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COMMENTARY / World
Nov 20, 2009

The difference is in the will to destroy a wall

PARIS — Walls designed to keep people in or out — whether they are in Berlin, Nicosia, Israel or Korea — are always the product of fear: East German leaders' fear of a mass exodus by their citizens seeking freedom and dignity; Greek and Turkish Cypriot leaders' fear of continued war; Israelis'...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Nov 20, 2009

'Tsumuji Kaze Shokudo no Yoru'

Take a quaint European-looking restaurant in a quiet Hokkaido town in the dead of winter. Add quirky regulars who are treated to nightly disquisitions, philosophical and otherwise, by the avuncular owner of a local hat shop. Toss in scrumptious- looking "set menus" of steaks, croquettes and other Western-...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Nov 20, 2009

Rediscovering Rebecca Horn

If you've been paying attention to recent contemporary art, both in Japan and abroad, you might be struck by the question "Why now?" during a visit to German artist Rebecca Horn's survey at the Museum of Contemporary Art (MOT), Tokyo.
Reader Mail
Nov 19, 2009

Time for 'inclusive' dialogues

Regarding the Nov. 11 article "Ozawa lashes out with scathing remarks on Christianity": Democratic Party of Japan secretary general Ichiro Ozawa's public admiration for the "inclusiveness" of Buddhism provides a wonderful opportunity to open a series of dialogues in Japan among scholars of comparative...
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Japan Pulse
Nov 18, 2009

Manga publishers go back to the drawing board

Digital manga, how-to manga and news rendered in daily manga illustrate that perhaps the reports of its death have been slightly exaggerated.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Nov 18, 2009

Invading jellyfish put hurt on fishermen, swimmers

ECHIZEN, Fukui Pref. — A blood-orange blob the size of a small refrigerator emerged from the dark waters, its venomous tentacles trapped in a fishing net. Within minutes, hundreds more were being hauled up, a pulsating mass crowding out the catch of mackerel and sea bass.
BASKETBALL
Nov 18, 2009

Rising Suns set for team tryouts

The Rising Suns are looking for men's basketball players for the 2010 Quai 54 International Streetball Championship in France. Sponsored by Air Jordan, it is billed as the largest annual streetball tournament in the world.
LIFE / Digital
Nov 18, 2009

Nature's fears extend to online behavior

It's hard work being prey. Watch the birds at a feeder. They're constantly on alert, and will fly away from food — from easy nutrition — at the slightest movement or sound. Given that I've never, ever seen a bird plucked from a feeder by a predator, it seems like a whole lot of wasted effort against...
BUSINESS
Nov 17, 2009

Economy grew 4.8% in latest quarter

The economy grew an annualized 4.8 percent in the July-September period, marking the second straight quarter of growth amid stronger consumption and exports, the government said Monday.
Japan Times
MORE SPORTS
Nov 17, 2009

Pacqiuao assumes place among greats

NEW YORK — Manny Pacquiao had a hat perched jauntily on his head, a bandage wrapped neatly around his right ear. His real work done for the night, he was heading down the Las Vegas Strip to sing a few songs with his band.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHO'S WHO
Nov 17, 2009

Showbiz means to an end, not goal

Chuck Wilson, 63, is a fitness trainer. But he was — and arguably still is — far more famous as a funny foreigner who speaks in a defiantly casual and blunt manner to TV personality bigwigs.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / VIEWS FROM THE STREET
Nov 17, 2009

What are your thoughts on the arrest of Tatsuya Ichihashi?

EDITORIALS
Nov 16, 2009

Teens get funny

Teenagers always think their jokes are funny, but are they? Apparently, at least one is — from a first-year high school student of Hyogo Prefecture, Yugo Sagawa, who won the first-ever comedy contest for high school students. A panel of judges from the Kansai Comic Scriptwriter Association chose Sagawa's...
JAPAN
Nov 16, 2009

American Air's oneworld partners crafting incentives to retain JAL

American Airlines' partners in oneworld, the industry alliance that includes British Airways, are devising incentives to help keep Japan Airlines Corp. in the group. Each carrier is crafting its own offer, which will then be sent to JAL and the Japanese government as one proposal, oneworld managing partner...
Reader Mail
Nov 15, 2009

Kudos to Japanese baseball players

Not only Japanese fans are proud of Hideki Matsui (of the World Series champion New York Yankees). I am an Indian who didn't start watching baseball until after coming to Japan. I became a fan of the game and of both Matsui and Ichiro Suzuki (of the Seattle Mariners). I'm so happy to see the marks they've...
JAPAN
Nov 15, 2009

Hatoyama and Obama put off hard decisions

health insurance, and it didn't want to expose disagreements" with Japan. As concern grew over the diplomatic tensions between the U.S. and Japan, the two governments decided to set up a ministerial-level working group earlier in the week to "probe" Futenma's relocation. However, no deadline for reaching...
Reader Mail
Nov 15, 2009

Ignoring New Zealanders' wishes

Regarding Ralph Cossa and Brad Glosserman's Nov. 11 article, "A good time to remember the ANZUS alliance's fate": It seems that Cossa and Glosserman find it difficult to accept the democratic right of the New Zealand people to say "no" to nuclear weapons. The majority of New Zealanders opposed letting...
Japan Times
LIFE / WEEK 3
Nov 15, 2009

Will Segway sci-fi ever be everyday fact?

When the Segway first appeared, in 2001, it seemed like science fiction had sprung to life. Quiet, compact, efficient, and utterly mesmerizing with its ability to self-balance on two wheels, the U.S.-made "personal mobility device" promised to revolutionize transportation as we knew it.
CULTURE / Books
Nov 15, 2009

No defense for policy born of prejudice

THE TRAGEDY OF DEMOCRACY: Japanese Confinement in North America, by Greg Robinson. Columbia University Press, 2009, 408 pp., $29.95 (hardcover) This is a superb history about one of the more shameful chapters in U.S. history. Given all the books and articles about the internment of over 120,000 Japanese...
Reader Mail
Nov 15, 2009

New boss looks like the old one

Regarding the Nov. 11 article "Ozawa lashes out with scathing remarks on Christianity": I would have expected such misinformed statements from someone (in the Liberal Democratic Party). Now we see that things in the Democratic Party of Japan might not be any different.
JAPAN
Nov 15, 2009

Japan central to Asia plans, Obama says

U.S. President Barack Obama expressed Saturday in Tokyo his firm intention to build strong ties with Asia while stressing that the alliance with Japan lies at the center of his policy for the region.
EDITORIALS
Nov 15, 2009

Knitting the alliance

Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama and U.S. President Barack Obama held a summit and a joint news conference Friday in Tokyo, their second meeting following their first in September on the fringes of the United Nations General Assembly meetings. They reaffirmed that the Japan-U.S. alliance is the basis for...
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / WILD WATCH
Nov 15, 2009

Notable memories and ones forgotten

On my most recent journey overseas, to southern Brazil, a fellow traveler gave me a large Moleskine-brand notebook. Though grateful for the present, at first I was uncertain what to do with it. I generally use a particular-size pocket notebook to write up all my field observations, and this new acquisition...

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