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CULTURE / Books
Feb 16, 2000

The essence of Japanese film

FROM BOOK TO SCREEN: Modern Japanese Literature in Film. By Keiko I. McDonald. Armonk, NY: M.E. Sharpe, 2000, 326 pp., with b/w photos. $62.95 (cloth); $25.95 (paper) Keiko McDonald's 1994 "Japanese Classical Theater in Films" (Associated University Presses) has become an indispensable text. Anyone...
CULTURE / Books
Jan 10, 2000

Asia's forgotten civilization

THE MONS: A Civilization of Southeast Asia, by Emmanuel Guillon, translated and edited by James V. Di Crocco. Bangkok: Siam Society, 1999, 900 baht. Every student of Southeast Asian culture is bound to become aware of a kind of empty chapter that is nevertheless pregnant with meaning and substance....
CULTURE / Books
Nov 2, 1999

This poetic chameleon wore khaki

SHREDDING THE TAPESTRY OF MEANING: The Poetry and Poetics of Kitasono Katsue (1902-1978), by John Solt. Harvard University Asia Center, 1999, 395 pp., $49.50. On Jan. 4, 1942, less than a month after Japan's assault on Pearl Harbor, Katsue Kitazono -- the spelling that John Solt gives the name in "Shredding...
CULTURE / Stage
Apr 30, 1999

Kee Company travels down 'Narrow Road' of discovery

Matsuo Basho (1644-94) regarded as the father of modern haiku poetry, spent the latter years of his life hiking across Japan and recording his journeys in various travel sketches. The most famous of these travel journals titled "Oku no Hosomichi (The Narrow Road to the Deep North)," is a work of linked...
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 17, 1999

U.S. trade policy all at sea

When Pat Buchanan launched his third campaign for the presidency of the United States, the protectionist candidate visited the archetypal steel town of Weirton, West Virginia. Buffeted by a surge in imported steel, Weirton offered a natural backdrop for Buchanan's xenophobic fulminations.
CULTURE / Books
Mar 17, 1999

Last glimpses of a vanishing people

THE VANISHING TRIBES OF BURMA, by Richard K. Diran. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 240 pp., $60. Coffee-table photo books are usually too expensive, space-consuming or indistinguishable in content from the art of the glossy postcard for most of us to consider buying. Every once in a while, however,...
LIFE / Digital / CYBERIA
Jan 27, 1999

Links you can trust

In the past few months, this column has addressed the trend of "portals," those jump-station sites where you're supposed to begin your journey onto the Web. Although Wired.com hasn't officially become a portal, it is where I often begin my Web sessions. I go to read Wired's superior tech features, but...
JAPAN
Feb 10, 1998

Supreme court issues protest on story of Kobe boy's confession

In an unprecedented move, the Supreme Court sent a protest letter Tuesday to the publisher of a monthly magazine that printed confidential prosecution documents on the Kobe boy who last year killed and beheaded an 11-year-old boy.
Japan Times
WORLD
Jun 3, 2023

After rough start, U.N. plastic treaty talks end with mandate for first draft

By the session's close, countries agreed to prepare a 'zero draft' text of what would become a legally binding plastics treaty.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Tech
May 11, 2023

Google answers ChatGPT challenge with Bard expansion

Executives at an annual Google developers conference in Silicon Valley said that generative AI will also be used to supercharge the tech giant's leading search engine.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Tech
Apr 29, 2023

Behind EU lawmakers' challenge to rein in ChatGPT and generative AI

Interviews reveal for the first time how over just 11 days a small group of politicians hammered out legislation that could reshape the regulatory landscape for OpenAI and its competitors.
Japan Times
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Apr 14, 2023

Long story short, abbreviated Japanese is good value for your time

In English, acronyms are a way to communicate what you want to say quickly. The Japanese tend to shorten their speech by shortening their words.
Japan Times
WORLD
Apr 10, 2023

Indigenous groups fear culture distortion as AI learns their languages

Critics warn Indigenous groups are at risk from bias that can be embedded within algorithms, while generative AI models may also spread incorrect information.
Japan Times
WORLD
Apr 5, 2023

French unions say pension meeting with prime minister a 'failure'

