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Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Nov 21, 2013

New Ai Weiwei film details the art of persecution

Timing, as they say, is everything, and for aspiring filmmaker Alison Klayman, that meant being in Beijing filming China's most well-known contemporary artist, Ai Weiwei, at precisely the moment the Chinese government decided to throw him in jail.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Nov 21, 2013

'Kaguya-hime no Monogatari (The Tale of Princess Kaguya)'

Isao Takahata has long been overshadowed by longtime colleague and Studio Ghibli cofounder Hayao Miyazaki. The younger man (Takahata is 78, Miyazaki 72) has had more and bigger hits, including his latest, the World War II-themed "Kaze Tachinu (The Wind Rises)," while Takahata's last feature animation,...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Nov 20, 2013

Director Ogawa sublimely cracks Mamet's code

First impressions can, of course, be deceiving, but mine of 65-year-old David Mamet's play "The Cryptogram," whose world premiere was at the Ambassadors Theatre in London in 1994, was simply how unhelpful and knotty a work it was.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Nov 20, 2013

Tea bowls, simple emblems of power

"Ido Tea Bowls: Treasured Possessions of Muromachi Daimyo," currently showing at the Nezu Museum, presents an array of 72 rare tea bowls that were once owned by renowned warlords, tea masters and Buddhist temples. Produced by country potters in kilns in Korea's South Kyungsang province, these bowls were...
Japan Times
WORLD
Nov 19, 2013

Stasi legacy gives Germans different view on NSA spying

German officials have been quick to ascribe the fury of their citizens over U.S. spying to their own history with the excesses of the surveillance state. But victims of the fearsome communist East German secret police say: not so fast.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Nov 19, 2013

For first time, NHK seeks Caucasian actress to star in morning drama

Wanted: A female aged 25 to 40 who grew up in the West and boasts a better than average singing voice to star in a NHK drama about Rita Taketsuru.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Nov 16, 2013

Japan pins hopes on Kennedy

With a controversial base relocation in Okinawa and other high-stakes issues testing the resilience of ties with the United States, people in Japan are looking to new U.S. Ambassador Caroline Kennedy for not just her celebrity status, but also her potential to become a new bridge between the two allies....
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Nov 16, 2013

Creationists all thumbs over digits research

It's back to basics this month, with a look at evolution, science and religion.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Nov 14, 2013

Echoes of an old debate on feminism and individualism

A century ago 'individualism' was a byword for Japan's reforming intelligentsia. To the extent that it served the goals of modernizing the Japanese state, it was acceptable.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Nov 14, 2013

Artist Yoshioka channels natural inspirations for 'Crystallize' exhibition

Is art that echoes nature “eco” art? This is one of the many questions that the work of designer/artist Tokujin Yoshioka explores.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Nov 14, 2013

Scottish police corruption has never been so fun

Oftentimes authors whose books are adapted into movies are left to sit at home and simmer as directors make the rounds saying how their "reimagining" of the work was necessary to make it a better cinematic experience, blah, blah, blah, while every fan of the novel knows exactly how it was butchered....
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Nov 13, 2013

Brecht's 'Fatzer' underground in Kyoto

The term "metatheater" refers to devices in a play that break the so-called "fourth wall" — the illusion of theatrical reality — in order to involve the audience as critical participants in the production. Metatheatricality is a hallmark of early 20th-century Modernist drama, and is often associated...
COMMUNITY / Issues / LABOR PAINS
Nov 13, 2013

Real 'labor cops' also deserve to get the star treatment

The show 'Dandarin' says a great deal about Japanese office politics and corporate practices that are long overdue some serious scrutiny.
Reader Mail
Nov 9, 2013

104 countries outclass Japan

It's hard to believe that life for women in Japan could get any worse, but the news released by the World Economic Forum last month (as cited in the Nov. 3 editorial) won't be happy reading for anyone in Japan.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Nov 7, 2013

