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JAPAN
Apr 2, 2009

20 politicians worried by lay judge system form nonpartisan group to delay it

With less than two months before the start of the lay judge system, about 20 Diet members formed an informal nonpartisan group Wednesday to postpone its launch, noting some potential jurors may not want to participate, or don't feel qualified.
BUSINESS
Apr 2, 2009

Tokyo law firm is top-ranked M&A adviser

Nishimura & Asahi, which helped Mitsubishi Estate Co. convert Towa Real Estate Development Co. into a wholly owned subsidiary, was the nation's top-ranked legal adviser on mergers and acquisitions last quarter.
BUSINESS
Apr 1, 2009

EBay to provide translations for Japanese sellers

EBay.com Inc., the most-visited U.S. e-commerce Web site, will begin offering a translation service this week for Japanese sellers wanting to list products on its English-language service to encourage cross-border trade, the company said Tuesday.
COMMENTARY
Mar 30, 2009

Here we go again: coaxing the North to shoot straight

HONOLULU — North Korean "Dear Leader" Kim Jong Il is a hard person to like; he is even a harder person to ignore. At a time when the rest of the world would prefer to focus its attention elsewhere, the North Korean leader is trying his best to shine the spotlight on the one area of the world where...
Japan Times
LIFE
Mar 29, 2009

Bodies beautiful

At 2 a.m. on a spring morning in 2002, photographer Mitsuhiro Mouri received a phone call from the most famous actress in Japan.
CULTURE / Books
Mar 29, 2009

Between modernism and modanizumu

When reading William J. Tyler's anthology, "Modanizumu: Modernist Fiction from Japan, 1913-1938," one realizes that "modanizumu" (modernism) is a very broad term. It seems to mean, for Tyler anyway, any work produced during the years he designates that is not absolutely reactionary in its style or concerns....
CULTURE / Books
Mar 29, 2009

Between modernism and modanizumu

MODANIZUMU: Modernist Fiction From Japan, 1913-1938, compiled and edited by William J. Tyler. Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press, 2008, 605 pp., $47 (cloth). When reading William J. Tyler's anthology, "Modanizumu: Modernist Fiction from Japan, 1913-1938," one realizes that "modanizumu" (modernism)...
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Mar 28, 2009

Practicing for the Olympics

My grandmother used to reminisce about spending the first five minutes of Spanish class practicing rolling her r's. My grandmother would be proud — the ESL classroom doesn't just spend five minutes on English pronunciation, we spend an entire class on it.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Mar 28, 2009

Utada cracks top 20 list on iTunes

After a humiliating setback in the United States, a Japanese diva has staged a comeback.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Mar 27, 2009

'Then She Found Me'

"Then She Found Me" wants to be a romantic comedy for older chicks (once a chick, always a chick!), but it's strangely dry and brittle and unfunny — a plate of al dente pasta that needed three more minutes on the stove and a dollop of olive oil or some kind of um, lubricant.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Mar 27, 2009

As slump bites deeper, shoppers warm to no-name foreign gadgets

The recession is causing a massive consumer shift: No longer do Japan's famously finicky and brand-conscious shoppers assume imported and no-name electronics are as cheap in quality as they are in price.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / LIQUID CULTURE
Mar 27, 2009

Taste-testing a brew for the recession

There's a good reason that beer-makers use barley as a base ingredient. Fermentation only works on sugars, and grains don't contain any. But when a grain gets moist, it germinates, and its sprout contains an enzyme that converts starch into sugar. Some grains have tough husks, others sprout too meekly,...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Mar 25, 2009

Lack of progress in search for Hawker's killer frustrates family

The family of slain Briton Lindsay Ann Hawker expressed discontent with police Tuesday over the stalled hunt for Tatsuya Ichihashi, the prime suspect in her 2007 murder.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Mar 25, 2009

Crisis bites into Toyoda fortune

Toyota Motor Corp.'s looming loss isn't just a management challenge for Akio Toyoda, tapped to lead the carmaker his family founded. The global recession has cut the value of Toyota shares he and his father own by ¥42 billion and their dividend income may also fall.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Mar 20, 2009

