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Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
May 30, 2008

A dreamlike escape

An important feature of many Japanese gardens is the careful integration of the architecture of a house and the design of its garden. Many of the finest examples are located in private homes, and so are sadly not open to public view.
CULTURE / Film
May 29, 2008

A winner like no other

Every year, Cannes pundits attempt to read the tea leaves on the top prizes by looking not at the films but at the jury: Are its members serious, political, airheads, in any way beholden to producers or agents with a work in competition? This year's jury head, unorthodox and left-leaning American actor...
COMMENTARY
May 26, 2008

A winner that Beijing would be wise to cheer

LOS ANGELES — Not every election has significant international repercussions, to be sure. Some are scarcely noteworthy even in the places where they occur. But in March there was a monster piece of an election in East Asia, and early last week the landslide winner was celebrated in happy parties all...
SOCCER / PREMIER REPORT
May 24, 2008

Terry's miss took Ronaldo off the hook in Moscow

LONDON — For a few minutes Cristiano Ronaldo's CV had a new, ignominious entry. The player who lost the 2008 Champions League final for Manchester United.
COMMENTARY / World
May 22, 2008

A first lady's diplomatic mission

A natural calamity is usually an occasion to set aside political differences and show compassion. But Burma, ruled by ultranationalistic but rapacious military elites distrustful of the sanctions-enforcing West, came under mounting international pressure to open up its cyclone-wracked areas to foreign...
Reader Mail
May 22, 2008

The bond that all humans share

In response to the article "If there is a god, then why is there suffering?," I would say not only does God exist but also that he is all-good, all-powerful and all-knowing.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / WILD WATCH
May 21, 2008

A nature sanctuary for the ages

Regular readers know that my usual sphere is the biosphere and that I typically pursue wildlife in the wilds. Occasionally, though, one should step beyond home turf and try dipping a toe into a new stream of consciousness.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
May 15, 2008

Butoh — Omnivorous and best not defined

In a small studio in Kichijoji, a director is telling three dancers that their heads are potatoes rolling around on a plate. And their three bald pates, poking up through a single piece of cardboard that holds them together, certainly have the appearance of earthy spuds, wobbling uncertainly across the...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
May 15, 2008

Kabuki-za's Dankikusai festival: From romantic crimes to civilian sacrifices

Like royalty, kabuki families can trace their lineages back years and years into the distant past, interrupted only occasionally by an adoption to keep a line going. This May the Kabuki-za holds the monthlong Dankikusai, a theatrical festival that was started in 1936 to commemorate the outstanding achievements...
COMMENTARY
May 12, 2008

Let the Asians push aid to Burma

WATERLOO, Canada — CNN has quoted Shari Villarosa, the top U.S. diplomat in Burma, as saying that more than 100,000 may have died in the country's delta region alone from the deadly cyclone that hit May 3.
Japan Times
JAPAN
May 10, 2008

Writers funnel book royalties to charity NGO

Helping those suffering from poverty and disasters is as easy as buying a book, say supporters of a new charity program launched Thursday.
COMMENTARY / World
May 8, 2008

Inflation caused by Ukraine's peg to dollar

KIEV — Inflation in Ukraine is skyrocketing. By March, it reached 26 percent per year and continues to rise. Although prices are increasing around the world, Ukraine's is extreme, twice as much as in neighboring Russia. Amazingly, instead of dampening inflation, Ukraine's central bank is stoking it....
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
May 6, 2008

As parent firm posts record profits, Berlitz teachers strike back

Question: How do you get to be on the Forbes list of the world's billionaires? You might inherit your wealth, take risks and get lucky, or work for it. For Soichiro Fukutake, owner of Berlitz's parent company Benesse, it's a case of "all the above."
COMMENTARY / World
May 5, 2008

How to intervene militarily

OXFORD, England — Because peacekeeping initiatives in postconflict countries are expensive and complex, and because the war in Iraq has undermined rich nations' belief in their likely success, a dispassionate look at the use of military intervention is timely.
CULTURE / Books
May 4, 2008

