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COMMENTARY / World
Feb 9, 2011

'Shoganai' won't save Japan

HONG KONG — It's official. Japan, which economists and other pundits predicted 20 years ago was heading to the very top of the global league by about now, has in terms of 2010 gross domestic product slumped to No. 3.
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Feb 6, 2011

Focusing on Masayoshi Son and Eiga Mura; CM of the week: My Land

In the earlier half of the previous decade, Japan seemed almost overrun with entrepreneurs heading digital and cyber businesses. Few, however, have succeeded as well as Masayoshi Son, the founder and president of SoftBank, one of Japan's three leading mobile phone carriers and the only one built from...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Feb 4, 2011

'The King's Speech'

The Prime Minister (ours) is on Twitter. That's basically a so-what situation given the present digital (and alas, political) climate, but a mere five or so decades ago, people in public office were much more selective about their methods of exposure. In fact, some of them had a definite aversion to...
JAPAN
Jan 27, 2011

Ichihashi recalls manhunt stress

Accused killer Tatsuya Ichihashi's book released Wednesday offers anecdotal accounts of his 31-month life on the run, from fears of being caught and listening to radio updates on the manhunt, to moments of awe over nature, to how he abstained from sex because of what he had done, and how it may feel...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WORDS TO LIVE BY
Jan 27, 2011

Champion itasha drivers Rei and Cloud

Rei Densetsu and his sister Cloud are champion itasha (decorated car) drivers. At the 2010 Fuji Speedway itasha event, where Japan's best-decorated cars are judged on their designs, Cloud won the Impact Prize and Rei received the Special Award for their outrageously decked-out vehicles. The term "itasha"...
Japan Times
BASKETBALL / BJ-LEAGUE NOTEBOOK
Jan 24, 2011

Ishizaki impresses bj-league peers

OSAKA — Shimane Susanoo Magic point guard Takumi Ishizaki has made a terrific impression in his short time in the bj-league.
CULTURE / Books
Jan 23, 2011

Exposing China's murky moguls

THE PARTY: The Secret World of China's Communist Rulers, by Richard McGregor. Harper, 2010, 320 pp., $27.99 (hardcover) The rise of modern China to economic giant and politico-military superpower has mesmerized politicians and business leaders and led to much wishful thinking about China's future development....
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Jan 21, 2011

Universal meanings of a poet's personal grief

Apart from glitzy musicals and kabuki, most theatrical stagings in Japan finish their run after a couple of weeks or even a few days. With no long-run system as the norm, unlike Broadway or the West End, by the time a buzz has got around that something is good, it will almost always have closed or be...
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design / WEEK 3
Jan 16, 2011

Living in a house of longevity

When New York-based artist Shusaku Arakawa died in May 2010 at the age of 73, it caused a sensation — not only because of his influence on many creators, scientists and philosophers, but also because of the gaping contradiction his passing left behind.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jan 14, 2011

'Soul Kitchen'

German-born Turkish filmmaker Fatih Akin has made a rapid climb up the ladder of cinema success: three major award wins in six short years including "Head On" (2004) and the dark, soulful "Edge of Heaven" (2007). Issues of immigration, ethnic diversity and the conflicts that rise from Eastern tradition...
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 10, 2011

A plea to the prince for a practical way to Harmony

HONG KONG — Many years ago, on my second day working in London, I was invited to take tea with Prince Charles in Buckingham Palace. About half a dozen journalists met the young prince who was about to embark on his royal duties but who clearly hadn't a clue about how the rest of the world lived and...
JAPAN
Jan 8, 2011

Subculture inspires young male cross-dressing trend

He's a 52-year-old medical doctor who goes by the name Ayaka Ogawa when living out his cross-dressing fantasies of being a woman in her mid-40s.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jan 7, 2011

'The Social Network'

Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg was named Time Magazine's Person of the Year in December and his upfront portrait photo on the cover echoed the upfront portrait photo of the "Social Network" movie poster. Though both show well-groomed guys in their 20s, there's something a bit creepy about the...
LIFE / Food & Drink
Dec 31, 2010

Kansha: Living and eating Japanese cuisine with appreciation

A writer, author and longtime authority on Japanese cuisine, Elizabeth Andoh has been even busier than usual since the publication of her latest work, "Kansha: Celebrating Japan's Vegan and Vegetarian Traditions." Beside the extra demands of promotional commitments, for the past several years she has...
COMMENTARY
Dec 29, 2010

Carbon dioxide is threatening our fisheries

SINGAPORE — Since the industrial revolution began over two centuries ago, the oceans have absorbed an estimated 500 billion tons of carbon dioxide. This is about a quarter of the total amount spewed into the atmosphere as the burning of coal, oil and natural gas gathered pace and agriculture replaced...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Dec 26, 2010

A clean slate for this year's media awards

Media persons of the year: Toshikazu Sugaya and Atsuko Muraki
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 24, 2010

A thought for the holy day

HONG KONG — A sad note in returning to Europe as the end of the year approaches is to see how "political correctness" (P.C.) has tried to drive out not only what is sacred but also what is important, vital and precious to our very civilization.
LIFE / Food & Drink
Dec 24, 2010

Why not spend New Year's Eve totally soba?

