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Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Jan 14, 2006

Houses with faux fur lining

It's that time of year for me to give "gaijin" instructions on how to survive the subzero temperatures in Japan. Those inside your house, that is.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Jan 13, 2006

Aichi Prefecture shows the glory of culture, industry -- past and present

Aichi Prefecture, internationally better known as the venue of the 2005 Aichi World Expo, which was successfully held for six months last year, is located near the center of Japan and has prospered as a corridor between the east, west, north and south with a long history.
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Jan 10, 2006

Mind the gap

While the exoticism of cultural otherness certainly adds something to the experience of meeting a lover from another country, differences can also be the source of annoyance and complications.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / PERSONALITY PROFILE
Dec 31, 2005

Gen Okamoto

Gen Okamoto sees himself as an illustrator rather than a fine artist. For that reason, in his printmaking he uses different techniques to produce "tones and softer shadows, a kind of texture," which he is looking for as the most desirable for his kind of creative expression. Sometimes people ask him...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Dec 30, 2005

Pull of the people

My album of the year was M.I.A.'s "Arular," for a number of reasons. First, it's a party album whose energy and imagination never flag. Second, it's utterly distinctive: Maya Arulpragasam's nursery-rhyme rapping style doesn't sound like anybody else's. Third, it's a work of art whose local specificity,...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / BEST BAR NONE
Dec 23, 2005

Plenty of ways to howl in the new year

Once again, it is time to make that all-important decision about where to spend the magic midnight moment when the calendar starts anew. According to the Chinese zodiac, the cock will pass his hat on to the dog. And, as usual, there are several options for parties where, this year, you can let out a...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Dec 16, 2005

Stripping it down, thriving on basics

Born in 1970 into an acting family -- his father is butoh master Akaji Maro and his brother is rising star Nao Omori -- Tatsushi Omori served as an assistant director for Junji Sakamoto and Kazuyuki Izutsu before working for producer/director Genjiro Arato on "Akame Shijuha-taki Shinju Misui" in 2003...
Features
Dec 11, 2005

Discordant history mars neighbors' friendship overtures

Japanese actress Yoshino Kimura was the lone main guest at the Chuo Kokaido Hall in Osaka in October. She appeared without her Korean counterpart in the opening ceremony to celebrate this year's 40th anniversary of the 1965 Japan-South Korean Treaty that normalized Tokyo-Seoul relations.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Dec 8, 2005

Inside the belly of the beast

Jennifer Abbott's entire career as a filmmaker and editor has been involved with challenging people's perceptions. Her first documentary, "A Cow at My Table," was on the horrors of factory farming, and Abbott met her co-director Mark Achbar while working as an editor on his documentary on lesbian marriages...
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 5, 2005

Soft power matters in Asia

CAMBRIDGE, Massachusetts -- U.S. President George W. Bush recently returned from Asia after attending the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum summit, but he should continue to pay attention to another Asian summit to which he was not invited. In December, Malaysia will host an East Asian Summit that...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Dec 4, 2005

Complexity drawn from emptiness

THE ANCIENT CAPITAL OF IMAGES by John Mateer. Fremantle, Australia: Fremantle Arts Centre Press, 2005, 61 pp., A$22.95 (paper). The poet John Mateer has published previously in South Africa, where he comes from, Australia, where he now lives, and Indonesia, which he has traveled in. A group of his poems...
CULTURE / Music
Dec 2, 2005

Quruli: "Nikki"

Quruli? An indie band? It's just not true. While at their creative peak they made mind-blowing J-pop (2002's "The World Is Mine"), at their worst, they are MOR J-popsters with bad hair.
SPORTS / SPORTS SCOPE
Nov 30, 2005

Guts and glory the key elements to the Takahashi story

Is there anything more compelling in sports than a once great champion, who has been written off by just about everybody, recapturing their former glory in dramatic fashion?
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / PERSONALITY PROFILE
Nov 26, 2005

Richard Quest

Almost 20 years ago, viewers of the BBC World Service used to watch a British television reporter whose agile, distinctive style excited comment. "Unconventional," some said. "Quirky," said others, "original and mold-breaking."
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 22, 2005

Cry for about-face in China

BEIJING -- These are interesting times in China. The political climate is changing; it has been for some time, but now the direction of change is becoming clear.
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design / COUNTER CULTURE
Nov 18, 2005

