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COMMENTARY
Nov 20, 2006

Ideological laundry unfurled

Japan's neo-nationalistic rightwing is its own worst enemy. It sees itself as the defender of Japan's global reputation. But by its own actions it besmirches that reputation.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Nov 18, 2006

Alternative therapy assists on a galaxy of levels

Eight people are sitting in a circle in a meeting room in central Tokyo. One by one they are asked to share a personal problem, choosing one of those present to represent themselves, and the facilitators then positioning the rest of the group as family members or associates so that behavioral and ancestral...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Nov 12, 2006

Ultraman . . . forever

The "Ultraman" live-action science-fiction series has been a rite of passage for Japanese boys (and a few girls) and their families for four decades now, since the first show was aired in 1966.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art / NEW ART SEEN
Nov 9, 2006

An unexplained howl

I don't much care for those explanatory texts we call "artists' statements," because if an artist has to explain a work of art, then it simply isn't standing on its own. Artists who spell out what their art means (and, in doing so, establish parameters regarding how one should see it), only succeed in...
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER
Nov 8, 2006

Chiton

* Japanese name: Hizara-gai * Scientific name: Acanthopleura japonica * Description: Chitons are mollusks, not bivalves like mussels, but single-shelled animals like limpets. To the casual observer, though, these creatures, which grow to about 4-cm long, might not be noticed, as they blend in extremely...
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle / ON THE BOOK TRAIL
Nov 7, 2006

'When Santa Fell to Earth,' 'Brooklyn Rose'

'When Santa Fell To Earth,' Cornelia Funke, Chicken House; 2006; 173 pp. Timeless. That's the word for fiction of this sort. How else can a story originally published in German in 1994 Eand now translated into English for the first time Emake for such great reading? Cynics might say that it's got to...
BUSINESS
Nov 3, 2006

FSA soliciting bids for Ashikaga bank

The Financial Services Agency began soliciting bids Thursday for the sale of state-owned Ashikaga Bank Ltd., publishing the conditions that buyers must satisfy to purchase the Tochigi Prefecture-based bank.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Nov 2, 2006

Love, Peace & Money?

Tokyo Design Week brings together international and local designers, manufacturers, retailers and entrepreneurs for a raft of exhibitions, gatherings and design-related events, and, of course, parties -- wherever designers get together, a party is not too far away. But apart from the civilized pleasure...
BASKETBALL / NBA / NBA REPORT
Oct 25, 2006

Isiah clueless to world outside NBA

NEW YORK -- Isiah Thomas needs to spend more of his free time cutting grass, petting animals or getting involved in any form of mindless relaxation that allows him to clear his attic of cobwebs.
COMMENTARY
Oct 20, 2006

Change the tune on climate

LONDON -- There can be no doubt that the film "An Inconvenient Truth," compiled by former U.S. Vice President Al Gore, has struck a chord worldwide. Checking potential climate chaos and saving the planet from destruction are causes that have gripped the minds of people, especially young people, everywhere....
SOCCER / World cup
Oct 12, 2006

Bando bags two on full debut as Japan beats India in Asian Cup qualifier

Ivica Osim might just have found a solution to Japan's goal-scoring problems.
SOCCER / J. League
Oct 1, 2006

Sato thrice as nice in Sanfrecce draw

KAWASAKI -- Hisato Sato scored a brilliant hat trick in front of Japan coach Ivica Osim as Sanfrecce Hiroshima drew 3-3 away to Kawasaki Frontale in the J. League on Saturday.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Sep 24, 2006

Monkey business can be serious literature

MONKEY by Wu Cheng-en, translated by Arthur Waley. London: Penguin Books, 2006, 352 pp., £9.99 (paper). After many years out of print, this famous translation, originally published in 1942, is this autumn back in the bookstores. It is a partial rendering of a 16th-century Chinese classic text, otherwise...
Japan Times
Reference / SO WHAT THE HECK IS THAT
Sep 19, 2006

