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Aug 6, 2005

Colts RB James happy he made the trip after all

Now that he's in Japan, Indianapolis Colts running back Edgerrin James is finding out things aren't so bad after all.
Japan Times
Features
Jul 31, 2005

Retail mecca reborn

Many of Japan's thousands of shotengai (mom-and-pop retailers' districts) are struggling these days as customers desert them for major department stores, discount shops and suburban malls. The Osu district of Nagoya, though, is a notable exception. Bucking the nationwide downturn, this area is popular...
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM MOSCOW
Jul 31, 2005

Nature never tries to be nice

MOSCOW -- Planet Earth, aka Mother Nature, is a sturdy killer. Preachers, environmentalists and sunset lovers keep trying to persuade us that it is as benevolent and fragile as a loving aging parent. Not at all. The environment we live in is hard-nosed and violent -- hardly a mother figure but rather...
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT
Jul 28, 2005

Med students set to train on superdummies

It's the most advanced artificial human outside of a Japanese sex shop. The Human Patient Simulator, also known as Stan D Ardman ("Standard Man"), may not look or feel exactly human, but it leaves sex toys behind when it comes to mimicking human physiology.
Japan Times
Features
Jul 24, 2005

Mama Calcutta

Emiko Dhar moved to Calcutta (now renamed Kolkata) in 1962 after she married an Indian engineer whom she met through her job in Japan. She has lived there ever since.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jul 17, 2005

The lights, guitars, action of Go! Team

Film commonly relies on music to add emotional impact. However, with The Go! Team, who hail from Brighton, England, it works the other way around. Early singles were flush with action and near-cinematic thrills, all guitar squalls and percussive thrust, with soaring horn lines that burst through your...
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Jul 17, 2005

All hail the Land of the Free -- or else!

The United States of America is all akilter.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Jul 10, 2005

Coming out of the linguistic closet

QUEER JAPAN FROM THE PACIFIC WAR TO THE INTERNET AGE, by Mark McLelland. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield, 2005, 248 pp., 15 b/w photos, $34.95 (paper). Japanese homosexuals face a peculiar problem. There is a true confusion among terms for sex, gender, sexual orientation, and gender expression. As one scholar...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / THE SECOND ROOM
Jul 9, 2005

Five signs of the coming Golden Age of trance

In the fast and chaotic protoculture growing around psychedelic trance in Japan, it is often difficult at best and futile at worst to try to get a genuine fix on the direction in which we are headed.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jul 3, 2005

Puccini's masterpiece transcends its age

Giacomo Puccini's "Madama Butterfly" is one of most beloved operas of all time. Musically rich, dramatically taut and shamelessly wringing every last drop of sentiment from its tale of innocence betrayed, it shows Puccini at the top of his form. Yet its seductive beauty and the emotional immediacy disguise...
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Jun 28, 2005

Visa crackdown -- don't get burned

Last year The Japan Times ran an article entitled "Students pay price in visa crackdown" about Americans put through the wringer on minor infractions.
Features
Jun 26, 2005

Learning to fly

He had been looking for someone to commit suicide with for a long time. Now that he had found the right person, Ken had traveled half the way around the world in order to carry out his plan. He was nevertheless surprised to find himself standing on a familiar-looking train platform with his hands tucked...
COMMENTARY
Jun 20, 2005

Politicos feeding off turmoil

MANILA -- These days the political class in the Philippines is preoccupied with other things besides governing. Attention is focused on what one commentator has termed "the worst crisis any administration" has ever experienced. The opposition is orchestrating turmoil and openly calling for the ouster...
CULTURE / Music / JAZZNICITY
Jun 19, 2005

Only one way to get that big band sound

Forming a jazz big band in this day and age is a somewhat insane undertaking. Scheduling the right musicians, writing elaborate arrangements and hiring a studio with the right equipment to record 16 players at once are headaches big enough to hold back even the most inspired leader. The bottom line for...
CULTURE / Music
Jun 19, 2005

Only one way to get that big band sound

Forming a jazz big band in this day and age is a somewhat insane undertaking. Scheduling the right musicians, writing elaborate arrangements and hiring a studio with the right equipment to record 16 players at once are headaches big enough to hold back even the most inspired leader. The bottom line for...
Japan Times
BUSINESS / U.S. BUSINESS SCHOOL SYMPOSIUM
Jun 16, 2005

