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Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jul 14, 2004

Slices of life don't quite hit the spot

At Five in the Afternoon Rating: * * * (out of 5) Director: Samira Makhmalbaf Running time: 105 minutes Language: Persian Currently showing [See Japan Times movie listings] Take Care of My Cat Rating: * * * (out of 5) Director: Jeong Jae Eun Running time: 112 minutes Language:...
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Jul 13, 2004

The big squeeze

The news from Japan these days is untypically sunny. The economy is performing at its sharpest clip for 13 years, investment and profits are up and analysts are gingerly forecasting a sustained recovery.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 12, 2004

Moderate Islam's voice must be heard

CHIANG MAI, Thailand -- The fact that every day a new "armchair" terrorism expert appears can be viewed as a welcome sign, for it shows that there is growing alertness to the new challenge of our times. Terrorism experts continue to argue over the best ways to confront unimaginable threats, but frequently...
Japan Times
LIFE
Jul 11, 2004

Believe it ... or not

Japan's vast hoard of war booty known as Yamashita's Gold was long thought to be buried in caves in the Philippines. But in their book 'Gold Warriors,' Sterling and Peggy Seagrave sensationally claim that the treasure trove was secretly recovered -- and continues to oil the wheels of politics in Japan...
JAPAN
Jul 10, 2004

Hunger-striker returns to cell after hospital visit

IBARAKI, Osaka Pref. -- A 37-year-old Iranian who has been held at the West Japan Immigration Center here since February 2003 and has been on a hunger strike for over a month, was briefly hospitalized Friday, according to his supporters.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jul 9, 2004

Ex-cop fingers cultist over '95 shooting

A former police officer who was arrested Wednesday over the 1995 shooting of the then National Police Agency chief has told investigators that a senior Aum Shinrikyo figure now on death row had ordered him to help the cult carry out the ambush, investigative sources said Thursday.
JAPAN
Jul 9, 2004

Ex-cop fingers cultist over '95 shooting

A former police officer who was arrested Wednesday over the 1995 shooting of the then National Police Agency chief has told investigators that a senior Aum Shinrikyo figure now on death row had ordered him to help the cult carry out the ambush, investigative sources said Thursday.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jul 8, 2004

Lack of continuity in English teaching hit

The introduction of English in elementary school classrooms to help improve fluency in later years is bringing to light a problem that has dogged Japanese educators for years -- how to provide continuity in teaching the language so that students can graduate from university with a conversant level.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jul 7, 2004

Director sends his love to Huppert

La Vie promise Rating: * * * (out of 5) Director: Olivier Dahan Running time: 93 minutes Language: French Currently showing [See Japan Times movie listings] "La Vie promise (The Promised Life)" is not really a movie, but a love letter from director Olivier Dahan to actress Isabelle Huppert...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jul 7, 2004

Iranian's charge of brutality vs. word of police

Jailed for two months and charged with obstructing justice, Ghadir Esmaeili, a 34-year-old Iranian permanent resident in Japan, claims he's a victim of police brutality, although other than his damaged eye he lacks damning visual evidence like the notorious video footage of L.A. police beating Rodney...
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / A GAIJIN'S TALE
Jul 6, 2004

Stranger's kindness

A non-Japanese-speaking friend came here recently, and found a place in Kawasaki and a job in Hamamatsucho. Traveling to work, it was difficult for him to remember the names of the stations from Kawasaki to Hamamatsucho, so he remembered the big stations and then counted the number of stops in between....
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / CLOSE-UP
Jul 4, 2004

Seiichi Kanise: Media insider casts an outsider's eye on Japan

After 17 years' experience as a top-flight news reporter both at home and abroad, in 1991 Seiichi Kanise began a 10-year stint as a TV news anchorman. Then, after covering a wide range of news events, in 2003 he accepted an offer from the Tokyo-based Bunka Hoso (Nippon Cultural Broadcasting Inc.) radio...
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT
Jul 2, 2004

Losing battle being fought to keep Kanagawa beaches clean

FUJISAWA, Kanagawa Pref. -- It's almost 5 a.m. and the sky is warming as the sun rolls up to burst open the horizon. The pacific rhythm of the ocean waves dominates the soundscape of the virtually deserted beach.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Jun 30, 2004

Mizu to Abura mix mime and the surreal

Formed in 1995 by Jun Takahashi, Shuji Onodera and Momoko Fujita, who graduated that year from the Nihon Mime Kenkyujo (Japan Mime Institute), Mizu to Abura (Water and Oil) became a foursome three years later when Reina Suga, another institute graduate, joined them.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Jun 27, 2004

