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LIFE / Language
Aug 25, 2010

'Ii' is a perfectly good way to say, 'No, thank you'

When I was in elementary school, a certain comma was the bane of my existence. No, not the serial comma. I learned (and later unlearned) that one relatively easily. It wasn't the comma before "too," either. Nor was it the one between multiple adjectives modifying a single noun. No, it was the comma in...
CULTURE / Books
Aug 22, 2010

Indonesia intrigue, Tokyo high-tech high jinx

While such enduring bad guys as Nazis, KGB agents, Cosa Nostra gangsters, sinister Asiatics and the occasional vampire still receive top billing in U.S. popular fiction and cinema, the events of 9/11 have not surprisingly inspired a stream of works featuring villains of Middle Eastern and/or jihadist...
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Aug 22, 2010

Sarufutsu: As far north as you can go in Japan

If you're trying to get to Sarufutsu in a hurry, the best way is to fly into Wakkanai, a blustery little fishing town on the extreme northern tip of Japan's northern island of Hokkaido, then rent a car or take the bus east. From Tokyo the whole trip takes just over three hours.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Aug 20, 2010

Japan's first film nude still radiant decades after getting skirty

Arranging an interview with Michiko Maeda took nearly a month — she has long been media-shy — but when she finally agreed to meet film writer Yoshiaki Suzuki and me at a Tokyo beer hall, she epitomized kimonoed grace and charm, while saying this would be her final interview.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Aug 20, 2010

Kanagawa taverns with brews of note

When we find ourselves thirsty in Yokohama, we know exactly where to head. Our latest favorite watering hole in the city is Pivoya, a small pub that specializes exclusively in beer from the Czech Republic. It's in a quiet, out-of-the-way locale but definitely worth tracking down.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Aug 20, 2010

August Beer Club: Beers that taste great in August

In this punishing heat, a lot of people complain they have lost all appetite for food. We say: Change your definition of the word "food." At this time of year, we gain a significant proportion of our nourishment from that most essential of food groups: beer.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Aug 15, 2010

Taking a tea break in Shizuoka

It's no secret what the cash crop of Shizuoka Prefecture is: tea.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Aug 6, 2010

'Kinako — Minarai Keisatsuken no Monogatari (Kinako — The Story of an Apprentice Police Dog)'

Animal movies are a thriving genre of Japanese films that foreign critics, scholars and viewers by and large cordially detest. It's similar to the typical gaijin reaction to natto (fermented soy beans) — i.e., disgust at a humble, but beloved, made-in-Japan specialty.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Japan Pulse
Aug 5, 2010

Costume changes made easy in Harajuku

Harajuku girls can now avail themselves to spaces that cater to quick costume changes.
EDITORIALS
Aug 5, 2010

Roiling the South China Sea

The ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF), Asia's only regional security mechanism, is often derided as a mere "talk shop," where diplomats gather to discuss security concerns but never actually do anything about them. At this year's annual foreign ministers' meeting, which convened late last month in Hanoi, words...
COMMENTARY
Aug 1, 2010

Probable catalyst for violence

PARIS — Just before Kosovo's unilateral declaration of independence from Serbia in 2008, Vuk Jeremic, the Serbian foreign minister, warned that in Africa alone "there are about fifty Kosovos waiting to happen." The 50 African wannabes can take heart, as the International Court of Justice has just ruled...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / Japan Pulse
Jul 31, 2010

Another heaping tablespoon of taberu rayu, please

Japan's appetite for taberu rayu, a spicy red oil, shows no signs of abating.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Jul 31, 2010

Long journey to safe harbor in an unpredictable world

Knowing Japanese troops had caused the deaths of her father's parents and siblings in World War II, Japan was about the last place Ha Thi Thanh Nga expected to end up. Today — some 30 years after arriving here as a refugee — Nga, 49, is helping other compatriots make lives for themselves here.
LIFE / Food & Drink / Japan Pulse
Jul 30, 2010

Japan by the numbers (07.29.10)

Somen and gyuunyuu purin win the popular vote in Japan this summer. Thumbs down for bad breath and strong AC.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / Japan Pulse
Jul 29, 2010

Pulse Rate: ikyu.com

Japan isn't exactly the land of discounts, but the Web is at least helping consumers pinpoint the price drops in certain sectors.
JAPAN
Jul 29, 2010

Pair hanged; Chiba attends as witness

Two inmates were hanged Wednesday in the first executions since the Democratic Party of Japan took power 10 months ago.
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Jul 25, 2010

The 'secret lives' of tomatoes; cooking with Japan rock's don; CM of the week: Mobagei Town

Everything you've always wanted to know about the tomato but were afraid to ask is explained on the long-running variety show, "Sekai Marumie Terebi" (The World Fully Exposed on TV; Nihon TV, Mon., 7:56 p.m.), hosted by comedians Beat Takeshi and Joji Tokoro.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jul 23, 2010

'Seraphine'

When a woman values her art over personal happiness, the result can yield sheer, mesmerizing beauty. Tolstoy wrote that women prevail because of their "ingrained talent" to achieve happiness, but at the same time this talent becomes their downfall in achieving true greatness. Indeed, had Frida Kahlo,...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WORDS TO LIVE BY
Jul 22, 2010

Pharmacist Masaaki Goto

Masaaki Goto, 83, runs a tiny pharmacy in Tokyo. Japan has the highest number of prescriptions per capita in the world and, after the United States, it is the world's second largest pharmaceutical market. There are about 50,000 community pharmacies in the country, and large drug stores and convenience...
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Jul 18, 2010

Laws can lead, but society must grasp the value of childcare leave

In 1992 my wife, Susan, and I took ourfour children — then aged between 3 and 9 — from Kyoto to Sydney. The children, who until then had been going to Japanese kindergarten and primary schools, spoke Japanese among themselves. We felt they needed some time in an English-speaking environment if they...
Japan Times
Reference / SO WHAT THE HECK IS THAT
Jul 15, 2010

Ladies' plans

Dear Alice,
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Jul 11, 2010

For Japan's own good, it's high time to get into that holiday thing

It may surprise you, but one of the trickiest words to translate from Japanese into English is isogashii. Every dictionary will tell you that its closest equivalent is "busy," and you'd be hard pressed to find a native Japanese speaker who disagreed with this.

Longform

Japan's growing ranks of centenarians are redefining what it means to live in a super-aging society.
What comes after 100?