on Sunday at Nakano Zero.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Sep 25, 2009

'Air Doll'

Hirokazu Kore'eda is the most internationally acclaimed Japanese director of his generation, whose films are regularly invited to major world festivals and receive the sort of respectful attention from foreign scholars and critics usually accorded only to dead Golden Age masters.
EDITORIALS
Aug 24, 2009

Consumer Agency challenge

The government has picked Sept. 1 as the start date of the Consumer Agency — two days after the Lower House election — by moving up the original schedule. Whichever political party comes to power, the new agency will face many difficult problems.
Japan Times
LIFE
Aug 23, 2009

Japan's creeping natural disaster

In October 2010, government officials from almost every country in the world will meet in Nagoya for the 10th Conference of Parties of the Convention on Biological Diversity (COP10). The aim of the Convention, which came into effect in 1993, is simple but momentous: To maintain the richness of life on...
EDITORIALS
Aug 20, 2009

Mr. Kim's legacy lives on

South Korea has lost a great political leader. Former President Kim Dae Jung died Tuesday of multiple organ failure in a Seoul hospital at the age of 85. The 2000 Nobel Peace Prize winner, who tirelessly promoted the cause of reconciliation and cooperation between the North and South and played a critical...
Japan Times
BUSINESS / TAKING A CHANCE
Aug 20, 2009

Starting up Net portal for women turns into lifetime career choice

Kikuko Yano was searching for a job she could do her entire life, and found it in the Internet firm she started on her own.
LIFE / Language / KANJI CLINIC
Aug 19, 2009

Driving you 'crazy for kanji' — in a good way

Here's an addiction that doesn't require a 12-step recovery program. For the past six years, Berkeley, Calif.-based freelance writer Eve Kushner has been a self-proclaimed, unapologetic "kanji-holic." Kushner details her passion for Sino-Japanese characters in a new textbook, "Crazy for Kanji: A Student's...
Japan Times
JAPAN / WITNESS TO WAR
Aug 14, 2009

For vet, Soviet labor camp as bad as war

24th in a series
JAPAN
Jul 30, 2009

The new face of home caregivers

Kazuo Yamazaki was in the prime of his career as an engineer at a Japanese music company doing business across borders. His decades-long profession came to an abrupt end six years ago, however, when at age 55 he became his mother's primary caregiver.
Japan Times
SPORTS / SPORTS SCOPE
Jul 30, 2009

No hurry for Kitajima to return to spotlight

With four Olympic gold medals on his sterling resume, breaststroker Kosuke Kitajima has already attained a level of success that millions of athletes can only dream of.

Longform

Bear attacks have dominated Japanese news headlines in recent months, with 13 people so far having been killed by the animals.
Japan’s bears have been on their killing spree for more than 100 years