The yearend period, called shiwasu, is a really hectic time in Japan. Think of it as spring cleaning, Thanksgiving and the usual end-of-year activities all rolled into one.
Japan Times
MORE SPORTS
Dec 20, 2010

'Lost Boy' Lomong reflects

FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. — No one should be surprised that a movie is being made about Lopez Lomong's life. There is edge-of-your-seat drama, the horror of evil, the goodness of humanity. It is a lesson in how perseverance and a positive attitude, no matter what, can be rewarded with joy.
CULTURE / Books
Dec 19, 2010

Final word on the year's best reading

This mesmerizing novel is set in Indonesia just before the coup and massacres of 1965 where the pain, love and hopes of an intriguing cast of characters are evoked captivatingly by a gifted young Asian novelist. This is a story of those who don't belong, don't want to belong or think they fit but don't....
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 18, 2010

WikiLeaks' flawed answer to a flawed world

NEW YORK — Long ago, I wrote about the Internet pioneer Julf Helsingius, who ran a precursor to WikiLeaks called anon.penet.fi. As I said then: "Anonymity in itself should not be illegal. There are enough good reasons for people to be anonymous that it should be [allowed] — at least in some places...
Japan Times
JAPAN / RESETTLEMENT
Dec 16, 2010

Critics slam settlement program's lack of vision

Lawyers and supporters of asylum-seekers in Japan have cast a critical eye on the start of the government's third-country refugee resettlement program.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHO'S WHO
Dec 14, 2010

For writer, languages are his 'darling'

Writer Tony Laszlo, 50, has a strong passion for languages. He speaks 10, including English, Japanese, Chinese, Greek, Turkish and French. As a writer, he uses both English, his mother tongue, and Japanese.
Japan Times
LIFE
Dec 12, 2010

Brazil: the wild side

Statistics tell us one story of Brazil: It is the world's fifth-largest country and South America's largest by far, and it is an anomaly in being the only Portuguese-speaking nation on that continent.
CULTURE / Books
Dec 5, 2010

Erotic destiny, palace intrigue

Based on apparent "past-life memories," this historical novel by shamanic witch, priestess and time-traveler Cerridwen Fallingstar takes place in 12th- century Japan in the period leading up to the Genpei War between the Taira (Heike) and the Minamoto (Genji) clans.
CULTURE / Film
Dec 3, 2010

'Yoi Ga Sametara Uchi Ni Kaero (Wandering Home)'

Yoichi Higashi has accumulated a long list of honors in a four-decade career, including a Silver Bear at the 1996 Berlin Film Festival for his childhood drama "E no Naka no Boku no Mura (Village of Dreams)." But compared with certain other Japanese directors of his generation, his overseas profile is...
CULTURE / Stage
Dec 3, 2010

Dancing on Mishima's waves

Childhood, a time of purest innocence, is also a spring of dark imagination. Maurice Bejart, French choreographer and collaborator with the Tokyo Ballet in the 1990s, took the childhood and life of writer Yukio Mishima as his muse when creating the original ballet "M" in 1993, but his imagination of...
LIFE / Travel / BACKSTREET STORIES
Nov 28, 2010

Eats, shoots and leaves in Hakusan

It's hunting season in Tokyo. I kit up and trek out to the Hakusan area of Bunkyo Ward, hoping to shoot (with camera) the wild shades of autumn.
LIFE / WEEK 3
Nov 21, 2010

Those at the sharp end act out plight of their small firms

An old man storms into an office, looking furious. He spots a younger man in a pale-blue worker's uniform — actually, the new president of a small auto-parts factory in Tokyo's Ota Ward — and confronts him.
LIFE / WEEK 3
Nov 21, 2010

'Evacuate' to whole new worlds

In the foyers of theaters in Tokyo's new "happening" hub of Ikebukuro — where the provocative Festival/Tokyo (F/T) drama event is running through November — odd exchanges can often be overheard.

Longform

Bear attacks have dominated Japanese news headlines in recent months, with 13 people so far having been killed by the animals.
Japan’s bears have been on their killing spree for more than 100 years