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JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Jun 3, 2007

Another countryside 'renaissance' mired in foggy politics

A few weeks ago I traveled around the Noto Peninsula to see how the area was recovering from the 7.1-magnitude earthquake that struck March 25. Some buildings had already been razed in the small, picturesque town of Monzen, though the coastal city of Wajima, which on the day I arrived was receiving a...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jun 1, 2007

'300'

The long-simmering cold war between Hollywood and the critics has again flared hot with the release of "300," an effects-driven popcorn movie about the Battle of Thermopylae in 480 B.C., when 300 Spartan soldiers went down fighting against a Persian horde.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
May 29, 2007

Aso Mining's POW labor: the evidence

One year after media reports that Aso Mining used 300 Allied prisoners of war for forced labor in 1945, Foreign Minister Taro Aso is refusing to confirm that POWs dug coal for his family's firm — and even challenging reporters to produce evidence.
CULTURE / Books
May 27, 2007

Ethnic cop caught between cultures

CHINATOWN BEAT by Henry Chang. New York: SOHO Press, 2006, 214 pages, $22 (cloth) Well before Sax Rohmer created his sinister villain Dr. Fu-Manchu in 1911, Chinatowns figured prominently in British and American popular fiction. These are chronicled by such scholarly works as William Wu's "The Yellow...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink
May 25, 2007

Bonding over Slow Food

Greek cuisine could set a trend in Slow Food and healthy eating in the same way that Japanese cuisine has in low-fat food if the Mediterranean nation succeeds in a worldwide push to promote the hearty fare.
CULTURE / Books
May 20, 2007

Listening to history's creaking bones

ORACLE BONES: A Journey Between China's Past and Present, by Peter Hessler. HarperCollins, 2006, 491 pp., $26.95 (cloth) Beside their obvious antiquity, why should heaps of cattle shoulder-blades and turtle shells dating from the 13th and 14th centuries B.C. be of such immense importance to today's...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
May 20, 2007

It is in the places in between that cultures truly merge

THE PLACES IN BETWEEN by Rory Stewart. New York: Harcourt Books. 300 pp., with 26 photos and numerous drawings, 2006, $14.00 (paper) In 2002 Rory Stewart, author and former British diplomat, walked across Afghanistan. The country had been at war for 25 years, its government in place for just two weeks,...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
May 13, 2007

Combining East and West in dramaturgy

AN ACTOR'S TRICKS by Yoshi Oida and Lorna Marshall, foreword by Peter Brook. London: Methuen Drama, A&A Black Ltd., 2007, 102 pp., £10.99 (paper) Yoshi Oida, born in 1933, is one of Japan's most interesting actor-directors. Trained in the classical stage disciplines, particularly that of the Kyogen,...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / NIHONSHU
May 11, 2007

Different regions, different sake

Sake has gone global in recent years and, as might be expected, drinkers new to Japan's signature beverage often look for parallels with more familiar tipples when choosing what to imbibe.
JAPAN
May 9, 2007

Revision risks freedoms, U.S. academic warns

Constitution is an outlandish idea, and amending it is simple common sense," Lummis, a former professor at Tsuda College in Tokyo and a staunch supporter of the current Constitution, said via e-mail. "But a large portion of the public is not buying that, as opinion polls show the percentage of people...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
May 6, 2007

The different cases of Inspector Hanshichi

THE CURIOUS CASEBOOK OF INSPECTOR HANSHICHI: Detective Stories of Old Edo, by Kido Okamoto, translated by Ian MacDonald. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 2007, 335 pp., $24 (paper) Between 1916 and 1937 the critic and playwright Kido Okamoto (1872-1939) published the "Hanshichi Torimonocho"; stories,...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / CLOSE-UP
May 6, 2007

Karel Van Wolferen: Insights into the new world disorder

When Karel Van Wolferen released his seminal book "The Enigma of Japanese Power" in the dying months of the bubble economy, the normally staid monthly magazine Chuo Koron described its impact as akin to being struck by a bolt of lightning. For once, the hype was merited. Little before had matched the...
Japan Times
JAPAN
May 3, 2007

