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CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Jan 6, 2013

Ueto stars as ex-con in NHK drama; a Japanese spin on "The Brothers Karamazov"; CM of the week: Parco

Strange casting decisions are often explained by advertising prerogatives, so we're not sure what prompted NHK to cast Aya Ueto against type to play an ex-con in the 10-part drama "Itsuka Hi no Ataru Basho de" ("In a Place Where the Sun Sometimes Shines"; NHK-G, Tues., 10 p.m.).
WORLD / Crime & Legal
Jan 6, 2013

Supreme Court to hear emotive adoption case

The Supreme Court added an emotional case to its docket Friday, agreeing to review a lower court's decision that federal law requires a couple to return the child they cared for since birth to her Native American father.
WORLD / Crime & Legal
Jan 6, 2013

Supreme Court to hear emotive adoption case

The Supreme Court added an emotional case to its docket Friday, agreeing to review a lower court's decision that federal law requires a couple to return the child they cared for since birth to her Native American father.
CULTURE / Books
Jan 6, 2013

Complex tales of censorship in 20th-century Japan

THE ART OF CENSORSHIP IN POSTWAR JAPAN, by Kirsten Cather. University of Hawaii Press, 2012, 342 pp., $45.00 (hardcover) REDACTED: The Archives of Censorship in Transwar Japan, by Jonathan E. Abel. University of California Press, 2012, 376 pp., $44.95 (hardcover) Censorship in Japan has long been hot-button...
Events / KANSAI: WHO & WHAT
Jan 5, 2013

Nishinomiya hosting hand drum concert

The Otani Memorial Art Museum in the city of Nishinomiya, Hyogo Prefecture, will hold a small hand drum concert Jan. 14 from 2 p.m., while works by various Japanese-style painters are on display through Feb. 17.
Japan Times
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Jan 4, 2013

Eight seasons from Slovakia

Opening 2013 on a cultured note, the Slovak Chamber Orchestra (SCO) tours Japan from Jan. 5 through Jan. 18.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jan 3, 2013

"Situations and Exchanges: Fukuoka Contemporary Art Chronicle"

Fukuoka Prefecture's art industry rapidly prospered during the 1950s-60s with the rise of Group Kyushu, a highly experimental and controversial artists' group. From the 1970s, however, an artistic stagnancy prevailed, and the generation of artists that emerged after the "golden period" struggled to make...
Japan Times
JAPAN / EMBASSY AVENUE
Dec 31, 2012

Arabic calligraphy exhibition

An exhibition of Arabic calligraphy was held from Dec. 10 to 23 at the Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabia in Tokyo.
COMMENTARY
Dec 31, 2012

Cloudy prospects for Asia, 'Arab Spring,' global weather

To begin on a happy note, the world didn't end this year. Dec. 21 came and went without a sign of the Four Horsemen, leaving the Mayans (or rather their ancestors) with egg all over their faces.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Dec 30, 2012

Landscaping the doors of perception in Japan

ZEN GARDENS: The Complete Works of Shunmyo Masuno, Japan's Leading Garden Designer, by Mira Locher. Tuttle Publishing, 2012, 224 pp., $39.95 (hardcover) Although the term zen-tei (Zen garden) exists in Japanese, its usage is a largely Western one, first coined by the American garden scholar Lorraine...
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT
Dec 30, 2012

Kyu Asakura's garden of wealth and privilege

COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Dec 30, 2012

Is juggernaut Japan being driven to destruction (and no one's to blame)?

Ryotaro Shiba, the great author of historical novels, was a student of Mongolian at Osaka University of Foreign Languages when, at the end of 1943, he was drafted into the army. Then aged 20, he received a "provisional graduation qualification" (the actual certificate was issued the following year) and...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film / BEST OF 2012
Dec 28, 2012

Hold the McFilms, pass the cinematic cassoulet

It always puzzles me that people turn to the Food page curious to find out about off-the-beaten-track joints that serve up a savory cassoulet or artisan shōchū or whatever, yet so many come to the film page expecting a review of this week's McBurger. Guess what? Tasted pretty much like the last one....
Japan Times
BASKETBALL / BJ-LEAGUE NOTEBOOK
Dec 28, 2012

