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COMMENTARY
Feb 21, 2008

Starting with Kyoto, Rudd aims high

LOS ANGELES — Before too much time goes by, maybe somebody ought to take note of the smart political stuff coming out of Australia lately.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Feb 21, 2008

Loss of father to ALS inspires play about disease

The death of their father a decade ago gave Rumi and Takuya Iryo a new goal in their lives — raising public awareness of the disease he died from, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also known as Lou Gehrig's Disease.
COMMENTARY
Feb 20, 2008

Obstacles to overcome in the development of a concert of Asia-Pacific democracies

NEW DELHI — The new Australian government is signaling a wish to turn its back on an initiative bringing four major democracies of the Asia-Pacific together, even as U.S. Sen. John McCain, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, has vowed to institutionalize that venture.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / WILD WATCH
Feb 20, 2008

Nature tour turns sour as we see 'endangered' prey killed

A great white mass, a broken blanket of sea ice, was moving south down the Sea of Okhotsk carried on currents and blown by winds from the north. From the flank of Mount Mokoto it appeared like a mirage, a whitened margin to the sea's northern horizon, but from the much closer range of the cliff tops...
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital / JAPAN TIMES BLOGROLL
Feb 20, 2008

The Blog from Another Dimension

The Blog from Another Dimension might conjure up images of science fiction, but click through to Luis Poza's blog and you'll quickly see that it's about the here and now, cataloging his thoughts about current events, technology and social issues in Japan.
COMMENTARY
Feb 17, 2008

China's path deserves respect, not fear

LOS ANGELES — Let's not snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. Congressional grumblings about currency and balance-of-trade issues, and equal grumps from the U.S. Democratic Party's leftwing (over human-rights issues), could leave the impression that U.S. policy toward China has been a dismal failure....
Reader Mail
Feb 17, 2008

Whale calves hunted for years

Regarding C.W. Nicol's Feb. 9 article, "Killing calves makes Japan's whaling indefensible": It is surprising that the author finds it indefensible that calves and their mothers are killed in the Southern Ocean whale sanctuary under special permits issued by the Japanese authorities. Since 1986 it has...
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 14, 2008

Washington suffering from debt delusion

WASHINGTON — A second big American interest-rate cut in a fortnight, alongside an economic stimulus plan that united Republicans and Democrats, demonstrates that U.S. policymakers are keen to head off a recession that looks like the consequence of rising mortgage defaults and falling home prices. But...
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 10, 2008

War rages against 'elites' of tolerance

AMSTERDAM — When "tolerance" becomes a term of abuse in a place like the Netherlands, you know that something has gone seriously wrong. The Dutch always took pride in being the most tolerant people on Earth.
SPORTS / SPORTS SCOPE
Feb 10, 2008

Ruling in Powell case latest example of NPB ineptitude

"Only in Japan."
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 8, 2008

Breaking the monopoly on econ theory

WASHINGTON — For 25 years, the so-called Washington Consensus — comprising measures aimed at expanding the role of markets and constraining the role of the state — has dominated economic development policy. As John Williamson, who coined the term, put it in 2002, these measures "are motherhood...
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 6, 2008

European Union is MIA in Afghanistan

PRAGUE — The withdrawal of Britain's Paddy Ashdown as a candidate for the post of U.N. envoy in Afghanistan means that the international community still has some way to go before it speaks with one voice in that country. Such a unified voice is needed, for six years of war and the biggest military...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Feb 6, 2008

Shakespeare 'karuta' ambition realized

To be or not to be has never really been a question for Shakespeare aficionado Ayako Yoshimi.
COMMENTARY
Feb 6, 2008

When snow falls on China and Japan

LOS ANGELES — Snow has been falling on two of the world's greatest cities — lightly on Tokyo, brutally on Shanghai.
COMMENTARY
Feb 4, 2008

'Plumpynut' features in malnutrition fight

NEW YORK — The World Health Organization estimates that 20 million children worldwide suffer from severe acute malnutrition right now. This untenable condition leads to a child dying every five seconds in regions such as the Sahel, the Horn of Africa and South Asia, known as the world's "malnutrition...
COMMENTARY
Feb 3, 2008

