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Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Mar 6, 2010

Authenticity is all for mountaineer

Within the majestic silence of a snow-covered mountain lies the hush of possibility. The dormant assurance of life; a mountain in winter signifies hope. Especially for Dan Junker, 47, who lives in a tiny village in the shadow of Mount Norikura.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 5, 2010

Japan's slow-motion crisis

If you listen to American, European or even Chinese leaders, Japan is the economic future no one wants. In selling massive stimulus packages and bank bailouts, Western leaders told their people, "We must do this or we will end up like Japan, mired in recession and deflation for a decade or more."
EDITORIALS
Mar 5, 2010

Passed budget a respite for DPJ

To the relief of the Hatoyama administration, the fiscal 2010 budget was passed by the Lower House on Tuesday. It was immediately sent to the Upper House, but it is certain to be executed from April 1, the first day of fiscal 2010. Under the Constitution, if the Upper House does not approve the budget...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Mar 5, 2010

A rogue on high

In real life, Ishikawa Goemon was the leader of a band of burglars in Kyoto who was caught in the summer of 1594 trying to kill Toyotomi Hideyoshi, the foremost politician of his day, and was duly executed at age 36 along with many members of his family and his gang.
Japan Times
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Mar 5, 2010

Renowned dramatist to bring Kafka to life

An international stage collaboration is on hand as renowned English dramatist Steven Berkoff directs a Japanese cast in his own adaptation of "The Metamorphosis," a novella by Czech author Franz Kafka.
JAPAN
Mar 3, 2010

DPJ-led bloc's vote passes 2010 budget

The Democratic Party of Japan-led coalition passed the fiscal 2010 budget in the Lower House on Tuesday evening, having survived relentless grilling from the opposition over a series of political funding scandals.
Japan Times
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Mar 2, 2010

All movies subject to rating, even cuts

Moviegoers in Japan may have noticed that either during the opening or ending credits of a feature film, a mark appears on the screen bearing two kanji enclosed in a circle.
COMMUNITY / Issues / JUST BE CAUSE
Mar 2, 2010

Sumo body deserves mawashi wedgie for racist wrestler ruling

I've noticed how highly Japan regards sports. We love investing taxes in games and facilities, hosting international events and Olympics. Sports are even part of a government ministry, the one in charge of Japan's science, education and culture.
CULTURE / Books
Feb 28, 2010

Seoul brothers take to the streets

Can the term "historical mystery" be applied to works set in the early 1970s? Perhaps not. But Martin Limon's series, now up to six volumes, reliably and compellingly captures the lives and times of George Sueno and Ernie Bascomb, sergeants assigned to the Criminal Investigation Division of the U.S....
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Feb 26, 2010

'Ningen Shikkaku'/'Saru Lock the Movie'

Based on Osamu Dazai's most famous novel, Genjiro Arato's "Ningen Shikkaku" ("The Fallen Angel") is a characteristic gamble for the veteran producer/ director, known for rushing in where others fear to tread.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Feb 26, 2010

This acting lark is elementary for Downey Jr.

HOLLYWOOD — When one beholds the billboards touting the first movie in the new "Sherlock Holmes" franchise, one sees the slim, natty, Anglo-looking Jude Law and imagines he is Holmes and that the less buff, older and somewhat rumpled Robert Downey Jr. is his Dr. Watson. Wrong, of course, and despite...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Feb 26, 2010

One of a kind

Theater programs the world over list the writer, director, cast members, designers, lighting specialists and such in their credits. Lately in Japan, though, a new role has begun to appear in among those credits — that of "dramaturge."
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art / ART BRIEF
Feb 26, 2010

Hirazaki Eiho 130th Anniversary Exhibition

Yayoi Museum Closes on March 28
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital / IGADGET
Feb 24, 2010

Retro-looking dongle ups the sound; Sony slims down new Vaio

Back to the past: The word "retro" is inadequate to describe the appearance of the X-Tube AS301DTS. The USB dongle looks like a refugee from a museum. The gadget is intended to provide a decent impression of DTS surround sound on laptop computers. Using a VIA VT1610 chip set, the dongle plugs into a...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Feb 23, 2010

