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Japan Times
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Mar 8, 2009

Looking forward to a 200-year-old human

If you believe everything you read about the health-giving properties of the traditional Japanese diet — and if you were to eat traditionally every day — you might expect to live to at least 150, in rude health.
Japan Times
CULTURE
Mar 6, 2009

Redefining defiance for a modern Japan

More than 3 million people are likely to tune into the second installment of NHK drama "Jiro Shirasu" on Saturday night — and chances are, most will be waiting expectantly for the re-enactment of one particularly famous episode from the subject's life.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Feb 28, 2009

Power of words eludes politicians

Japanese prime ministers aren't known for the impact they make with their words, or straight talk with the public.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Feb 27, 2009

Angela Aki turns to the keys for answers

"I search for answers a lot in life when I feel like I don't know which way to go or what's right or wrong," says singer-songwriter Angela Aki. "So I turn to the piano and search for the answers through songs, and I figured in the end that the searching process has all the answers you are truly looking...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Feb 27, 2009

Humans, not cogs

Twenty-six years after it premiered at the Cottlesloe Theatre in London, David Mamet's "Glengarry Glen Ross," which caused a sensation in 1983 with its horrific yet realistic depiction of the dog-eat-dog real-estate business in a recession-hit America, could almost be considered a classic. The play went...
COMMENTARY
Feb 26, 2009

Liberal Democratic parties: up and down?

Big crises like the current recession change a lot of things that once seemed to be a permanent part of the landscape. In Japan the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), which has governed the country for all but nine months of the past half-century, is about to go over a cliff.
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Feb 25, 2009

The character of a culture resides in its language

Defining people by their ethnicity while virtually ignoring their cultural background has always been both dumb and dangerous, but there is a growing appreciation among business leaders, diplomats and politicians of the importance of understanding other cultures.
BASKETBALL / NBA / NBA REPORT
Feb 25, 2009

Many reasons why Hughes is on move again

NEW YORK — Considering the squall of trade winds that relayed the names of Amare Stoudemire, Vince Carter, Shaq, Richard Jefferson and Gerald Wallace throughout the NBA it's safe to say none of the deals blew us away or remotely provoked anyone to exclaim, "Like, whoa!"
Japan Times
BASKETBALL / ONE-ON-ONE WITH ...
Feb 24, 2009

Kinjo reaps benefits of workouts

The Japan Times will be featuring periodic interviews with players in the bj-league — Japan's first professional basketball circuit — which began its fourth season in October. Shigeyuki Kinjo of the Ryukyu Golden Kings is the subject of this week's profile.
Japan Times
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Feb 20, 2009

Butoh master shows his class

Akaji Maro, founder of the Dairakudakan (Great Camel Ship) company, and one of Japan's revered icons of the butoh dance form, is known for often speaking rather obliquely. Speaking during rehearsals last July for the world premier of his company's "Secrets of Mankind" at the American Dance Festival's...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHO'S WHO
Feb 17, 2009

Job taken on a whim leads to 35 years in Tokyo

Peter Barakan, 57, wears many hats. He is a radio DJ, a TV program host, an author of books on music and English language education, a long-time Tokyoite fluent in Japanese, husband to a Japanese woman, and the father of a college boy and high school girl. Barakan said he never imagined spending more...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Feb 15, 2009

The recession will lead to a downturn in media quality

Every day there is more gloomy news about a major manufacturer or retailer or service company cutting jobs — and not just a few dozen here or there, but thousands, tens of thousands. No one gets out alive, except self-made billionaires and McDonald's, which is doing quite well, apparently. People will...
Japan Times
LIFE / WEEK 3
Feb 15, 2009

Eco-sweepers get to push their dust in the ancient way

In the future, when some oddly inclined academic sits down to pen the definitive history of the broom in Japan, several key years will stand out like piles of dust littering the corridors of time. One of them could be 2009.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Feb 14, 2009

Choked with visitors, Kyoto takes slow road toward eco-tourism

The ancient capital of Kyoto conjures up many images among international tourists, ranging from quiet rock gardens and temples to performing geisha.
LIFE / Travel / FREEWHEELIN' ACROSS JAPAN
Feb 8, 2009

Storming the keep of Himeji Castle

"What are your three favorite things about Himeji Castle," I ask my guide, Ayumi Miyazaki, an elegant middle-aged lady, as we slurp down tempura soba in the dungeons of Himeji Station in Hyogo Prefecture, prior to walking the 15 minutes up the main drag to the town's famous fortress.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / FREEWHEELIN' ACROSS JAPAN
Feb 8, 2009

Storming the keep of Himeji Castle

"What are your three favorite things about Himeji Castle," I ask my guide, Ayumi Miyazaki, an elegant middle-aged lady, as we slurp down tempura soba in the dungeons of Himeji Station in Hyogo Prefecture, prior to walking the 15 minutes up the main drag to the town's famous fortress.
JAPAN
Feb 6, 2009