Election should settle the war question

LOS ANGELES — The current race for the White House might just prove to be a great clarifier on the Iraq war. This is undoubtedly the high-profile foreign-policy problem that the world would like our electoral system to resolve decisively.
CULTURE / Books
Feb 3, 2008

Journal of an uncommon traveler

WINDOWS ON JAPAN: A Walk Through Place and Perception, by Bruce Roscoe. Algora Publishing, 2007, 308 pp., $31.95 (paper) On the premise that speed blunts the mind, New Zealander Bruce Roscoe decided to make his journey on foot, following a route across the waist of Japan, from the port city of Niigata...
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 30, 2008

New approach for the DPJ

When the Lower House of the Diet passed the antiterror special measures law on Jan. 11, it became clear that the Democratic Party of Japan is not in control of the political situation. After briefly setting the agenda in the aftermath of the July 29 Upper House election by opposing the refueling mission...
COMMENTARY
Jan 27, 2008

China isn't blazing a path for anybody

LOS ANGELES — All political systems are peculiar, each in its own way. This is true of democracy, however defined, as well as of communist systems, more easily defined.
CULTURE / Books
Jan 27, 2008

Modern Japanese women: dealing with sex, lies and the dried-flower syndrome

GOODBYE MADAME BUTTERFLY: Sex, Marriage and the Modern Japanese Woman, by Sumie Kawakami. Chin Music Press, 2007, 219 pp., $20 (cloth) Who wants to be a woman in Japan? Misery can't get much worse than the sexless relationships, dreary marriages, loneliness, patriarchal blues and stressed out women portrayed...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jan 24, 2008

The girl in the corner

She's one of the most admired actresses in Hollywood, both for her talent and versatility.
BUSINESS / JAPANESE PERSPECTIVES
Jan 21, 2008

Sovereign wealth funds warping market, pose insider-trading hazard

The international profile of sovereign wealth funds is expanding, and the Group of Seven's finance ministers and central bankers are expected to discuss the depth of the funds' risk control, management and accountability when they gather Feb. 9 in Tokyo.
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Jan 20, 2008

62 foreign players signed by Japanese teams for 2008 season

This column, identifying the foreign players signed by the 12 Japan pro baseball teams, normally gets written in mid-to-late February. That's about the time the clubs have usually announced most of their non-Japanese acquisitions for the coming season.
CULTURE / Books
Jan 20, 2008

A solitary shark hunts in Shinjuku's dark side

SHINJUKU SHARK by Arimasa Osawa, translated by Andrew Clare. New York: Vertical, Inc., 285 pp., $14.95 (paper) Looking for a terse page-turner about a hard-boiled detective on the trail of a psychotic cop-killer? With plenty of tough guys, druggies, sleazy cross-dressers, rock musicians and other various...
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 18, 2008

Serbia to choose EU orbit or isolation

MAYNOOTH, Ireland — On Saturday, Serbs go to the polls for the first round of a presidential election that may decide the country's future for decades to come.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink
Jan 18, 2008

Brewing sake amid a cacophony of miracles

Being a 41-year-old male puts me at the end of my yakudoshi, a period when Japanese believe all kinds of calamity are due to befall me and mine. Running to form, a family crisis meant I had to fly home to Britain on Dec. 23. I was back at work before the new year, but these few days off were still more...
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 17, 2008

Hypocrisy weakens West's whaling protests

PRINCETON, New Jersey — Thirty years ago, Australian vessels, with the government's blessing, killed sperm whales off the West Australian coast. Last month, Australia led international protests against Japan's plan to kill 50 humpback whales. Japan, under mounting pressure, announced that it would...
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / WILD WATCH
Jan 16, 2008

Snow season's not what it was . . .

"Winter either bites with its teeth or lashes with its tail." (Traditional proverb)
Japan Times
Reference / SO WHAT THE HECK IS THAT
Jan 15, 2008

Bento grass

Dear Alice,
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Jan 11, 2008

Famed Japanese dancer branches into mime

In 1993, the legendary choreographer and radical ballet master Maurice Bejart created — especially for the Tokyo Ballet Company — a work based on the life of doomed author Yukio Mishima, called "M." For the main role of St. Sebastian, the late, great French artist who died last November selected...

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