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Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT
Feb 11, 2007

Siege mentality fuels 'sustainability' claims

At the government's Fisheries Agency in Tokyo, which drives the prowhaling campaign in Japan, there is thinly disguised contempt for the antiwhaling finger-wagging of New Zealand, a country with boundless rich farmland and a tiny population to support.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / CLOSE-UP
Feb 4, 2007

Princess Tenko: conjuror of pure mystery

The life of illusionist Tenko Hikita -- better
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design / ON: DESIGN
Jan 30, 2007

Between the crafty and the user-friendly

Receptacle for the respectable It wouldn't seem that much could be done to improve on the functionality of the lowly water dispenser -- all you need is a receptacle and a tap. Enter Kai House with the Adhoc product from their Kitchen Design Movement collection. It features both a paired-down design --...
Japan Times
LIFE
Jan 28, 2007

The Courtship

Insight, fate and human frailties intermingle in this love story for winter from the pen of MICHAEL HOFFMAN
BASKETBALL
Jan 27, 2007

A big step: bj-league stages 1st All-Star Game

GINOWAN, Okinawa -- Pick a sport, any sport, and the following is a guarantee: All-Star games are fun events for fans and players alike.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jan 26, 2007

The ace auteur and the new De Niro

"The Departed" marks the third collaboration between Hollywood A-list actor Leonardo DiCaprio and America's reigning auteur, director Martin Scorsese.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art / NEW ART SEEN
Jan 25, 2007

A great space waiting to be filled

Wow. It's huge.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle
Jan 23, 2007

'Listen' to your nose: sniff out a calming custom

Swing by any variety store and you will notice how popular aromatherapy has become. There you will find a wide variety of shiny little bottles containing oil extracts of rose, lavender or sandalwood. Along with foot massage, onsen (hot springs) and the music of Mozart, inhaling aromas has in recent years...
Japan Times
LIFE / WEEK 3
Jan 21, 2007

A most convenient way to play table tennis

Despite the popularity of the player Ai Fukuhara, and a series of world champions in both men's and women's singles in the 1950s and '60s, table tennis has long been considered a minor sport in Japan. Often, it is simply associated with hot-spring goers playing in the lounge while clad in yukata and...
BASKETBALL / HOOP SCOOP
Jan 21, 2007

IBL looking to become part of basketball boom in Japan

It's an exciting time for basketball in Japan.
Japan Times
LIFE / WEEK 3
Jan 21, 2007

Dig in at this genuine cantina

OSAKA -- Osaka likes to brag that it is the kitchen of Japan, where the stomach is the most important body organ. But as the guidebooks might say, "Cheap and cheerful is the rule" when it comes to establishing a decent greasy spoon in this city, which prides itself on its working-class, merchant roots....
Japan Times
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Jan 19, 2007

Juggling with the concept of what is art

Juggling is an art. At least it is to Denis Paumier and his performance company, Les Objets Volants. The French troupe has successfully produced juggling events for the stage around the world since 1999. Paumier and crew will bring their mix of juggling, theater, movement and object manipulation to Yokohama...
Japan Times
LIFE
Jan 14, 2007

Get out of this world

Forget Hawaii, Hong Kong, Bali, Britain or Paris -- before too long your family vacation choices will include staying at space hotels or taking a 10-day spin around the moon.
Japan Times
LIFE
Jan 14, 2007

It's high time for Japan to ride the space-tourism wave

The United States and Europe are finally, albeit slowly, paving the way for space tourism to become a revolutionary source of new business -- some economists even believe it could save the stagnating world economy.
Japan Times
LIFE
Jan 14, 2007

Japan's pioneers of new space age

So what kind of people will be Japan's first space tourists?
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER
Jan 10, 2007

Peregrine falcon

* Japanese name: Hayabusa * Scientific name: Falco peregrinus * Description: Powerful and majestic birds, peregrine falcons are as large as a crow, some 50-cm long with a 1-meter wingspan. They have tapered, blue-gray wings, a short tail, yellow legs, black bars on their backs and pale underbellies....
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 8, 2007

