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COMMENTARY / World
Jun 26, 2008

Why should Barack Obama's religion matter?

Whether Barack Obama is or, at one point, was a Muslim should be a trivial matter in any society governed by secular, democratic dictates that apply to all, on equal footage, regardless of race, gender or religion. But in a society that is taking a turn toward the right, the matter is anything but inconsequential....
Reader Mail
Jun 26, 2008

Military ships 'safer' than tankers

Kiroku Hanai's June 23 article, "Flattop can forget about a haven from controversy," is another example of selective journalism attempting to discredit the U.S. military or unreasonably worry citizens here.
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
Jun 25, 2008

All hail capitalism, mendacious destroyer of life on Earth

If you're hoping that the representatives of the world's richest nations meeting in Hokkaido for the G8 Summit next month will take action on climate change, you're in for a disappointment.
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital
Jun 25, 2008

Japanese Facebook takes Model T approach

Late last month, as part of a rare work-vacation trip to Asia, Mark Zuckerberg made a quick stop in Tokyo to announce the launch of Facebook Japan.
CULTURE / Books
Jun 22, 2008

Adding too much fiction to the history

PEARL HARBOR: A Novel of December 8th, by Newt Gingrich and William R. Forstchen. New York: Thomas Dunne Books, 2007, 366 pp., $25.95 (cloth) Last week, former Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives Newt Gingrich said on CBS-TV that the U.S. Supreme Court decision to allow enemy combatants to challenge...
COMMENTARY
Jun 20, 2008

Tribute to the good sense of a brighter Bush

LOS ANGELES — We in the West are always grateful and utterly relieved when East Asians manage to take significant steps away from the risk of serious conflict.
JAPAN
Jun 19, 2008

Radical immigration plan under discussion

Foreigners will have a much better opportunity to move to, or continue to live in, Japan under a new immigration plan drafted by Liberal Democratic Party lawmakers to accept 10 million immigrants in the next 50 years.
COMMENTARY
Jun 18, 2008

Is the India and China hype true?

Today it has become commonplace to speak of India and China in the same breadth as two emerging great powers challenging the two-century-old Western domination of the world.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / WILD WATCH
Jun 18, 2008

Aloft with ospreys, ultimate Fisher Kings

There is a moment of commitment; a glint of scales just beneath the water's surface is perhaps the trigger. As the bright-yellow eyes register the rippled light patterns, the brain is already identifying them as potential food, computing distance, assessing direction, considering depth.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 18, 2008

Neither blatant benevolence nor silent giving

PRINCETON, New Jersey — Jesus said that we should give alms in private rather than when others are watching. That fits with the common-sense idea that if people only do good in public, they may be motivated by a desire to gain a reputation for generosity. Perhaps when no one is looking, they are not...
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 16, 2008

The right options for Iran

BERLIN — With U.S. President George W. Bush in Europe getting EU leaders to agree to toughen U.N. sanctions against Iran, and with the ongoing debate between John McCain and Barack Obama about whether the United States needs to talk with Iran's rulers, the issue of Iran's nuclear program is heating...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Jun 15, 2008

War and propaganda: a Japanese narrative

CERTAIN VICTORY: Images of World War II in the Japanese Media, by David C. Earhart. Armonk: M.E. Sharpe Inc., 2008, 552 pp., with photographs, maps, illustrations, $74.95 (cloth) One way to induce people to kill other people is to dehumanize "the enemy." And one of the ways to do this is through propaganda....
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 11, 2008

With Europe waiting, Ireland votes on treaty

MAYNOOTH, Ireland — On Thursday, Irish voters will vote on the European Union's Lisbon Treaty, the instrument designed to improve the efficiency and legitimacy of the now 27-member bloc.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Jun 11, 2008

Of Darwin and Mishima . . .

If I said that I met Darwin last week, you might think I'd gone crazy.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 5, 2008

Why Israel is engaging Syria

On May 15, U.S. President George W. Bush gave a speech before the Israeli parliament, decrying "radicals and terrorists." His archaic references to the "promised land" and "chosen people" certainly appealed to the equally outdated and exclusivist views of many, although not all Israeli Knesset members,...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jun 5, 2008

Torifune celebrate the birth of butoh's founder

Last month in his ongoing series Japanese Cinema Eclectics, author Donald Ritchie screened "Horrors of Malformed Men" (Toei, 1969). An "unsung classic" of Japanese film, "Horrors" features the only cinematic performance of Tatsumi Hijikata, the founder of the butoh dance movement. Hijikata, who would...
Japan Times
Reference / Special Presentations / WITNESS TO WAR
Jun 5, 2008

Donald Richie's memories of life in Japan after the war

On Dec. 7, 1941, a 17-year-old high school student named Donald Richie was fixing the fence at his house in Lima, Ohio, when his mother ran out on the porch to tell him and his father that she just heard over the radio that Japanese forces had attacked Pearl Harbor.
Reference / Special Presentations / WITNESS TO WAR
Jun 5, 2008

Donald Richie offers history lesson

18th in a series
COMMENTARY
Jun 2, 2008

Macho move would make Burma's plight even worse

Their paranoia and mistrust of the outside world are such that Burma's generals have been criminally tardy in permitting emergency humanitarian supplies and personnel to come into the country. More than 100,000 may have been killed and over 2 million displaced and made homeless by the cyclone.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 1, 2008

'Civilized' talk contends with politics, culture

PARIS — What does it mean to be "civilized"? Obviously, being highly educated, wearing a tie, eating with a fork or cutting one's nails weekly is not enough.
SOCCER / PREMIER REPORT
May 31, 2008

Players facing short summer with Euro 2008, World Cup qualifiers

LONDON — The Premier League's leading players are set for burnout this summer despite England's absence from Euro 2008.
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...

Longform

Figure skater Akiko Suzuki was once told her ideal weight should be 47 kilograms, a number she now admits she “naively believed.” This led to her have a relationship with food that resulted in her suffering from anorexia.
The silent battle Japanese athletes fight with weight