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SOCCER / PREMIER REPORT
Nov 17, 2007

England needs help from Israel to keep Euro hopes alive

LONDON — In August, England head coach Steve McClaren said the media should "judge me on results," so if the results are not good enough the man in charge will have his wish and be judged. The verdict will be guilty and the sentence loss of job.
COMMENTARY
Nov 17, 2007

Is the democracy image losing its glow?

BALI, Indonesia — There's no guarantee that an intellectual counter-revolution will last any longer than a major monsoon. But there is in the works in this region growing disenchantment with the views of what one might call democracy fundamentalists. These are the people who insist that the democratic...
Japan Times
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Nov 13, 2007

Dialect-rife Japan can be tongue-twisting

The islands of Japan have many dialects, and students of the language often realize these variations are not taught in classrooms.
Reader Mail
Nov 4, 2007

Tough spot for some teachers

I have to be honest and say I'm tired of hearing about the poor students at Nova. I am an ex-Nova teacher who quit fairly recently. I am fortunate enough to have found another job before the downfall of Nova, but I am still waiting for more than six-weeks' wages. I have friends and former coworkers...
Japan Times
LIFE / CLOSE-UP
Nov 4, 2007

Sue Palmer: The kids are not OK, top educator warns

To a growing legion of educated, enlightened and empowered mothers in Japan and abroad, Sue Palmer's advice on how to bring up children might sound — if not heard in context — too old-fashioned, too alarmist or even maybe too naive to prepare their loved ones for the rapidly changing, fiercely competitive...
JAPAN
Oct 29, 2007

Scandals in food industry shatter safety myth

Ocean fresh sushi? Quality marbled beef? Exquisite confectionaries? Think again.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Oct 23, 2007

Human rights survey stinks

On Aug. 25, the Japanese government released findings from a Cabinet poll conducted every four years. Called the "Public Survey on the Defense of Human Rights" ( www8.cao.go.jp/survey/h19/h19-jinken ), it sparked media attention with some apparently good news.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Oct 21, 2007

TV in cahoots with the shamed Kameda boxing clan

In the fuss over the Oct. 11 WBC flyweight title match between 33-year-old world champion Daisuke Naito and 18-year-old contender Daiki Kameda, the media has been the object of criticism as much as Kameda, who has since been punished with a one-year suspension by the Japan Boxing Commission for rules...
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Oct 9, 2007

Smoldering J-love lacks yesteryear's gumption

The question, "What has happened to love these days?" is every bit as serious as the question why diets never work in this country. I'm very distressed to have to report that Japanese love, like Japanese politics and the not-so-quite-lovely outlook of the economy, is unwell. It suffers from low blood...
Reader Mail
Oct 4, 2007

More dangerous than Iraq

The "Asashoryu fiasco" touched upon in the Sept. 30 Sports Scope is indeed a molehill compared to stable master Tokitsukaze's cracking a beer bottle over young rikishi Takashi Saito's head and allowing other wrestlers to thrash him.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Oct 4, 2007

For butoh artist's 101st birthday, a month of dance

The Japanese avant-garde dance of butoh (the dance of darkness) is often misunderstood. Labeled as abstruse and indefinable by critics, it could be considered an acquired taste. Created in post-World War II Japan by Tatsumi Hijikata and Kazuo Ohno, the art form is for some, though, a mesmerizing experience....
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Oct 4, 2007

The camera and the truth

With his fake documentary purporting to show serving President George W. Bush's assassination, director Gabriel Range has made this year's most controversial movie
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 4, 2007

Sarkozy and the euro's perfect storm

PALO ALTO, Calif. — The more French President Nicolas Sarkozy attacks the European Central Bank and the strong euro, the more he is criticized in the European media, by European finance ministers, European Union officials and the ECB itself.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Sep 30, 2007

Sophistication from improvisation

Kitano Takeshi. London: British Film Institute, 2007, 272 pp., with photos. £16.99 (paper) This is a brilliant book on a mercurial subject. Takeshi Kitano is an actor and film director, ubiquitous on television as well, who has become a media event. His persona has splintered and he stands Janus-faced...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Sep 28, 2007

