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Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Aug 6, 2010

'Kinako — Minarai Keisatsuken no Monogatari (Kinako — The Story of an Apprentice Police Dog)'

Animal movies are a thriving genre of Japanese films that foreign critics, scholars and viewers by and large cordially detest. It's similar to the typical gaijin reaction to natto (fermented soy beans) — i.e., disgust at a humble, but beloved, made-in-Japan specialty.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Aug 6, 2010

'No One Knows About Persian Cats'

Persian cats may be the next cool thing, but don't be misled: We're not talking about the feline kind.
JAPAN
Aug 5, 2010

'Enryo' video, 'A to Z' Web site win my Japan contest

What if there's only one piece of fried chicken on a plate?
Japan Times
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Aug 3, 2010

Ubiquitous Tokyo subways moving the daily masses

With nearly 300 stations, Tokyo has one of the world's busiest and most sprawling subway networks at work today — not to mention globally notorious rush hours.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 2, 2010

Unleashing Indians' dynamism in the shift from state capitalism

NEW DELHI — Nowadays, economists are assailed by irresolute thoughts: What, for example, is the right term to apply to current global economic conditions? Is it "depression," "recession" or "recovery"?
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / CLOSE-UP
Aug 1, 2010

Lee Ufan: Korean at the forefront of Japan's modern art

For the last several years, Benesse Art Site on the island of Naoshima in the Seto Inland Sea has featured prominently in rankings of Japan's best tourist destinations.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Jul 31, 2010

Ogijima, man-tree island of art

One of the greatest opportunities to visit the Seto Inland Sea is from now through Oct. 31. During this time, the Setouchi International Art Festival beckons you to discover up to six islands in Kagawa Prefecture and one in Okayama Prefecture.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jul 30, 2010

'Salt'

Never has an actress looked so good in a tank top under a sleek black pants suit — with the exception of maybe Uma Thurman, Angelina Jolie proves she has the Hollywood femme action market cornered, and she even does a lot of her own stunts.
SOCCER / SOCCER SCENE
Jul 29, 2010

Steady Japan works balancing act

With co-hosting in 2002 still fresh in the memory, Japan's bid to stage the World Cup for a second time in 2022 was always going to be a hard sell.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 28, 2010

Safeguarding financial stability

NEW HAVEN, Conn. — Central bankers around the world failed to see the current financial crisis coming before its beginnings in 2007. Martin Cihak of the International Monetary Fund reported in July 2007 that, of 47 central banks found to publish financial stability reports (FSRs), "virtually all" gave...
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 28, 2010

Pedal faster, not slower

LONDON — Memo to Naoto Kan, David Cameron, Nicolas Sarkozy, Angela Merkel, Barack Obama, and Hu Jintao and Manmohan Singh: Running an economy is like riding a bicycle — if you maintain a good speed, you can make progress; but if you reduce your speed, there is always the danger of losing your balance,...
COMMUNITY / ZEIT GIST: UPDATE
Jul 27, 2010

Talks drag on, teachers fired in Berlitz case

After 20 months of legal wrangling, neither side has managed to snag a win in Berlitz Japan's ¥110 million lawsuit against five teachers and their union, Begunto.
BUSINESS / YEN FOR LIVING
Jul 26, 2010

Eel economics: Why unagi is so popular (and expensive)

On the 'hot day of the ox' Japanese traditionally eat eel, and often pay a lot of money to do so. Why eel? Glad you asked.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Jul 25, 2010

On the hunt for snakes and dragons in Chinatown

Two years back I reviewed "Year of the Dog," about the exploits of detective Jack Yu, the creation of Chinese-American author Henry Chang, who portrayed New York's Chinatown as a frightfully sordid place. Yu, besides being forced to endure the slings and arrows of a race- baiting police department, suffered...
JAPAN
Jul 24, 2010

Reformist bar head works to raise way lawyers serve

Lawyer Kenji Utsunomiya has spent his career helping debtors overcome the burden of multiple loans, while pushing for legislation to reduce their numbers. An advocate for the underemployed, in 2008 he served as the honorary mayor of a makeshift "village" set up in Tokyo's Hibiya Park sheltering idled...
BUSINESS / YEN FOR LIVING
Jul 23, 2010

Post office attempts to reverse non-regular employment trend

Japan Post bucks the trend toward non-regular employees by offering its workers a shot at regular employment.
Japan Times
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Jul 23, 2010

Interactive exhibit presents art from a child's perspective

Ever wondered what goes through a baby's mind? Five groups of innovative artists take a guess with "Garden for Children," an interactive exhibit to be displayed at the Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo, starting this weekend.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jul 23, 2010

When science meets art, it gets confusing

In 1959, British physicist and novelist C.P. Snow delivered an influential lecture titled "The Two Cultures," in which he claimed the divide between the sciences and the humanities was to the detriment of finding solutions to world problems. The Second Law of Thermodynamics was to science what Shakespeare...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art / ART BRIEF
Jul 23, 2010

'Robert Waters: MAN'

Mizuma Art Gallery — Mizuma Action
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink
Jul 23, 2010

Events spur on a new generation of sake drinkers

At 5:30 p.m. on a recent Saturday evening, the line of people at the entrance to the Smile Nihonshu sake event was six deep. Inside the bar, groups of young people in their 20s and 30s clinked glasses and nodded along to a bouncy rendition of Bob Marley's "Buffalo Soldier" under a green-lit disco ball....
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WORDS TO LIVE BY
Jul 22, 2010

Pharmacist Masaaki Goto

Masaaki Goto, 83, runs a tiny pharmacy in Tokyo. Japan has the highest number of prescriptions per capita in the world and, after the United States, it is the world's second largest pharmaceutical market. There are about 50,000 community pharmacies in the country, and large drug stores and convenience...
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / Japan Pulse
Jul 21, 2010

Passion for 'garage kit' models mounts at Wonder Festival

Attention to detail reaches new heights at the annual Wonder Festival showcase of amateur-made figurines.
COMMENTARY
Jul 20, 2010

Student-teacher relationship sliding in India

CHENNAI, India — The suicide of a 13-year-old schoolboy suggests there is something grossly wrong with a society and its education system. Rouvanjit Rawla, a student of class 8 at one of India's most prestigious schools, La Martiniere, in Kolkata, killed himself after the principal caned him. The tragedy...
COMMUNITY / Voices / HOTLINE TO NAGATACHO
Jul 20, 2010

A decade of harassment by Tokyo police

Dear Minister of Justice Keiko Chiba,
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Jul 20, 2010

Immigration procedures face huge shakeup

As of July 1, there are big changes afoot for the laws governing foreign residency in Japan. Not since 1990, when the categories of residence increased from 18 to 27, has the Ministry of Justice's Immigration Bureau undergone such a wholesale reordering of its operations.

Longform

In 2020, 38% of all households were single-person. That figure is projected to rise to 44.3% by 2050.
The rise of AI companionship in a lonely Japan