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JAPAN
Feb 14, 2009

Trial interpreters urge certification

As the courts prepare to let citizens join with judges in trying accused criminals, legal experts are calling for improving the training and status of court interpreters.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 14, 2009

Israel votes for firmer hand with Palestinians

PRINCETON, N.J. — War and violence always have a direct effect on elections. Wars account for dramatic shifts in voter preferences, and radical leaders and parties often poll much higher after a round of sharp violence than in normal times. Minority ethnic groups are therefore often able to sway the...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Feb 13, 2009

'Defiance'

As I sit here in a Midtown cafe, sipping a latte and gazing leisurely at the late-season Christmas lights as dusk settles over this well-heated monument to 21st-century consumer pleasures, it's hard to imagine the potential for chaos.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Feb 13, 2009

An abandoned history of Chinese influence

Edo Period (1603-1868) paintings from Osaka have been relatively neglected in comparison with paintings from Tokyo and Kyoto. A canonical list of works and a historical framework were written up in Tokyo in the 1890s in a series of influential lectures by scholar Okakura Tenshin, setting the directions...
BUSINESS
Feb 13, 2009

Toyota, GM slip in cost survey

Toyota Motor Corp. and General Motors Corp., the world's two largest automakers, lost ground in an annual survey of ownership costs that includes such measures as resale value and repair costs.
Japan Times
MULTIMEDIA / STYLE WISE
Feb 12, 2009

Fashion inspired by imaginary destinations, the 1950s and naughty Polaroids

Your visa to Fugahum "Fugahum is our imaginary country. Yes, it's also our brand, but I always wanted to create a nation and write its history," says Akiyoshi Mishima, the philosophical half of the fashion unit Fugahum that the designer has formed with partner Asuka Yamamoto. "Isn't that what a fashion...
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
Feb 10, 2009

'Neko-cide' prevention; document dealings

'Contemplating neko-cide' writes, "There is a cat next door that in meowing all night causes me to lose sleep, which then hurts my performance at work."
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Feb 8, 2009

Definitive 'Record of Linji' well worth a wait of 40 years

The Linji-lu is one of the most influential of all Zen texts. Presumably a collection of the lectures and sermons of Linji Yixuan (died 866), founder of the Linji school of Chan Buddhism, it helped form the Rinzai sect of Zen in Japan.
Japan Times
LIFE
Feb 8, 2009

Anxiety haunts a Burmese family left in official limbo

"All my Burmese friends are getting humanitarian visas, but not me," laments Hla Aye Maung, who has lived in Japan for the past 12 years.
EDITORIALS
Feb 5, 2009

Act independently on IRENA

The world took a step forward in its efforts to fight climate change with the Jan. 26 inauguration of the International Renewable Energy Agency in Bonn, Germany. Member states hope that IRENA, the first global organization dedicated to renewable energy, will become the world's "new mouthpiece for renewable...
BASKETBALL / NBA / NBA REPORT
Feb 4, 2009

No respect for Love from assistant coaches

NEW YORK — Stumblebum that I am, I have stumbled across a situation whose level of egregiousness falls somewhere between Bernie Madoff and Bernie Goetz.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 2, 2009

Chance to lift social equity in Latin America

WASHINGTON — In 2009, Latin America will move from a period of expansion to one of adjustment. Because of the global financial crisis, growth will slow down, unemployment rates will rise, and poverty will increase. And there will be fewer public resources to face enlarged social needs.
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Feb 1, 2009

The day the music died America's apple-pie order began to crumble

A long, long time ago . . . I can still remember How that music used to make me smile. I can't remember if I cried When I read about his widowed bride, But something touched me deep inside The day the music died.
SOCCER / PREMIER REPORT
Jan 31, 2009

Figuring out what Benitez means is no easy task

LONDON — As Liverpool has lost only one Premier League game this season and trails leader Manchester United by two points, you would think everything is rosy in the Anfield garden.
EDITORIALS
Jan 30, 2009

Mr. Aso outlines goals

In a policy address before the Diet on Wednesday, Prime Minister Taro Aso, as expected, gave priority to helping the nation tide over the current economic crisis. Correctly observing that all of the world is simultaneously entering an unprecedented recession and that Japan cannot escape it, he noted...
JAPAN
Jan 30, 2009

Ruling bloc, opposition resume Diet squabbling

Key ruling bloc and opposition lawmakers exchanged barbs Thursday in the Diet, opening a new round of squabbling following the enactment of a contentious secondary budget just two days earlier.
LIFE / Food & Drink
Jan 30, 2009

Kyoto's Yufuna: The tastes of Tango

Outside, Yufuna looks like an ordinary after-work hangout, with a solid wooden counter lined with sake and shochu bottles and a blackboard announcing the daily specials. This unpretentious basement shop is surprisingly spacious inside though, with attractively decorated, cozy dining spaces beyond the...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink
Jan 30, 2009

The tastes of Tango

Outside, Yufuna looks like an ordinary after-work hangout, with a solid wooden counter lined with sake and shochu bottles and a blackboard announcing the daily specials. This unpretentious basement shop is surprisingly spacious inside though, with attractively decorated, cozy dining spaces beyond the...
SUMO / SUMO SCRIBBLINGS
Jan 27, 2009

Amazing comeback for Asashoryu at Hatsu Basho 2009

While the so-called Asashoryu era of complete dominance is a thing of the past, the Hatsu Basho saw the 28-year-old prove there is life in the not-so-old dog yet.
COMMUNITY / Voices / HAVE YOUR SAY
Jan 27, 2009

Burakumin, 'musical jobs': readers respond

Koseki at root of problem I wish to thank you for the excellent article "Breaking the silence on burakumin" on Jan. 20. I work for the Buraku Liberation Center in Osaka and was featured in the Aug. 2, 2008, issue (search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/fl20080802a1.html). One point I would add is that it is...
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Jan 21, 2009

The key words that kept Japan abuzz in 2008

Last October, publisher Jiyu Kokuminsha released the 61st edition of its "Gendai Yogo no Kiso Chishiki (Encyclopedia of Contemporary Words)" — a massive 1,614-page tome that retails for just ¥2,980. I have a facsimile copy of the book's first edition, launched on Oct. 10, 1948. In the introduction,...
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Jan 21, 2009

The key words that kept Japan abuzz in 2008

Last October, publisher Jiyu Kokuminsha released the 61st edition of its "Gendai Yogo no Kiso Chishiki (Encyclopedia of Contemporary Words)" — a massive 1,614-page tome that retails for just ¥2,980. I have a facsimile copy of the book's first edition, launched on Oct. 10, 1948. In the introduction,...
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Jan 18, 2009

Dialing up the decider one last time before he leaves the Oval Office

With only days left in office for the 43rd president of the United States of America, George W. Bush, I decided, on a lark — or a duck, if you will — to Skype the soon to be ex-commander in chief to find out what preoccupies his thoughts as he bids us a solemn farewell. I want to share this very...

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