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Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / CLOSE-UP
Oct 7, 2007

Nahoko Yamazaki: Off-stage woman stars in men's theater world

Just as in the realm of politics, in the arts world — and here, particularly regarding the performing arts — different countries adopt different policies depending on their historical and economic circumstances.
JAPAN
Oct 6, 2007

Ministry snubs meeting with foes of dolphin kill

U.S. activists waging a high-profile campaign against Japan's annual dolphin slaughter and sale of mercury-tainted dolphin meat were snubbed by government officials Friday in Tokyo when they tried to hand over a petition of protest they claim bears 50,000 signatures.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / PERSONALITY PROFILE
Oct 6, 2007

Antonio Ploszay

"Plans," said Antonio Ploszay, "are for people who are not doing what they want to do."
EDITORIALS
Oct 5, 2007

Improvised roads through kanji

A poll conducted by the Agency of Cultural Affairs in February and March on various issues related to the Japanese language offers interesting insight into people's attitude toward kanji — the Chinese characters that are an indispensable part of Japan's linguistic culture.
Reader Mail
Oct 4, 2007

Limited value of katakana

Regarding the Sept. 23 article "Japanese: a language in a state of flux": Having spent much time in Japan, I can say that the only katakana I find useful is company names, brand names and some signs (such as the one for "toilet"). This is all based on visual recognition, rather than a phonetic comprehension. ...
BUSINESS
Oct 4, 2007

DHL calls for change of views

Asked to name the largest German employers in Japan, names most likely to come to mind would be car makers, auto parts manufacturers, or pharmaceutical giants. The second-largest is, in fact, DHL, the world's leading international express and logistics company. In Japan, DHL aims to continue its double-digit...
Japan Times
BUSINESS / DECENTRALIZATION SYMPOSIUM
Oct 3, 2007

Revitalizing Japan through 'doshu-sei'

Introduction of the so-called "doshu-sei" system of reorganizing Japan into several regional blocs is the "ultimate structural reform" that will fundamentally change the nation's administrative, fiscal and political systems, Fujio Mitarai, chairman of the Japan Business Federation (Nippon Keidanren),...
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 1, 2007

Holding hands within the limits of decency

MADRAS, India — The perception of sex and morality is once again creating problems in India.
CULTURE / Books
Sep 30, 2007

Beyond darkness: sleepless in Tokyo

After Dark by Haruki Murakami, translated by Jay Rubin. Knopf, 2007, 208 pp., $22.95 (cloth) If New York is the city that never sleeps, Tokyo is the city of sleepless souls — or so it appears in the cinematic narrative of "After Dark," among the most hauntingly detached of Haruki Murakami's nine novels...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / PERSONALITY PROFILE
Sep 29, 2007

Hamilton Armstrong

"Sometimes I think my head is so big because it is so full of dreams."
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / MAKING A DIFFERENCE
Sep 29, 2007

Putting the red light on human trafficking

"Neary grew up in rural Cambodia. Her parents died when she was a child, and in an effort to give her a better life, her sister married her off when she was 17. Three months later, they went to visit a fishing village. Her husband rented a room in what Neary thought was a guest house. But when she woke...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Sep 29, 2007

Scholars split over sanctions

Despite their long-standing good relations, the violence recently used to quell demonstrations in Myanmar that caused the death of Japanese video journalist Kenji Nagai has upped the pressure on Tokyo to impose sanctions on the military junta, experts say.
JAPAN
Sep 28, 2007

Tokai tasked with continuing education reforms

Fukuda to rebuild the education system," the 59-year-old Lower House member from Hyogo Prefecture said Wednesday. "As education is a pillar supporting a nation, I support this direction." The ministerial post, which Tokai assumed on Tuesday, is the lawmaker's first in a 21-year career. Begun under Abe,...
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle
Sep 28, 2007

What's in a name . . .

It's 20 minutes before her fashion show is due to start at the Italian Cultural Institute in Tokyo and Francesca Versace is giving a very slight, nervous bite to her lower lip.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Sep 28, 2007

Filming a Champs Elysee moment

At first glance Olivier Dahan doesn't come off as a filmmaker who would choose to make a biopic about Edith Piaf. He carved out a successful career in music videos, and is an avid aficionado of French hip-hop. Piaf's music and what he listens to don't quite gel. But perhaps this explains the particular...
EDITORIALS
Sep 28, 2007

Death during 'training'

The death of a young sumo wrestler is shaking Japan's sumo world, which is still reeling from the yokozuna Asashoryu scandal. Tokitaizan, a 17-year-old wrestler, died shortly after a practice session, apparently because of exhaustion and a beating he received from his stable mates.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Sep 27, 2007

Tokyo gallery walkabout

Tokyo's galleries have woken from their summer slumbers — or, more likely, beach naps — with a vengeance. The current wave of openings started out in the east, at the complex of galleries in Kiyosumi, with shows that are set to close this Saturday (two were reviewed here this month).
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WORDS TO LIVE BY
Sep 25, 2007

Nobuaki Kakuda

Nobuaki Kakuda, 46, is a karate fighter with the Seido Kaikan organization and the executive producer of K1, the Japanese sport that matches up practitioners of a variety of martial arts, such as karate, kickboxing, kung fu, tae kwan do and boxing. One of the world's strongest fighters, Kakuda is in...
Japan Times
LIFE / Language
Sep 23, 2007

Linguists gutted by body-talk blight

Imagine a nation of people who no longer know where their center lies. That's what Japan has become in recent decades.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Sep 23, 2007

TV 'kangaroo courts' led by excitable pundits make joke of law

The current box-office winner in Japan is "Hero," the movie spinoff of a popular TV series starring heartthrob Takuya Kimura as a nonconformist prosecutor. Now there's an oxymoron. In American pop culture, at least, prosecutors tend to be the bad guys since they represent the establishment, but in Japan...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Sep 22, 2007

Church proposed for tangible cultural asset title

in Hikone, Shiga Prefecture, and the Wakasa Bridge in Wakasa, Tottori Prefecture, are among the structures proposed Friday to receive government designation as tangible cultural assets. KYODO PHOTOS
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Sep 21, 2007

Back to Roma

Gypsies are one of music's great cross-pollinators.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Sep 20, 2007

Traditional China popped

After the end of the Opium War in China in 1842, Shanghai opened itself to trade with the outside world. A little after that, the Taiping Rebellion of 1850-64, which took place in southern China and Nanjing, funneled into the metropolis artists and scholars seeking refuge.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 20, 2007

Filipinos respectful of a star's conviction

BANGKOK — Joseph Estrada, the disgraced former president of the Philippines, faces the prospect of spending his remaining years in prison after a special court in Manila found him guilty of amassing around $15 million in bribes and kickbacks. During the 30 months he ruled his country, from mid-1998...

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