Cucina Amano: With eager eyes on the kitchen

One of the particular pleasures of dining out in Tokyo is sitting at the counter of a small, owner- chef restaurant, gazing into the kitchen and watching your meal — and others', of course — being prepared.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Mar 20, 2009

'Valkyrie'

World War II is all over the cinemas these days, with a slew of recent films attempting to go against the grain of received wisdom, focusing on the exceptions, not the rule. Thus we have Jews who fought back fiercely against the Nazis ("Defiance"), Wehrmacht officers who opposed Hitler ("Valkyrie"),...
JAPAN
Mar 19, 2009

Baha'i in Japan slam Iran for holding members accused of spying for Israel

KOBE — Japan's Baha'i community is calling on the government to join the growing list of countries and international organizations that have condemned Iran for its arrest of seven of its members.
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Mar 17, 2009

Found in 'Area 51,' he goes by one name

Pitching greats Daisuke Matsuzaka and Yu Darvish are leading Japan's star-studded squad as national teams battle it out in the United States in the World Baseball Classic.
COMMENTARY
Mar 15, 2009

Planets like Earth appear to be out there

LONDON — The real wonder of our age is this. You can go on the Web, type in PlanetQuest New Worlds Atlas, or Extrasolar Planets Encyclopedia, or NASA Star and Exoplanet Database, and directly access the data on 340 new planets that have been discovered in the past five years.
CULTURE / Books
Mar 15, 2009

From Japan's heart of darkness

A hundred years ago, a young scholar named Kunio Yanagita traveled to remote Iwate Prefecture in search of stories that reflected people's lives. Yanagita was born at an epochal time when Japan was flinging off its feudal past and embracing modernity. He wanted to capture the vanishing ways in which...
LIFE / Food & Drink
Mar 13, 2009

A daily revolution at Marugo

The wine-lover's equivalent to conveyer-belt sushi, Marugo II offers a revolving selection of wines for the curious wine buff.
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design / STYLE WISE
Mar 12, 2009

ASCIS sprints stylishly, Van Noten opens in Aoyama, British gems sparkle and Galliano diffuses

MISHA JANETTE and PAUL McINNES A Beast on the run in Harajuku If you thought the pace of Tokyo's Harajuku was already dizzying, just see what happens now that ASICS has opened its megastore for runners in the area's heart.
BASKETBALL / NBA / NBA REPORT
Mar 11, 2009

Woodson doing good job of handling Smith

NEW YORK — Before Saturday night's come-from-behind victory over the Pistons, I wasn't sensing much love in Dixie, where Josh Smith and Hawks coach Mike Woodson dropped the verbal gloves at halftime of Friday night's seven-point loss to the Bobcats. It was shades of two seasons ago when the coach banished...
COMMENTARY
Mar 11, 2009

Gauging Obama's Asia policy

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's recent trip to Asia underscored elements of continuity and change in the Obama administration's Asia policy. Generally speaking, her visits to Japan, South Korea and China represented continuity; her trip to Indonesia signaled change.
BUSINESS
Mar 10, 2009

Use public entity proceeds to prop up stocks: Keidanren

The role of a public entity should be expanded to sell government-guaranteed bonds and funnel the proceeds into the flagging stock market, the Japan Business Federation (Nippon Keidanren) said Monday.
Japan Times
BASKETBALL / INSIDE LOOK
Mar 8, 2009

Matsui aims to finish career on a high note

NEW YORK — Team update: Entering the final week of the regular season, the Columbia Lions, were 11-15 overall and 6-6 in the Ivy League, and had a chance to finish above .500 in conference play for the first time since the 1992-93 season. Matsui scored a career-high 19 points, including 5-for-8 on...
Japan Times
LIFE
Mar 8, 2009

When scandal strikes a firm

Japanese culture and its scapegoat-seeking media often make bad times far worse for companies compromised by events. But for foreign firms less familiar with the country's societal norms, such problems can easily spiral completely out of control.

Longform

Dangami House is a 180-year-old former samurai residence of the Kato clan, who ruled over Ozu, Ehime Prefecture, until the Meiji Restoration.
A house, a legacy and the quiet work of restoration in rural Japan