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Japan Times
BUSINESS / TAKING A CHANCE
Oct 17, 2007

Florist brings affordable flowers to the masses

Hideaki Inoue, president of the company that runs the Aoyama Flower Market chain, earlier in life had no particular interest in flowers. But today, the former accountant cannot live without them.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Oct 12, 2007

Dedicated followers of suburbia

Think of New York and rock musicians and you might well think of Lou Reed, whose identification with his home town is so secure that he remains the only rock star with the guts to actually title an album "New York." Even Billy Joel restricted himself to "52nd Street."
COMMENTARY
Oct 11, 2007

'Silly summit' produced serious results

LOS ANGELES — It sure opened up as one big oddball of a summit.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Oct 11, 2007

The scary sexy girls of painter Junko Mizuno

With an international audience hungry for Junko Mizuno's graceful images of hellish honeys, it's no wonder that the young artist is looking to the West.
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball / 2007 NPB PLAYOFFS
Oct 9, 2007

Marines draw first blood against Hawks

CHIBA — On a windy day on Tokyo Bay, the Chiba Lotte Marines picked up where they left off in the 2005 playoffs and Fukuoka Softbank Hawks starter Kazumi Saito's playoff woes continued.
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Oct 7, 2007

Disparate values may still a democracy make

US President Lyndon B. Johnson used to say of people, "Once you've got 'em by the balls, their hearts and minds will follow."
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Oct 7, 2007

Foreign celebrity talk show, teen sitcom, recycling tips

In the 1960s and '70s, no foreign celebrity was more popular in Japan than the French actor Alain Delon. His name was synonymous with the idea of the perfect-looking man, and because he was popular in an era that was not as media-saturated as our own, he seemed even more unreachable. He was also the...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Oct 5, 2007

Poster boys for Soulsville USA

Call it coincidence, or call it destiny. Either way, Soulive are breathing new life into soul music — and a long-dormant soul label.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Oct 5, 2007

De Niro back in the chair

Robert De Niro had always been an actor's actor, the kind of performer whose work is dissected and analyzed in acting classes, held as a prime example of how it should be done. So it's little wonder that he managed to assemble an incredible and impressive A-list cast for "The Good Shepherd" — Matt...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Oct 5, 2007

A globalist rapper pauses for breath

Having delivered one of the defining albums of 2007, M.I.A is one of the most talked-about artists in pop today. Stuffed with politically informed dancefloor bangers, "Kala" is an album that simultaneously appeals to the cerebral and primal.
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Sep 30, 2007

Bilingual blanks are nothing to kobosu your guchi about

Last week in this column, I addressed the trials and tribulations of bringing up a child to be bilingual — both for parents and children. As anyone who has been down that road knows, it's what Japanese people would call shinan no waza (an arduous task).
CULTURE / Music
Sep 28, 2007

PJ Harvey "White Chalk"

From blues punk to Brechtian chanteuse, FM-friendly femme- rocker to feral screecher: Polly Jean Harvey has been many things during her career. All the same, "White Chalk" is a real curveball.
JAPAN
Sep 26, 2007

Fukuda elected prime minister in Diet faceoff

New Liberal Democratic Party President Yasuo Fukuda was elected prime minister by a divided Diet on Tuesday afternoon amid the political turmoil stemming from Shinzo Abe's sudden resignation announcement two weeks ago.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 25, 2007

Rules for making 'friends' from faces

PRAGUE — I'm embarrassed to say that after reading Newsweek's recent cover story on Facebook, I joined. The majority of the social networking site's new members are people over 35: oldies like me. Still, it's uncool — and supposedly "old school" — to join because of pieces in "old media" like Newsweek....
Japan Times
LIFE / Language
Sep 23, 2007

Japanese: A language in a state of flux

Languages are never static. They change and evolve with people over time. They also interact with other languages, and through an endless cycle of loaning and borrowing of words, ideas and concepts are shared, exchanged and nurtured across national and cultural boundaries.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Sep 22, 2007

The stars come out on Sports Day

In Japan "Fall is for reading," but on this island where there are no large print books, most people are too old to read anymore. This doesn't mean, however, that we are not healthy.
EDITORIALS
Sep 16, 2007

Killing time on Mr. Bush's watch

United States Army Gen. David Petraeus has delivered his long-awaited progress report on the situation in Iraq. To no one's surprise, his conclusion is that there is slow progress and U.S. troops must remain in the country to avoid "rushing to failure." The general failed, however, to answer the most...
Japan Times
LIFE / WEEK 3
Sep 16, 2007

A night out — with divorce on the rocks

Ask a friend to name a detective, and legendary sleuths such as Sherlock Holmes, Hercule Poirot or Kosuke Kindaichi will probably figure in their reply. Regardless of nationalities, detectives seem to be familiar to many — provided they are fictional characters.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Sep 15, 2007

All the dirt on life's ins and outs

This summer has been hotter and longer than most. But rather than fight it and hide indoors in the air conditioning, I just put on my bikini.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Sep 13, 2007

Blue Man Group: Attack of the 'Smurfs'

Butoh dance, attack art and the band Devo have all had a role in influencing Blue Man Group — which is bringing a two-month run of avant-garde theater to Japan.
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design
Sep 9, 2007

Japan's top fashion talents

I couldn't quite put my finger on what it reminded me of. Then I got home after the show and switched on my TV, and there it was in front of my eyes. It was one of those programs where toddlers dance around and sing with the help of a guy in Spandex pants. Yeah! Bingo! That's what the mercibeaucoup fashion...
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Sep 8, 2007

Japanese-English holds key to Japan

I sleep with a purple hippo, a cow, and a dog. And now, Japan is finally making sense to me. For years this country had eluded me with its cute characters and mascots made to resemble animal-like something or others, and creative blobs with eyes and fuzzy ears representing new species of thingamajigs....
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Sep 7, 2007

Tokyo Jazz 2007

The Tokyo Jazz fest organized by NHK and Nikkei was a 2-day event when it started 5 years ago and, up until 2005, had Herbie Hancock as director. How things have changed.
LIFE / Language
Sep 4, 2007

Garnish your Japanese with some 'humble pie'

Second of two parts
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Sep 1, 2007

Adding insult to hot air at the Japanese BBQ

Some people blame global warming on farting cows, others blame it on farting vehicles. I blame it on Japanese BBQs.
COMMENTARY
Sep 1, 2007

Sarkozy offends in Africa

LONDON — The time was bound to come when France and the rest of the world would miss that old crook, Jacques Chirac, but who could have guessed that it would arrive so fast?
BUSINESS
Aug 30, 2007

Hedge fund numbers, assets mushroom as stocks languish

Hiromichi Tsuyukubo ran the best-performing fund in Japan at Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co., an arm of the nation's biggest lender. Then, after six years, he decided to join a hedge fund.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Aug 30, 2007

John, Paul, George, Ringo and all that jazz

Pianist supreme Chick Corea talks about his wide and varied sources of inspiration, his philosophies on life — and the Japanese dynamo who is about to join him on stage.
MORE SPORTS
Aug 29, 2007

No failed doping tests so far

OSAKA — First the good news: As of 4 p.m. Monday, there had been no positive doping tests at the 11th IAAF World Athletics Championships.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / VIEWS FROM THE STREET
Aug 28, 2007

What's the weirdest thing you've seen in Japan?

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