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JAPAN
Sep 23, 2008

Self-styled hawk Aso displays a dovish side on foreign policy

Following back-to-back prime ministerial resignations by conservative star Shinzo Abe and political dove Yasuo Fukuda, where does the new president of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party rate on the hawk-dove scale?
COMMENTARY
Sep 21, 2008

The Japanese knack for choking in a slump

Japan used to be held up in the United States as a model example, both of efficient economic management and efficient enterprise management. That economic management image disappeared with the "bubble" burst of the early 1990s.
JAPAN
Sep 20, 2008

LDP looks to replicate media magic

The rules of the game are changing in Tokyo's Nagata-cho, the longtime epicenter of Japanese politics.
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Sep 14, 2008

Closer Kroon counts on pizza to spice up his game

Practice, sign some autographs, attend the pregame team meeting, eat a pizza, take a nap in the clubhouse oxygen tank, then get ready to save the game.
JAPAN
Sep 13, 2008

Osaka education board bugged by employee

An employee of the Osaka prefectural board of education planted a covert listening device in mid-June at its office in Chuo Ward, the board said Friday.
JAPAN
Sep 12, 2008

Three more murderers sent to gallows; '08 tally now 13

Three death-row inmates were hanged Thursday morning, the first executions Justice Minister Okiharu Yasuoka has approved since taking office in the Aug. 1 Cabinet reshuffle.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Sep 12, 2008

'The Fall'

Director Tarsem Singh has been blessed with a successful career in commercials, but when it comes to the cinema, he's suffered the curse of bad timing. His debut feature, "The Cell" (2000), came out as the serial killer boom was starting to tank. His new film, "The Fall," is told through the eyes of...
CULTURE / Music
Sep 12, 2008

Weezer "Weezer" (Universal International)

After 2005's awful "Make Believe," Weezer's sixth album was meant to reaffirm their greatness. But you can forget that, as what fans have dubbed "The Red Album" (because of the color of its sleeve) is the unforgiving sound of an echo rattling through the empty shell of a band you once loved.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Sep 12, 2008

Coach builds brand of affordable luxury goods

Twenty years ago, at the height of the bubble economy, Coach Inc. started out small in Japan, selling its products at the Mitsukoshi department store in Yokohama.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Sep 11, 2008

Annette Messager: one humble messenger

Around the 1960s, French artist Annette Messager began to move away from the idea of "great art." Using materials readily available around the house, her works acquired an air of familiarity and allowed her to use these often effeminated — and thus undervalued — materials to make social critiques....
JAPAN
Sep 8, 2008

'Manga' viewed as vibrant info conduit

KYOTO — In Japan and other parts of Asia, "manga" comic books are not only escapist entertainment but also a powerful and effective medium to educate a broad range of people on important topics like environmental conservation and food safety.
BUSINESS
Sep 5, 2008

Kansai airport still struggling after 14 years

OSAKA — Fourteen years after opening and a year after its second runway was completed, Kansai airport is still struggling to survive as canceled flights and political clashes with local and central government officials leave the airport's future up in the air.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Sep 5, 2008

MY PLAYLIST: James Smith, Hadouken!

British band Hadouken! are a curious construction. If you left them out in a storm to be struck by lightning and broken into their constituent parts, in among the blood and guts would flow a river of toxic neon goo, melting cyberpunk sartorials and a sprinkling of electrochip innards.
COMMENTARY
Sep 4, 2008

Fukuda hounded out of office

Japan's PR-vulnerable public and lightheaded media have done it again. Between them they have got rid of yet another of Japan's better prime ministers. I have no brief for Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda's policies. On two key issues I think he was wrong. One was his determination to force through legislation...
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Sep 3, 2008

Sony to launch new, upgraded PSP

Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. said Tuesday it will launch a new PlayStation Portable hand-held game console in Japan on Oct. 16.
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Sep 2, 2008

Against high odds, masses chase luck

What would you do if you won ¥400 million? Would you buy a convertible, a new house, start a business? All of the above?
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT
Aug 31, 2008

New company casts light on power saving

The use of solar energy to generate power and to heat water is gradually spreading in Japan, but the most basic use of sunshine is yet to come out of the shadows — namely, for lighting.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Aug 28, 2008

Indecisive moments

Henri Cartier-Bresson's legacy of the "decisive moment" had a profound impact on photography. As a cofounder of the photographic cooperative Magnum Photos in 1947, his philosophy influenced a whole generation of photojournalists, and, for decades, Magnum photographers were instrumental in constructing...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Aug 27, 2008

Steps eyed for temps' plight

The Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry may submit a bill to the Diet this fall that will urge, but not require, temp staffing agencies to pursue regular employment for the workers they dispatch in a bid to bring more stability to the lives of the underpaid.
EDITORIALS
Aug 26, 2008

Mr. Biden makes the ticket

After a two-month search, Sen. Barack Obama has picked Mr. Joseph Biden, a senator from Delaware, as his running mate. The selection of Mr. Biden balances a ticket that was short on foreign-policy experience and lacked experience in Washington. On the downside, it undermines Mr. Obama's claim to be a...

Longform

Growing families are being priced out of Tokyo’s condo market, forced to choose between downtown convenience and suburban space.
Is living in central Tokyo still affordable?