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CULTURE / Books
May 30, 2010

A double dose of haiku

Of the many cultural exports from Japan, the haiku has been one of the most successful, if recognizability is anything to go by.
Japan Times
LIFE
May 30, 2010

How can it get too late to learn?

Professor Ryusuke Yoneyama was in the middle of explaining to the members of his music-production class why Baroque-era violin bows, which resembled loosely strung archery bows, produced a weaker sound than their contemporary counterparts when he paused to ask a question.
CULTURE / Books
May 30, 2010

Inspirational voice from the land of Gaza: What if postwar Japan had a similar history?

Beginning in a Gaza Strip refugee camp with the author taking tearful leave of his home to travel to the United States of America, this "untold story" is a double memoir/biography charting the lives of Ramzy Baroud's father and relatives and the history of the Palestinian people and Gaza.
COMMENTARY / World
May 28, 2010

Thai 'multiparty' turmoil not lost on China's rulers

BEIJING — Whatever the effects of political turmoil in Thailand, they have not helped the cause of democracy in China. The images of prodemocracy protesters and the subsequent military crackdown in downtown Bangkok have been openly shown in Chinese media without any apparent bias. Indeed, there is...
JAPAN
May 26, 2010

Scion a misfit at Toyota helm: expert

An influential writer with ties to Toyota's past presidents is calling for a change of leadership at the recall-battered automaker in a letter to editors of major U.S. newspapers.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
May 25, 2010

Looking East as British system goes south

In the months preceding the Lower House election last year, an ambitious Ichiro Ozawa, destined to become Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) secretary general, headed to Britain to study the "Westminster system." His aim was to bring Japan's politics closer to that of Britain, to weaken the power of the...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
May 22, 2010

The bright career of a literary 'shadow hero'

American author Paul Auster once called translators "the shadow heroes of literature," who have enabled us to understand that we all live in one world. He could also be describing Juliet Winters Carpenter, 61, one of the best-known literary translators from Japanese to English, who has won praise for...
JAPAN
May 20, 2010

Women get rare chance for promotion

It shouldn't be surprising that Panasonic's star manager for developing appliances for women is a woman herself — except that this is Japan, a nation notorious for holding back females in the workplace.
COMMENTARY / World
May 20, 2010

West doesn't want a democratic Middle East

CAMBRIDGE, England — The lack of democracy in the Arab world results from an unholy alliance between Western interests and local autocrats, justified by what both sides claim to be the region's "cultural specificity."
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
May 18, 2010

Sakurai: a very dapper demagogue

Makoto Sakurai brings to mind that old joke about the man in a pub who says "I'm not racist, but . . . "
COMMENTARY / World
May 16, 2010

Prized Japanese social values that withstand 'Westernization'

NEW YORK — Japan is a fascinating and beautiful country, but its culture can be baffling to Westerners. This seems especially true for Americans, with our long history of geographic and cultural isolation from Europe and Asia.
COMMENTARY
May 16, 2010

Yemen's pitiful options to poverty and anger

SEATTLE — When the Soviets concluded their pullout from Afghanistan in February 1989, the U.S. government abruptly lost interest in the country. A devastated economic infrastructure, entrenched poverty, deep-rooted factionalism and lack of international aid caused the country to descend into complete...
COMMENTARY / World
May 13, 2010

A turning point in Thailand

BANGKOK — Massive occupations of two areas of central Bangkok the past two months show that the rise of Thailand's "red shirt" protesters is one of the most significant developments in Asia in 25 years, as it signals a new type of conflict involving entrenched elites and millions of workers who have...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
May 11, 2010

Japan zines: Never mind the bloggers

Koenji is a nice, quiet place in the suburbs, but venturing along its Kitanaka Street one weekend last March, you could not have missed the commotion coming out of Shirouto no Ran No. 12. Crammed inside this small rental space, dozens of people were poring over, discussing and exchanging piles upon piles...
COMMENTARY
May 9, 2010

Don't talk to space aliens unless you're sure they're not very fast

LONDON — "If aliens visit us, the outcome would be much as when Columbus landed in America, which didn't turn out well for the Native Americans," said the world's most famous theoretical physicist, Stephen Hawking, late last month.
CULTURE / Books
May 9, 2010

