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Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / BACKSTREET STORIES
Sep 19, 2008

Daimyos and deluge around the Kanda River

Most major stretches of greenery in Tokyo are tax-trimmed remainders of massive estates once owned by Edo Period (1603-1867) feudal lords, or daimyo. So, in the wake of this summer's torrential rain and dodging some early autumn typhoons, I set out to find a daimyo domain or two.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Sep 18, 2008

Hitting skins to find sound's color

'It is amazing that I have participated in 12 out of the 31 performances of the 'Nihon no Taiko' program that started at the National Theater of Japan in 1977," says the drummer Eitetsu Hayashi, who helped start the wadaiko (Japanese drums used in festivals) boom that has lead to the formation of more...
COMMENTARY
Sep 17, 2008

Hope overwhelms reality on U.S.-India nuclear deal

The controversy that has dogged the vaunted U.S.-Indian civil nuclear deal is unlikely to dissipate anytime soon despite the recent rule change by the Nuclear Suppliers' Group. Deep-seated partisan rancor in India over the deal and the still-needed U.S. congressional ratification will ensure that. But...
CULTURE / Music
Sep 12, 2008

Weezer "Weezer" (Universal International)

After 2005's awful "Make Believe," Weezer's sixth album was meant to reaffirm their greatness. But you can forget that, as what fans have dubbed "The Red Album" (because of the color of its sleeve) is the unforgiving sound of an echo rattling through the empty shell of a band you once loved.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Sep 9, 2008

Tackling the 'Zainichi' experience

Sitting across from best-selling New York author Min Jin Lee in a Tokyo expat cafe, I can't help thinking that the heroine of her debut novel "Free Food For Millionaires" is the one sipping ice tea and talking sex. Like Lee, protagonist Casey Han is unusually tall, refined in speech, and deeply interested...
JAPAN
Sep 9, 2008

Japanese and Chinese differ on diplomatic ties

More than 80 percent of Chinese are optimistic about future ties with Japan, while only 32 percent of Japanese feel likewise, a bilateral survey released Monday shows.
Reader Mail
Sep 7, 2008

Real barriers to foreign nurses

The Sentaku magazine article published in The Japan Times on Sept. 1, "Japanese nurses blocking skilled help from overseas," appears to give a very one-sided view. While the Japan Nursing Association may have objections to the introduction of foreign nurses, job protection does not seem to be the reason....
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 4, 2008

WHO's sick manifesto for global recession

LONDON — The World Health Organization claimed this week that "social injustice is killing people on a grand scale." Its major report on the "Social Determinants of Health" concludes that social and economic inequality is a major global cause of disease and that only massive government intervention...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Sep 4, 2008

German opera director Konwitschny stages 'Eugene Onegin' in Tokyo

With Tokyo Nikikai Opera Theatre, German director Peter Konwitschny will stage "Eugene Onegin" in Tokyo from Sept. 12 to 15.
BUSINESS
Sep 3, 2008

METI plans to raise ¥100 billion from Middle East SWFs

Japan plans to raise as much as ¥100 billion from sovereign wealth funds in oil-producing nations to boost foreign investment that is less than a quarter that of the United States.
COMMENTARY / World / SENTAKU MAGAZINE
Sep 1, 2008

Japanese nurses blocking skilled help from overseas

The Japanese Nursing Association is doing more harm than good to the nation's health care as it steadfastly puts up barriers to nurses and care workers from other countries wishing to work in Japan. What's worse, the association is supported by the health ministry.
CULTURE / Books
Aug 31, 2008

Spain to China: Letters of a lasting friendship

AUSTIN COATES: Souvenirs and Letters, by Ramon Rodamilans. London: Athena Press, 2007, 140 pp, £5.99 (paper) The Spanish author of this memoir recognizes early on just how much his subject, the British writer and historian Austin Coates (1922-97), like Coates' Vietnamese companion, "came from south-east...
JAPAN
Aug 26, 2008

Commission to lay foundation for NPT review

The world faces a pressing need to monitor civilian use of nuclear technology and maintain strong discipline in the face of weapons proliferation, former Foreign Minister Yoriko Kawaguchi said Monday in Tokyo.
COMMUNITY
Aug 26, 2008

Appropriate that 'G-word'

Following is another reader's response to Debito Arudou's last "Just Be Cause" column ( www.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/fl20080805ad.html ) on the use of the word "gaijin."
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Aug 24, 2008

'Nation of copycats' maligns Japan's fine science and technology

One of the most commonly discussed issues of national character in Japan revolves around the question of personal creativity. Put simply, it is this: Are the Japanese lacking in the DNA of originality?
EDITORIALS
Aug 24, 2008

Epidemic of anxiety

Japanese are more worried than ever, according to a Cabinet Office survey released recently. More than 70 percent of Japanese — the highest percentage ever — say they are worried about their everyday lives and the future. Nearly two-thirds of people said their standard of living went unchanged in...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Aug 23, 2008

Communicating through the unsaid

Sculptor Gakushi Yamamoto arrives looking as if he tumbled out of bed — or rather rolled off his futon and into the nearest shirt and pair of jeans that came to hand. And that may be so, considering he has had to travel two hours to meet up in Moto-Azabu for 10 a.m.
CULTURE / Music
Aug 22, 2008

Champion 'turntablist' Kentaro gets mixed up

It's been a busy few years since DJ Kentaro won the 2002 DMC World DJ Championship and became the first Japanese to bring back the prize — a golden pair of Technics record decks (the turntable of choice in clubs around the world) — to the land where they were made.
Reader Mail
Aug 21, 2008

Natural way to divide the world

In his Aug. 5 article "Once a 'gaijin,' always a 'gaijin,' " Debito Arudou claims that the word "gaijin" is essentially the same as "n--ger" and should be made obsolete. He adds that the word gaijin lacks the meaning of "extra-national." I found this explanation absurd.
BUSINESS
Aug 20, 2008

Trial drilling for frozen gas to start in '12

The government plans to start trial drilling in 2012 to extract frozen methane hydrate buried under the seabed to test if the natural gas is a viable next-generation fuel.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Aug 19, 2008

Readers respond: Once a 'gaijin,' always a 'gaijin'?

The Community Page received a large number of responses to Debito Arudou's last Just Be Cause column on the use of the word "gaijin." Following is a selection of readers' views.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Aug 17, 2008

Indonesians put to the test on the job in Japan

When the first group of potential nurses and caregivers arrived from Indonesia on Aug. 7 as part of a new economic partnership agreement (EPA) with Japan, the numbers were confusing. According to the agreement, Japan would accept 500 workers in the first year and facilities throughout Japan said they...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Aug 17, 2008

'One scene/one shot,' one director

KENJI MIZOGUCHI and the Art of Japanese Cinema by Tadao Sato, translated by Brij Tankha, edited by Aruna Vasudev and Latika Padgaonkar. Oxford: Berg Books, 2008, 196 pp., with 35 photographs, £17.99 (paper) This is the English translation of Tadao Sato's defining study of the director, originally published...

Longform

Mount Fuji is considered one of Japan's most iconic symbols and is a major draw for tourists. It's still a mountain, though, and potential hikers need to properly prepare for any climb.
What it takes to save lives on Mount Fuji