Search - about-us

 
 
EDITORIALS
Jul 19, 2001

Kashmir claims two more victims

Hopes for a breakthrough in South Asia were dashed this week, when the summit between Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee and Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf broke off without an agreement. A peace accord was always beyond reach. But there were signs during the three-day meeting that the...
SPORTS / SPORTS SCOPE
Jul 19, 2001

Midsummer notes and anecdotes

It was refreshing to see Japan's Shigeki Maruyama notch his first PGA Tour victory last Sunday at the Greater Milwaukee Open. Maruyama, one of the most charismatic and likable of any of the nation's professional athletes who play overseas, put an end to a miserable streak by Japanese golfers on the U.S....
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Jul 19, 2001

Fight club: eavesdropping and animal conflict

As any schoolkid in the playground can tell you, fights don't just involve those trading blows, but those watching too. Like spies, these bystanders observe, obtaining useful information about the individuals in the fight that they may be able to use to their advantage in future aggressive situations....
EDITORIALS
Jul 18, 2001

A bull's-eye over the Pacific

U.S. plans to develop a missile defense system got a boost last weekend with the successful test of an interceptor over the Pacific Ocean. The challenge of "hitting a bullet with a bullet" was met, and while substantial technological obstacles remain, the test results will embolden proponents of MD....
CULTURE / Film
Jul 18, 2001

In praise of older actresses

Gossip Rating: * * * Director: Colin Nutley Running time: 135 minutes Language: SwedishOpens July 28 It's pretty hard to carry on as a woman in this world, but Swedish film "Gossip" tells you it's tougher for actresses. Especially when they are no longer young and must scheme and fight for love,...
CULTURE / Film
Jul 18, 2001

Ms. Tokyo takes a trip to reality

Koko ni Iru Koto Rating: * * * 1/2 Director: Masahiko Nagasawa Running time: 115 minutes Language: JapaneseNow showing The TV trendy drama was a bubble-era phenomenon, with its stories about the love troubles of beautiful young singles working at glamorous "katakana jobs" (such as "event planner"...
CULTURE / Film
Jul 18, 2001

A love affair with languor

a la verticale de l'ete Japanese title: Geshi Rating: * * * * Director: Tran Anh Hung Running time: 112 minutes Language: VietnameseNow showing Tran Anh Hung is a director who effortlessly defies categorization. While his films -- "The Scent of Green Papaya" and "Cyclo" -- are invariably described...
CULTURE / Film
Jul 18, 2001

Lesbian & Gay film fest fetes anniversary

Celebrating its 10th anniversary, the Tokyo International Lesbian and Gay Film Festival kicks off today and runs until July 22 at Aoyama's Spiral Hall.
CULTURE / Art
Jul 18, 2001

Spotlight thrown on a killing trade

At the United Nations headquarters in New York, a July 9-20 conference is examining "The Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons in All Its Aspects." Meanwhile, at the UN Gallery in Tokyo's trendy Omotesando, an exhibition reflecting the grim realities of that subject is running until Aug. 31....
CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES
Jul 18, 2001

Edith Frost: 'Wonder Wonder'

As an artistic reference point, the music of Will Oldham -- he of the deathly pale complexion, tubercular Appalachian croak and sex-unto-death lyrics -- might teach you something valuable about mood and atmosphere, but you'd have to be crazy to copy his execution. Even Oldham himself has managed a few...
CULTURE / Art
Jul 18, 2001

Brushes with the divine

Karma works in mysterious ways.
CULTURE / Art
Jul 18, 2001

Painting all the layers of knowledge and color in the Buddhist universe

'There is no room for originality in thangka painting," says Yumyo Miyasaka. "The iconography, the colors, even the way you hold the brush -- everything must be done just so." Self-expression is not the goal here; the pictures are an aid, a tool for meditation. The self is what you are trying to lose....
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 18, 2001

Nation better off if Kawashima remains

I am probably the only person in Japan who will say this at the moment, and I suppose that what I am going to say will fall on deaf ears. But I will say it anyway: Administrative Vice Minister for Foreign Affairs Yutaka Kawashima should not be removed from his post. If he is, the sacking is sure to be...
CULTURE / Art
Jul 18, 2001

Nature not nurture links Japan and Art Nouveau

Anyone writing about Art Nouveau here in Japan is expected to deferentially mention the strong Japanese influences on this late 19th-century art and design movement. Indeed, the exhibition now at Shibuya's Bunkamura of furniture and glassware from the important French Art Nouveau center of Nancy goes...
CULTURE / Music / J-POPSICLE
Jul 18, 2001

Taking the F-beat pulse

A favorite expedient of music-writer types is to write about a given city's "sound," lumping all the music that comes out of the city under one neat, convenient heading. We then explain what constitutes that sound and why it is The Next Big Thing, in an effort to establish ourselves as arbiters of what's...
EDITORIALS
Jul 17, 2001

