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CULTURE / Books
Mar 21, 2010

From the edge of darkness, a diary of wartime Burma

"Theippan Maung Wa" is the pen name under which a Burmese member of the Indian Civil Service wrote stories about his work for the British administration in the 1930s. The 150 tales that he composed, in a new and simple style, were popular contemporary reading and are still admired, some having been translated...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Mar 19, 2010

Man behind the masks

HOLLYWOOD — Sacha Baron Cohen is perhaps the unlikeliest British movie star since the plain, self-effacing and rather asexual Sir Alec Guinness. But like the brilliant knight — who happened to be half-Jewish — Baron Cohen seemingly becomes the character he plays, even to the point of declining...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Mar 19, 2010

Japan's dubstep forges own path

Young people dressed in baggy jeans and hooded sweaters groove to chunky rhythms in a dark, smoky club. The music is spun by the night's DJ, Goth-trad. It may look like any other club, but the style is unique to Japan.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Mar 19, 2010

Reinterpretations of modern history

One of Japan's pre-eminent contemporary artists, Yasumasa Morimura is known for his gender-bending self- portraits reinterpreting canonical works of Western art history. His works combine aspects of painting, sculpture, set design, performance and photography, and often use humor to subvert revered icons....
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art / INSIDE ART
Mar 19, 2010

Curator Shihoko Iida reveals lessons learned from stint at foreign museum

Japan's art world is occasionally compared to the Galapagos Islands — and not just because it is inhabited by some curious creatures; sorry, I mean artists.
JAPAN
Mar 17, 2010

Autopsy report: too few deaths examined

If the police had had their way, the sudden death of a young sumo wrestler three years ago would have been simply a tragic event quickly swept under the rug, dismissed, as it initially was, as heart failure from unknown causes.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / VIEWS FROM THE STREET
Mar 16, 2010

What's the most interesting thing you've seen in Japan?

EDITORIALS
Mar 14, 2010

Don't exclude 'Chosen' schools

The Diet is deliberating on a bill to make public high school tuition free and provide ¥120,000 yearly to those attending private schools or certified educational institutions. But Mr. Hiroshi Nakai, minister in charge of the North Korean abduction issue, aired the view in February that pro-North Korean...
CULTURE / Books
Mar 14, 2010

Untamed past taken by the tail

Jid Lee, now a professor of English at Middle Tennessee State University, begins this memoir with the tale of the killing of her great-great-great-great- great-great grandmother by a tiger. A Buddhist monk predicted the death, saying it would bring rewards to her descendants. Her "sacrifice" is the touchstone...
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design / STYLE WISE
Mar 11, 2010

Revamps, re-openings, relocations and the return of Fashion Week

MISHA JANETTE Get ready for Fashion Week
CULTURE / Books
Mar 7, 2010

Propagation of a perfect storm

In Japan, often the only way to deal with history is to forget it. This defective resort deprives some people of the opportunity not only to learn from history but also to be absolved of it. Akira Yoshimura's novel about the American campaign to capture Okinawa deftly reflects the quandary faced by many...
SPORTS / SPORTS SCOPE
Mar 7, 2010

Olympic memories are priceless

It was only fitting that hockey's beloved icon lit the Olympic torch and Canada's top current star scored the gold medal-clinching goal — in overtime, the proverbial icing on the cake — on the final day of the Vancouver Winter Games.
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.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Mar 5, 2010

Rebel artist restored to glory

The Tokyo National Museum in Ueno isn't merely a convenient place for old folks to while away an afternoon, or a safe venue to take parties of schoolchildren to on excursions. It's also a very symbolic and ritualistic space, where the final seal is set on the nation's cultural and historical image of...
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 3, 2010

Tweets of freedom are ringing across China

NEW YORK — Google has been widely celebrated for its loud refusal to continue censoring its search results in China. It is still unclear whether Google will continue to operate in China, but in any event we are not about to see much change in China's Internet policy. More likely, all this "foreign...
BASKETBALL / NBA / NBA REPORT
Mar 3, 2010

U.S. to host pre-worlds tourney in New York

NEW YORK — The specific formula is not yet official, but plans are far enough along to speculate with great certainty Team USA will headline an international doubleheader at Madison Square Garden in mid-August prior to the FIBA World Championship that commences later that month in Turkey.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 1, 2010

Isolated India is bad news

LONDON — It would be an understatement to suggest that Indian diplomacy faced a major setback at the Afghanistan Conference in London. India was humiliated and its concerns were summarily ignored. In one stroke, Pakistan rendered New Delhi irrelevant in the evolving security dynamic in Afghanistan....
Japan Times
LIFE
Feb 28, 2010

Focusing on the dark side

When the documentary filmmaker Motoharu Iida was asked by an animal-loving elderly woman to make a film to save the lives of abandoned cats and dogs, he was not sure what he could do.
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
LIFE / Travel / HOTELS & RESTAURANTS
Feb 26, 2010

Westin's Austrian Fair hits 10th year

The Westin Tokyo will hold its annual Austrian Fair at The Terrace restaurant from Mar. 8 to April 4.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Feb 26, 2010

'Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call — New Orleans'

"Bad Lieutenant" was a scuzzy 1992 film by New York City auteur Abel Ferrara that featured a sordid story and one helluva riveting performance from Harvey Keitel as an unlikable cop addicted to gambling, drugs and sex with hookers. Along with "Reservoir Dogs" and "The Piano," it marked a high point in...
BUSINESS
Feb 26, 2010

Osaka's Royal Hotel expects profit rebound to pre-Lehman levels

Royal Hotel Ltd., which operates inns in eight Japanese cities, expects earnings next year to recover to levels seen before the "Lehman shock" of 2008 and last year's swine flu scare. Room bookings plunged following the financial crisis fueled by Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc.'s bankruptcy, while the...
Japan Times
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Feb 26, 2010

Art museum holds beastly exhibition

Atsuhiko Misawa, a Kyoto born artist, is packing Tochigi Prefectural Museum of Fine Arts with animals.
COMMENTARY
Feb 25, 2010

Poland's future looks bright

In the 20th century the very name "Poland" conjured up images of suffering, refugees, slaughter, terrible destruction and division. Here was a country that had been invaded, partitioned, endlessly fought over, defeated and conquered.

Longform

Once smoky, male-dominated spaces, today's net cafes, like Kaikatsu Club, are working to make their operations more attractive to women customers.
The second life of Japan's net cafes