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May 04, 2025
 

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COMMENTARY / World
Oct 24, 2004

Credit some viewers for trying to think

CHIANG MAI, Thailand -- As one of the millions of television viewers glued to his screen trying to keep pace with the overwhelming flow of international news, I often find myself pondering the pluses and minuses of present-day advances in computers, electronics and information technology. The other day...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Oct 10, 2004

The Ordinary Boys

It may be that there really are no frontiers left in pop any more; that we are doomed to recycle the past forever. On the title cut of "Over the Counter Culture," the debut album from Brighton's The Ordinary Boys, lead vocalist Preston brays, "Let's see, what can we be now/That hasn't been done before?"...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Sep 26, 2004

Short and deep: Matsuo Basho's parallels of poetry

BASHO'S HAIKU: Selected Poems of Matsuo Basho, translated and with an Introduction by David Landis Barnhill. Albany: State University of New York Press, 232 pp., $23.95 (paper). Matsuo Basho (1644-1694) raised the haiku from a transient pastime to an enduring literary genre. He was among the first to...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Sep 12, 2004

Exploring a cautionary tale

MINAMATA DISEASE, by Masazumi Harada (1971), translated by Sachie Tsushima and Timothy S. George, edited by Timothy S. George. Kumamoto Nichinichi Shinbun Culture & Information Center, 2004, 215 pp., 2,500 yen (cloth). Across Japan and throughout much of the world, the name Minamata is synonymous with...
JAPAN
Aug 19, 2004

Book puts war-contingency legislation to pictures

Adam Goodwin claimed it was purely by chance that he came across the Web site of a Japanese citizens' group publishing a picture booklet on Japan's war-contingency legislation and its perceived significance.
COMMENTARY
Aug 7, 2004

Creating a more caring China

HONG KONG -- China under President Jiang Zemin and Premier Zhu Rongji astounded the world with its economic growth, reflected by a substantial increase in gross domestic product year after year. Yet the current leadership of President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao are making it clear that they have...
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Jul 23, 2004

Do the Dogashima

Less than an hour by shinkansen from Tokyo, touristy Atami is no one's idea of a quiet little getaway. From there down to the tip, Shimoda -- of Black Ship Festival fame -- this eastern side of the Izu Peninsula is the busy, developed one. This is where you go to check out such cultural hot spots as...
COMMENTARY
Jul 17, 2004

A tale of two occupations

HONG KONG -- History did not repeat itself in Iraq as the Americans naively expected. While it has become obvious that U.S. intelligence reports and analysis were deficient in the runup to the war, less attention has been paid to the fact that the United States occupied Iraq imbued with a dubious historical...
Japan Times
LIFE
Jul 11, 2004

Believe it ... or not

Japan's vast hoard of war booty known as Yamashita's Gold was long thought to be buried in caves in the Philippines. But in their book 'Gold Warriors,' Sterling and Peggy Seagrave sensationally claim that the treasure trove was secretly recovered -- and continues to oil the wheels of politics in Japan...
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Jul 8, 2004

Voles suggest key to male monogamy

Everyone knows someone who is a compulsive womanizer; a man who simply can't remain faithful to one woman.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jul 7, 2004

When life gives you lemons, make an underground comic

American Splendor Rating: * * * * (out of 5) Director: Shari Springer Berman, Robert Pulcini Running time: 101 minutes Language: English Opens July 10 [See Japan Times movie listings] Religion may be the opiate of the masses, but surely comic books are the opiate of the misfits. Walk...
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM NEW YORK
Jun 28, 2004

Japanese poetry loses a gentleman-scholar

NEW YORK -- Princeton professor Earl Miner, who died in April at age 77, was the one gentleman-scholar I had the honor of knowing.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / THE SECOND ROOM
Jun 23, 2004

Japan crowd overwhelms Jiga + Jinno; New releases spark summer's fire

Weeks of wonder culminated in a long moment of uncertainty when Jiga + Jinno of Analog Pussy took the stage back on April 9 at Cube326.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
May 16, 2004

Spring, summer, fall and winter haiku

HAIKU: A POET'S GUIDE by Lee Gurga, Illinois: Modern Haiku Press, 2003, 170 pp., $20 (paper). HAIKU: The Poetic Key to Japan, selected & introduced by Mutsuo Takahashi, photographs by Hakudo Inoue, design by Kazuya Takaoka, translated by Emiko Miyashita & Lee Gurga. Tokyo: P.I.E., 2003, 400 pp....
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
May 9, 2004

Terrorism in its most serious form

WAR AND STATE TERRORISM: The U.S., Japan and the Asia-Pacific in the Long Twentieth Century, edited by Mark Selden and Alvin Y. So. Rowman & Littlefield, 2004, 293 pp., £22.95 (paper). This provocative examination of state terrorism asks readers to reconsider their assumptions about who are the "bad...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Apr 21, 2004

A balancing act of inspiration

"Othello" director Gregory Doran, 45, has been hailed by London critics as "the redeemer of the RSC." He joined the company in 1987 as an actor, but soon turned to directing and often works in collaboration with his partner, Antony Sher. Last year he received Britain's top theater honor, an Olivier...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Apr 14, 2004

Interpreter's notes

Lost in Translation Rating: * * * * (out of 5) Director: Sofia Coppola Running time: 102 minutes Language: English, Japanese Opens April 17 at Cinema Rise [See Japan Times movie listings] The dialogue of "Lost in Translation" never sizzles, never gets out of line, doesn't really reveal...
CULTURE / Books / THE BOOK REPORT
Apr 1, 2004

