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COMMENTARY / World
Mar 9, 2011

The Gadhafis: like father, like son

LONDON — "The enemy of yesterday is the friend of today . . . . [I]t was a real war, but those brothers are free men now." Thus spoke Seif al-Islam Gadhafi in March 2010, referring to the leaders of the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group (LIFG), an armed organization that had attempted to assassinate his...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Mar 4, 2011

'Of Gods and Men'/'Agora (Japan title: Alexandria)'

Just a quick glance at the headlines will reveal how many conflicts and massacres in our world find their roots in religious differences. While believers of any given faith are quick to blame the misguided and evil intentions of all those other religions, the wise will assert that all religions have...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Mar 4, 2011

'Chatroom'

Speaking strictly from a J-cinema fan/patriot point of view, "Chatroom" is a cause for celebration. It's set in London, stars some of the brightest young talent in the United Kingdom, centers around the timely topic of social networking — and the whole thing is directed by Japanese horror meister Hideo...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / JUST BE CAUSE
Mar 1, 2011

Charisma Men, unite against the identity enforcers

English teachers in Japan get a bum rap. Not always taken seriously as professionals, and often denied advancement opportunities in the workplace, they are seen as people over here on a lark. They get accused of taking advantage of Japanese society to earn easy money, canoodle with the locals, then go...
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
Feb 27, 2011

Don't give up on Japan's kids

Last March, the president of Harvard University, Drew Gilpin Faust, visited Japan to find out for herself what has become of Japan's once-vibrant contribution to American academia. The numbers of Japanese students enrolling in Harvard have declined steadily over the past decade, and in September 2009...
JAPAN
Feb 26, 2011

Refugee families' dads land jobs in farming

The fathers of five refugee families from Myanmar who have been undergoing language training and living orientation after arriving in Japan under the U.N.-sponsored third-country resettlement program have landed jobs on farms, Foreign Minister Seiji Maehara said Friday.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Feb 25, 2011

' Taiheiyo no Kiseki — Fokkusu to Yobareta Otoko (Oba: The Last Samurai)'

Japanese mass-audience movies about the country's military during World War II are usually melodramatic, sentimental or blatantly nationalistic. But their pure-hearted tokkotai (suicide squad) pilots flying to certain death are hardly representative of the typical Japanese soldier who, as the war entered...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Feb 25, 2011

The high altitudes of airplane aesthetics

Aeronautical science has always been a hotbed of innovative technology. Changes in human society, such as improved global networking and an increase in travelers has meant that aircraft design has always been dynamic, improving to meet passengers' military and others' expectations and demands.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Feb 25, 2011

Jolie acts out a teenage crush in 'The Tourist'

"Of course I always wanted to work with Johnny Depp!" laughs Angelina Jolie. "What actress hasn't? I've thought he was the coolest thing for years. I practically grew up with him and had such a crush on him in 'Edward Scissorhands'!"
BUSINESS
Feb 24, 2011

Fast Retailing partners with UNHCR to clothe refugees

Fast Retailing Co. and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees announced Wednesday they have established a partnership to assist refugees and displaced people around the world through the distribution of recycled Uniqlo clothing.
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Feb 20, 2011

Secret envoy docudrama; flash mob challenge; CM of the Week: Food Action Nippon

After decades of official denials from the Foreign Ministry, last year it was revealed that the Japanese government made a secret pact with the United States to allow the American military to bring nuclear weapons into Okinawa after the islands were returned to Japan in 1972.
CULTURE / Books
Feb 20, 2011

Recollections of an intrepid Meiji traveler

NEW CHRONICLES OF YANAGIBASHI AND DIARY OF A JOURNEY TO THE WEST, by Ryuhoku Narushima. Translated and with a critical introduction and afterword by Matthew Fraleigh. Cornell University East Asia Program, 2010, 392 pp., $49 (paper) The most interesting thing about Ryuhoku Narushima (1837-1884), author...
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Feb 20, 2011

Kroon a character who won't soon be forgotten

Marc Kroon will be missed.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Feb 19, 2011

The new pair seat surcharge

My neighbor Kazu-chan recently booked a trip to Bali with her friend on Garuda Indonesia. She said the travel agency she booked through charged her ¥3,000 to sit next to her friend. And her friend also had to pay ¥3,000 to sit next to Kazu-chan. This was called a pair seat.
BASKETBALL / NBA / NBA REPORT
Feb 16, 2011

