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CULTURE / Art
Jun 19, 2009

Miwa Yanagi makes the personal public

Born in 1967, Kyoto-based photographer Miwa Yanagi burst onto the Japanese art scene in 1994 with "Elevator Girl" (1994-98), her photo series depicting groups of uniformed women languidly posing in empty shopping arcades. Since then, much of her work has reflected a theatrical aesthetic. For "My Grandmothers"...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jun 19, 2009

South Korean festivals suffer a setback

In 2006, South Korean promoters I-Yescom Entertainment and Yellow9 launched the Incheon Pentaport Rock Festival to coincide with the Fuji Rock Festival in the hope of capitalizing on the amount of foreign acts touring Japan every July.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jun 12, 2009

Nomura fuses science, mysticism in artworks

If Pythagoras, Aristotle or any of the other axial luminaries of the Classical World were alive today, they might just be working as conceptual artists in the mold of Hitoshi Nomura, rather than philosophers and scientists. This is because the science and philosophy that these intellectual giants practiced...
SUMO
Jun 4, 2009

Ozeki Kaio says harsh treatment is integral

Sumo veteran Kaio said Tuesday that harsh treatment of wrestlers in training is an integral part of Japan's ancient sport and is partially responsible for his own success.
EDITORIALS
Jun 3, 2009

Take action for A-bomb sufferers

Handing down a ruling in a lawsuit involving 30 plaintiffs who challenged the state's refusal to recognize them as sufferers of illnesses caused by the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the Tokyo High Court on May 28 recognized 29 of them as sufferers.
COMMUNITY / Issues / JUST BE CAUSE
Jun 2, 2009

The issue that dares not speak its name

A few columns ago ("Toadies, Vultures, and Zombie Debates," March 3), I discussed how foreign apologists resuscitate dead-end discussions on racial discrimination. Promoting cultural relativity for their own ends, they peddle bigoted and obsolescent ideologies now impossible to justify in their societies...
Japan Times
BASKETBALL
Jun 2, 2009

Ex-NBA player Benoit named head coach of expansion Hannaryz

The Kyoto Hannaryz have turned to David Benoit to lead the team from Day One.
EDITORIALS
Jun 1, 2009

Effective control of child porn

There seems little chance that a law that protects children under 18 years old against sexual exploitation will be revised during the current Diet session. Both the ruling and opposition camps should strive to reach a compromise to improve the control of child pornography, since both camps have agreed...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
May 29, 2009

Kirihito "Question"

With a reputation for furious, hypnotic live performances, and a sound that evades all attempts to pin it down with the usual genre cliches, Tokyo-based duo Kirihito have gradually carved themselves a position as legends in the underground-music scene despite only releasing albums sporadically over the...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WORDS TO LIVE BY
May 28, 2009

Keiko Aoki

Keiko Aoki, is the founder of Altesse, a New York consultancy firm, and the owner of an eponymous U.S. catering company that specializes in Japanese home cooking. Bitten by the business bug from the minute she flew to the Big Apple in 1985, Aoki's itch to succeed kept her working during most of the '80s...
Japan Times
BUSINESS
May 28, 2009

Strong foothold in India keeps Suzuki in the black

While many global automakers incurred huge losses in the 2008 business year, Suzuki Motor Corp.'s limited reliance on the U.S. market and strong foothold in India kept the company in the black.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
May 22, 2009

Collector steps into the void

How a psychiatrist from Yamagata came to possess one of the world's most important collections of Japanese contemporary art — meaning art made in the last 15 years — is almost embarrassingly simple. Ryutaro Takahashi had the savings and liked the art, so he bought it. As far as the 62-year- old is...
COMMENTARY / World
May 21, 2009

What do the North Koreans really want?

WASHINGTON — The latest statements out of North Korea appear to be telegraphing Pyongyang's next set of provocative moves. It has threatened further ballistic missile tests, another nuclear test, and steps to acquire its own civilian nuclear capabilities unless the United Nations "apologizes" for its...
CULTURE / Books
May 17, 2009

Rattling skeletons in China's political closet

A famous Chinese aphorism goes, "Yingxiong nan guo meiren guan (It is difficult for a hero to pass by [i.e. disregard] the gate of a beauty)."
COMMENTARY / World
May 17, 2009

A story line to push the economy

NEW HAVEN, Conn. — Since hitting bottom in early March, the world's major stock markets have all risen dramatically. Some, notably in China and Brazil, reached lows last fall and again in March, before rebounding sharply, with Brazil's Bovespa up 75 percent in May compared to late October 2008, and...
CULTURE / Film
May 15, 2009

'Donju'

Kankuro Kudo was once hailed as the boy wonder of Japanese show business, first as a scriptwriter for hit TV shows ("Ikebukuro West Gate Park" in 2000, and "Kisarazu Cats Eye" in 2002) and then hit films ("Go," "Ping Pong," "Zebraman"). In 2005, he released his first film as a director: "Mayonaka no...
COMMENTARY
May 12, 2009

Northern Territories dispute lives on self-righteous deadlock

Visits to Japan by Soviet and Russian leaders over the years have done little to break the Northern Territories deadlock — Moscow's refusal of Tokyo's demand for two large islands at the southern end of the Kuril Island chain occupied by Soviet troops in 1945, as a condition for a peace treaty with...
JAPAN
May 6, 2009

Calls to revise organ law grow as lawmakers debate various plans

When Yasuto Katagiri asked New York's Columbia University in February to perform a heart transplant on Hoku, his 2-year-old son suffering from a rare form of heart disease called restrictive cardiomyopathy, the university had to turn him down because its 5 percent limit for accepting foreign transplant...
COMMUNITY / Issues / JUST BE CAUSE
May 5, 2009

Fujimori gets his; Japan left shamed

News item: Alberto Fujimori, former president of Peru, was sentenced last month to 25 years in prison by a Peruvian court for connections to death squads.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / CLOSE-UP
May 3, 2009

Manabu Miyazaki: Outsider looking in

Born the son of a yakuza boss in Kyoto, Manabu Miyazaki is now a best-selling author. His life may read like fiction, but he raises social, political and media facts in a manner that's as frank as it is hard-hitting

Longform

After pandemic-era border regulations eased, Indian migrants began returning to Japan. Their population now stands at more than 50,000 across the country.
How remote work is rewriting the migrant experience in Japan