A world where no one rules

NEW HAVEN, Connecticut -- America and the world are focused on whether the Bush administration will adopt the Iraq Study Group's recommendations for an exit strategy from Iraq. That is the most pressing immediate question, but America's leaders should also be thinking ahead. America needs a post-occupation...
Reader Mail
Jan 7, 2007

Energy geopolitics is the key

In The Japan Times' Time Out features Dec. 31, various predictions are made for Japan, but not one seriously considers the most unpredictable and most influential factor of all: energy sources and where they are to come from. Robotics, demographic changes, productivity are all ultimately affected...
Japan Times
LIFE
Jan 7, 2007

Bordeaux breaks the bank

Heralded as an exceptional vintage, premier crus 2003 Bordeaux wines are now on the market, much to the delight of wine enthusiasts -- albeit at surprisingly high prices that may rather dilute that delight.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jan 5, 2007

'Les amants reguliers'

There's a conversation I frequently fall into with musicians I know; one that assumes there is a clear polarity between art and commerce. On the one side is "selling out," making art that is closer to product, often with corporate backing, and designed to meet a given market's needs. (Think Ayumi Hamasaki)....
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / WALKING THE WARDS
Jan 5, 2007

Chiyoda's good circulation

Many consider Chiyoda the heart of Tokyo, and no wonder. The ward pumps lifeblood in and out with circadian regularity.
Japan Times
LIFE
Dec 31, 2006

Daunting challenges face fast-graying nation

Robert Feldman is chief economist at Morgan Stanley Japan Securities, where, as cohead of Japan Equity Research, he is responsible for forecasting the direction of the Japanese economy.
CULTURE / Books
Dec 31, 2006

Make sure you read the best Asia books

The holiday season is upon us, and as we look toward 2007, why not make a resolution to read some of the best books about Asia? We introduce a few of our contributors to help you decide what not to miss Donald Richie's selections: RASHOMON AND SEVENTEEN OTHER STORIES by Ryunosuke Akutagawa, translated...
Japan Times
LIFE
Dec 31, 2006

Eyeing Japan's new year and far, far beyond

The future may be fundamentally uncertain, but people's appetite for predictions of what will be happening in days, weeks, months, years or even decades to come is one thing, at least, that is certain to be part of it.
LIFE
Dec 31, 2006

Timeline points to ways ahead

The following are extracts from the mirai nenpyo (future timeline) database prepared by the team led by Masataka Yoshikawa, research director of the Institute of Life and Living at Hakuhodo Inc., Japan's second-largest advertising agency. By collecting vast amounts of published information spanning many...
Japan Times
LIFE
Dec 31, 2006

Shaping our future along with robots

Yoshiyuki Sankai is a professor of engineering at Tsukuba University in Ibaraki Prefecture and a front-runner in the field of "cybernics," which combines robotics with a wide array of academic disciplines, including neurology, information technology, behavioral science and psychology. Now aged 48, he...
Japan Times
LIFE
Dec 24, 2006

Penmanship: A lost art is rediscovered

At this time of the year, you may have received and sent any number of Christmas cards. Or, in the Japanese tradition, you might still be panicking about writing all the New Year's postcards that the nation's army of mailmen and women endeavor to deliver on New Year's Day.
Japan Times
LIFE
Dec 24, 2006

Sutra-writing by hand to boost the brain

Amid the current national craze over anything that might boost brainpower -- or at least help its legions of elderly to retain their mental functions -- a relatively low-key, centuries-old Buddhist practice has lately been attracting a lot of attention.

Longform

Mount Fuji is considered one of Japan's most iconic symbols and is a major draw for tourists. It's still a mountain, though, and potential hikers need to properly prepare for any climb.
What it takes to save lives on Mount Fuji