Sloan went out on his own terms after 22 years

NEW YORK — Apparently, there was a pact all along . . . Jerry Sloan came in around the same time with Hosni Mubarak, and damned if he isn't going out with him.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / MIXED MATCHES
Feb 15, 2011

Canadian's health issue unites couple

On their first date, Eiko Tiernan was told by her future husband, Laurier, that he has Marfan syndrome, a congenital hereditary disease that affects about 1 in 5,000 people. At first, she did not know how to react, as she knew nothing about the disease.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Feb 15, 2011

Valentine's Day hits retailers' sweet spot

For 25-year-old Tokyo office worker Ryoko Ejiri, Valentine's Day is about boxes of heart-shaped chocolates. She's not getting them from admirers, she has to buy them for her bosses.
EDITORIALS
Feb 13, 2011

Job-hunting system needs work

With university graduation ceremonies coming up, at least one-third of graduating students will have little reason to celebrate. Only two-thirds have found jobs, the lowest percentage since 1996, the first year official records were kept. In light of the low number of new hires, companies should take...
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Feb 13, 2011

When criminals bask in the media spotlight

"Before I committed that incident, I was given many opportunities from my parents and others close to me. But I disregarded these. I never gave any consideration to my privileged situation."
EDITORIALS
Feb 9, 2011

Ronald Reagan at 100

This week marks the 100th anniversary of the birth of Ronald Reagan. While Ronaldus Magnus (as he is known among some admirers) was not made president for life and beyond like North Korea's Kim Il Sung, 23 years after his term in office ended he remains the lodestar for U.S. conservatives and the Republican...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / CLOSE-UP
Feb 6, 2011

Yang Sok Gil: Writing about wrongs at home and abroad

Yang Sok Gil is renowned for his novels describing, with remarkable humanity and humor, people's wanton desires and the problems they cause, often from the viewpoint of minorities in Japan or elsewhere.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Feb 6, 2011

Way of the Samurai

HAGAKURE: The Code of the Samurai, The Manga Edition, by Yamamoto Tsunetomo, Sean Michael Wilson, William Scott Wilson. Illustrated by Chie Kutsuwada. Kodansha International, 2010, 143 pp., $14.95 (paper) Manga can be elegant and artistic, but it also serves up raunch, romance and violence. "Hagakure:...
Reader Mail
Feb 6, 2011

A thought for Lindsay Ann Hawker

Regarding Alex Martin's Jan. 26 article, "Ichihashi book details life on run" (about the book written by Tatsuya Ichihashi, the accused killer of Briton Lindsay Ann Hawker): Family members of Hawker are said to feel "disgusted" and "hurt" about the book being published before Ichihashi's trial. I agree...
Japan Times
CULTURE
Feb 4, 2011

Anime's late, late show

A sea gull arcs through the clouds and swoops over a house perched high on a clifftop. The sound of waves can be heard breaking far below as a young boy sits down for breakfast across from two robots who, it turns out, are doppelgangers of his parents. In the future, he later informs us, "you can get...
JAPAN
Feb 4, 2011

Menace truly lurks in Bond villain's volcano

In the James Bond version, circa 1967, Mount Shinmoe was a serene, extinct peak with a scenic, lake-filled crater that provided the perfect perch for Agent 007 and his bikini-clad partner to surveil the lair of supervillain Ernst Stavro Blofeld.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Feb 4, 2011

Himalayan fungus feeds Mitsubishi Tanabe windfall

Tetsuro Fujita's eureka moment with a Himalayan fungus in 1985 may mean part of a $5 billion payout for Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma Corp. a quarter-century later.
COMMUNITY / Voices / HAVE YOUR SAY
Feb 1, 2011

Rural alien attacks 'insult' in Arudou almanac; 'Love it/leave it' lacks logic

Following are responses to "Arudou's Alien Almanac" by Debito Arudou (Just Be Cause, Jan. 4):
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / JUST BE CAUSE
Feb 1, 2011

Naturalized Japanese: foreigners no more

In Dec. 28's Japan Times, Charles Lewis wrote a respectful Zeit Gist column asking three fellow wise men (sumo wrestler Konishiki, musicologist Peter Barakan and Diet member Marutei Tsurunen) about their successful lives as "foreigners" in Japan. Despite their combined century of experience here, the...
Reader Mail
Jan 30, 2011

Cause and effect for 'homebodies'

Regarding Grant Piper's Jan. 23 letter, "Safe life for celibate homebodies": I have my doubts about Piper's observation that local men with faltering libidos have concluded that it is safer to "stay at home and live as a celibate . . . purchase sex from rental ladies, or . . . cultivate a profound fantasy...

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