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Japan Times
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Jun 13, 2008

Lady virtuoso 'sings' like a bird

Her music is as lovely as a song sung by a pretty bird. Of course, birds don't actually "sing," and neither does Kimiko Wakiyama. Like a bird, she whistles. In fact she's a champion whistler, who won the women's crown at the 2007 International Whistlers Convention (IWC 2007) in North Carolina.
CULTURE / Music
Jun 13, 2008

Lee "Scratch" Perry "The Mighty Upsetter"

British dub pioneer Adrian Sherwood says in the press release for "The Mighty Upsetter" that it is Lee "Scratch" Perry's best album in decades — and it's hard to disagree with him. They key factor in its success is that notorious nutcase Perry (playing at Fuji Rock Festival this year, as is Adrian...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film / SHORT TAKES
Jun 13, 2008

"Tsukiji Uogashi Sandaime"

Director: Shingo Matsubara
JAPAN
Jun 13, 2008

Let 10% of Japan be foreigners: Nakagawa

Liberal Democratic Party lawmakers made an ambitious proposal Thursday to raise the ratio of immigrants in Japan to about 10 percent over the next 50 years.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / MY PLAYLIST
Jun 13, 2008

We Are Scientists

Three years after their catchy debut "With Love and Squalor" burrowed its way into the homes of 150,000 people worldwide, Brooklyn-based indie-rockers We Are Scientists are back.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 12, 2008

Why do displays of compassion differ between East and West?

NEW YORK — Why are French, British and American warships, but not Chinese or Malaysian warships, sitting near the Burmese coast loaded with food and other necessities for the victims of Cyclone Nargis?
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jun 12, 2008

Fukutoshin subway line debuts

Part of a new subway line that will snake down through Tokyo to link Saitama and Kanagawa prefectures will open Saturday, giving the public a new convenient way to access the crowded Shibuya, Shinjuku and Ikebukuro districts.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Jun 12, 2008

Actor Nomura brings noh to new audiences

If you've ever napped through a noh performance, you're not alone. But this 600-year-old Japanese theatrical genre is being updated to make it more of a 21st-century entertainment than a Japanophile's endurance test.
BUSINESS / G8 COUNTDOWN
Jun 12, 2008

Soaring prices pose challenge to G8 finance chiefs

Finance chiefs from the Group of Eight countries are expected to discuss Friday in Osaka how their economies can tame the soaring oil and food prices battering businesses and consumers around the world.
Reader Mail
Jun 12, 2008

Whiff of hypocrisy in gate-tending

For Japanese people to express antipathy toward allowing the population of resident foreigners to rise suggests not a small dose of xenophobia. For a foreigner in Japan to echo the sentiment adds a whiff of hypocrisy.
BUSINESS
Jun 12, 2008

Focus on batteries for Toyota hybrids

Looking to put a charge into sales of its electric vehicles, Toyota Motor Corp. said Wednesday it will boost efforts next month to develop next-generation batteries that can outperform lithium-ion cells.
COMMENTARY
Jun 11, 2008

Washington and Baghdad: the treaty that isn't

In the Sherlock Holmes story "Silver Blaze," the world's most famous private detective refers to "the curious incident of the dog in the night." "But the dog did nothing in the night," replies his interlocutor. "That was the curious incident," says Holmes. The dogs aren't barking over the U.S.-Iraq treaty,...
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
Jun 11, 2008

English guide looks to put Nara in reach

OSAKA — Those who live in Nara and welcome guests from all over the world are aware of how often arriving friends are surprised by what they see in the ancient capital, then disappointed that they hadn't budgeted enough time to explore.
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital / IGADGET
Jun 11, 2008

Style is substance . . . sometimes

Pretty pebble: As far as actual technology goes, all flash-memory MP3 players are pretty much the same. If you're thinking about the iPod Touch as an exception, think again, since the Touch is an actual computer, complete with a central processor, RAM and an operating system. But side by side, most solid-state...
BUSINESS
Jun 11, 2008

Machinery orders show 5.5% rebound

Machine orders rose in April after falling for two consecutive months as companies replaced aging equipment, but economic and fiscal policy chief Hiroko Ota said demand is still weak.
COMMENTARY
Jun 10, 2008

A shift in priority to 'happiness'

Per capita gross domestic product is a highly valued as yardstick for measuring the degree of "affluence" enjoyed by the citizens of each nation. The figures of various countries are usually converted into U.S. dollars to determine how countries rank internationally.
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Jun 10, 2008

Where did all the babies go?

Last Wednesday, the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare announced that Japan's total fertility rate (TFR) — the average number of babies born to women during their reproductive years — rose slightly to 1.34 for 2007, even though about 3,000 fewer children were born last year than in 2006. Two years...
BUSINESS
Jun 10, 2008

Expansion may be at end, data show

Japan's longest postwar expansion may be over, as record crude oil and raw material costs discourage companies from hiring and spending, according to a government report Monday.

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