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Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Nov 13, 2008

The roots — and future — of bamboo sculpture

NEW YORK (AP) For centuries, generations of Japanese artisans painstakingly and anonymously wove baskets from strips of bamboo harvested from Japan's dense hillside forests to use for everything from carrying crops to displaying flowers.
JAPAN / Q&A
Nov 11, 2008

Tamogami — history again retold

Ousted Air Self-Defense Force Chief of Staff Gen. Toshio Tamogami's war essay justifying Japan's aggression in China and colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula has stirred controversy both at home and abroad. More is in store as he is set to give unsworn testimony Tuesday in the Upper House.
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Nov 7, 2008

Bamboleo brings on the salsa

One of the world's most renowned Cuban salsa bands will bring their passionate and romantic performance to a Tokyo audience on Nov. 14.
JAPAN
Nov 6, 2008

Repeat of Clinton-era friction, concerns unlikely

Democrats in the United States and residents in the town of Obama, Fukui Prefecture, may be getting carried away Wednesday by news of Sen. Barack Obama's victory in the U.S. presidential election.
COMMENTARY
Nov 5, 2008

Beijing has enough of its own problems

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. — It would be a mistake to overestimate how much China can or will do to pitch in to the world dilemma as the roiling and unnerving global financial world proceeds apace.
BASKETBALL / NBA / NBA REPORT
Nov 5, 2008

No truth to rumors Kidd on trading block

NEW YORK — Opening week in the NBA has been fraught with trade gossip concerning Jason Kidd, TV talk about Mike Woodson and Marc Iavaroni (to name two head coaches) beginning the season in grave job jeopardy;by the end of the telecasts both Atlanta and Memphis upset Orlando, picked by at least one...
LIFE / Lifestyle
Nov 4, 2008

A beautiful cultural blend: African kimono

Wander past a certain kimono store in Aoyama and center stage in the window is a riotous splash of canary- yellow cotton, with bright cubes of grass green and swirls of earthy brown. A tribal red-and-black obi tied high around the waist completes a perfectly styled kimono that on close inspection evokes...
CULTURE / Books
Nov 2, 2008

Nothing funnier than a comedian in a kimono

RAKUGO: Performing Comedy and Cultural Heritage in Contemporary Tokyo, by Lorie Brau. Lexington Books, 2008, 274 pp., $75.00 (cloth) Of all the Japanese arts, rakugo traditional comedy is one of the most impenetrable for foreigners. The premise is simple: kimono-clad practitioners tell old funny stories...
BASKETBALL / NBA / NBA REPORT
Oct 29, 2008

Carlesimo likely to be first coach out door

NEW YORK — How many NBA fans think the league is better off without the Sonics in Seattle?
Japan Times
JAPAN
Oct 26, 2008

New Taiwan envoy upbeat on Japan ties

As Taiwan's de facto ambassador to Japan, John Feng believes that strengthening ties between Tokyo and Taipei is vital to securing bilateral prosperity.
JAPAN
Oct 24, 2008

'53 secret Japan-U.S. deal waived GI prosecutions

The Justice Ministry told the United States in October 1953 that legal authorities would not exercise jurisdiction in criminal cases in which U.S. service members are suspected of crimes unless the cases are "of material importance to Japan," a recently discovered memorandum shows.
COMMENTARY
Oct 20, 2008

North Korea: settling for half a loaf

The conventional wisdom is that the Bush administration, in its never-ending face-off with North Korea over its nuclear ambitions, has once again been the first to blink. President George W. Bush has been severely criticized for removing North Korea from the State Sponsors of Terrorism List prior to...
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / ON THE ROAD
Oct 19, 2008

Subaru continues to drive to a different beat

There is no brand in Japan with as much unused potential as Subaru. It is kind of like Apple Inc. was in the late 1990s before it came roaring back to prominence with the return of Steve Jobs.
JAPAN
Oct 17, 2008

Job crunch seen upping suicides

Job losses caused by the global credit crunch may prompt more people to kill themselves in Japan, South Korea and Hong Kong, according to a researcher who studied suicide rates during Asia's currency crisis a decade ago.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Oct 17, 2008

Temps: Product of a broken labor system

Natsumi Maeda, a 26-year-old day laborer, says she worked at more than 50 companies in the last year and a half.
BUSINESS
Oct 16, 2008

Political merit seen in forex-tapped rescues

Flush with cash after crawling out of its own bad-debt crisis, Japan is offering funding to help prop up crumbling financial firms around the world — a move that some hope may bolster this nation's standing on the international stage.
JAPAN
Oct 16, 2008

Elderly offenders on rise

In August, a 79-year-old woman went on a slashing spree in Tokyo's bustling shopping and entertainment district of Shibuya, wounding two female passersby before being arrested by police.
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Oct 12, 2008

Lack-of-rage rage is all the rage in apathetically raging Japan

A few weeks ago a Sydney radio station held a phone-in about rage. I was floored as I sat and listened to the people who called in to vent some spleen.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Oct 12, 2008

Ryu Murakami mistakes consumption for labor

A friend used to call TV Tokyo the "ramen and golf channel." He was referring to the station's penchant for programming centered on food shows and sponsored sports events, which don't cost as much to produce as drama series or celebrity- laden variety shows. However, the station's tightwad image was...
Japan Times
Features
Oct 12, 2008

1,000 years of 'Genji'

"Genji Monogatari," known as "The Tale of Genji" in English, is believed by many scholars to be the first full-length novel in world literature. Marking the 1,000th anniversary since its creation, today's Timeout introduces this masterpiece that draws readers into a beautiful world gone by full of passion,...
Japan Times
MULTIMEDIA
Oct 12, 2008

The Tale of Genji: Words of wonder

Western readers were first exposed to the wonders of "The Tale of Genji" when Kencho Suematsu, a graduate of Cambridge University in England, published his translation of the first 17 of its 54 chapters in London in 1882, according to the renowned scholar of Japanese literature Donald Keene.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Oct 5, 2008

Diet 'juniors' and Japan's politics of descent

One of the busiest people on TV right now is Daigo Naito, a 30-year-old who dresses and gesticulates like a rock star while speaking in the tones of a narcotized 16-year-old. Daigo isn't a comedian, though his droning delivery elicits laughs, and he's not really a rock star, though he did start his show...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Sep 30, 2008

Kaneko vows no controversy

Newly appointed transport minister Kazuyoshi Kaneko stressed Monday he isn't like his predecessor, Nariaki Nakayama, who was forced to resign following a series of gaffes.
COMMENTARY
Sep 29, 2008

Learning from BOJ's choice to do nothing

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. — Ben S. Bernanke, the chairman of the U.S. Federal Reserve System, may be dead wrong about the urgent need for the proposed $700 billion that the former professor and his buddy, U.S. Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson, have been peddling to Congress.
JAPAN
Sep 27, 2008

Focus on abductions, former CIA official says

Japan's priority should be to resolve the abduction issue with North Korea rather than support failing attempts to denuclearize the hermit state, the CIA's former division chief for Asia said Friday in Tokyo.

Longform

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