Japan as a land of many religions

PROPHET MOTIVE: Deguchi Onisaburo, Oomoto, and the Rise of New Religions in Imperial Japan, by Nancy K. Stalker. Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press, 2007, 265 pp., $49 (cloth) Reviewed by Florian Coulmas Japan has sometimes been called an irreligious country, but students of religion know that this...
COMMENTARY
May 4, 2008

A chance for Beijing to take a stand on health

LOS ANGELES — As matters now stand, accredited, professional journalists from Taiwan are once again being denied press passes by U.N. authorities to cover the annual World Health Assembly of the World Health Organization. This year's event takes place in Geneva on May 19. The topic is "A Safer Future:...
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
May 4, 2008

Japan's media plays nursemaid to nation's immature democracy

A major Japanese newspaper publishes an article denouncing the prime minister. Reporters hold a rally to criticize his Cabinet. The government responds by banning sales of the edition of the newspaper that carried the article, indicting its author for violation of the Newspaper Law. Rightwing agitators...
Japan Times
BUSINESS
May 3, 2008

Rain or shine, Disney's parade rolls on

Although a cloudy day in April, and a little chilly from the morning drizzle, the temperature seemed a bit higher at Tokyo Disneyland, where many had come to enjoy a new parade, "Jubilation!" created to mark the park's 25th anniversary.
COMMENTARY
May 2, 2008

Publicity stunt on Everest

NEW DELHI — As a triumphal symbol of its rule over Tibet, China is taking the Olympic torch through the "Roof of the World" to the world's highest peak, Mount Everest, which straddles the Tibetan-Nepalese border. That publicity stunt will only infuse more politics into the Games, already besmirched...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
May 2, 2008

Sex, drugs and sitars

Blame Julian Cope.
COMMENTARY / World
May 1, 2008

What exactly is the West?

PARIS — Everyone everywhere has by now heard about the "clash of civilizations." This Samuel Huntington concept has become universal. In the 1950s, French economist Alfred Sauvy had a comparable success with the expression "Third World." One reason these phrases gain wide acceptance is their lack of...
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 30, 2008

A failure to influence Bush

HONG KONG — Five years after the toppling of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, the United States has precious little to show for its $3 trillion war, except for more than 4,000 American military dead (1,000 more than perished in the World Trade Center attacks of 9/11), 150,000 Iraqis killed, 1.5 million...
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 29, 2008

The color of Pakistan's revolution is black

SHANGHAI — Immediately after taking office last month, Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani ordered the release of the 60 judges who had been detained by President Pervez Musharraf since November. This is a triumph for the rule of law in Pakistan, and above all a triumph for the brave Pakistani...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Apr 24, 2008

One hell of a time

What wasn't to like about an artist who painted the scroll "Hard Times in Hell," in which the king of Hell and his coterie of demons ascend to paradise in search of more suitable employment?
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Apr 22, 2008

Summit wicked this way comes

You've probably heard about July's G8 Summit in Toyako, in my home prefecture of Hokkaido. In case you're unfamiliar with the event, here's a primer from the Foreign Affairs Ministry:
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Apr 20, 2008

'Bone Man' bears lifelong witness to the ugly brute of war

Tell me, where is the glory in war?
Japan Times
LIFE / WEEK 3
Apr 20, 2008

Belly-laughs boffin puts mirth to the test

When people laugh, it is often their cheery sounds or the wrinkles around their eyes that mark out their mirth. Yoji Kimura believes, however, that the key to determining the nature of laughter lies in the diaphragm.
COMMENTARY
Apr 16, 2008

What China and the world must do now

LOS ANGELES — Absolutely no one in the Western media is showing any sympathy at all for China in the current roiling mess over Tibet and the Olympic Games. But somebody has to do it, if only to try to achieve some balance and maturity of perspective. So we might as well make the effort here and now....

Longform

A small shrine perched atop rocks braves the waves hitting the shoreline during a storm in Shimoda, Shizuoka Prefecture. The area is under threat of a possible 31-meter-high tsunami if an earthquake strikes the nearby Nankai Trough.
If the 'Big One' hits, this city could face a 31-meter-high tsunami