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CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Feb 4, 2007

Thoughts behind the picture book

Ehon: The Artist And the Book in Japan, by Roger S. Keyes, foreword by Paul LeClerc. The New York Public Library in association with the University of Washington Press, 2006, 320 pp., 250 color illustrations, $50 (cloth) "Ehon" means "picture book," that is, a volume comprising pictures along with some...
CULTURE / Books
Feb 4, 2007

Drawing on some humorous animal characteristics

A JAPANESE MENAGERIE: Animal Pictures by Kawanabe Kyosai, by Rosina Buckland, Timothy Clark and Shigeru Oikawa. London: The British Museum Press, 2006, 112 pp., £16.99 (cloth) The Meiji Era artist Kawanabe Kyosai (1831-89) is said to have had his first memorable encounter with an animal as a little...
EDITORIALS
Feb 2, 2007

Freedom to edit

The Tokyo High Court has ordered NHK (Japan Broadcasting Corp.) and two production companies to pay 2 million yen in compensation to a women's rights group for altering the content of a documentary program on Japan's wartime military sex slaves. The ruling, which pointed out that NHK officials' excessive...
LIFE / Travel / WALKING THE WARDS
Feb 2, 2007

Cabbages and kings

Those who live and work in Itabashi are hesitant when it comes to tallying up the highlights of this northwestern Tokyo ward. "There's really nothing remarkable here," says ballerina and homemaker Chieko Muraoka, 37. "It's quiet and small-scale, but we like it that way."
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Feb 1, 2007

Aznavour: the voice of France's Frank Sinatra travels well

PARIS -- It had been raining since morning, but Charles Aznavour's welcoming smile banished thoughts of the cold outside.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Feb 1, 2007

Treasures from out of the tombs

A monstrous face spans an entire ax blade, with protruding eyes, uplifted eyebrows, and a gaping mouth with serrated teeth. Weighing 5 kg, this imposing blade from a Shang Dynasty (16th-11th century B.C.) royal tomb site in Shandong Province, China, was used in sacrificial rituals to slaughter prisoners...
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM NEW YORK
Jan 29, 2007

Same hot buttons a hundred years later

NEW YORK -- What was the world like 100 years ago? That was not the question I had in mind when I idly wondered if I could find exactly how French actress Sarah Bernhardt (1844-1923) had described British playwright/novelist Oscar Wilde on one special occasion. As this is the age of the Internet, I quickly...
COMMENTARY
Jan 23, 2007

U.S. presence vs. the public will

A tense atmosphere prevails in Yokosuka, Kanagawa Prefecture, during its centennial this year due to the planned deployment of a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier at U.S. Yokosuka Naval Base.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jan 18, 2007

In the presence of 'Emperor' Kurosawa

Akira Kurosawa's assistant for almost four decades, Teruyo Nogami discusses the master filmmaker's genius, and his weaknesses
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Jan 7, 2007

Through the Terayama looking glass

THE EXPERIMENTAL IMAGE WORLD OF SHUJI TERAYAMA, DVD four-volume box set. Tokyo: Daguerreo Press, Inc./Image Forum Video, 2006, color/monochrome, English subtitles, bilingual menu, audio commentaries (Japanese only) by Nobuhiro Kawanaka, Tatsuo Suzuki, Sakumi Hagiwara and Henriku Morisaki, 346 min., 18,900...
JAPAN
Dec 31, 2006

First lady blog talks of Christmas with Abe, Bush bulb

The latest addition to a collection of Christmas ornaments at Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's home this year came from American first lady Laura Bush, and the Abes enjoyed a cozy Christmas dinner at a singer friend's house, according to a blog recently started by Japan's first lady.
JAPAN
Dec 31, 2006

First lady blog talks of Christmas with Abe, Bush bulb

The latest addition to a collection of Christmas ornaments at Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's home this year came from American first lady Laura Bush, and the Abes enjoyed a cozy Christmas dinner at a singer friend's house, according to a blog recently started by Japan's first lady.
CULTURE / Books
Dec 31, 2006

