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Japan Times
JAPAN
Jan 13, 2008

Canine style unleashed as dogs hit catwalks in Tokyo

These days, dogs want to be in fashion, too.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film / SHORT TAKES
Jan 11, 2008

"Gypsy Caravan: When the Road Bends"

Director: Jasmine Dellal
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 9, 2008

India's 'Bollywood' power

PRAGUE — The world has heard much about India's extraordinary transformation in recent years, and even of its claims to a share of "world leadership." Some of that is hyperbole, but in one respect, India's strength may be understated.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 8, 2008

China-Japan-U.S. relations: the big chance for East Asia

JAKARTA — I believe regional and global economic integration and increasing openness, mobility and democratization are shaping East Asian developments the most — not nationalisms or Sino-Japanese tensions, or the uncertainties of China's rise, or growing conventional armaments, however important....
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM NEW YORK
Jan 8, 2008

Bottle of water delivers wrong message

NEW YORK — "You really have to wonder at the utter stupidity and the irresponsibility sometimes of American consumers," Salt Lake City Mayor Ross "Rocky" Anderson said. "These false needs are provided, and too often we just fall in line with what Madison Avenue comes up with to market these unnecessary...
Japan Times
MULTIMEDIA / STYLE WISE
Jan 8, 2008

Raf Simons, Bulgari, Marc Newson and more

Candy-colored covers
EDITORIALS
Jan 6, 2008

Political temblors in Iowa

The United States has just concluded the first stage in the quadrennial spectacular — or is it a spectacle? — that is a presidential campaign. The Iowa caucuses were held Thursday evening and the two winners, Sen. Barack Obama and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, confounded their party establishments...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Jan 6, 2008

Politicians, dogs and bowels mix it up in our annual media awards

Media Personality of the Year: Hideo Higashikokubaru.
Japan Times
JAPAN / THIS FOREIGN LAND
Jan 5, 2008

Assistant language teachers in trying times

Last of four parts
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Jan 4, 2008

Top tango couples dance into a city near you

The world's top tango dancers will put on a spectacular show throughout Japan in Tango Dance Premium from Jan. 20-Mar. 31. With no fewer than 55 performances at 45 venues, the five winning couples of the annual Tango Dance World Championship will indulge audiences across the country with a rare opportunity...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jan 4, 2008

'The Namesake'

Mira Nair's last film, "Monsoon Wedding," was not only a lot of fun, it was also a perceptive look at cross-cultural confusion, tracking the travails of an Americanized Indian guy back in Dehli for an arranged marriage. Her latest film, "The Namesake," flips the equation, following a young Calcutta girl...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jan 4, 2008

Beijing: punk paradise in waiting

As Beijing enters its Olympic year, The Japan Times meets the Japanese mogul who's hoping to put the city on the musical map
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Jan 4, 2008

Sake Bistro W: New Year's cheers

A toast is called for, to greet this brave new murine Year of the Rat as it scuttles out of the wainscoting and into the dining room. Nihonshu, Trappist ales, Prosecco, whatever — we're not fussy, as long as the setting is right and there is quality food to go with the liquid refreshments. Here are...
COMMENTARY
Jan 3, 2008

The military is the problem

NEW DELHI — After having fretted over a rising prodemocracy tide, Pakistan's ruling military can expect to be the main gainer from former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto's killing at the very public park where the 1951 assassination of the country's first prime minister, Liaquat Ali Khan, helped smother...
Japan Times
JAPAN / THIS FOREIGN LAND
Jan 3, 2008

Flexible and diverse, international schools thrive

Second in a series
Japan Times
CULTURE
Jan 3, 2008

Hot tickets: Art

Twilight of the Turbulent Gods Long known for photographs in which he transforms himself into Western culture's feminine icons — from Mona Lisa to Marilyn Monroe — Yasumasa Morimura decided two years ago it was time to tackle the male "realm of politics and war."
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 29, 2007

Barack Obama's American revolution

WARSAW — For eight years, U.S. President George W. Bush has managed to incarnate and reinforce all the prejudices and negative stereotypes the world has of the United States. He has antagonized the world more than any other American president before him, seriously damaging America's "soft" power by...
BASKETBALL / HOOP SCOOP
Dec 29, 2007

Japanime holding all the cards in buildup to All-Star Game

Glenn Kardy calls himself a "crazy baseball fan." His earliest sports memory is a wild one. He can still remember the heated seventh inning of Game 2 of the 1972 American League Championship Series between the Tigers and A's.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Dec 27, 2007

The flash of the unflashy

Although much fanfare, excited TV coverage and celebrity casts accompanied the opening of new theatrical venues in Tokyo this year, such as Akasaka Red Theater, Theater Creation in Hibiya and Owl Spot in Ikebukuro, many would be hard pressed to truly wax lyrical about Japan's drama world over the last...
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Dec 25, 2007

Whaling — for nationalism or science?

When it comes to whaling, Japan digs in its heels, as do antiwhaling nations and conservation groups.
Japan Times
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Dec 25, 2007

Whaling — for nationalism or science?

When it comes to whaling, Japan digs in its heels, as do antiwhaling nations and conservation groups.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 24, 2007

Christmas letter to Pope Benedict XVI

HONG KONG — Until three years ago, you had a well-earned reputation as the fierce watchdog of the doctrine of the Roman Catholic Church. You were nicknamed "God's Rottweiler."
Japan Times
LIFE
Dec 23, 2007

From Bliss to blood

Some scholars say Japan's Christian history began long before the so-called "Christian century" (1549-c.1640). Their claim takes us all the way back to 7th- and 8th-century Nara, where Nestorian Christians from Persia are said to have built churches, operated a leper hospital and even converted the Empress...
CULTURE / TV & Streaming
Dec 23, 2007

Inside criminal scams, raising the Yamada quintuplets, unique cooking

A few years ago, the media was filled with reports about people falling victim to ingenious swindling operations called "furikome sagi," an umbrella term describing schemes that fool victims into sending money to con men via bank transfers. Because of the publicity, the frequency of such incidents has...
EDITORIALS
Dec 22, 2007

'The Bulldozer' wins in Seoul

South Korea has a new president. As anticipated, former Hyundai CEO Lee Myung Bak won a landslide victory in Wednesday's election. A conservative, Mr. Lee has promised to re-examine many of the policies of his predecessors. His presidency offers Japan a chance to rebuild a crucial relationship that has...
Japan Times
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Dec 21, 2007

The art of youth

An Aladdin's Cave of small, distinctive retail spaces, the Laforet building at a main crossroads in trendy Harajuku has been a shopping magnet for young people since it opened in 1978. This year, for instance, more than 3,000 lined up outside awaiting the start of its New Year sale. And whereas its Shibuya...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Dec 21, 2007

'L'heure zero'

French filmmaker Pascal Thomas has a thing about Agatha Christie. "L'heure zero (Toward Zero)" is his second adaptation of a mystery by the "Queen of Crime" following "Mon petit doigt ma dit . . . (By the Pricking of My Thumbs . . .)," and he re-creates the Christie microcosm, as before, with the earnest...

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