Photos of preteen girls in thongs now big business

Asuka Izumi was modeling for a DVD in July 2005 when the director asked her to put on a string bikini. She was just 12 years old.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
May 1, 2007

Mixi vs. MySpace -- a fight for your bytes

Since she started using the mixi Web site last summer, Yuki Nikitaki has linked up with a network of friends all over the world, including in Japan, and in Greece where she grew up.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle / ON THE BOOK TRAIL
May 1, 2007

"Endymion Spring," "The Legend of Captain Crow's Teeth"

"Endymion Spring," Matthew Skelton, Puffin Books; 2007; 439 pp.
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Apr 15, 2007

It was 40 (very different) years ago today . . .

The re-election last Sunday of Shintaro Ishihara as Tokyo governor has demon- strated once again that the people of Japan's capital city remain attracted to the policies of this outspoken author-turned-politician.
BASEBALL / MLB'S EFFECT ON JAPAN
Apr 11, 2007

Is the MLB destroying Japan's national pastime?

Best-selling author Robert Whiting, who has penned such classics as "You Gotta Have Wa," "The Chrysanthemum and the Bat" and "The Meaning of Ichiro," has written an exclusive four-part series for The Japan Times on the effect Major League Baseball is having on the Japanese pro game, and how the poor...
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Apr 8, 2007

Seeing yourself through the literary ways of others

With the 2007 academic year now about to begin in Japan, it's a good time to take a look at English-language teaching in the nation's universities. Yes, the tides are indeed running there. The emphasis is shifting determindly toward the utilitarian: English as a tool for Internet communication; English...
Japan Times
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Apr 6, 2007

Love triangles

Setagaya Public Theatre (SEPT), Japan's foremost municipal arts venue, celebrates its 10th anniversary this year.
EDITORIALS
Apr 6, 2007

Battle for textbook accuracy

The education ministry has publicized the screening results for new textbooks, most of which are scheduled for use at junior and senior high schools starting in April 2008. Conspicuous is the government's efforts to impose its historical view of the mass suicides among Okinawan residents during the Battle...
Japan Times
LIFE
Apr 1, 2007

Drawing on experience

Cartoonists in Japan are as abundant as the cherry blossoms at this time of year -- but Rieko Saibara is probably the only one who has both a lyrical and rebellious side to her work -- along with an astonishing power and what has been called a "lethal poison.''
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Mar 29, 2007

A haven of hedonism's days are numbered

As any good street tout will tell you, high foot-traffic is the key to success. Sure, he might toss out his chest, flash his best smile and smoothly sell you an explanation for the apparent contradiction between the shapely, high-class ladies he promises and the remarkably low entry price to his establishment,...
Japan Times
MORE SPORTS
Mar 28, 2007

JT honored with three FSAJ Media Awards

The Japan Times earned three prestigious honors at the Foreign Sportswriters Association of Japan Media Awards Dinner on Monday night in Tokyo.
Japan Times
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Mar 27, 2007

Life in the cloudy Imperial fishbowl

Although the media and insatiable public curiosity can expose the private secrets of superstars, the Imperial family remains largely out of view.
Reader Mail
Mar 25, 2007

Nazis worried Roosevelt more

While in transit at Narita, I came across Mike Lidgley's March 18 letter about Pearl Harbor, "Winning the geopolitical game?," and the Feb. 24 article that it referred to, "Telling the truth at Yasukuni," by Hisahiko Okazaki. I was so shocked by the article that I referred it to a distinguished colleague....
CULTURE / Books
Mar 18, 2007

Hard-boiled in Bangkok

The Risk of Infidelity Index: A Vincent Calvino Crime Novel, by Christopher G. Moore, Bangkok: Heaven Lake Press, 2007, 324 pp., $15.95 (paper) Bangkok-based detective-for-hire Vincent Calvino has found himself in a classic predicament: After coming through with a mountain of solid evidence for his American...

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