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Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Aug 7, 2008

Making art out of Article 9

Perhaps there are two types of Japanese people: those who stay in Japan, and those who leave for foreign shores. Distance means the two rarely interact, and it's just as well, because the results can be fiery.
JAPAN
Aug 2, 2008

Fukuda reshuffles Cabinet, LDP leaders

To boost his acutely low popularity, Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda reshuffled his Cabinet and Liberal Democratic Party executives Friday, replacing 13 of his 17 ministers.
Japan Times
Features
Jul 13, 2008

Japan's culture policy lingers in limbo

It's a fact that has long puzzled devotees and plain old tourists alike. Japan's manga and anime arts have been wowing the world for more than a decade, and yet the national government still hasn't got around to setting up a proper museum for their enjoyment, preservation and study.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jul 11, 2008

Americans finally getting to taste high-quality ramen

Nearly four decades after the first instant ramen factory opened in the United States, Japan's beloved comfort food finally is making inroads — even achieving cult status — in a nation where burgers and pizza still rule.
COMMENTARY
Jul 10, 2008

Travails of a nuclear deal

In the twilight of George W. Bush's presidency, there is an unseemly rush in Washington and New Delhi to seal a contentious but far-from-complete civil nuclear deal, even as that issue has landed India in a political crisis.
JAPAN
Jul 6, 2008

Creation of low-carbon societies demands wholesale changes on national, global level

"In pursuit of Japan as a low-carbon society" was the theme of Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda's speech at the Japan Press Club on June 9. The following is an abridged excerpt from a translation of his remarks.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 5, 2008

Exorcising Musharraf's ghost

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — Following its recent free elections, Pakistan is rebounding politically. But the euphoria that came with the end of the Musharraf era is wearing off, as the new government faces stark choices.
Japan Times
Reference / Special Presentations / WITNESS TO WAR
Jul 2, 2008

Finding Papua war dead a vet's life

20th in a series
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 30, 2008

Get biotechnology on the agenda for Africa

Leaders at the Group of Eight industrialized nations' summit in Hokkaido next month need to take strong measures to promote cooperation in using biotechnology to address Africa's food challenges. At present there is resistance from Europe, and even Japan is dragging its feet on this vital issue.
CULTURE / Music
Jun 26, 2008

CSS put their crazy show back on the road

It is January, and squeezed away upstairs in their favorite sushi restaurant in downtown Sao Paulo are the six members of CSS plus a stray boyfriend. (Turns out he belongs to producer-cum-drummer Adriano Cintra, the only fella in the group.) After 18 months touring the world, they are back home in Brazil...
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / ON THE ROAD
Jun 8, 2008

In the land of pimped push bikes

It would be hard not to notice that Japan's streets are jammed with fixed-gear bikes. As reported here in December, these are simple, stripped-down bikes originally built for racing around velodromes; the single gear is locked to the back wheel, so the pedals keep turning when the bike is moving. But...
JAPAN / G8 COUNTDOWN
Jun 5, 2008

Aomori G8 talks face nuclear-energy nudge

OSAKA — With oil hovering at around $130 a barrel and pressure growing on the world's major greenhouse gas emitters to forge a new climate change treaty from 2012, global energy security and fast-tracking "clean and green" alternatives to fossil fuels are expected to dominate this weekend's Group of...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / CLOSE-UP
Jun 1, 2008

Arata Isozaki: Astonishing by design

If the entire Japanese architectural fraternity was one big royal family, then Arata Isozaki would be a king approaching the end of a long and glorious reign.
COMMENTARY / World
May 22, 2008

A first lady's diplomatic mission

A natural calamity is usually an occasion to set aside political differences and show compassion. But Burma, ruled by ultranationalistic but rapacious military elites distrustful of the sanctions-enforcing West, came under mounting international pressure to open up its cyclone-wracked areas to foreign...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
May 16, 2008

R&B queen Double adds jewel to crown

Staying at the top of the game after 10 years is no mean feat in Japan's fickle music business. As one of the first artists to bring American-style R&B to these shores, Double's achievements are doubly impressive. And now she's celebrating her first decade with an album of collaborations with Japanese...
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital / IGADGET
May 14, 2008

Chubby checker: the machine that measures your fat

Assessing the battle: Is the humble bathroom scale destined, like the manual typewriter, for the halls of obsolescence? Amid the fret over metabolic syndrome and other health issues, just measuring your weight, even down to the gram, doesn't get the job done anymore.
COMMENTARY
May 9, 2008

How to succeed in Burma with a practical approach

NEW DELHI — Such is the tragedy that Burma symbolizes that, in one week, it has been hit by new U.S. sanctions and by a tropical cyclone that left thousands dead.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / CLOSE-UP
May 4, 2008

Hideki Noda: Acting with joy in his soul

Even in today's theater world in Japan, which tends to venerate age, at just 52 Hideki Noda is already a towering, legendary figure.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
May 2, 2008

Sex, drugs and sitars

Blame Julian Cope.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
May 1, 2008

Halls of light in a city of horses

Something for everyone — that seems to be the motto for the new Towada Art Center in Aomori Prefecture. With cash in hand and a desire to see their town turn around, Towada has banked on art as a way to bring back vitality to an area that has lacked it of late.
JAPAN / ANALYSIS
Apr 29, 2008

By-election loss adds to Fukuda's troubles

The Liberal Democratic Party's defeat in the Lower House by-election in the Yamaguchi No. 2 district on Sunday is yet another blow to the already reeling Cabinet of Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / LIQUID CULTURE
Apr 25, 2008

Judgment by mojito-ability

Two of Tokyo's one-time landmarks reopened last month: one literally rising from the rubble, the other sporting a little cosmetic trim.
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital / IGADGET
Apr 23, 2008

Tech to get people talking

Say what you want: Why use a tiny keypad to communicate when the human voice can do the job? NTT DoCoMo last week launched a new mobile phone from Fujitsu, the F884i, that will put the joy back into talking to your e-mail contacts. Employing the new FOMA Raku Raku Phone Premium system, users enter their...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Apr 20, 2008

Notes on 'Later Term Elderly People Medical Treatment' joke

Stop me if you've heard this one. A bunch of elderly people are sitting in the waiting room of a doctor's office, catching up on neighborhood gossip and their own health woes. As Mrs. Sato goes on about her lumbago, Mr. Kobayashi interrupts. "Where's Suzuki-san?" he says. "He's usually here by now."...
EDITORIALS
Apr 19, 2008

Health insurance chaos

The new health insurance scheme for people aged 75 or over that began April 1 has been thrown into confusion due to the central and local governments' failure to adequately prepare. New health insurance cards failed to reach some 63,000 people in time, and chaos continues even though the health ministry...
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design
Apr 15, 2008

An outside eye on Japan

In a nation traditionally seen as a monoculture, there's a multinational range of flowers blooming in Japan's current cultural crop. In the last several years there has been an influx of foreign-born creators — whether architects, designers or writers — and they are thriving in the local scene.
EDITORIALS
Apr 12, 2008

Conservatives win again in South Korea

South Korean President Lee Myung Bak got a boost this week from parliamentary elections that gave fellow conservatives a majority in the National Assembly. The results provide a modicum of relief for "the bulldozer" but he is still going to have to struggle to implement his policy agenda. Ironically,...

Longform

An illustration features the Japanese signs for "ganbare" (good luck) and the Deaflympics, which will be held between Nov. 15 and 26.
A century of Deaf sport finds its moment in Tokyo