Search - (2006-01-27)

 
 
CULTURE / Books
Dec 10, 2006

Guidance from a master brewer

THE BOOK OF SAKE: A Connoisseur's Guide, by Philip Harper. Kodansha International, 2006, 96 pp., 2,940 yen (cloth) How the global culinary pendulum does swing. It was not so long ago that drinking sake was considered as exotic, or even as ill advised, as eating raw fish seasoned with green horseradish....
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Dec 10, 2006

Rediscovering a neglected tradition

THE BOOK OF INCENSE, by Kiyoko Morita. Tokyo/New York/London: Kodansha International, 2006, 136 pp., illustrations XX, 1,600 yen (paper) Incense came early to Japan. According to the fifth-century "Nihonshoki" (Chronicles of Japan), a whole aloeswood tree drifted ashore at Awaji. When the fisherfolk...
EDITORIALS
Dec 9, 2006

A change of direction in Iraq?

The long-awaited report of the Iraq Study Group was released Wednesday and it paints a grim picture of that war-torn country. The candor is refreshing; no policy can succeed if it is not based on reality. Not surprisingly, the conclusions constitute a fundamental revision of U.S. policy. But signals...
BASKETBALL / BJ-LEAGUE NOTEBOOK
Dec 8, 2006

Albirex looking good, but season is still young

The 2006-07 bj-league season has reached the end of its metaphorical first quarter. And with each of the league's eight teams having played 10 of their 40 games, some patterns have developed.
CULTURE / Music
Dec 8, 2006

Tom Waits "Orphans: Brawlers, Bawlers & Bastards"

Although his trademark raspy growl and love for schizophrenic concoctions of sound aren't for everyone, visitors to the whacked-out, downtrodden world of Tom Waits are rightfully mesmerized by its beauty and brilliance. With a persona that's equal parts grizzled farmhand, ringmaster and mad scientist,...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Dec 7, 2006

Teasing out new meanings from old works

'Imagination without skill gives us contemporary art," quipped the playwright Tom Stoppard in an essay in 2000.
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Dec 3, 2006

A trip down memory-dori on 1956 tour by Dodgers

Our good friend John Gilmore of Baseball International tipped us off through Bob Bavasi's JapanBall.com about an Internet home page highlighting former Brooklyn and Los Angeles Dodgers owner -- and international baseball devotee -- Walter O'Malley.
CULTURE / Books
Dec 3, 2006

Magic in the ordinary world

BLIND WILLOW, SLEEPING WOMAN by Haruki Murakami, translated by Philip Gabriel and Jay Rubin. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2006, 334 pp., $24.95 (cloth). Just as fiction that is purely mundane can be, well, mundane, fiction that is only fantastic is often only dull. Authors such as Paul Auster and Jonathan...
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Dec 3, 2006

Your money's no object for Ishihara and his 'fourth son'

Tokyo Gov. Shintaro Ishihara is the most transparent politician in Japan, which is good in that transparency is always welcome in matters of public policy and Japanese politics is prominently lacking in it.
EDITORIALS
Dec 2, 2006

The call of Antarctica

On Nov. 8, 1956, the icebreaker Soya, a ship of 1937 vintage originally built in Nagasaki Prefecture as the Soviet cargo ship Volochaevets, left Tokyo Port carrying Japan's first scientific expedition to Antarctica. Last week, the 48th Antarctic expedition left Narita airport to catch up with the icebreaker...
BASKETBALL / BJ-LEAGUE PLAYERS OF THE MONTH
Dec 1, 2006

Humphrey, Davis win monthly honors

Each month during the 2006-07 season, The Japan Times will select bj-league Offensive and Defensive Players of the Month.
SUMO / SUMO SCRIBBLINGS
Nov 28, 2006

For the sake of sumo, scrap the Fukuoka Basho

In the Fukuoka Basho's biggest surprise in years, the ozeki, despite their largely poor standards of late, didn't perform too badly. The aging trio of Kaio, Chiyotaikai and Tochiazuma were all well within range of Asashoryu as far in as the mid-way point.
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Nov 26, 2006

Fan power fails this time, as 'Guts' bolts Fighters for Giants

Despite the best efforts of those Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters fans who sought to convince star player Michihiro Ogasawara to remain with the club, the infielder decided to use his free agency and switch to the Yomiuri Giants.
Japan Times
LIFE
Nov 26, 2006

The Trip of a Lifetime

How much trouble can two errant JT columnists, seven female undergraduates from a Tokyo university, an ex-bush fighter and motley others get into during 10 days exploring the wilds of Namibia? Join Stephen Hesse, Hugh Paxton and their intrepid entourage for a lively, humorous and often touching adventure...
CULTURE / Books
Nov 26, 2006

A colloquial style of literature tourism

JAPAN: A Traveler's Literary Companion, edited by Jeffrey Angels & J. Thomas Rimer, foreword by Donald Richie. Whereabouts Press, 2006, 232 pp., $14.95 (paper). It was purely by chance that I read the stories in this anthology while visiting the very same locations that provide their setting, though...

Longform

Ichiro Suzuki, one of the most iconic players in NPB and MLB history, was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame with 99.7% of the vote.
With Hall of Fame induction, Ichiro makes himself heard loud and clear