An Olympic win for China

China exploded in celebrations last Friday night when the International Olympic Committee awarded Beijing the right to host the 2008 Games. The rest of the world's reaction was more reserved. While millions of Chinese rejoiced, human rights advocates voiced concern that the Games would be used to put...
COMMENTARY
Jul 17, 2001

Political parties prepare for judgment day

Political parties in Japan are in the midst of a campaign to lure voters in the July 29 Upper House contest. The election, officially called last Thursday, the first nationwide poll since Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's goverment was formed in late April, will be the first chance for the nation to...
SOCCER / J. League / ON THE BALL
Jul 17, 2001

Cohosting requires harmonious effort

"Cohosting is like a three-legged race," Lee Yun Taek, co-chairman of the South Korean World Cup Organizing Committee said last month at the Korea-Japan soccer journalists seminar in Seoul.
COMMENTARY
Jul 17, 2001

In search of a new slogan

"Are you an American?""Yes!""What did you think about last night's decision on the Olympics?"
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 16, 2001

A bitter lesson awaits Bush in Genoa

WASHINGTON — The G8 summit beginning July 20 in Genoa, Italy — U.S. President George W. Bush's first such meeting with the leaders of the eight principal industrial nations — is shaping up as another galling reality lesson for the new American administration, a reminder of the frustrations of global...
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 16, 2001

Can Japan's 'pied piper' pull it off?

In July 2001, two very different people offer hope to the people of Japan. One is baseball player Ichiro Suzuki, the star of the Seattle Mariners. His cool looks and great hits suggest the possibilities of the sporting dream across the sea. The other is Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, with his wavy...
COMMENTARY
Jul 16, 2001

Just concerns over jurisdiction

LONDON -- In the light of the recent rape case in Okinawa, I have some sympathy for the Japanese wish to extend further their rights to exercise full criminal jurisdiction in cases involving American forces in Japan. The American authorities need to understand the historical background to Japanese sensitivities...
COMMENTARY
Jul 16, 2001

Avoid temptation of populism

The July 29 Upper House election is effectively a national referendum on the "reform without sacred cows" program of Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's administration. The central question is whether "Koizumi reform" will jump-start Japan's stalled economy and put it back on the long-term recovery course....
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 15, 2001

Can China's private sector be co-opted?

CAMBRIDGE, England -- President Jiang Zemin of China, who is also general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party, made a remarkable speech last week to a handpicked audience of party faithful. The audience had been called to the Great Hall of the People to celebrate the 80th birthday party of the CCP....
COMMUNITY
Jul 15, 2001

A potter's journey

The late potter Michiaki Kaneshige said that even though he grew up in an ancient potting family, he never fully understood the value of Japanese culture until he left these shores.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Jul 15, 2001

Master of a dying art

In order to stay true to his art, James Wright prefers to keep a low profile; to blend in with his surroundings. But in his adopted Matsubushi, a rural town in Saitama Prefecture, the fair-haired, 180-cm Scot would seem to be fighting a losing battle. That he also works for the local butcher merely adds...
LIFE / Food & Drink / THE WAY OF WASHOKU
Jul 15, 2001

A journey back to old 'new Japanese cuisine'

This week I saw a program on television that showcased shin-washoku, or "new Japanese cuisine," as the latest restaurant trend. The show visited several eateries where the chef/owners had gone abroad, mostly to America, to work in Japanese restaurants and since come back to Japan with a new twist on...
CULTURE / Books
Jul 15, 2001

Controversial textbooks are big sellers for Fusosha

The latest best seller, oddly enough, is a junior high school history textbook. After going on sale on June 1, "Atarashii Rekishi Kyokasho" has been at or near the top of the best-seller list and the related social studies text "Atarashii Komin Kyokasho" in the top 10. Already 500,000 copies of the history...
CULTURE / Books
Jul 15, 2001

Dismantling stereotypes surrounding Japan's sacred entities

SHINTO IN HISTORY: Ways of the Kami, edited by John Breen and Mark Teeuwen. Richmond, Surrey, U.K.: Curzon Press, 1999, 368 pp., 45 British pounds (cloth); 15 pounds (paper). "Shinto in History: Ways of the Kami" is the first attempt in any Western language (and possibly even in Japanese) to offer...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Jul 15, 2001

Inking the moment

A sheet of white washi paper, a brush, an ink stone, a black ink stick and a good mood -- these are the ingredients for a work of shodo (calligraphy).

Longform

Bear attacks have dominated Japanese news headlines in recent months, with 13 people so far having been killed by the animals.
Japan’s bears have been on their killing spree for more than 100 years