Flexible labor policies raise worker loyalty, satisfaction

Ongoing moves for a greater flexibility in the labor market will increase effective labor supply -- a good news as Japan faces a declining population, said James Hosek, professor at Pardee RAND Graduate School.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / FUZZY LOGIC
Jun 12, 2005

A stage-dive back into the mayhem

Illnesses. Broken bones. Arrests. Bereavements. Just a few reasons why Fuzzy Logic has been on a six-month sabbatical. You don't need to know the details. So here's a rather straightforward comeback column in which I round up a few things and then, in future columns, I'll get back to introducing you...
SPORTS / SPORTS SCOPE
Jun 11, 2005

Eyes of rugby world on New Zealand as Lions fans fly in

Even though the final decision as to who will host the 2011 Rugby World Cup will not be made until November, the next few weeks will be crucial for the three countries hoping to host sport's third biggest event.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / VIEWS FROM THE STREET
Jun 7, 2005

Do you believe in ghosts?

Yuma Tejima Engineer, 29 I do, but I haven't seen one yet. There used to be a person who had a strong feeling that she could see ghosts. Her name was Aiko Gibo. I wanted to meet her but she died.
EDITORIALS
May 30, 2005

A neighborly foothold in Asia

Moves to reform the U.N. Security Council, which plays a major role in United Nations decision-making, are approaching a crucial phase. The so-called Group of Four countries (Japan, Germany, India and Brazil) — which are bidding for permanent seats on the council — have issued a framework draft resolution...
COMMUNITY / COUNTERPOINT
May 29, 2005

Causes and effects can encompass far more than 'specifics'

In January 1977, an express train traveling from the Blue Mountains of New South Wales to Sydney derailed on a curve near Granville Station, 21 km west of the city. The train -- which was three minutes late when it left the last stop on its 2 1/2-hour journey -- smashed into the pillar of a bridge, killing...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
May 29, 2005

Diva sings hot and cold on solo debut

It is 11 on a Sunday morning and Roisin Murphy has just arrived back at her London flat. Another big night out in the city's kinetic clubland?
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
May 29, 2005

The Alban Berg Quartett know Schubert inside out

The Alban Berg Quartett occupies a near-legendary position among string quartets. Their technical fluency, the beauty of their playing, the harmony of their interpretation -- have left critics searching for superlatives and ensured their constant demand in recital halls around the world.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
May 21, 2005

Collaborating on Japan's photography masters

Mumi Trabucco and Kanji Embutsu share a passion for photography. Which is why -- if not how -- they have come to be working together on the two-day exhibition "Modern Masters of Photography -- Japan" to be staged at Prudential Tower in Tokyo's Akasaka-Mitsuke on May 28 and 29.
BUSINESS / JAPANESE PERSPECTIVES
May 16, 2005

Climbing up the down escalator: Inflation still out of Japan's reach

Inflation is not about to return to Japan just yet. According to the Bank of Japan's latest "Outlook for Economic Activity and Prices" released at the end of last month, the BOJ Policy Board members' median forecast for consumer prices in fiscal year 2005 is a 0.1 percent decline over FY 2004. Their...
BASKETBALL / NBA / NBA REPORT
May 15, 2005

Race not a factor in Nash's MVP victory

NEW YORK -- Miami Herald columnist Dan Le Batard played the race card last week and, despite the fact there was no one else sitting at his table, he couldn't resist dealing from the bottom of a deck obviously not near full.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
May 8, 2005

Reflecting truth and beauty

Mirah Yom Tov Zeitlyn, who writes and performs under the moniker Mirah, records for K Records, the proudly lo-fi label headquartered in Olympia, Wash., and run by indie rock's most dedicated iconoclast, Calvin Johnson, singer in band Beat Happening.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
May 8, 2005

Window dressing the great divide

THE SARI SHOP, by Rupa Bajwa, W.W. Norton Company, 2005, 224 pp., $13.95 (paper). Indian-ness has ceased to be the flavor of the season, or at least that's what they've been saying in Indian publishing circles. One only wishes this were true. The "Indian experience" is the proverbial dead horse, flogged...
Japan Times
Features
May 8, 2005

It's time to get out there and grrrrrrrill!

Years ago, at a friend's house in Kobe, an intense argument broke out between the Americans and Australians present. It turned into quite a searing row, and for a while it threatened to inflame tempers and disrupt the otherwise festive occasion.

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