Filming a Champs Elysee moment

At first glance Olivier Dahan doesn't come off as a filmmaker who would choose to make a biopic about Edith Piaf. He carved out a successful career in music videos, and is an avid aficionado of French hip-hop. Piaf's music and what he listens to don't quite gel. But perhaps this explains the particular...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Sep 23, 2007

TV 'kangaroo courts' led by excitable pundits make joke of law

The current box-office winner in Japan is "Hero," the movie spinoff of a popular TV series starring heartthrob Takuya Kimura as a nonconformist prosecutor. Now there's an oxymoron. In American pop culture, at least, prosecutors tend to be the bad guys since they represent the establishment, but in Japan...
COMMENTARY
Sep 17, 2007

How to downsize Bush's 'axis of evil'

LOS ANGELES — The "axis of evil" has certainly proven one tough triangle with which to tangle. But is it about to be downsized? As defined by U.S. President George Bush in his 2002 State of the Union address, this putative axis triangulates Iraq, Iran and North Korea. But is one of them on the verge...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Sep 13, 2007

Blue Man Group: Attack of the 'Smurfs'

Butoh dance, attack art and the band Devo have all had a role in influencing Blue Man Group — which is bringing a two-month run of avant-garde theater to Japan.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Sep 9, 2007

Cardboard-bun incident serves up more distaste for China

Though it wasn't the most significant news story of the summer, the video that circulated worldwide in early July about the Dalian street vendor who sold pork buns stuffed with cardboard was certainly the most fun for local news outlets since it involved two subjects Japanese media can't get enough of:...
COMMENTARY
Sep 6, 2007

China's image sinking fast

HONG KONG — Public opinion surveys taken in the United States and other countries around the world show that China's image has been badly dented in the wake of widespread reports of unsafe food, toxic toothpaste, dangerous toys and poisonous drugs.
SUMO / SUMO SCRIBBLINGS
Sep 4, 2007

The king is all but dead — long live sumo!

Following his flight home, the Mongolian police and military were deployed to prevent Japanese media access to "their" man, Asashoryu, and not since the time Konishiki was looking at promotion to yokozuna has the line separating Japanese and non-Japanese suitability to hold the rank been drawn so prominently...
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Sep 2, 2007

Environmental celebrity special, celebrity comeback special, Kurosawa classic adaptation

On Monday, TBS does its part in publicizing serious global issues with the 2-hour special "Mirai no Kodomotachi e Chikyu no Kiki wo Sukuu Okane no Tsukai-kata (How to Use Money to Solve Global Crises for Children of the Future)" at 9 p.m.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Sep 2, 2007

You have to appear to be a complete loser in Japan to get benefits

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's vision for a "beautiful country" stresses self-reliance. The media usually translates this aim in national defense terms: a stronger military that doesn't have to duck behind the United States. To the average person it simply means you're on your own. That buzz word of several...
MORE SPORTS
Aug 29, 2007

Worlds notebook; Day 4

OSAKA — News and notes from Day 4 of the 2007 IAAF World Athletics Champion ships.
JAPAN / ANALYSIS
Aug 28, 2007

Picking faction bosses Abe's bid to show tactful maturity?

In a desperate effort to mend his and his Cabinet's damaged credibility, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe took the safe course Monday by picking a new team of mainly veteran lawmakers, including Liberal Democratic Party faction leaders.
SOCCER / PREMIER REPORT
Aug 25, 2007

Bad precedent set by Hackett in incident involving Styles

LONDON — Rob Styles went to work last Sunday and made a human error.
SOCCER / PREMIER REPORT
Aug 19, 2007

Without Rooney, pressure on Man United

LONDON — One week into the Premier League season and already the C-word has reared its ugly head.
SUMO / SUMO SCRIBBLINGS
Aug 14, 2007

Close the door on the way out Asashoryu

Every sport has its ups and downs. Every sport has its bad boys. Sumo, in as far as it is classified as a sport, is no different.

Longform

A mushroom cloud from the atomic bombing on Hiroshima taken from a U.S. military aircraft on Aug. 6, 1945. Copying the photo without permission is prohibited.
80 years on, a Japanese American hibakusha recalls the day the bomb dropped