Trying very hard to be trendy

Building a brand spanking new store from the foundations up is usually the preserve of European luxury brands, but down in Harajuku, a huge new concrete monolith called Tokyo Hipsters Club is an exception to the rule.
JAPAN
Nov 16, 2005

Princess enters the world of cooking and cleaning

Cooking, cleaning, driving, shopping at supermarkets and possibly taking out the trash -- Princess Nori's marriage Tuesday to Tokyo Metropolitan Government employee Yoshiki Kuroda opens the door to a new life as a commoner and homemaker.
Japan Times
Features / JAPAN FASHION WEEK IN TOKYO 2005
Nov 13, 2005

'Overcome' scion shines in her own quirky way

She may be Yohji's daughter, but Limi Yamamoto wasn't exactly born clutching a silver spoon. Her parents got divorced when she turned 2 years old, and the next 15 years were spent in a small town in Kyushu, where she saw her father once every three years or so.
EDITORIALS
Nov 11, 2005

High hopes for Mr. Mitarai

Mr. Fujio Mitarai, president of Canon Inc., has been picked to succeed Mr. Hiroshi Okuda as head of Nippon Keidanren (the Japan Business Federation). He will start leading the organization dubbed as the "commanding headquarters" of Japan's business community in May 2006.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Nov 3, 2005

A chance to dance Cranko's 'Onegin'

The etoile Manuel Legris, one of the top dancers of the Paris Opera Ballet, will fulfill one of the dreams of his career as a guest dancer in the Stuttgart Ballet when it tours Japan: performing the role of "Onegin" in a production of the ballet by the same name.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Oct 20, 2005

A circus on the harbor

Following on its impressive inauguration in 2001, the second Yokohama International Triennale of Contemporary Art is finally here, albeit a year late, and I have to say it has turned out far better than I had anticipated.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / PERSONALITY PROFILE
Oct 15, 2005

Man Zhuang

This year Man Zhuang is exhibiting for a second time in the print show sponsored by the College Women's Association of Japan. This young woman is Chinese, an art student from Shanghai. She is also a dentist.
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design / COUNTER CULTURE
Oct 14, 2005

Trendy Naka-Meguro is on the Bals

It used to be that Japanese consumers tended not to spend a great deal on their homes. Over the last decade or so, however, that has changed, and firms like Bals Corporation have proved extremely successful at selling the notion of home improvement to Japan.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / PERSONALITY PROFILE
Oct 8, 2005

Conor Hanratty

Conor Hanratty of Ireland says there is obvious benefit in studying a subject ranking amongst the less sought-after. When he enrolled in Royal Holloway, University of London, for his master's degree in Greek theater performance, he was one of only four in his class. Undoubtedly he did not require individual...
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 6, 2005

Australia gets tough on terror

SYDNEY -- Tough new laws enforcing preventive detention of suspected terrorists will soon drastically change the laid-back response that Australia has so far allowed to the growing world threat of terrorism. But even before new laws start, the wails of protests from civil-liberty groups are deafening....
SOCCER / PREMIER REPORT
Oct 1, 2005

Liverpool-Chelsea rematch unlikely to feature many thrills

LONDON -- Sequels are rarely as good as the original but English football is hoping Sunday's Premiership showdown between Liverpool and Chelsea is better than the goal-less, soul-less Champions League draw at Anfield on Wednesday night.
MORE SPORTS
Sep 17, 2005

With playing days over, Baggio considers coaching

Italian soccer legend Roberto Baggio is looking forward to a coaching career which may include a stint at a J. League club or as Italian national team boss, he said at the Foreign Correspondents' Club of Japan in Tokyo on Thursday.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Sep 10, 2005

Escape to the land of country bumpkins

So you've decided to escape to the countryside for the long holiday weekend? Well, fine, but if you're wanting to get back in touch with nature, be prepared. If you come to an island like mine, you will have entered a world cut off not only from city life, but from the mainland as well. Without a major...
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 7, 2005

Koizumi's bare-knuckle power play may soon haunt him

Sunday's election for the Lower House stands out as abnormal, but not because of its abruptness. Many surprise elections have been held before. On March 14, 1953, for instance, then Prime Minister Shigeru Yoshida, who was president of the Liberal Party, dissolved the Lower House following the passage...

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