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COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
May 17, 2008

Buddha's birthday prompts call to temple

May 12 was Buddha's birthday. Don't tell me you forgot about it! You didn't even send a card? How about a gift? Well, don't feel too bad. I forgot about it too. But luckily, on the morning of the 12th, an announcement came over the loudspeaker saying "Attention Shiraishi Island residents, today is Buddha's...
Japan Times
JAPAN
May 17, 2008

Marriage sprang from struggle to master Japanese

May Uehara, who came to Japan from Hong Kong in 1986, speaks Japanese with such perfect intonation that people may at first mistake her for a native.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
May 15, 2008

Julie madly, deeply

It's always interesting to meet someone you've seen on the screen so many times. You always wonder: Are they like their movie image? I know, I know — actors are just playing a role, that's not really them up on the screen.
COMMENTARY
May 14, 2008

Why Burma has been trashed for 46 years

LONDON — The Burmese regime is not to blame for the powerful cyclone that struck the Irrawaddy Delta and Yangon early this month, killing up to a hundred thousand people. But it certainly will be to blame for the next wave of deaths if aid does not soon reach the survivors.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
May 10, 2008

Documenting the divide between rich and poor

She was 3 when she first stood in the spotlight — on the stage of Tokyo's National Noh Theater — as the apple of her father's eye.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
May 10, 2008

Bamboo and the bambino

One day not so long ago, my husband went out into the forest to cut down some bamboo. He returned about an hour later and said in a smooth, calm voice, "Honey, could you please bring me a Band-Aid?"
COMMUNITY / Issues / JUST BE CAUSE
May 6, 2008

Activism vs. academia

Back in January, I was a panelist at Waseda University's Global Institute for Asian Regional Integration, invited to give an "activist's perspective" to an academic crowd.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
May 4, 2008

The role of the media in tulip massacres and suicide

Since late March there has been a rash of vandalism directed against flowers. Tulips, in particular, have been cut, uprooted or trampled in public places. The news trail seems to originate during the most recent cherry blossom season, when eight young trees were found destroyed in West Tokyo's Koganei...
Japan Times
JAPAN
May 2, 2008

Canadian ambassador brings a lifelong love of Japan to his post

Joseph Caron, Canada's ambassador to Japan since 2005, remembers his first day here — a Saturday in late August 1975. He stayed at the Hotel New Otani and visited Ginza, Nihonbashi and Omote-sando.
EDITORIALS
Apr 30, 2008

DPJ victory in Yamaguchi

The victory of a candidate of the Democratic Party of Japan over a candidate of the Liberal Democratic Party in Sunday's Lower House by-election in the Yamaguchi No. 2 constituency has raised a question mark over Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda's political leadership. The DPJ candidate trounced the LDP candidate...
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
Apr 23, 2008

Is growth driving us to oblivion?

Last month, when I wrote a column headlined "Apocalypse when? Can three experts all be wrong on looming disaster?," I expected that readers would harangue me for taking up ranks with the pessimists. After all, for every doomster, there seems to be a Pangloss reassuring us that all will be well.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Apr 22, 2008

Summit wicked this way comes

You've probably heard about July's G8 Summit in Toyako, in my home prefecture of Hokkaido. In case you're unfamiliar with the event, here's a primer from the Foreign Affairs Ministry:
Japan Times
JAPAN
Apr 22, 2008

Volunteer DIY group puts a touch of earth into prefabs

On a rainy day in late March, a group of people were making material to apply to the walls of a two-story concrete house going up in the city of Musashino in Tokyo.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 18, 2008

Agricultural neglect leaves millions trapped in poverty

BANGKOK — In the last decade, developing economies in Asia and the Pacific doubled in size, growing over seven percent on average. This growth has garnered much attention and plaudits. Yet, 641 million of the world's poorest — nearly two-thirds of the global total — live in the Asia-Pacific region....
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Apr 17, 2008

The 50 Kaitenz put their own spin on the classic 'Kitaro' theme tune

While "GeGeGe no Kitaro" has held immeasurable influence over the animation industry, its theme tune is a treasure unto itself. With lyrics written by "Kitaro" creator Shigeru Mizuki, it might have been recorded by various anime soundtrackers, but it's always retained its original melody, chalking up...
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design
Apr 15, 2008

Pecha Kucha! Ping! Monozukuri gets hot!

Good things come from small packagers, according to new online design magazine PingMag MAKE.
Japan Times
Reference / SO WHAT THE HECK IS THAT
Apr 15, 2008

Kyodo bochi

Dear Alice,
LIFE
Apr 13, 2008

Art and life in a grain of rice

Artist Mitsuaki Tanabe is stubborn.
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Apr 13, 2008

Landmark case spotlights 'Japanese-style nationalism'

"The most critical thing for us Japanese in the 21st century is to free ourselves from Japanese-style nationalism, both politically and culturally." So said author Kenzaburo Oe to me in the autumn of 1995, a year after he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Apr 10, 2008

A home in Tokyo

Brooklyn-born Robert Allan Ackerman first landed in Japan in 1990 to direct "Mystery of the Rose Bouquet" by Manuel Puig at the Benisan Pit in Tokyo. Several years later, the American became an associate director of Theater Project Tokyo (TPT), which was founded in 1993 by Hitoshi Kadoi and English director...
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Apr 8, 2008

National holidays trace roots to China, ancients, harvests

Golden Week is approaching, covering four national holidays from late April to early May.
EDITORIALS
Apr 7, 2008

The secrets of the sea

The investigative unit of the Ground Self-Defense Force has sent up a paper on an Air Self-Defense Force officer to the Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office, accusing him of passing a "defense-related secret" to a Yomiuri Shimbun reporter in connection with a 2005 newspaper article. The unit acted...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Apr 3, 2008

One huge fan of civilization

As long as you've at least half a sleepy eye slightly focused on popular culture, you've seen his art work, even if you never go to galleries. Up until two years ago, he'd never even shown in one, at least not the ones where you stand around sipping wine and eating imported cheeses.
Japan Times
JAPAN / ALSO OUT THERE
Mar 19, 2008

'Mochi' moffles reinvent the waffle

The love of rice the Japanese have may partially explain the recent boom behind the "moffle" — a Belgian waffle-shaped "mochi" pounded rice cake.
LIFE / Digital / JAPAN TIMES BLOGROLL
Mar 19, 2008

Mutant Frog

Mutant Frog Travelogue is the blog of Adam Richards, Joe Jones and Roy Berman, three friends who met while studying in Japan. The eclectic subject matter includes posts on technology, law, culture, politics and plenty more. With the three writers living at various times in Japan, Thailand, the U.S. and...
Japan Times
Reference / SO WHAT THE HECK IS THAT
Mar 18, 2008

Pocket bells

Dear Alice,

Longform

Figure skater Akiko Suzuki was once told her ideal weight should be 47 kilograms, a number she now admits she “naively believed.” This led to her have a relationship with food that resulted in her suffering from anorexia.
The silent battle Japanese athletes fight with weight