Year of the party cats

I put this picture book to the toughest test of all: I read it to my 3-year-old. Though the text was a bit over her head, she stared transfixed at the illustrations. Truth be told, so did I. They are delicious: a rustic Japanese village rendered in rich color and packed with food, flowers, humor and...
COMMUNITY / Issues / JUST BE CAUSE
May 4, 2010

Last gasps of Japan's dying demagogues

Tally ho! The hunt is on for "fake Japanese" in Japanese politics.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 27, 2010

Hatoyama's fate tied to Futenma

HONG KONG — Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama chose to use his 10 minutes with President Obama at a working dinner during the recent nuclear summit trying in vain to bend the president's ear on the increasingly vexing question of the relocation of U.S. military base facilities in Japan. He did this rather...
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
Apr 25, 2010

Will arrogance and ignorance doom our biosphere?

This year, 2010, is the United Nations' International Year of Biodiversity — which is a very good thing. But why this critically important global concern gets just one year is seriously worth debating.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 24, 2010

The limits of China's global charm offensive

BRUSSELS — To many people in the West, China seems to have gone from a country that "keeps a cool head and maintains a low profile," in Deng Xiaoping's formulation, to one that loves a good international bust-up. Putting an Australian mining executive behind bars for 10 years, squeezing out Google,...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Apr 23, 2010

Different by design

HOLLYWOOD — Tim Burton, the filmmaker who gave a new spin to the classic children's book "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory," has now taken up the challenge of a greater classic, "Alice in Wonderland."
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 21, 2010

Unlike China, wariness marks India's ascent

PARIS — Some countries are naturally at ease with the concept and the reality of strategic power. Such was clearly the case of France under Louis XIV, the Sun King in the 17th century, and such is the case today of China, whose leadership is comfortable with the balance-of-power games of classical...
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / Japan Pulse
Apr 19, 2010

The knock-on effect of Murakami’s “1Q84” series

The third installation of Haruki Murakami's '1Q84' is bound produce another ripple effect in the book/music biz.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / WILD WATCH
Apr 18, 2010

Brace yourself — I did say 'cute'!

When did you last go out into the woods at night? In this age of media-induced fears, and with far more than half the world's population now being urban- dwellers, fewer of us brave the outdoors even during daylight hours, let alone at night.
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Apr 18, 2010

Hisashi Inoue: A great friend, writer, and people's champion is gone

O n Friday, April 9, Hisashi Inoue died at the age of 75, and with his passing Japan lost its most brilliant playwright.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Apr 16, 2010

'Moon'/'An Education'

If hell is other people, as existentialist philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre famously put it, then Sam Bell has the best job in the world: He leads a solitary existence on a lunar base, where he's the only human employee in charge of a mostly robotic-controlled installation that mines fusion energy from beneath...
JAPAN
Apr 9, 2010

Importance of diversity explored at trans-Pacific forum

LOS ANGELES — About 200 people representing a wide range of fields in the United States and Japan got together recently in Los Angeles to discuss the importance of diversity and inclusion programs in today's difficult economic times.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 9, 2010

Why do Jews succeed?

WASHINGTON — In recent decades, economists have been struggling to make use of the concept of human capital, often defined as the abilities, skills, knowledge and dispositions that make for economic success. Yet those who use the term often assume that to conceptualize a phenomenon is a first step...
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 8, 2010

It's a Global Century, not an Asian Century

PARIS — It is almost taken for granted nowadays that this is to be the "Asian Century," marking an irreversible political/economic shift in global power from West to East. China has replaced Germany as the world's leading exporter, while South Korea's Korean Electric recently outbid Electricite de...

Longform

A small shrine perched atop rocks braves the waves hitting the shoreline during a storm in Shimoda, Shizuoka Prefecture. The area is under threat of a possible 31-meter-high tsunami if an earthquake strikes the nearby Nankai Trough.
If the 'Big One' hits, this city could face a 31-meter-high tsunami