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Japan Times
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Mar 4, 2008

Politics in game of never-ending musical chairs

A nearly unbroken line of Liberal Democratic Party politicians has headed the government since the party's 1955 formation. This dominance, however, was shaken by the stunning victory of the Democratic Party of Japan in the July 2007 House of Councilors election. In this reshaped political landscape,...
EDITORIALS
Mar 4, 2008

Preventing forced confessions

False charges leveled in a 2002 rape and attempted rape in Toyama Prefecture and the acquittal of all defendants of vote-buying allegations in the 2003 Kagoshima Prefectural Assembly election were widely reported in 2007 and caused controversy.
CULTURE / Books
Mar 2, 2008

Verbal and visual tributes to the poetry of Santoka

HAILSTONES / ARARE / ZIARNA GRADU: Haiku by Taneda Santoka, English translations by John Stevens, Polish Translations by Wioletta Laskowska & Lidia Rozmus, with sumi-e by Lidia Rozmus. Deep North Press, 2006, 33 poem-cards, $50 (boxed) SANTOKA: A Translation With Photographic Images, English translations...
EDITORIALS
Mar 2, 2008

Education reform in reverse

The education ministry has unveiled drafts of revised courses of study for elementary and middle schools. The new courses of study will become effective in fiscal 2011 for elementary schools and in fiscal 2012 for middle schools. For the first time in 30 years, the drafts call for increasing the number...
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Feb 29, 2008

Splendor falls on castle walls

Snowcapped Fuji drops behind the humps of the Hakone range in central Honshu as a southwest-bound train approaches Odawara Station. With mountains on the west and the ocean on the south and east, Odawara was a natural fortress. The first to exploit this topography was the Kobayakawa clan, who built a...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Feb 29, 2008

YMCK takes 'chiptune' revolution major

'The music in video games is less memorable now than it was in the old days," says Midori Kurihara, vocalist with YMCK, and she should know: Her Tokyo three-piece band emulates the sound of classic scores to games on the 8-bit Nintendo Famicom console (known in the West as the Nintendo Entertainment...
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Feb 29, 2008

Pfizer diverting drug development away from Japan

Pfizer Inc., the world's biggest drugmaker, is diverting drug studies and tests from Japan as part of an industry push to avoid this nation's regulatory delays and higher costs.
EDITORIALS
Feb 28, 2008

Facing the gantlet again

Saturday's arrest of Mr. Kazuyoshi Miura in Saipan, this time by Los Angeles police, in connection with the 1981 fatal shooting of his wife in the city came as a surprise to the Japanese public. Two decades ago the United States had let Japan arrest and try Mr. Miura, who eventually was acquitted by...
Japan Times
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Feb 26, 2008

Japan needs imports to keep itself fed

After a spate of food mislabeling frauds and the recent scare over pesticide-laced "gyoza" dumplings imported from China, consumers are perhaps more conscious than ever of the origin of what they eat. Many routinely check the origins of the foods they buy, especially imported products, which Japan relies...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Feb 26, 2008

U.S. military crime: SOFA so good?

On Friday night, Aug. 18, 2006, at a third-story apartment within a gated community outside Atlanta, Ga., 31-year-old Kendrick Ledet sat contemplating life. And death.
Japan Times
MULTIMEDIA / STYLE WISE
Feb 26, 2008

Harajuku's "Style Deficit Disorder," model Irina Lazareanu gets wicked and more

Cure for disorder The popular fashion hub Harajuku is the subject of a fascinating new book by Tokyo-based editor and creative consultant Tiffany Godoy. Rich in detail and accompanied by some remarkable images, her book, "Style Deficit Disorder" (Chronicle Books), documents the history of the area from...
COMMENTARY
Feb 24, 2008

Dawning of strategic realism in Cyprus

LONDON — To call Tassos Papadopoulos a dinosaur is a slur on the entire Cretaceous era, but at least the age of the dinosaurs has ended in Cyprus. Running for re-election as president last Sunday, Papadopoulos, the man who almost single-handedly scuttled a peace settlement in Cyprus four years ago,...
JAPAN
Feb 23, 2008

Activists plan Article 9 conference

Dozens of peace activists from around the world will gather in Chiba from May 4 to 6 for an international conference on the Constitution's Article 9, which renounces war, the organizer said Friday in Tokyo.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Feb 22, 2008

Takagi taps the color of sound

Is Masakatsu Takagi a musician that makes video art or a video artist that makes music?
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Feb 21, 2008

A living play appears from the past

"I have absolutely no idea beforehand what exactly I am going to do. Everything comes together really at the last minute," says 50-year-old English dramatist Simon McBurney when asked how he's approaching his latest collaboration. Working with Japanese actors, McBurney is producing "Shunkin," a play...
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 20, 2008

European Union's catalyst for Kosovo

PRAGUE — Kosovo's declaration of independence has put stability in the Western Balkans back on Europe's agenda. Unless the European Union acts quickly, the whole region could slide backward, with dire social, economic and security consequences. The EU needs a comprehensive regional approach, focusing...
JAPAN
Feb 19, 2008

Top court sides with Korean hibakusha

Sweeping aside a high court ruling backing the city of Nagasaki's refusal to pay medical benefits to a South Korean A-bomb survivor, the Supreme Court on Monday granted the relatives of the deceased hibakusha ¥827,900.
Japan Times
LIFE / WEEK 3
Feb 17, 2008

Japan's 'pouch curry' turns a tasty 40

Fancy a feast? Un petit peu du foie gras, perchance? A slice or three of the finest Aberdeen Angus roast beef, if you will — with lashings of horseradish, sans doute. Or, drop a plastic pouch of curry into boiling water, wait for 3 minutes, pour it over rice and — voila! — you have a meal fit for...
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Feb 17, 2008

Veterans Kudo, Rhodes approaching longevity milestones

Among players within reach of milestones this season are two guys making the most of their longevity: Yokohama BayStars left-handed pitcher Kimiyasu Kudo and Orix Buffaloes slugger Tuffy Rhodes.
JAPAN
Feb 16, 2008

Sarin killer's death penalty is finalized

Rejecting his appeal, the Supreme Court on Friday finalized the death sentence of senior Aum Shinrikyo cultist Yasuo Hayashi, a key figure in the deadly 1995 sarin gas attack on Tokyo's subway system.
JAPAN
Feb 16, 2008

Displaced dwellers sue over Aneha design scam

Fifty-two residents displaced from a condominium complex in Tokyo's Sumida Ward sued the ward and disgraced architects Hidetsugu Aneha and Kazuyoshi Sasaki for a combined ¥1 billion in damages Friday over the loss of their homes in connection with the earthquake-resistance falsification fraud.

Longform

Dangami House is a 180-year-old former samurai residence of the Kato clan, who ruled over Ozu, Ehime Prefecture, until the Meiji Restoration.
A house, a legacy and the quiet work of restoration in rural Japan