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Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jul 10, 2005

Contort yourself, by any means necessary

"No New York," the 1978 compilation produced by Brian Eno, remains a snapshot of lower Manhattan's music scene at that time. The pioneering punk club CBGB's was thriving, the influential performance space-cum-disco, the Mudd Club, was about to open and a musician could still afford to live in the East...
JAPAN
Jul 8, 2005

'G4' submits resolution on UNSC, finds just 23 backers

Japan, Germany, India and Brazil jointly submitted a resolution Wednesday at U.N. headquarters in New York to expand the U.N. Security Council, with only 23 other members listed as joint backers.
JAPAN
Jul 8, 2005

Planned amendments to Constitution get LDP nod

The Liberal Democratic Party endorsed an outline Thursday of planned constitutional amendments, which stipulate the Emperor will remain the symbol of national unity and the Self-Defense Forces will be officially designated as Japan's military.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Jun 25, 2005

Democrat abroad shapes multimedia for export

Terri MacMillan is marvelous. Funny, outgoing, dramatic and driven, she has a heart of pure gold. Ask anyone who knows her. Come to think of it, it's hard to imagine this funky, articulate American has a single enemy -- except among hard-core Republicans, who must surely hate her guts.
EDITORIALS
Jun 21, 2005

Europe's crisis deepens

There were no doubts that last week's European Union summit would be difficult. The EU leadership has been in uncertain territory since two national votes rejected the new constitution. Few anticipated, however, that EU leaders would compound their troubles with an ugly squabble over the budget that...
COMMENTARY
Jun 11, 2005

Slots, cops, and deception

LAS VEGAS -- The Japanese have been kicking around the idea of building American-style casinos in Japan for four years now. The Parliament Committee on Casinos with 100 Diet members has been gathering information on casinos, and Tokyo Gov. Shintaro Ishihara has been a major proponent of the idea. In...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Jun 8, 2005

House of babel that bubbles over

Hot on the heels of Hisashi Inoue's new play "Hakone Gora Hotel," which opened at the New National Theatre in Tokyo, "Kokugo Gannen (The First Year of the Japanese Language)," a vintage classic by the same playwright that premiered on the other side of Shinjuku at the Kinokuniya Hall in 1986, has now...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Jun 8, 2005

A fling to remember

The all-male reworking of "Swan Lake" by English choreographer Matthew Bourne has become a dance and stage legend since its November 1995 premiere at Sadler's Wells Theater in London. This powerful piece of ballet zeitgeist toured widely before arriving in Japan in spring 2003. With nonstop curtain calls,...
JAPAN
Jun 1, 2005

Sex offender tracking system seen as start

The National Police Agency starts a new system Wednesday to keep track of convicted child molesters after their release from prison, in hopes it will help reduce sex crimes against children.
COMMENTARY
May 24, 2005

Power politics ensnare reform

NEW DELHI — Sixty years after its establishment, the United Nations is at a crossroads, its future direction and authority uncertain, even as it struggles with the diminution of its role in world affairs. Reforms are essential to revitalize the U.N.'s role, shore up its legitimacy and make it politically...
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital
May 19, 2005

Big names, big games, big show

The real "Bond . . . James Bond" is coming to video games. Electronic Arts has signed Sean Connery to reprise his role as British agent 007 in the video game version of "From Russia with Love."
EDITORIALS
May 18, 2005

The 'Lebanonization' of Iraq

The situation in Iraq is looking increasingly like the one that prevailed in Lebanon during its prolonged civil war. Insurgent violence -- which subsided temporarily after the birth of a transitional government in late April -- has again increased in recent days. As fighting has intensified between U.S.-British...
EDITORIALS
May 13, 2005

Revitalizing the startup spirit

Small businesses play an important role in creating jobs and invigorating markets. Since the mid-1990s, however, the number of small-business startups has declined, according to this year's white paper on small and medium-size enterprises. The question is how to reverse the trend. The report calls for...
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital / NAME OF THE GAME
May 5, 2005

Techno racing on the edge

The original "Wipeout" racing game hit the PlayStation in the midst of a worldwide cultural movement -- electronica. Beatboxes and keyboards were ringing in the new millennium as dance clubs saw renewed interest along with the club drugs that fueled the all-night raves. With its spacey visuals and techno...
Japan Times
BUSINESS
May 3, 2005