Franz Ferdinand gets it right on latest album

When I speak to Paul Thomson, drummer with Scottish art-poppers Franz Ferdinand, it is just over 36 hours since James Blake's second album, "Overgrown," was announced as the surprise winner of this year's Mercury Prize, the award for the best record to come out of the U.K. and Ireland in the past year....
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Nov 6, 2013

Wrestling with Verdi's 'foul truth'

Women wearing flashy East-meets-West dresses and men in dark suits frolic drunkenly in a hotel lounge. Behind them can be seen the ends of the hallways for each floor of guest rooms. Couples slip away from the group from time to time, disappear down a hallway and into a room. The whole set is a cylindrical...
Japan Times
BASEBALL / MLB / NOTES ON A SCORECARD
Nov 5, 2013

Valentine unfairly left out in cold after Red Sox capture World Series

I wonder what Bobby Valentine thinks about the Boston Red Sox winning the World Series?
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 4, 2013

Kurdish phoenix rises from ruins of Syria's war

The Kurds can't erase all the hurts of their modern history and those who choose to stay in Syria remain embattled, yet the isolation that had been their lot is now fading fast.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Nov 2, 2013

Tatsuya Ichihashi: Killer on the run

Tatsuya Ichihashi went on the lam for more than 2½ years after strangling 22-year-old Lindsay Ann Hawker in March 2007. On the eve of a new film based on the convicted killer's account of his time on the road, Jun Hongo looks into the factors that allowed the fugitive to stay one step ahead of the police...
EDITORIALS
Nov 2, 2013

Washoku as a cultural heritage

Coming this December, traditional Japanese cuisine, 'washoku,' is likely to be designated an Intangible Cultural Heritage if the voting by UNESCO goes as expected.
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Nov 2, 2013

Trust no one: Japan's magazines offer a bleak message

What a bleak picture emerges from the nation's weekly and monthly periodicals: Trust is simple-minded, mistrust paranoid.
Japan Times
JAPAN / History / JAPAN TIMES GONE BY
Nov 2, 2013

The last of the shoguns; fighting widens; Yokohama train crash kills 129; Emperor's health slips

The proposal of providing a large public park at Inokashira for the benefit of the people of Tokyo has been approved by the Municipal Council. The Emperor has graciously offered the use of an extensive lot in that locality for that purpose.
Japan Times
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
Nov 2, 2013

Rock band Monkey Majik provides positive vibes for Tohoku, enjoys passionate following for Golden Eagles

There was magic in the air before Game 6 of the Japan Series.
WORLD / FOCUS
Nov 2, 2013

U.S. Supreme Court to hear new case on public prayer

The chairman of the local Baha'i congregation concluded his prayer with "Allah-u-Abha," which loosely translates to "God the All-Glorious." A Jew offered a prayer speaking of "the songs of David, your servant." And a Wiccan priestess, mindful of her venue in the town of Greece, New York, thought that...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / FOREIGN AGENDA
Oct 30, 2013

Volunteers staying the course in Tohoku

Upstart NGOs It's Not Just Mud and OGA for Aid continue to punch above their weight in public conversations about the future of Tohoku.
Japan Times
WORLD
Oct 27, 2013

'Born to die': This device will self-destruct in 60 seconds

Imagine recovering from an operation without fear of a post-op infection from a drug-resistant superbug. Imagine that this is because of a tiny electronic device left behind when they sewed you back up, which monitors the wound, picks up signs of infection, administers a specific amount of heat to the...
Japan Times
WORLD
Oct 27, 2013

Hitler escape book's authors in plagiarism row

The notorious claim that Hitler escaped his Berlin bunker to live incognito in Argentina first gained popular currency in 1945, when Stalin spoke of it. Since then the idea has resurfaced occasionally, with alleged photographic and documentary evidence pored over by conspiracy theorists. Now the theory...

Longform

An illustration features the Japanese signs for "ganbare" (good luck) and the Deaflympics, which will be held between Nov. 15 and 26.
A century of Deaf sport finds its moment in Tokyo