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COMMENTARY / World
Mar 27, 2010

Finance and trade tremors

PALO ALTO, Calif. — With the American and global economies in the early stages of postrecession recovery, serious questions remain about that recovery's strength and sustainability. In addition to traditional business-cycle concerns, there is a long list of policy tensions threatening to curb growth,...
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Mar 27, 2010

Spring arrives with big black belching fires

As it gets warmer on Shiraishi Island, the old ladies sit out on their porches to warm themselves in the sun. There is renewed activity on the port as 83-year-old Man-chan scurries around his party tent, taking down Christmas lights and decorations.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Mar 27, 2010

Embracing the bicultural identity

Leslie Lorimer defied definition in Japan from the time she was a young child, when her blond hair, blue eyes and fluent Japanese proved a startling mix.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST
Mar 27, 2010

Big faces leave big impressions

I recently unearthed vital trivia stating that the average American will consume 35,000 cookies in his/her lifetime.
BUSINESS
Mar 27, 2010

Growth here worst in G7: OECD

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development said Japan's potential growth rate will be the lowest among Group of Seven nations, casting doubt on Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama's growth target.
JAPAN
Mar 26, 2010

Osaka, Hyogo step up battle over Itami's fate

OSAKA — With resolutions and sharp words between their governors, Osaka and Hyogo prefectures stepped up their battle over Itami airport this week.
COMMENTARY
Mar 26, 2010

Pedophile-priest coverup transcends 'secular' belief

LONDON — The Biblical advice "Render unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's, and unto God the things that are God's" is generally taken to mean that people should recognize the authority of the state in secular matters, but that is not necessarily what Jesus meant by it. It is certainly not the...
BUSINESS / U.K. JOURNALIST SYMPOSIUM
Mar 26, 2010

Voter behavior holds key to political system change

Six months have passed since the Democratic Party of Japan ousted the long-ruling Liberal Democratic Party from power. But whether there will be a fundamental change to the nation's political system will depend not just on the lawmakers but on the behavior of voters.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Mar 26, 2010

Yuki "Ureshikutte Dakiau-yo"

One of the most striking features of former Judy and Mary singer Yuki Isoya's career is the way that she has maintained a unique sense of her own identity throughout the body of her solo work. Pick almost any song from any of her five studio albums and, with its squeaky-yet-powerful vocals and vaguely...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Mar 26, 2010

Japanese bands go big in Texas at SXSW festival

AUSTIN, Texas — 'We want to conquer the world," says Okamoto's vocalist Shou Okamoto after their well-received gig at the 24th annual South by Southwest (SXSW) Music and Media Conference.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Mar 26, 2010

'Konchu Tantei Yoshida Yoshimi (Insect Detective yoshimi yoshida)'

A lot of kids go through a bug phase, when dragonflies, fireflies and butterflies seem absolutely fascinating. But the Japanese carry bug love to heights unknown to the underage ant farmers of my native Ohio, a love that puzzled me when I first came here, since about the only bugs I normally encountered...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Mar 26, 2010

'Shutter Island'

There's a huge dollop of conventionality at work in Martin Scorsese's "Shutter Island" — but it's hard to say whether that emanates from the story's particular backdrop (suit and fedora-hatted mid-1950s) or Scorsese's own, atypical lapse into connect-the-dots storytelling. Not to say that conventionality...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Mar 26, 2010

Chronicling a collection

Last fall, Tokyo's Museum of Contemporary Art (MOT) quietly launched a series of exhibitions seeking new interpretive approaches to the institution's permanent collection of modern and contemporary art. Tucked away in a modest group of second-floor galleries, the first exhibition in the series, "Chronicle...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Mar 26, 2010

'Cassandra's Dream'

Woody Allen has often commented that "making a movie is a great distraction from the real agonies of the world." While he's got a point, some days I wish he'd take up model trains or something else instead. You don't make films just to pass the time (unless you're Andy Warhol); you should be driven by...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Mar 26, 2010

Delphic

famous Tony Wilson inspired Hacienda, Delphic are the latest off the conveyor belt of Manchester groups.
Reader Mail
Mar 25, 2010

Enough to gag a dolphin-lover

The March 10 article " 'Cove' Oscar won't end Taiji dolphin kill" mentions Japan's outrage over the activist documentary film that describes the town of Taiji, Wakayama, as having a "very big secret" — the annual killing of 20,000 dolphins near its shores.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 24, 2010

Catalyzing consumption and balancing growth

WASHINGTON — China has weathered the great recession well. The world now waits to see if last year's impressive domestic demand growth can be sustained, and if China can, in the words of Prime Minister Wen Jiabao, "give full play to the leading role of consumer demand in driving economic growth."
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Japan Pulse
Mar 22, 2010

Masks off, plugs in: New allergy tools go inside the nose

Along with the dreaded pollen of spring come new products trying to provide sufferers relief from the seasonal sniffles.
Japan Times
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Mar 21, 2010

Davis put up numbers, stories in Japan stint

Last week I read three obituaries about Willie Davis, the former Los Angeles Dodgers great center fielder who died March 9 in Burbank, Calif.

Longform

Bear attacks have dominated Japanese news headlines in recent months, with 13 people so far having been killed by the animals.
Japan’s bears have been on their killing spree for more than 100 years