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Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink
Jan 18, 2008

Brewing sake amid a cacophony of miracles

Being a 41-year-old male puts me at the end of my yakudoshi, a period when Japanese believe all kinds of calamity are due to befall me and mine. Running to form, a family crisis meant I had to fly home to Britain on Dec. 23. I was back at work before the new year, but these few days off were still more...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jan 17, 2008

Burt Bacharach: Been there, wrote that

Let other musicians measure their success with applause and awards. Burt Bacharach's been there and done that.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jan 11, 2008

Vega steals into the spotlight

A city of extremes, New York represents different things to different people. For singer- songwriter Suzanne Vega, its infinite variety is a constant source of inspiration.
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Jan 6, 2008

Why have Japan's bookworms turned?

Let's talk books this first Sunday of the new year.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jan 4, 2008

Beijing: punk paradise in waiting

As Beijing enters its Olympic year, The Japan Times meets the Japanese mogul who's hoping to put the city on the musical map
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 1, 2008

Peace, prosperity come at a price

It is self-evident that international peace is the foremost prerequisite for national security and prosperity. This is the common recognition of all advanced nations, but Japan, with regard to national interests.
COMMENTARY
Dec 31, 2007

China's public diplomacy

China's public, or soft-power, diplomacy has traditionally consisted of "people's diplomacy," meaning the cultivation of people friendly to China within other countries. Under this method, China would nurture people sympathetic to its ideas within a country and use these figures to exert influence on...
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Dec 29, 2007

Watami empire built on concept of family 'izakaya'

Until Miki Watanabe opened his first Watami "izakaya" pub in April 1992 in Tokyo's Shibuya Ward, such eateries were considered places for business workers and college kids to have a cheap drink and a few side dishes.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Dec 27, 2007

Honda touts Clarity as latest, greatest fuel-cell car

LOS ANGELES — The red car humming quietly along this four-lane suburban road looks pretty much like your average four-door sedan.
Japan Times
LIFE
Dec 23, 2007

Japan's 'Hidden Christians'

"It is 12:30 p.m. in Nagasaki, on March 17, 1865. Father Bernard Petitjean, a priest of the French Societe des Missions Etrangeres, hears a noise at the back door of his little chapel. On opening he is surprised to find a group of 15 middle-aged Japanese men and women — surprised because all native-...
EDITORIALS
Dec 20, 2007

Strains in Malaysia

The arrest of leaders of an ethnic Indian rights group shines a spotlight on rising tensions in Malaysia. The government of Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi appears unnerved by growing protests; its resort to the Internal Security Act (ISA) is a troubling sign. The focus of complaint is charges of...
COMMENTARY / World / SENTAKU MAGAZINE
Dec 14, 2007

A tycoon's field of dreams

On Oct. 16 a Japanese media tycoon was awarded the Newspaper Culture Prize by the Japan Newspaper Publishers and Editors Association (JNPEA) at its 60th general meeting in Nagano.
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital / JAPAN TIMES BLOGROLL
Dec 12, 2007

Konbini Life

Konbini Life is a blog that describes limited-edition Kit-Kats as potential after-dinner treats for French restaurants and speculates that Mousse Pocky might be "as good as a garnish on a fancy dessert." Blogger Brent Warner has been writing witty, detailed posts on the never-ending parade of snack food...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Dec 6, 2007

"Kami no Benki/Kami no Koku"

Setagaya Public Theatre Dec. 13-16/Dec. 20-23
Reader Mail
Dec 2, 2007

Christmas wish from a sumo fan

All I want for Christmas is the return of Asashoryu. Sumo without Asashoryu is just not as interesting. The champion of champions, Asashoryu brings a magic spark to the tournament that keeps our attention.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Nov 30, 2007

'Beowulf'

'Beowulf" is the epic poem dating from the 8th or 9th century that every high-school English Literature student has learned to dread. With good reason too — try getting your head 'round lines like "I ween with good he will well requite offspring of ours, when all he minds that for him we did in his...
BASEBALL / SPORTS SCOPE
Nov 28, 2007

Ueda may excel on LPGA Tour where Miyazato has not

Not too long ago the general consensus was that Ai Miyazato would become Japan's first breakthrough star on an American golf tour. She may yet become a superstar, but there's another Japanese player that may get there first.
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
Nov 27, 2007

Re-entry for PRs; rent-a-gran

New 'Yokoso' measures Robert inquires about the changes that started Nov. 20.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 27, 2007

Ghosts of possibilities haunt Annapolis

America's return to the Israeli-Palestinian diplomatic front is a welcome development — one surely that EU diplomacy has sought to bring about. U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's efforts to push the peace process forward during her last years in office seem genuine. If they succeed, Rice and...
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 21, 2007

Myth of U.S.-EU economic decoupling

PALO ALTO, Calif. — The fact that America's economy is slowing is bad news for Europeans, regardless of claims that Europe's economy has successfully decoupled itself from the United States. Decoupling is an idea that is based on bad economics — and on some Europeans' reluctance to accept the fact...
Japan Times
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Nov 13, 2007

Dialect-rife Japan can be tongue-twisting

The islands of Japan have many dialects, and students of the language often realize these variations are not taught in classrooms.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Nov 13, 2007

'Gaijin card' checks spread as police deputize the nation

In the good old days, very few Japanese knew about Alien Registration Cards — you know, those wallet-size documents all non-Japanese residents must carry 24/7 or face arrest and incarceration.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Nov 11, 2007

Boy band's effort to recharge battery in solar debate falls flat

In the fall of 2003, the boy band TOKIO embarked from Tokyo on a journey to cover the entire coastline of Japan in a 1997 Daihatsu Hijet minivan that they had refit themselves with a solar roof-panel and a battery-powered engine. Driving in shifts of two, the five members have, as of the most recent...
EDITORIALS
Nov 10, 2007

Hooked on hired help

Blackwater USA, a private security company, is undergoing unprecedented scrutiny following the shooting deaths of 17 Iraqis earlier this year. The investigation has revealed that this was only the most recent in a string of incidents that demonstrates horrific indifference to the violence perpetrated...
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Nov 6, 2007

Citigroup off to strong start on return to TSE

Shares of Citigroup Inc. rose by as much as ¥250, to ¥4,580, on its first day of trading on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, even as the U.S. financial giant was rocked by the resignation of Chief Executive Officer Charles Prince over widening losses stemming from housing loan debts.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 6, 2007

Sympathy for Bhutto surpasses support

PRAGUE — As the initial shock of the terrorist attacks last month against Pakistani opposition leader Benazir Bhutto fade, it is becoming clear that they were a political boon for her, triggering a wave of public sympathy that extends well beyond her local Sindh stronghold.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Nov 4, 2007

Rural living of an old man who does as he pleases

Late Poems Of Lu You, The Old Man Who Does As He Pleases: New Translations by Burton Watson. Burlington, Ontario: Ahadada Books, 2007, 74 pp., $12, ¥2,000 (paper) Lu You (Yu) (1125-1210), often referred to by his literary name of Lu Fangweng ("The Old Man Who Does as He Pleases"), is one of China's...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Nov 1, 2007

Skin goes only so deep

Nothing has changed since Aristotle noted a couple of thousand years ago that "it is not possible without considerable disgust to look upon the blood, flesh and similar parts of which the human body is constructed." Much here in "Skin of/in Contemporary Art," at the National Museum of Art, Osaka, until...

Longform

Visitors walk past Sou Fujimoto's Grand Ring, which has been recognized as the largest wooden structure in the world.
Can a World Expo still matter? Japan is about to find out.