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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...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Feb 18, 2007

'Africans in Japan' . . . not from the quill of Ishihara, thank God

Last week, The Japan Times ran a Bloomberg interview with Shintaro Ishihara in which the proudly provocative Tokyo governor followed up his contention that foreigners were behind the city's rising crime rate. He challenged his interviewers to go to Roppongi and see for themselves. "Africans -- and I...
Japan Times
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Feb 16, 2007

'Chicago,' 'BKLYN' show Broadway's different sides

Broadway has been thrilling audiences for generations, and the arrival in Japan this month of two of its biggest shows, "Chicago" and "BKLYN," gives Tokyoites the opportunity to embrace some all-American musical classics.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT
Feb 14, 2007

Eyewitness to slaughter in Taiji's killing coves

Almost every day, pods of dolphins ply their way across Hatagiri Bay near the whaling town of Taiji in Wakayama Prefecture, central Japan. It's a scenic, serene area on the beautiful Kii Peninsula. But death haunts two pristine coves adjacent to Taiji's whale museum.
BASKETBALL / ONE-ON-ONE WITH ...
Feb 11, 2007

Murry relishing shot at pro ball

The Japan Times will be featuring periodic interviews with players in the bj-league -- Japan's first professional basketball circuit -- which is in its second season. Point guard Nile Murry of the Toyama Grouses is the subject of this week's profile.
MORE SPORTS
Feb 11, 2007

Remarkable return: Hingis happy with comeback

Former world No. 1 Martina Hingis won a record-breaking fifth Toray Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo last Sunday, adding the title to the ones she won in 1997, 1999, 2000 and 2002. It was her third Tier 1 title since returning to the WTA Tour in January 2006 after coming out of a three-year retirement because...
EDITORIALS
Feb 11, 2007

Exam system put to the test

When road signs point to universities, racks at shrines fill with rows of handwritten ema (votive pictures/messages), and a respectful hush falls over the city, you know it's time for one of Japan's most important rituals -- entrance exams.
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Feb 11, 2007

Ft. Myers getting ready for 'Dice-K' and Japanese media

Sportswriter David Dorsey of the Ft. Myers News-Press in Florida is getting ready to work the Boston Red Sox spring training camp in that town. He will be joined by a bevy of reporters and photographers from the various Japanese media there to cover the Daisuke Matsuzaka circus and lefty reliever Hideki...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Feb 10, 2007

Asia's honored sailor sets sights on eighth circumnavigation

An angler yanks a fish out of the drink and it flops and flaps on the deck of a boat, pop-eyed, its gills wondering where the water went.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Feb 8, 2007

Rejecting kawaii culture

Momoyo Torimitsu (b. 1967) is a little tired of being remembered for Jiro Miyata, a life-size robot she created based on a middle-aged salaryman in 1994. But who could forget? Miyata, which Torimitsu had crawl around the streets of Tokyo, Paris, New York and other cities, so brilliantly embodied the...
BUSINESS
Feb 7, 2007

JAL set to swing job ax to survive

Japan Airlines Corp. will cut 4,300 jobs over three years starting in April to help return to profitability, the airline announced Tuesday.
SOCCER / PREMIER REPORT
Feb 4, 2007

Upson saga illustrates how much power today's players have on transfers

LONDON -- West Ham United should beware after signing Matthew Upson from Birmingham City.
JAPAN
Feb 3, 2007

Osaka plans another homeless eviction

OSAKA -- The Osaka Municipal Government is once again cracking down on the homeless, preparing to clear out a small group next week from a park that will be the site of a major international sporting event in August.
COMMENTARY
Feb 3, 2007

Misplaced effort to cut carbon

LONDON -- Huge gales have been sweeping Britain, while temperatures have soared, leaving spring plants sprouting long before they should and wildlife bewildered. Its all part of global warming -- or so many people assert. Whether they are right will be impossible to judge for many years to come. Maybe...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jan 26, 2007

