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COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Sep 2, 2007

Cultural affinity bodes well for growing ties with India

Legend has it that in ancient times a mask made its way from India to Japan. One look at today's Noh mask called Beshimi would confirm this legend: Its tea-colored complexion, large eyes and ample nostrils certainly make it look nothing like a Japanese, but like a native of India.
CULTURE / Books
Sep 2, 2007

Transcending boundaries with writer Yoko Tawada

Facing the Bridge by Yoko Tawada, translated by Margaret Mitsutani. New York: New Directions, 2007, 186 pp., $14.95 (paper) WHERE EUROPE BEGINS by Yoko Tawada, translated by Susan Bernofsky and Yumi Selden, preface by Wim Wenders. New York: New Directions, 2007, 208 pp., $14.95 (paper)
JAPAN
Sep 1, 2007

Scandal-rife defense body is history

The Defense Facilities Administration Agency disbanded Friday after serving 60 years as the coordinator between the public and the U.S. forces in Japan and the nation's own military, brought down by long-entrenched corruption over contracts.
JAPAN / CABINET INTERVIEW
Sep 1, 2007

Minister set on Tourism Agency debut in 2008

Land, Infrastructure and Transport Minister Tetsuzo Fuyushiba said he plans to establish the Tourism Agency in the next fiscal year to boost the government's goal of making Japan a friendlier nation to foreign guests.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / CABINET INTERVIEW
Sep 1, 2007

Amari looks to Africa to secure resources for Japan

Japan hopes to boost ties with African countries so it can secure supplies of much-needed rare metals and energy resources, amid heated competition with China and other emerging economies, trade minister Akira Amari said.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / CABINET INTERVIEW
Aug 31, 2007

Nukaga cautious on state of economy

New Finance Minister Fukushiro Nukaga gave a cautious assessment of the economy and urged the Bank of Japan to work with the government to ensure continued growth.
JAPAN
Aug 31, 2007

Japan opted out of nukes in '69

In 1969, then Foreign Minister Kiichi Aichi told the Soviet Union that Japan was capable of arming itself with nuclear weapons but stressed that its people were strongly resolved not to do so, according to diplomatic documents declassified Thursday by the Foreign Ministry.
CULTURE / Music
Aug 31, 2007

Gogol Bordello "Super Taranta!"

The previous album by this motley crew of Brooklyn-resident immigrants was called "Gypsy Punks." It's a good description of the music, but the generic-sounding title may have also fooled people into thinking it was some kind of anthropological exercise.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Aug 31, 2007

Mono find fan in Steve Albini

While big-name music acts look to foreign markets to continue fattening their already oversize bank accounts, for Tokyo quartet Mono, it's a simple matter of survival.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Aug 30, 2007

McCafe aims for slice of coffee shop pie

McDonald's fans thronged Wednesday to be the first to taste cappuccinos, croissants and vegetable soups at McCafe, the fast-food giant's new chain of cafe-style eateries.
Japan Times
JAPAN / CABINET INTERVIEW
Aug 30, 2007

MSDF mission facing 'challenge'

The coming political battle on whether to extend the special antiterrorism law on logistic support for multinational forces in Afghanistan is a major challenge for the Foreign Ministry, according to Nobutaka Machimura.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 29, 2007

It's not the West that should worry Putin

PRAGUE — Last week, Russia and China held joint military maneuvers in the presence of both Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Hu Jintao. But a new strategic alliance between the two countries is not likely, as it is China that poses the greatest strategic threat to Russia, although...
COMMENTARY
Aug 28, 2007

America's dirty little victory

NEW YORK — "Just about everyone agrees that the recent conviction of Abdullah al-Muhajir, aka Jose Padilla, is a good thing," wrote rightwing pundit Neil Kressel in The New York Post.
LIFE / Language
Aug 28, 2007

To maintain your honor, keep your pecking up

First of two parts
MORE SPORTS
Aug 27, 2007

Worlds notebook; Day 2

OSAKA — News and notes from Day 2 of the 2007 IAAF World Athletics Championships.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 27, 2007

Intolerance mars climate change debate

NEW DELHI — What's up with journalists in the mainstream media? In most cases, they tend to be unconditional supporters of free expression and strive to report on controversial views.
EDITORIALS
Aug 27, 2007

Rethinking power-supply strategy

The impact of the magnitude-6.8 earthquake July 16 off Niigata Prefecture on Tokyo Electric Power Co.'s Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear power plant was clearly felt Aug. 22 when TEPCO, on short notice, requested that 23 large-lot industrial customers cut back on their use of electricity that afternoon.
Reader Mail
Aug 26, 2007

'Greatest evil' is not apparent

Despite preliminary testing in the New Mexican desert, I think it is fair to say that no one could possibly have fully understood the horror of an atomic blast -- especially a detonation over an urban area -- before it was actually done in August 1945. This undermines all anti-atomic bomb...
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Aug 26, 2007

APEC 'circus' precedes main Aussie drama

The eyes of the world will be on Sydney next month, and as that's where I am at the moment, I can tell you we are expecting the city to be under siege.

Longform

Sumadori Bar on Shibuya Ward's main Center Gai street targets young customers who prefer low-alcohol drinks or abstain altogether.
Rethinking that second drink: Japan’s Gen Z gets ‘sober curious’