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Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / WILD WATCH
Feb 21, 2007

A wildlife odyssey to rank with any

Being both a columnist and an author is to be constantly in the midst of a kind of battle -- between short-term bursts of effort and rapid gratification, and long-term strategic planning, exertion, and inevitably delayed gratification.
CULTURE / Books
Feb 18, 2007

Poet takes on the triads

A Case of Two Cities: An Inspector Chen Novel by Qiu Xiaolong. New York: St. Martin's Minotaur, 2006, 320 pp., $24.95 (cloth) In U.S. paperback fiction, the arrival of an American detective, or spy, in East Asia unleashes a predictable train of events. He will inevitably lock horns with a rich and powerful...
CULTURE / Books
Feb 18, 2007

Strange stories from Canadian suburbs

Nectar Fragments, by Michael Hoffman. AuthorHouse, 2006, 564 pp., $23.49 (paper). In the manner of the anthropologist, Michael Hoffman, in his latest collection of short stories, stakes out a small piece of terrain then proceeds to examine the life within its coordinates. The name of this plot is Nectar,...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Feb 17, 2007

Japan's pop culture made palatable for the layman

Roland Kelts does not look like his publicity photo, in large part because he's wearing sunglasses. But not because he's trying to be cool: "It's just that my eyes are really tired this morning."
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / PERSONALITY PROFILE
Feb 17, 2007

Amy Katoh

Champion of Japan's disappearing traditional crafts, longtime Tokyo resident Amy Katoh is an author and businesswoman. Her famous shop Blue & White testifies to her vision and imagination.
CULTURE / Film
Feb 16, 2007

Conquering the audience

Hungarian filmmaker Istvan Szabo has the distinction of being the only person from his country to receive an Oscar (for his 1981 work "Mephisto").
CULTURE / Books
Feb 11, 2007

There is nothing two-dimensional about Japanese manga in the U.S.

Japanamerica: How Japanese Pop Culture Has Invaded the U.S., by Roland Kelts. Palgrave, Macmillan, 2006, 223 pp., $24.95 (cloth) In "Japanamerica," Japanese-American writer Roland Kelts explores how and why Japanese manga and anime have become as familiar to Americans as sushi or karaoke in the 21st...
SUMO
Feb 9, 2007

JSA readies for suit

The Japan Sumo Association said Thursday it will sue the publisher and managing editor of a weekly magazine that claimed Mongolian-born grand champion Asashoryu has been rigging bouts.
JAPAN
Feb 8, 2007

Libel suit attacks free speech: defendant

in some Western countries, and laws and the some courts in Europe and the United States protect people who are sued in this way. Legal experts say Japan has no similar safeguards. The article at the center of the case, "The Lies Behind the Hits/Does Johnny's Get Super-VIP treatment?!/The Honeymoon Between...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Feb 1, 2007

'Starfish Hotel'

Many foreigners, from visitors to longtime expats, have made films in Japan, but nearly all of them have ended up distinctly non-Japanese. That's not to say they were bad: Josef von Sternberg's erotic fable "Anatahan" (1953) was unlike anything Japan's film industry was making at the time, but it still...
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle
Jan 30, 2007

Lend an ear to an ancient practice

The tools and rules of hygiene are generally cut and dry: Brush your teeth at least twice a day, floss once, remember to bathe, and clip your nails to meet your own taste. But what about cleaning your ears? For some people, once every couple of weeks is enough, but others like to do it every day.
Reader Mail
Jan 28, 2007

Information there for the taking

Jeff Kingston, in his Jan. 21 review of the book "Asian Labor in the Wartime Japanese Empire," states that "Knowledge among Japanese about wartime forced labor is sketchy and thus it might come as some surprise that there are five chapters on Indonesia." Apart from whether knowledge among Japanese about...
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Jan 28, 2007

Natto nonsense lands television show in sticky mess

Unless you're a big fan of natto, those sticky fermented soybeans, you probably didn't pay much attention to Kansai Telecasting Corporation's (KTV) sudden apology Jan. 20 for misinformation that was given on one of its variety shows. Anyone who watches TV regularly has probably developed the ability...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Jan 25, 2007

Dairakudakan dancers play with Josef Nadj

Speaking in Tokyo a year ago, Josef Nadj, one of the most respected choreographers in the contemporary dance world, said that for his next project in Japan he wanted to create something playful for the audiences in collaboration with Japanese dancers and Japanese culture. The 49-year-old Yugoslav-born...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Jan 14, 2007

Once in keeping with some of the best company

In the Company of Men: Representations of Male-Male Sexuality in Meiji Literature, by Jim Reichert. Stanford University Press, 2006, 282 pp., illustrations XI, $60.00 (cloth). The search for modernity in the Meiji Era (1868-1912) involved not only the discovery of some new subject matter but also the...
LIFE / Lifestyle / ON THE BOOK TRAIL
Jan 9, 2007

"Happy Feet," "Artemis Fowl and the Lost Colony"

"Happy Feet," Adapted by Kay Woodward, Puffin Books; 2006; 121 pp. Typically, the book comes first; then some smart film director gets his hands on it and turns it into a movie. With "Happy Feet," though, it was the film that came first. But if you haven't watched it -- or if you want the adventures...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jan 4, 2007

Cinema goes back for the future

Cinema is on the ropes. So much so that a cabal of top Hollywood moguls are putting their faith in a very old idea -- one usually dismissed as a fad -- to save the day.
Japan Times
LIFE
Dec 31, 2006

Daunting challenges face fast-graying nation

Robert Feldman is chief economist at Morgan Stanley Japan Securities, where, as cohead of Japan Equity Research, he is responsible for forecasting the direction of the Japanese economy.
CULTURE / Books
Dec 24, 2006

Word power: 'The way' and the way you say it

OGYU SORAI'S PHILOSOPHICAL MASTERWORKS: The Bendo and Benmei, edited and translated by John A. Tucker. Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press, 2006, 478 pp., $56 (cloth). One of the foremost thinkers of our time, Noam Chomsky, has argued that the United States is a rogue state. To arrive at this conclusion,...
Japan Times
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Dec 22, 2006

A bluebird for the kids, and a dark Cinderella

For this winter vacation season, theater company EN presents a new, original play for children, "Aoitori Kotori Nazenaze Aoi? (Bluebird, Why are you Blue?)," at Theater X in Ryogoku, continuing a tradition of appealing to young theatergoers since it began in 1981
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Dec 21, 2006

New show offers breakthrough installation

About a month ago at Tokyo's Shugoarts, photographer Yasumasa Morimura gave a performance in which he coopted the speech author Yukio Mishima gave from the balcony of the Self-Defense Force headquarters in Tokyo in 1970 before committing ritual seppuku inside the building. In his performance, Morimura...
BUSINESS / JAPANESE PERSPECTIVES
Dec 18, 2006

Triangular mergers and the argument for stringent controls

With the ban on so-called triangular mergers scheduled to be lifted in May, debate in Japan -- which has occasionally involved interested parties in the United States and Europe -- has focused on determining the conditions under which such cross-border takeovers should be allowed.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / PERSONALITY PROFILE
Dec 16, 2006

Kiyonori Kanasaka

Last October, the Royal Scottish Geographical Society conferred its Diploma of Fellowship upon Professor Kiyonori Kanasaka of Kyoto University.

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