Experienced heads put Cinq Reves in playoff contention

The Tokyo Cinq Reves have taken their fair share of bumps and bruises during their inaugural season, but coach Motofumi Aoki is guiding the team in the right direction.
CULTURE / Music / STRANGE BOUTIQUE
Dec 27, 2012

Pop embraced conservatism in 2012

The 2012 general election might not seem to have any bearing on the state of pop music in Japan, but there was an eerie similarity in the way both the electorate and the pop world turned back the clock and wrapped conservatism in a neurotic embrace.
JAPAN / ANALYSIS
Dec 27, 2012

Nationalism takes back seat to the economy

The lineup of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's Cabinet seems to underline his determination to learn from his mistakes.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Dec 27, 2012

"Ikko Narahara: The Sky in my Hands"

Ikko Narahara first shot to fame in 1956, with "Human Land" — a photographic documentation of expeditions to the deserted Gunkanjima (Battleship Island) in Nagasaki Prefecture, and the lava-ravaged Sakura Island in Kagoshima Prefecture. On those islands, Narahara isolated himself from society, so that...
JAPAN
Dec 27, 2012

Abe ready for 'fresh' restart as Cabinet is sworn in

Shinzo Abe, president of the Liberal Democratic Party, became Japan's seventh prime minister in six years Wednesday, replacing Yoshihiko Noda of the Democratic Party of Japan.
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital / TECH_JAPAN
Dec 26, 2012

2012 in tech — and what it means for the year ahead

In the world of technology, the past year has seen a changing of the guard in almost every sector. Personal computers, mobile devices, gaming and Internet services have all seen incredible developments, with new challengers taking the place of old incumbents. As we move into the new year, we'll meet...
COMMENTARY
Dec 26, 2012

Abe's ascent provides China with a chance to improve ties

Shinzo Abe, widely viewed as a rightwing nationalist, assumes office Wednesday as prime minister of Japan, the seventh time the country's leadership has changed hands in six years and his second turn at the helm since 2007.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Dec 26, 2012

BOJ's ¥23 trillion JGB spree sees record gains

Japanese government bonds are headed for the longest run of annual gains on record, buoyed by central bank purchases almost equivalent to Malaysia's economic output.
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design / ON: DESIGN
Dec 25, 2012

Stuck on a Good Design Award winner

The Good Design Award winners were announced last month and there are plenty of great ideas to take in — make sure to check out the GDA website to browse through all of the new ideas.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WORDS TO LIVE BY
Dec 25, 2012

Benshi Midori Sawato

Midori Sawato is a benshi, a unique kind of performer who provides live narration to silent films at the movie theater. The benshi brings the characters in films alive using different voices and vocal expressions. They sit to the side of the screen, watching the movie with the audience and using their...
Japan Times
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Dec 25, 2012

LDP returns with all its old baggage

They're baaaack. After warming the opposition bench for more than three years, the Liberal Democratic Party has returned to power, hungrier and more eager than ever to rule.
Japan Times
BASKETBALL
Dec 24, 2012

Big Bulls give coach Oketani happy birthday

Before his 35th birthday, Iwate Big Bulls coach Dai Oketani had already guided his former club, the Ryukyu Golden Kings, to a pair of bj-league championships.
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Dec 24, 2012

Switching to mama mode is not easy for today's gals

Bad news on the kekkon sensen (結婚戦線, marriage front) — hardly anyone's doing it. According to a government survey, more than 60 percent of single men and close to 50 percent of single women are not in relationships, nor are they particularly interested in dating. At this rate, Japan's already...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books / THE YEAR IN BOOKS
Dec 23, 2012

Alternative histories about JFK

The 50th anniversary of the assassination of U.S. President John F. Kennedy next November is expected to see a flood of new works on that topic. Two alternative history novels have already appeared on this theme. In Stephen King's "11/22/63: A Novel" (Scribner), Maine high school teacher Jake Epping...

Longform

A sinkhole in Yashio, which emerged in January, was triggered by a ruptured, aging sewer pipe. Authorities worry that similar sections of infrastructure across the country are also at risk of corrosion.
That sinking feeling: Japan’s aging sewers are an infrastructure time bomb