Losers, winners in contemporary Japan

Bridget Jones in London, Ally McBeal in Boston, Carrie and her friends in New York City. Now Sakai Junko has published a best-selling volume of essays on singletons in Tokyo over the age of 30, like herself, whom she calls -- in a mix of ruefulness and pride -- makeinu (losers). In "Makeinu no toboe"...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / THE SECOND ROOM
Mar 25, 2004

System rebooted: 2004 is about to get cool

By the looks of things, I'm not the only one who's been a little busy this winter.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 13, 2004

Iraqi sovereignty remains a distant goal

SEOUL -- Let's start with the obvious but often overlooked topic of what isn't taking place in Iraq today. Commentary to the contrary, sovereignty is not being handed back to Iraqis on June 30; it isn't even on the table.
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM MOSCOW
Mar 6, 2004

Sun sets on Russian democrac

MOSCOW -- Relapses are always regrettable, particularly when the gains lost had been won at such a high cost.
Japan Times
LIFE / Language
Feb 12, 2004

English: black and white and read all over

"What does 'abortion' mean? It's not a word we often find in textbooks, is it?" Hideharu Tajima, a teacher at Shakujii High School in Tokyo's Nerima Ward, asked students in his English-language class.
JAPAN
Feb 11, 2004

Japan leads world in X-ray exposure-related cancer cases: study

About 7,587 people contract cancer each year in Japan due to diagnostic X-ray exposure, according to an estimate by researchers at the University of Oxford.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Jan 25, 2004

Japan's culture dictates: Thou shalt eat meat

On Jan. 15, the animal rights organization, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, announced that CBS had refused to accept a 30-second TV spot from the group for the network's Feb. 1 Super Bowl broadcast. CBS explained that its policy is not to accept "advocacy advertisements." PETA, which would...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Dec 31, 2003

A river of creativity runs through it

Art is breaking out all over Kamiyama in Tokushima Prefecture. Mysterious arrangements of rocks are appearing in the verdant hills of this northeastern Shikoku town. Small wooden huts -- equipped with artistic stamps and ink pads for visitors to document their passage -- are dotted about the town. An...
COMMENTARY
Nov 28, 2003

No resting on laurels in Asia

SEOUL -- This is a remarkable moment in international relations. Despite a nuclear crisis on the Korean Peninsula, there are no doubts about the U.S. commitment to East Asia. Despite widespread criticism of U.S. policy, Washington currently enjoys "the best relations ever" with both Japan and China....
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Nov 26, 2003

Everything you needed to know about 'Hamlet'

What is it about "Hamlet," Shakespeare's most famous drama, that obsesses Yukio Ninagawa, Japanese theater's global standard-bearer? The innovative director has already staged the play four times -- and his fifth take on the tragedy of the Prince of Denmark opened last week at the Bunkamura Theater Cocoon...
Britain responds after Expo 2025 afternoon tea brews outrage
The café space at the Osaka Expo's British pavilion
Woman says archbishop of Tokyo ignored her pleas after priest allegedly raped her
In a news conference in Tokyo on Friday, Tokie Tanaka, 64, details her allegations of sexual abuse against a Catholic priest.
Israel protests after Kyoto inn seeks war crime declaration from tourist
A street in Kyoto in March 2023. An Israeli tourist was asked to sign a document stating that he had not committed war crimes when he checked in at a Kyoto guesthouse in April, prompting a response from Israel's ambassador.
Second round of U.S.-Japan tariff talks ends inconclusively in Washington
U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick (far left), U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent (left) and Ryosei Akazawa, Japan's chief tariff negotiator. The second round of tariff negotiations between Japan and the United States were held on Thursday in Washington.
Inflation and high hotel prices curtail Golden Week travels
Travelers in front of a flight information panel in a departure hall at Haneda Airport in Tokyo on April 26
'Ukiyo-e in Play' showcases traditional art carved anew
The Adachi Institute has been working on creating brand new ukiyo-e prints in collaboration with contemporary artists such as Yayoi Kusama, whose “Mt. Fuji in Seven Colours: When life boundlessly flares up to the universe” (2014) can be seen on display at “Ukiyo-e in Play.”
Want to see the future at Expo Osaka? Get in line.
“‘Future of life,’ by Ishiguro,” the World Expo pavilion by roboticist Hiroshi Ishiguro, displays humanlike androids.
Ishiba hears advice from across the aisle on how Japan should handle Trump
Prime Minister Shigaru Ishiba and CDP head Yoshihiko Noda at a parliamentary session in Tokyo on April 23.
Don't send in the clones: AI event nixed as Alt accounts get reality check
A screenshot from the website for Alt's AI conference, which was canceled after the company disclosed an investigation into its sales figures.
CDP submits bill proposal on separate surnames, but challenges remain
Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan lawmakers speak to reporters in parliament on Wednesday after submitting a bill in the Lower House to allow married couples to retain different surnames.

Podcast

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.
Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Longform

A small shrine perched atop rocks braves the waves hitting the shoreline during a storm in Shimoda, Shizuoka Prefecture. The area is under threat of a possible 31-meter-high tsunami if an earthquake strikes the nearby Nankai Trough.
If the 'Big One' hits, this city could face a 31-meter-high tsunami
By Alex K.T. Martin

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