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JAPAN
Mar 11, 2009

Ozawa denies wrongdoing, vows to stay on

Despite rising public pressure to resign as president of the Democratic Party of Japan over the scandal involving alleged illicit donations from Nishimatsu Construction Co., Ichiro Ozawa said Tuesday he will stay at his post and denied any wrongdoing on his part.
COMMENTARY
Mar 10, 2009

Toward a globalized Asia

As a result of globalization, intellectual frameworks and paradigms for forming cultural policies are shifting, especially regarding cultural activity in international contexts.
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Mar 8, 2009

As prospects darken, Japan's voters need that vision thing again

When James Carville, a political consultant to Bill Clinton, coined the phrase "It's the economy, stupid" for the candidate's 1992 presidential campaign, little did he know that he was speaking for the general election in Japan in 2009 as well.
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Mar 8, 2009

Father-son poverty showdown, phone-promo office drama, remembering Koki Hirota

The recession has prompted a resurgence in reality shows where people attempt to survive on very little for a fixed length of time. TV personality and mixed martial arts fighter Bobby Ologun once lived a full month on ¥10,000 in front of TV cameras. Bobby will repeat this challenge under different circumstances...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Mar 8, 2009

Gay rights in Japan blurred on TV

When Sean Penn won the Best Actor Oscar for his portrayal of slain San Francisco Supervisor Harvey Milk two weeks ago, he used his acceptance speech to rail against supporters of California's Proposition 8, which last November repealed a State Supreme Court ruling extending marriage rights to same-sex...
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 8, 2009

Economic meltdown has a woman's face

MANILA — The current economic crisis is deepening faster than even the most pessimistic of experts predicted just a few months ago. The effects are already trickling down to ordinary working people.
Japan Times
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Mar 6, 2009

New theater keeps it short and sweet

History is being made on the second floor of a new apartment block in Yokohama's waterfront Minato Mirai district where, since February 2008, the Brillia Short Shorts Theater has been Japan's first and only cinema dedicated to films under 25 minutes long. The one-screen venue is now showing this year's...
SOCCER / J. League
Mar 6, 2009

J. League also-rans looking to change gear

The following is the first of a two-part J. League preview for the upcoming season. Team-by-team previews of the nine bottom-ranked teams competing in the first division are listed.
COMMENTARY
Mar 3, 2009

Tackling the dangers of mercury

SINGAPORE — Fear sparked by global recession, strains on banks and volatile paper currencies has brought the glitter back to gold. Its value has been rising rapidly in recent months, as investors seek a safe haven from the economic and financial storm.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / GLOBAL ECONOMY SYMPOSIUM
Mar 3, 2009

Falling U.S. demand, investment challenges export-driven Asia

Asia will need to brace for sharply reduced consumption in the United States over an extended period following the global financial crisis, and change the export-dependent structure of its economies and create more regional demand to drive their growth, experts told a recent symposium in Tokyo.
EDITORIALS
Mar 2, 2009

Unconvincing pension forecast

The welfare ministry has made public the results of a once-every-five-year review of the financial status of the nation's pension system. Under the basic scenario, the ratio of corporate employees' pension benefits to their after-tax salary is forecast to drop from 62.3 percent in fiscal 2009 to 50.1...
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / OLD NIC'S NOTEBOOK
Mar 1, 2009

Our woodland trust just keeps on growing

Last month, thanks to a very generous donation, we were able to add another whopping 119,088 sq. meters to our Afan Woodland Trust down the road from my home in the Nagano Prefecture hills outside Kurohime. This brings our total to 296,070 sq. meters — about twice the area we had when we set up the...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Feb 27, 2009

Humans, not cogs

Twenty-six years after it premiered at the Cottlesloe Theatre in London, David Mamet's "Glengarry Glen Ross," which caused a sensation in 1983 with its horrific yet realistic depiction of the dog-eat-dog real-estate business in a recession-hit America, could almost be considered a classic. The play went...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink
Feb 27, 2009

Ivan Ramen, ready in an instant

The success of Ivan Ramen, a noodle shop founded in 2007 by U.S.-born chef Ivan Orkin, has been well documented in the press over the past year. Indeed, it is not unusual for the 10-seat restaurant in Minami Karasuyama, Setagaya Ward, to have dozens of people waiting outside its doors to try the handmade...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Feb 27, 2009

An insider's view, open to the masses

The performing-arts world in Tokyo seems to flourish in spring, with numerous (and similarly named) events taking place within the city. The Tokyo arts crowd is spoiled for choice with the Theater/Festival (formerly The Tokyo International Arts Festival), The Tokyo Performing Arts Festival and Tokyo...
LIFE / Style & Design / ON: DESIGN
Feb 26, 2009

Lowdown Scandinavians, trashy bears and a natural rack

Lowdown Scandinavian cool If you're in the market for a modular sofa, check out Osaka-based Teruhiro Yanagihara's Grow (above). The designer, who also works under the name Isolation Unit, has created the attractive couch for interior brand OFFECCT, a Swedish company that's known for its collaborations...
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design / ON: DESIGN
Feb 26, 2009

Lowdown Scandinavians, trashy bears and a natural rack

Lowdown Scandinavian cool If you're in the market for a modular sofa, check out Osaka-based Teruhiro Yanagihara's Grow (above). The designer, who also works under the name Isolation Unit, has created the attractive couch for interior brand OFFECCT, a Swedish company that's known for its collaborations...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Feb 25, 2009

Firms warming to work-sharing

Yasuo Igarashi spends a lot of time these days on the jungle gym with his daughter, after his employer joined the growing ranks of companies adopting work-sharing to ride out the global slump.
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital
Feb 25, 2009

Hollywood's passion for the video game

Video games aren't just for playing. More and more, they're Hollywood's attempt to lure folks off their sofas and into movie theaters.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Feb 24, 2009

Women forsake frills but spare no expense for skin

When Miwako Taniuchi's income slumped 30 percent last year, out went the expensive dinners and new Gucci and Louis Vuitton handbags. One purchase that didn't get axed: a skin cream worth its weight in gold.
CULTURE / Stage
Feb 22, 2009

Its director's cut on new Festival/Tokyo

Japan may be floundering politically and economically, but amid all the uncertainties it is a joy to report the sparkling rebirth of a major international theater event in Tokyo.
Japan Times
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball / WORLD BASEBALL CLASSIC
Feb 20, 2009

Schiller works to keep baseball on world stage

As Major League Baseball struggles to decide how to punish players who take performance-enhancing drugs, International Baseball Federation president Harvey Schiller made his opinion on the matter loud and clear as it pertains to the upcoming World Baseball Classic.
Japan Times
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Feb 20, 2009

Butoh master shows his class

Akaji Maro, founder of the Dairakudakan (Great Camel Ship) company, and one of Japan's revered icons of the butoh dance form, is known for often speaking rather obliquely. Speaking during rehearsals last July for the world premier of his company's "Secrets of Mankind" at the American Dance Festival's...

Longform

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