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LIFE
Jul 27, 2008

Japan's sea view through the ages, in poetry, prose and plain speaking

At Tafushi Cape / Those gracious men of the court / gather seaweed. — "Manyoshu" (7th century)
EDITORIALS
Jul 27, 2008

Asian Erasmus

The Japanese government revealed plans last week to set up a network of academic exchange programs throughout Asia. Based on the European ERASMUS program, which helps students transfer and accumulate credits between EU universities, the proposal to be announced later by Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda is...
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Jul 27, 2008

Nomo's MLB heroics rekindle memories of chaotic, unforgettable 1995

Much has been written about ex-major league pitcher Hideo Nomo during the 10 days since he announced his retirement as an active player on July 17.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Jul 27, 2008

Zeami's notes: appreciating blossoming performances

ZEAMI: Performance Notes, translated by Tom Hare. New York: Columbia University Press, 2008, 528 pp., $45 (cloth) Zeami Motokiyo (1363-1443), the actor, playwright and aesthetic theorist who established the Noh drama as a classical theatrical art, left behind some 21 treatises.
JAPAN
Jul 26, 2008

Okada declares DPJ ready to take charge, reform the public sector

Long viewed as content to live in the shadow of the entrenched Liberal Democratic Party, the largest opposition force is now ready to seize the reins of power and carry out a thorough reform of the public sector, Democratic Party of Japan Vice President Katsuya Okada said Friday.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jul 25, 2008

'Kimi no Tomodachi'

Kids often make friends easily — and lose them quickly. The boy who was your best buddy yesterday has today found a new friend, a new crowd, a new world that doesn't include you. He has moved on — and you're just part of the receding scenery.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jul 25, 2008

Spiritualized beat the reaper

Jason Pierce almost died in July 2005. Hooked up to a ventilator and suffering from double pneumonia, Pierce — aka J Spaceman — shrank to 45 kg and spent two weeks in intensive care in a London hospital. Things looked so bad that his girlfriend was offered grief counseling.
CULTURE / Music
Jul 25, 2008

Various "Post Flag"

It's a shame that the era of homemade mixtapes is already behind us. "Post Flag" would have gone down well with the budding compilers of this world, sweating over their cassette decks as they searched for a choice oddity to slot between The Beatles and Lee "Scratch" Perry. They'd find plenty on this,...
BUSINESS
Jul 25, 2008

Exports fall for first time since '03 as U.S. slump spreads out

Exports fell for the first time in more than four years as demand for cars and electronics cooled, signaling the U.S. slowdown is spreading to the emerging markets that helped sustain growth.
Reader Mail
Jul 24, 2008

Sports no match for good books

I applaud The Japan Times for publishing Grant Piper's July 21 letter, "Social competition or pathology?" I agree with his views that competitive sports are immoral and inappropriate, but I disagree that noncompetitive, friendly and recreational sports are qualitatively any different from organized sports....
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jul 24, 2008

Bettye LaVette brings her triumphant soul battle to Fuji

Few artists could have struggled through a career as thoroughly frustrating as that of American soul singer Bettye LaVette and still continue to display the strength and good humor that she does.
BUSINESS
Jul 24, 2008

Tokio Marine to buy U.S. insurer

Tokio Marine Holdings Inc. said Wednesday it has agreed to buy U.S. insurer Philadelphia Consolidated Holding Corp. for $4.7 billion (about ¥500 billion) to expand in the world's biggest insurance market.
BUSINESS
Jul 24, 2008

Idemitsu considering new pricing method

Idemitsu Kosan Co., Japan's second-biggest refiner, may follow the example of Nippon Oil Corp. in adopting a new pricing method to better reflect soaring crude-import costs, company President Akihiko Tembo said Wednesday.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 23, 2008

Osama bin Laden: the Islamic bard of terror

PRINCETON, NEW JERSEY — In Riyadh last March, King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia decorated U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney with the Kingdom's Order of Merit. This gesture elicited hundreds of Internet postings from Arabs condemning the award as treachery and lamenting the pitiful state of leadership in...
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital / IGADGET
Jul 23, 2008

New entry adds zing to Wii swing

In motion: Nintendo Co. became the big dog in the console-game arena by never resting too much on its laurels and always trying to squeeze one more success or innovation out of its best achievements. (For some reason, the name "Mario" keeps coming to mind.)
SOCCER / SOCCER SCENE
Jul 22, 2008

Big clubs' shortcomings taking shine off J. League championship race

On the face of it, a league table where just 10 points separated the top 13 teams at the halfway point of the season would suggest an exciting contest, but this year's J. League has been more infuriating than it has been enthralling.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WORDS TO LIVE BY
Jul 22, 2008

Professor Kunihiko Takeda

JUDIT KAWAGUCHI Professor Kunihiko Takeda, Ph.D., is vice-chancellor of the Institute of Science and Technology Research at Chubu University and one of the world's leading authorities on both uranium enrichment and recycling. The 65-year-old is also a bestselling author of books with titles such as “We...
LIFE / Language
Jul 22, 2008

Katakana makes Japanese trendy and accessible

Words and phrases in katakana may appear to be easily recognizable to non-native speakers of Japanese, but they are often fiendishly difficult. This generally comes as a surprise to Japanese, who naturally assume that we can understand katakana words readily, seeing as many of them originated in foreign...

Longform

Once smoky, male-dominated spaces, today's net cafes, like Kaikatsu Club, are working to make their operations more attractive to women customers.
The second life of Japan's net cafes