Divisions over Aso rack LDP's largest faction

The Liberal Democratic Party's largest faction decided Thursday to unify solely under former Chief Cabinet Secretary Nobutaka Machimura in an attempt to muzzle outspoken faction manager Hidenao Nakagawa and keep him in line with its goals.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle
Feb 5, 2009

Creative dialogue

While it's not unknown for practitioners of the fine arts to gain fame and fortune almost overnight these days, (even through notoriety rather than talent), only a handful of artists in the graphic design field have gained worldwide recognition. Britain's Neville Brody is one.
CULTURE / Art
Jan 30, 2009

Drama outsider takes a step into the theater

Kuro Tanino leaped into the spotlight in November 2007 with a production of Henrik Ibsen's tragicomedy "The Wild Duck" that was almost sold out for a month at Theater 1010 in Tokyo's Kitasenju.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jan 30, 2009

Art Basel codirector sees positive changes

Since its inception in 1970, Art Basel has become one of the world's most prestigious art events. Held every June in Basel, Switzerland, the commercial fair hosts almost 300 galleries dealing in blue-chip Modern and postwar art as well as those with cutting-edge contemporary art.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WORDS TO LIVE BY
Jan 29, 2009

Author/physician Shigeaki Hinohara

At the age of 97 years and 4 months, Shigeaki Hinohara is one of the world's longest-serving physicians and educators. Hinohara's magic touch is legendary: Since 1941 he has been healing patients at St. Luke's International Hospital in Tokyo and teaching at St. Luke's College of Nursing. After World...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WORDS TO LIVE BY
Jan 29, 2009

Author/physician Shigeaki Hinohara

At the age of 97 years and 4 months, Shigeaki Hinohara is one of the world's longest-serving physicians and educators. Hinohara's magic touch is legendary: Since 1941 he has been healing patients at St. Luke's International Hospital in Tokyo and teaching at St. Luke's College of Nursing. After World...
CULTURE / Film
Jan 23, 2009

'Quantum of Solace'/'Elegy'

As a teen, I spent some time involved in youth theater, and auditions weren't always the most pleasant experience. I was a skinny youth, and one director — deciding to mess with me — requested that I act, in open audition, as if I were the strongest man in the world. I thought about that for a moment...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jan 23, 2009

'Quantum of Solace'/'Elegy'

As a teen, I spent some time involved in youth theater, and auditions weren't always the most pleasant experience. I was a skinny youth, and one director — deciding to mess with me — requested that I act, in open audition, as if I were the strongest man in the world. I thought about that for a moment...
JAPAN
Jan 22, 2009

Japan aims to be seated when Obama resets diplomatic table

Barack Obama's inauguration as the 44th U.S. president may have gotten a new era for Tokyo and Washington under way, but the Japanese government is unlikely to be given the luxury of taking the relationship slow and easy.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Jan 20, 2009

Breaking the silence on burakumin

For those who don't know — and you would be forgiven considering the lack of coverage the issue receives — a buraku is the term used to describe an area where some, but not all, of the residents have ancestral ties to the people placed at the bottom of feudal society in the Edo Period. These people...
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Jan 18, 2009

Dialing up the decider one last time before he leaves the Oval Office

With only days left in office for the 43rd president of the United States of America, George W. Bush, I decided, on a lark — or a duck, if you will — to Skype the soon to be ex-commander in chief to find out what preoccupies his thoughts as he bids us a solemn farewell. I want to share this very...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jan 16, 2009

'Zen'

I was one of those hippies who got into things Japanese via Zen back in the 1970s. I spent two years practicing zazen in Michigan and I had a first-row seat when Alan Watts — that early explainer of Zen to the West — spoke on campus. I even taped a photo of Shunryu Suzuki, the author of "Zen Mind,...
CULTURE / Music / FUZZY LOGIC
Jan 16, 2009

School's out

Matilda isn't waltzing. She's sprinting toward me outside Shinsaibashi Station in Osaka with the speed of a Jamaican Olympian chewing cheetah gonads. A meter from me she screams "Simon!" and takes a flying leap, so I instinctively reach out and I'm holding this tiny 18-year-old in my arms like she's...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / FUZZY LOGIC
Jan 16, 2009

School's out

Matilda isn't waltzing. She's sprinting toward me outside Shinsaibashi Station in Osaka with the speed of a Jamaican Olympian chewing cheetah gonads. A meter from me she screams "Simon!" and takes a flying leap, so I instinctively reach out and I'm holding this tiny 18-year-old in my arms like she's...

Longform

A sinkhole in Yashio, which emerged in January, was triggered by a ruptured, aging sewer pipe. Authorities worry that similar sections of infrastructure across the country are also at risk of corrosion.
That sinking feeling: Japan’s aging sewers are an infrastructure time bomb