French unions said a last-ditch meeting with prime minister on pension reform was a 'failure' after she refused to revoke changes.
Japan Times
WORLD / Science & Health
Mar 25, 2023

How China, the U.S. and others watered down a key U.N. climate document

China, the U.S. and Saudi Arabia are among countries that significantly altered a U.N. document that will shape global climate policy for years to come, a report has said.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Mar 13, 2023

Osamu Dazai gets silly while facing fears in 'The Flowers of Buffoonery'

Translator Sam Bett brings out the fragile personalities in the author's early novella, a predecessor to his modern classic novel “No Longer Human.'
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 2, 2023

Finally, a happy chapter in the post-Brexit era

The U.K. and the EU come up with an agreement both sides can live with — in principle. That alone is an achievement.
Japan Times
WORLD
Feb 28, 2023

Brexit deal gives Sunak one chance to end years of EU acrimony

Agreement on Northern Ireland trade could clear a path for the U.K. and EU to rebuild a relationship built on trust and cooperation.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 20, 2023

Preempting a generative AI monopoly

Policymakers must prevent this nascent artificial intelligence market from becoming dominated by a handful of giant private companies.
Japan Times
WORLD
Feb 11, 2023

How a band of Ukraine civilians helped seal Russia's biggest defeat

New accounts from Kherson have provided a rare window into how intelligence and sabotage operations are being coordinated with Ukrainian intelligence services behind enemy lines.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Jul 12, 2023

AI is making politics easier, cheaper and more dangerous

Deepfakes have plagued politics for years, but with AI, savvy editing skills are no longer required to create them.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Tech
Jul 7, 2023

Meta’s Threads app draws millions seeking a Twitter alternative

Meta’s apps in the past have competed indirectly for user attention with Twitter by courting news publishers, politicians and other high-profile people.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Tech
Jul 6, 2023

Instagram unveils Threads app, a threat to Musk’s Twitter

The app is the most serious threat yet to Elon Musk’s struggling social-media site.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Jun 27, 2023

India’s June heat wave deaths are a harbinger of worse to come

The numerous anecdotal reports of a spike in deaths among the most vulnerable in society have heightened concerns about both central and local government preparations.
JAPAN / Explainer
Jul 21, 2023

Bike, scooter, taxi? Here are your options for nonrail transit in Japan

Here's a rundown on your options and how best to utilize them — whether your a tourist or long-time resident.
Members of the Writers Guild of America and the Screen Actors Guild take part in a picket line outside Paramount Studios in Hollywood, California, on Thursday.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 21, 2023

AI shines a spotlight on Hollywood hypocrisy

Studios haven’t informed or paid background actors properly for being digitally scanned, yet they want the same courtesy from AI companies.
Unlike other social media platforms, including Threads, Twitter has a way of pushing you out of your comfort zone.
BUSINESS / Tech
Jul 20, 2023

Can Threads dethrone Twitter in Japan?

Netizens in Japan jumped onto the Threads bandwagon soon after its launch, but the honeymoon phase is beginning to end, experts say, with many Japanese users remaining on Twitter.
A theater-goer takes a photo of the promotional poster for Hayao Miyazaki’s new film, “The Boy and the Heron.”
CULTURE / Film
Jul 18, 2023

‘The Boy and the Heron’: It’s so good to be back in Hayao Miyazaki’s world

Studio Ghibli’s latest film takes viewers on one last journey to the familiar world of a master animator who has captivated audiences worldwide for decades.
A local resident stands next to a car in front of a residential building heavily damaged in the course of the Russia-Ukraine war, in the settlement of Toshkivka, in the Luhansk province of Russian-controlled Ukraine on March 24.
COMMENTARY / World / Geoeconomic Briefing
Aug 1, 2023

Mission impossible: How to get Kyiv and Moscow to talk

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's 10-point plan for peace has found some backers, but parts of it have failed to land with everyone.

Longform

Tetsuzo Shiraishi, speaking at The Center of the Tokyo Raids and War Damage, uses a thermos to explain how he experienced the U.S. firebombing of March 1945, when he was just 7 years old.
From ashes to high-rises: A survivor’s account of Tokyo’s postwar past