No one-size-fits-all for foreign suffrage

Support has been surprisingly muted for the Hatoyama administration's push toward suffrage for foreign permanent residents, even among the constituencies such a law would enfranchise. The debate is definitely a hot one, sparking a number of protests against the plan around Tokyo, with opposition logic...
CULTURE / Books
Feb 21, 2010

Truly unique version of the foreigner's tale

Like a Yemenese bride-to-be who first sees the countenance of her fiance in a photo presented by relatives, Rebecca Otowa experienced a presentiment of her future in a black-and-white image of a building, a 350-year-old farmhouse in rural Japan.
BASKETBALL / HOOP SCOOP
Feb 20, 2010

Proposed new league will have major obstacles to overcome

To accurately describe what's been going on for several years now in this nation's pro hoop scene, I submit the following analogy:
Japan Times
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Feb 19, 2010

Talk of New York, artist Chuma comes home

If mentions in The New York Times are taken as a measure of fame, then contemporary dancer/choreographer Yoshiko Chuma is running neck-and- neck with musician Ryuichi Sakamoto. Each has notched up around 500.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Feb 19, 2010

'Parade'

How much do we really know about anyone? This thought, the basis of many a paranoid delusion, is grounded in a human fact: We are all locked inside our own heads, communicating only a small fraction of our thoughts and feelings to others, when we are not actively misrepresenting them.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Feb 19, 2010

Tokyo Jihen "Sports"

Given that she writes the majority of the songs in both projects and works with many of the same musicians, it's bizarre that Shiina Ringo's finest moments come not in her solo work but with her band Tokyo Jihen. Last year's long-anticipated solo release "Sanmon Goshippu" ("Superficial Gossip") was a...
BUSINESS
Feb 18, 2010

Toyota boss: Throttle unit is not faulty

Toyota Motor Corp. President Akio Toyoda said Wednesday the automaker has confirmed its electronic throttle-control system is not defective, in a bid to ease mounting concerns in the United States that the system may have caused sudden acceleration incidents.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHO'S WHO
Feb 16, 2010

Instinct key for singer-entrepreneur

For a musician and entrepreneur with many professional faces, Australian Donna Burke is surprisingly wary of constantly taking work-related calls.
Japan Times
LIFE
Feb 14, 2010

Tiger of the snows

White flakes slip delicately down. Dusting the glow of graceful moss-clad forest relics rotting back into the ground, they illuminate the few giants still standing — majestic Japanese yew and lofty Korean pine. The ancient trees are silent; the only sound is from the hustle of our camouflaged legs...
CULTURE / Books
Feb 14, 2010

Strange bird Sanshiro

From Oct. 28, 1900, until Dec. 5, 1902, Natsume Soseki lived in Clapham, a district of South London. Ordered to England by the Meiji government, Soseki, without sufficient funds to study formally and with little else to do apart from the occasional cycle ride or part-time tutoring, spent most of this...
JAPAN
Feb 13, 2010

Girl works to empower poor kids

At age 16, Carmina Mancenon is a social entrepreneur. She is excitedly preparing to launch a project this summer in the hope of raising awareness of the poverty in Southeast Asia.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 13, 2010

Treason of the magistrates

PARIS — In democracies, justice is supposed to be independent. Some prosecutors and investigating magistrates, however, conveniently forget this. Indeed many among them are deeply enmeshed in politics, pursuing agendas — and vendettas — of their own.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Feb 13, 2010

Computer whiz turns 'strangeness' into asset

From his early days in Japan as a destitute student sleeping in train station stairwells to living in a 3-mat room that cost him ¥10,000 a month, Richard Northcott went on to head a mobile software company that now enjoys sales of $2 million a year.

Longform

Japan's growing ranks of centenarians are redefining what it means to live in a super-aging society.
What comes after 100?