O-kyaku

Dear Alice,
Japan Times
LIFE / WEEK 3
Sep 17, 2006

Bizarre bouts of self-expression

Nearly 300 spectators cheered wildly as disco music blared. A spotlight picked out two fighters approaching the ring to kick off a puroresu (prowrestling) event held recently in a Tokyo town hall.
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Sep 17, 2006

Self-censorship conjures ominous echoes of the past

These days a simple but potent Japanese word is appearing in the media with inordinate frequency. It is hannichi, which means "anti-Japanese." An incident last month brought to mind an earlier era, when the word hannichi was also in common currency. Some words skip decades, returning to haunt the national...
COMMENTARY
Sep 10, 2006

Irwin never met a critter he didn't like

LOS ANGELES -- I have long been in awe of the late Steve Irwin, perhaps in part because I never personally met him.
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design / COUNTER CULTURE
Sep 8, 2006

Dover Street shop storms into Tokyo

When it comes to revolutionary retail concept stores in Japan, there's no getting away from Tokyo's Aoyama district. That area's latest major opening comes from none other than Japan's epoch-making fashion house Comme des Garcons.
COMMENTARY
Sep 8, 2006

Recovery from failed policy

LONDON -- Some U.S. and British politicians argue that to tackle terrorism effectively human rights must be subject to increasing limitations. In wartime Britain (1939-45), human rights were curtailed and some innocent people were locked up. The British accepted this at the time as necessary to combat...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Sep 3, 2006

Japanese beauty doesn't come easily

BEAUTY UP: Exploring Contemporary Japanese Body Aesthetics, by Laura Miller. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2006, 256 pp., $21.95 (paper). Beauty is big business. In Japan there are more people working in the beauty business than there are in wedding and funeral services, auto repair and software...
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / WALKING THE WARDS
Sep 1, 2006

Slow train coming downtown

Arakawa Ward snuggles like a puzzle piece in the bends of the Sumida River. The third smallest of Tokyo's 23 wards, it has an intimate, unpretentious atmosphere that matches the attitude of many of its residents. Asked what makes Arakawa special, locals and even city officials tilt their heads in thought,...
BUSINESS
Aug 31, 2006

Debt-servicing to lift '07 budget to 82.73 trillion yen

Japan's fiscal 2007 general account budget is expected to total 82.73 trillion yen, based on requests from government ministries and agencies, up 3.04 trillion yen from the initial budget for the current fiscal year, Finance Ministry officials said Wednesday.
EDITORIALS
Aug 28, 2006

Strictures of job flexibility

The 2006 white paper on labor and the economy focuses on the rising number of irregularly employed workers, such as part-timers and temporary workers from agencies, and the widening gap in income between regularly and irregularly employed workers. If this gap grows and becomes fixed, society as a whole...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art / CERAMIC SCENE
Aug 24, 2006

Crafting the tea demon in Hagi

Psychologist Abraham Maslow (1908-1970), in his theory of self-actualization, said, "If you plan on being anything less than you are capable of being, you will probably be unhappy all the days of your life."
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle
Aug 24, 2006

The 'fools' dance'

'O doru aho ni miru aho, onaji ahonara odorana son son (Dancing fool and watching fool. If both are fools, then dance, or you'll lose big)."
JAPAN
Aug 22, 2006

Voting for next prime minister will be an all-LDP affair

The year's biggest political event -- the race to pick the next Liberal Democratic Party president and thus the successor to Prime Minis ter Junichiro Koizumi -- officially kicks off Sept. 8 for a Sept. 20 vote. Here are some questions and answers:
BASKETBALL
Aug 19, 2006

Host Japan prepares for opener

HIROSHIMA -- The Japan National Team held a light, hour-long practice Friday afternoon at the Hiroshima Prefectural Sports Center.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Aug 17, 2006

Fuel spike hits taxi, airline passengers

Crude oil price rises are turning the screws on taxi companies and airlines, pushing them to pass higher fuel costs on to passengers in the form of higher fares.

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.