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EDITORIALS
Sep 18, 2009

Pardon Mr. Chen to help Taiwan

The conviction and sentencing of former Taiwan President Chen Shui-bian is a troubling development. The life sentence handed down to Mr. Chen is certain to deepen the fissures in an already deeply divided and volatile society. He has appealed the sentence.
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Sep 13, 2009

Tanikawa: A master of foreign ways and Japan's most accessible poet

"We must try to explain everything we think to children. . . . Words that are really rooted in the bones of the Japanese people: Those words are accessible."
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 9, 2009

In Hatoyama's 'fraternity,' people the end, not means

An opinion piece by Democratic Party of Japan President Yukio Hatoyama that was originally published in the September edition of the Japanese monthly journal Voice has triggered controversy in the United States for appearing to have an antiglobalization bent.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Aug 29, 2009

Gasoline stations? Pumping gas is really a physical job

Whenever I go to the mainland, I am reminded of how different life is from our small island in the Seto Inland Sea.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Aug 28, 2009

Dipping into modern art at Naoshima's bathhouse

At 2 p.m. on July 26, operations commenced at the first public bathhouse on the island of Naoshima in the Seto Inland Sea between the mainland of Honshu and Shikoku. Titled Naoshima Bathhouse "I Love Yu" (the "Love" represented by a heart symbol and "Yu" in kanji form) and designed by artist Shinro Ohtake...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WORDS TO LIVE BY
Aug 27, 2009

Publisher Yumiko Tsukuda

Yumiko Tsukuda, 45, is the founder of Anika Co. Ltd., a publishing house in Tokyo, that prints books about the town and residents of Tsukuda on Tsukishima Island. Originally from Chiba, Yumiko moved to Tsukuda in 1998, partly because the town shares her last name but also because she fell in love with...
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital / IGADGET
Aug 26, 2009

Green House puts pen to screen; iPod docks into the TV

Mightier than the mouse: Historic, certainly; ideal means to facilitate communications between people and computers, less certain. Such is the likely verdict on the future role of the keyboard and mouse. Wacom has carved a market for itself by producing graphics tablets that provide the creative ability...
SOCCER / J. League
Aug 16, 2009

Frontale's Chong draws strength from pride in North Korean heritage

KURIHIRA, Kanagawa Pref. — Kawasaki Frontale's North Korean striker Chong Tese has a busy year ahead of him.
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Aug 16, 2009

Shoplifting detectives; TOKIO vs. Takako Matsu; Doraemon in love

When evening news shows have time to fill they often run short reports by freelance news teams about pressing social problems. A common theme right now is the rise of shoplifting among senior citizens, a development that has in turn given rise to specialty security guards who patrol department stores...
Japan Times
LIFE / WEEK 3
Aug 16, 2009

Tokyo bees make honey high over Ginza

Forget Chanel, Cartier and H&M, the buzz on Ginza — long Tokyo's most glitzy shopping and entertainment district — is now all about . . . honeybees.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 13, 2009

Berlusconi's scandals are no laughing matter

ROME — Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's political and sexual exploits make headlines around the world, and not just in the tabloid press. These stories would be no more than funny — which they are certainly are — if they were not so damaging to Italy and revelatory of the country's immobile...
COMMENTARY
Aug 11, 2009

Seven topics for a summer day

LONDON — As Japanese lawmakers campaign for the Aug. 30 Lower House election, British members of Parliament are in recess and Prime Minister Gordon Brown is on holiday. Papers and weeklies are scraping the barrel for something to write about. Many fill their columns with so much sports that foreign...
COMMUNITY / Voices / HOTLINE TO NAGATACHO
Aug 11, 2009

National service stint for youths could help Japan out of malaise

To members of the ruling coalition,
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Aug 9, 2009

Humor may be universal, but Japan's is largely its smut-free own

Swedes crack jokes about Norwegians, Poles knock the Russians, and though everyone likes a good Italian joke, they're less funny than they used to be thanks to the genuinely grotesque antics of Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Aug 7, 2009

Anna Tsuchiya's classic new world

"I find beauty in the dark side or in people's anger!" confesses a boisterous Anna Tsuchiya. Surprisingly, Japan's choice wild-child actress, model and singer did not talk about herself egotistically, but merely justified her love of Chopin over Mozart: "When I (first) listened to Chopin's 'The Revolution,'...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jul 31, 2009

'Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian'

What to say about "Night At The Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian" (opening locally as "Night Museum 2"), the latest outbreak of Hollywood sequelitis? Well, I can tell you with all confidence that leading man Ben Stiller is just as funny here as he was in "Meet The Parents 2" or "Madagascar 2." Or that...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jul 31, 2009

'Coco Chanel'

Simone de Beauvoir may have given us feminism, but Coco Chanel gave us the L.B.D. (Little Black Dress), which is, let's face it, a much more viable survival tool.
Reader Mail
Jul 26, 2009

Words of wisdom for the long haul

I was pleased to see Mariko Kato's interview with Thomas Dillon in the July 14 Who's Who article, "Wit, humor help longtime columnist come to grips with life in Japan." Having always enjoyed Dillon's gentle style of wit in his regular column, it was interesting to read more about him.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jul 16, 2009

Tokyo doctor refused Jackson stimulants

Dr. Eugene Aksenoff, who treated Michael Jackson on four separate occasions in Tokyo, warned the late "King of Pop" against taking stimulants because they could be life-threatening.
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Jul 8, 2009

It's still tough being a man, but it's a whole new ball game

As a Japanese woman, I've always had this niggling suspicion that men had it better in my native land. They were encouraged and coddled and waited upon. They were allowed liberties that a female could only dream about. They considered entitlement a prerequisite, a birthright!
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jul 3, 2009

A freedom that fostered richness

Two exhibitions now showing at the Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography offer a fascinating contrast in photojournalism.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle
Jul 2, 2009

Whether to come out at the office

"Do you live on your own?"
CULTURE / Books
Jun 21, 2009

Eleventh-century lord cracks Kyoto crimes in the worst of times

In Shamus Award-winning mystery author's I.J. Parker's previous work, "Island of Exiles," Heian Period (794-1185) official Sugawara Akitada embarked on a harrowing undercover investigation of a suspicious death on Sado Island. Assuming the guise of a convict, the scholarly Akitada soon found himself...
LIFE / Style & Design
Jun 18, 2009

Forget the suicide stereotype

Now that spring has dissolved into the sticky humidity of rainy season, now that go gatsu byo — "May sickness" — has melted away along with the memory of the cherry blossoms, perhaps it is time to wash away one of the most pervasive stereotypes of Japan, its dubious status as a "suicide nation."...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Jun 16, 2009

'Discontinuous minds' block progress on discrimination

On the final day of the Golden Week holiday this year, I found myself face to face with a young Japanese man who had let himself into my apartment, presumably with the intention of robbing the place. The intruder, who was standing in my living room looking around, fled when disturbed. A chase ensued,...
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST
Jun 13, 2009

Superheroes to the rescue

What I could use in Japan is a superhero.
BUSINESS
Jun 12, 2009

Half of economists see moderate recovery: poll

Even though the economy posted a record 14.2 percent contraction in the three months to March, Finance Minister Kaoru Yosano has suggested the worst may be over, while the Nikkei stock average briefly topped the 10,000 mark Thursday.

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