Shakeup in the lending business

O Kobayashi was stunned last year when he found that his mortgage applications had been rejected by two banks.
COMMENTARY
May 2, 2005

Caldron of simmering views

In advance of Constitution Day, on Tuesday, research commissions on constitutional reform from both houses of the Diet last month adopted final reports summarizing five years of debate. The Lower House panel focused on amending the supreme law, including revision of the war-renouncing Article 9.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / CLOSE-UP
May 1, 2005

Sadako Ogata: Front-line fighter for a better world

Sadako Ogata, formerly United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, is one of Japan's most prominent international figures.
EDITORIALS
Apr 22, 2005

Reform remains pope's top priority

In one of the swiftest conclusions to a conclave in a century, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, a German theologian, has been elected pope to succeed the late John Paul II, who pursued pacifism, human rights protection and inter-religious dialogue. The hope for Pope Benedict XVI -- the name is said to suggest...
EDITORIALS
Apr 12, 2005

Progress in Baghdad

After what seemed like interminable delay, Iraqi politicians have agreed on the country's top leaders. The posts have been filled by representatives from all of Iraq's main religious and ethnic groups, creating as inclusive a national leadership as possible. The agreement hints that deals have also been...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / THE SECOND ROOM
Apr 8, 2005

Honest, Doc, I can still dance

I missed everything in the doctor's explanation of my condition after she used the "A" word.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Apr 3, 2005

The rebirth of a salesman

For Atsushi Yamada, conductor of the New York City Opera, his presentation of Giacomo Puccini's opera "Madame Butterfly" to be staged in Tokyo and Nagoya in May will be something of a triumphant return.
COMMENTARY
Apr 3, 2005

Beijing gives unrehearsed boost to Chen

HONOLULU -- "Unhelpful." That's how Washington described China's new antisecession law, which authorizes the use of "nonpeaceful means" if the opportunity for peaceful reunification with Taiwan becomes "completely exhausted." I beg to differ. As it turns out, the law has proven to be very helpful --...
COMMENTARY
Apr 2, 2005

India-China rivalry sharpens

NEW DELHI -- When Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao arrives in India next week, the rhetoric of cooperation between the two Asian giants will intensify. But one has only to scratch the surface to know the extent of the embedded mistrust and competition between the two.
Rugby
Apr 1, 2005

Rugby fans tell IRB: Give the 2011 World Cup to Japan

If the Japan Rugby Football Union is on the lookout for a theme song for its bid to host the 2011 Rugby World Cup, it could do a lot worse than the Ray Davies penned, "Give the People What They Want."
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art / CERAMIC SCENE
Mar 30, 2005

Asia week sees debut show of a famous celadon potter

New Asian art becomes the talk of the town each spring -- not just in Tokyo or Beijing -- but in New York City where its annual Asia Week is now in full sway. Exhibitions abound in the Big Apple with some of the world's top dealers offering their treasures to collectors who visit from around the world....
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / JAZZNICITY
Mar 27, 2005

Swing is the thing for bassist Nakamura

Not many Japanese jazz musicians have played in front of a President of the United States, but Kengo Nakamura is one. After leaving his hometown of Osaka to study at Boston's esteemed Berklee College of Music in 1988, where he switched from electric to acoustic bass, and struggling for a while to find...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Mar 26, 2005

Dr. Tutu & Tame Iti project paints cultural theft

When Lisa Salmon was introduced to Jeff Root by an old high school friend in California, they found they had Japan in common. Jeff taught here in the early 1990s, and was then head-hunted out of Chicago in 2001; Lisa came initially on the JET program in 1996.
BASEBALL / MLB
Mar 26, 2005

Dragons favored to book return trip to Japan Series

The following is a team-by-team analysis of the 12 teams in Japanese pro baseball this season:
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Mar 10, 2005

Glimpsing the 'big picture' at the heart of gray matter

It is a commonly held belief that we don't tap into the full power of our brains. Self-help gurus make millions by exploiting this belief, separating people from their money by making them think there is a secret to tapping mysterious, unused reserves of brain power.

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