North Korea's likely arsenal

NORTH KOREA'S WEAPONS PROGRAMMES: A Net Assessment, by International Institute for Strategic Studies staff. Palgrave Macmillan, 80pp., 2004, $90 (paper). To America's hard men of the right, North Korea harbors a full and fearsome array of weapons of mass destruction, or WMD, and the willingness to sell...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jun 23, 2004

Secrets lodged underneath the skin

The Human Stain Rating: * * * 1/2 (out of 5) Japanese title: Shiroi Karasu Director: Robert Benton Running time: 108 minutes Language: English Currently showing [See Japan Times movie listings] When David Howard, a white aide to the black mayor of Washington, D.C., spoke of a "niggardly"...
ENVIRONMENT / WILD WATCH
Jun 17, 2004

Some pictures worth 1,000 words

I take my hat off to those folk who can draw and paint. What a wonderfully inspiring skill. And when they can illustrate living creatures in lifelike form then I am in awe. What has prompted this outpouring is the fact that I am currently at work on a new field guide, so I am heavily involved in both...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jun 16, 2004

Give 'em enough dope

The Tesseract Rating: * * (out of 5) Director: Oxide Pang Running time: 96 minutes Language: English Opens June 19 [See Japan Times movie listings] Spun Rating: * * * 1/2 (out of 5) Director: Jonas Akerlund Running time: 102 minutes Language: English Opens June 19 [See Japan...
SPORTS / SPORTS SCOPE
Jun 15, 2004

Coach Baxter making a name for himself in world soccer

"Stuart who?"
Features
Jun 13, 2004

Signs of life

Divorce is up; population growth is down. Spitting on the street: in; holding the door: out. Politicians waver back and forth on policy, their party platforms neither here nor there.
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Jun 8, 2004

Hidden plight of detainees

'What did I do to the Japanese people," asks Merdem Yousif. "I came to Japan because I thought the people would be warm-hearted. It was my big mistake. I should have gone to another country."
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Jun 6, 2004

Village Vignettes: Insiders seen from the outside

VILLAGE VIGNETTES, by Michael Smithies, illustrations by Uthai-Traisiwakul. Bangkok: Orchid Press, 2004, 168 pp, $17.99 (paper). Michael Smithies, the well-known scholar and eminent historian of 17th-century Siam, lives in northeast Thailand, near the village that he describes in these sketches of its...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jun 2, 2004

The unbearable heaviness of being

21 Grams Rating: * * * * (out of 5) Director: Alejandro Gonzalez Inarittu Running time: 125 minutes Language: English Opens June 5 [See Japan Times movie listings] "21 Grams" struts and shows off like a cowboy in a rodeo -- the director Alejandro Gonzalez Inarittu pulls out all the stops...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jun 2, 2004

Insatiable appetite for destruction

The Day After Tomorrow Rating: * * 1/2 (out of 5) Director: Roland Emmerich Running time: 124 minutes Language: English Opens June 5 [See Japan Times movie listings] Stership Troopers 2 Rating: * * * (out of 5) Director: Phil Tippett Running time: 92 minutes Language: English Opens...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jun 2, 2004

He spins a top tale

Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu made quite a splash with his 2000 debut, "Amores Perros," which put Mexican cinema back on the map. With his followup, "21 Grams," the former radio DJ and commercial director proves that was no fluke, fashioning a film that's every bit as intense and structurally innovative...
EDITORIALS
May 31, 2004

More debate on contingency bills

Japan's efforts to update its security legislation reached yet another milestone on May 20 when a Lower House committee approved a set of backup bills for laws dealing with military crises directly affecting the country. The package, if enacted, will complete three decades of security-building efforts...
EDITORIALS
May 30, 2004

Unsung heroism

The Abu Ghraib prison scandal, still far from over, has prompted a lot of reflection and a fair degree of consensus in the United States. Some, like U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, may quibble over whether the treatment meted out to Iraqi prisoners constituted "abuse" rather than "torture,"...
COMMENTARY / WASHINGTON UPDATE
May 30, 2004

Bush could use a streak of good news

WASHINGTON -- It has not been a good two months for President George W. Bush. In mid-March, the president's men took the rubber band off their enormous roll of cash and went to work with media designed to present a softer, gentler, yet strong president while painting their prospective opponent, Sen....

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