Make sure you read the best Asia books

The holiday season is upon us, and as we look toward 2007, why not make a resolution to read some of the best books about Asia? We introduce a few of our contributors to help you decide what not to miss Donald Richie's selections: RASHOMON AND SEVENTEEN OTHER STORIES by Ryunosuke Akutagawa, translated...
Japan Times
LIFE
Dec 31, 2006

Eyeing Japan's new year and far, far beyond

The future may be fundamentally uncertain, but people's appetite for predictions of what will be happening in days, weeks, months, years or even decades to come is one thing, at least, that is certain to be part of it.
SOCCER / J. League
Dec 30, 2006

Guido's Reds advance to final

Shinji Ono ensured Guido Buchwald has the grandest stage of all at which to say his goodbyes as Urawa coach by scoring one goal and creating another for Robson Ponte as the Reds advanced to the Emperor's Cup final with a 2-1 victory over Kashima Antlers on Friday.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art / NEW ART SEEN
Dec 28, 2006

Only representations of the real thing

Something recurring -- a style, a mood or a tendency that threads its way through the previous 12 months and, in doing so, traces a theme -- that's what I look for when it comes once again to appraising another year-in-art. This time round the resonating word is "representation."
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design / ON: DESIGN
Dec 26, 2006

Easy Desk Aluminum, Waste Me Not Calendars, Plusminuszero's Humidifer, Metaphys' celtis game

The new year brings with it a perfect opportunity to make life improvements, or at least pretend to do so. This month's column, therefore, is about making you more productive, better organized (with a touch of eco-related ingenuity), enhancing the air around you -- as well as adding a bit of fun to our...
CULTURE / Books
Dec 24, 2006

A dip into the extraordinary of the ordinary

IN THE POOL by Hideo Okuda, translated by Giles Murray. Tokyo: IBC Publishing, 2006, 224 pp., $24.95 (cloth). On the surface, Irabu General Hospital appears no different from other medium-size privately owned medical facilities in the Tokyo area. It's only when patients' conditions defy simple diagnosis...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Dec 22, 2006

2006: The year that hip-hop finally grew up

The idea that rock is exclusively a young man's game hasn't held water for three decades. While there's still something off-putting about Mick Jagger's determined athleticism in the service of a catalog that's older than Justin Timberlake, there's no denying he can still fill football stadiums, and not...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Dec 10, 2006

Rediscovering a neglected tradition

THE BOOK OF INCENSE, by Kiyoko Morita. Tokyo/New York/London: Kodansha International, 2006, 136 pp., illustrations XX, 1,600 yen (paper) Incense came early to Japan. According to the fifth-century "Nihonshoki" (Chronicles of Japan), a whole aloeswood tree drifted ashore at Awaji. When the fisherfolk...
CULTURE / Music
Dec 8, 2006

Tom Waits "Orphans: Brawlers, Bawlers & Bastards"

Although his trademark raspy growl and love for schizophrenic concoctions of sound aren't for everyone, visitors to the whacked-out, downtrodden world of Tom Waits are rightfully mesmerized by its beauty and brilliance. With a persona that's equal parts grizzled farmhand, ringmaster and mad scientist,...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Dec 8, 2006

Arab Strap celebrate '10 years of tears' with sayonara tour

Pop artists tend to be identified by their musical stylings. But some, like Scottish duo Arab Strap, are associated more with specific themes.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Dec 2, 2006

Artists bring Persian culture to Tokyo audience

It does not sit comfortably with Iranian-born Siavash Arianfar to be interviewed. But the truth is that, without Arianfar, it is unlikely that Caravan would have ever materialized.

Longform

Figure skater Akiko Suzuki was once told her ideal weight should be 47 kilograms, a number she now admits she “naively believed.” This led to her have a relationship with food that resulted in her suffering from anorexia.
The silent battle Japanese athletes fight with weight