The ace auteur and the new De Niro

"The Departed" marks the third collaboration between Hollywood A-list actor Leonardo DiCaprio and America's reigning auteur, director Martin Scorsese.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jan 26, 2007

The punks descend

How much impact do surroundings have on a group? According to guitarist Lindsay McDougall of the Australian band Frenzal Rhomb, plenty.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 26, 2007

Empathizing with an enemy

LOS ANGELES -- In a resonant scene from film director Clint Eastwood's "Letters From Iwo Jima," soldiers find a letter on the person of a just-deceased enemy. Upon learning that the letter is from his mother, sharing her hopes and fears and wisdom, they are haunted by their shared humanity with this...
SUMO
Jan 23, 2007

Numbers break records, character creates legends

At exactly 5:43 p.m. on Sunday afternoon, Jan. 21, 2007, yokozuna Asashoryu Akinori was presented with the Emperor's Cup for the 20th time in his sumo career; a feat achieved only four times prior, by former yokozuna Taiho (32 total yusho), Chiyonofuji (31), Kitanoumi (24) and Takanohana (22). These...
COMMENTARY
Jan 23, 2007

U.S. presence vs. the public will

A tense atmosphere prevails in Yokosuka, Kanagawa Prefecture, during its centennial this year due to the planned deployment of a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier at U.S. Yokosuka Naval Base.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Jan 18, 2007

An inheritance of kabuki roles

"I am particularly interested in Kikugoro VII," says Miyoko Goto, "because he fulfills all the qualifications for a Kabuki actor and because he can play both tachiyaku and onnagata roles equally well, while his father Baiko remained an onnagata."
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 18, 2007

Latin America's next growth challenge

TORINO, Italy -- Since 2003, Latin America's economies have been thriving, with GDP, including estimates for 2006, up by 17 percent -- an average annual growth rate of 4.3 percent and a 12 percent increase in per capita GDP. While impressive, this is only the second time in 25 years that Latin America...
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / WILD WATCH
Jan 17, 2007

Seasonal waves of gold

I am fresh back from an exciting wildlife watching adventure in the national parks of Madhya Pradesh and Assam, India (more of that in a subsequent column). Thanks to the latest Internet and satellite software, I can zoom in to view the very area in Assam that I visited last week on the southern bank...
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
Jan 16, 2007

Bicycles, dentists and curves

Share the road Reader Junji wants to bring to our attention the proposed laws before the Diet that will increase the number of cyclists on the sidewalk and restrict the number of roads that can be used by cyclists.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jan 12, 2007

A collection of the semifamous

Purposely or not, bands tend to create personas along with their music. The persona is usually based on that of the lead singer or otherwise most conspicuous member, and musicians who find that their needs for self-expression don't jibe with their group's persona either quit for solo careers or set up...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jan 12, 2007

Twinned through film

Directors Keith Fulton and Louis Pepe are best-known for their document of the great Terry Gilliam film that never was, "Lost In La Mancha." You'd think that making "Lost" -- which shows the demise of Gilliam's dream project -- would be enough to discourage anyone from making a feature film, but apparently...
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER
Jan 10, 2007

Peregrine falcon

* Japanese name: Hayabusa * Scientific name: Falco peregrinus * Description: Powerful and majestic birds, peregrine falcons are as large as a crow, some 50-cm long with a 1-meter wingspan. They have tapered, blue-gray wings, a short tail, yellow legs, black bars on their backs and pale underbellies....
EDITORIALS
Jan 9, 2007

Driving a train under pressure

On the morning of April 25, 2005, a "rapid service" (express) commuter train derailed along a curve between Tsukaguchi and Amagasaki stations on the West Japan Railway Co.'s Fukuchiyama Line in Hyogo Prefecture, slamming into a nine-story condominium building near the tracks. The accident killed 106...

Longform

Japan's growing ranks of centenarians are redefining what it means to live in a super-aging society.
What comes after 100?