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Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Oct 19, 2007

In hot water at the seaside

I'd heard about the "bath in the sea" in Aomori Prefecture, Honshu's northernmost prefecture and a mere 600 km north of Tokyo. But this kaichuburo, as they call it in Japanese, isn't about splashing in the waves; it's a hot spring, and it's named Furo Fushi Onsen (hot spring of eternal youth and eternal...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Oct 19, 2007

'Scoop'

"Scoop" is not exactly Woody Allen back in top-notch comedy form, but there's a giddy, debonair humor to it that makes you think he was really happy when making this film. And that is probably due to the fact that he was working with Scarlett Johansson for the second time in a row after the dark, stylish...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Oct 18, 2007

"Royal Elastics presents Chaz Bojorquez"

Tower Records Shibuya Starts Tuesday, ends Oct. 28
COMMENTARY / World / SENTAKU MAGAZINE
Oct 16, 2007

How long can Fukuda last?

In forming his Cabinet, Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda surrounded himself with "heavyweights" of his Liberal Democratic Party — powerful figures who head their respective intraparty factions. Although Fukuda is older than most of them, there is no denying that his lower level of experience makes him look...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Oct 16, 2007

The faces behind the numbers: A day feeding Tokyo's hungry

Last in a two-part series O n a typical Saturday evening, I stroll around the bustling streets of Shibuya with my friends, dressed up, heels clicking, ready to hit a couple of trendy shops. The chilly breeze puffs up the hairs on my arms and I shudder — winter is approaching. We chat about school,...
Japan Times
Reference / SO WHAT THE HECK IS THAT
Oct 16, 2007

Sake barrels at shrines

Dear Alice,
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / VIEWS FROM THE STREET
Oct 16, 2007

What do you think of Japan's "sempai-kohai" (senior-junior) system?

Takashi KurosawaTeacher, 40 When I was a student the system was more prevalent than now. In Korea seniority is taken more seriously: Kohai must turn away from sempai to drink or smoke a cigarette.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Oct 14, 2007

Nagai Kafu's geisha: expurgated, revised, then finally fully exposed

Rivalry: A Geisha's Tale, translated by Stephen Snyder. New York: Columbia University Press, 2007, 166 pp., $24.95 (cloth) Komayo, widowed young, resumes her life as a geisha, taking up with a former patron who wants to redeem her. She, however, falls in love with a young actor specializing in female...
Japan Times
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Oct 12, 2007

Be baffled and awed

The New National Theatre, under the aegis of recently appointed director Hiroshi Wakasugi, opens its 2007/8 season with Richard Wagner's 1845 grand Romantic opera "Tannhauser."
BUSINESS
Oct 12, 2007

Moody's raises Japan's rating

Japan's local currency debt rating was raised one level to A1 from A2 by Moody's Investors Service, Moody's said Thursday, citing confidence that the government will pursue debt-cutting measures.
JAPAN
Oct 11, 2007

Fukuda admits his chapter switched names on 112 receipts

In an ironic twist, Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda admitted Wednesday in the Diet that a Liberal Democratic Party chapter he heads in Gunma Prefecture changed the names on 112 receipts worth ¥9.5 million.
JAPAN
Oct 9, 2007

'Bullet tours' bringing South Koreans for shopping

and Bae Seung Wan visit the Takashimaya department store in Tokyo's Shinjuku Ward. They traveled to Japan on a "bullet tour" via Japan Airlines chartered flights for an 18-hour stay in the capital on Sept. 26. KYODO PHOTO
CULTURE / Books
Oct 7, 2007

Stepping into the alternate world of Japan

JAPAN THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS: Shaman to Shinto, by Alan Macfarlane. Profile Books Ltd., 2007, 256 pp., £16.99 (cloth) Reviewed by MARIKO KATO "In many ways I was like Alice, that very assured and middle-class English girl, when she walked through the looking glass."
Japan Times
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Oct 5, 2007

All eyes on Indian film

As part of celebrations commemorating Japan-India Friendship Year 2007, the National Film Center in Tokyo will hold an Indian Film Festival from Oct. 9 to Nov. 16 that will highlight the rising star of Bollywood and make clear that links with modern India include not only a burgeoning economy, spicy...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Oct 4, 2007

For butoh artist's 101st birthday, a month of dance

The Japanese avant-garde dance of butoh (the dance of darkness) is often misunderstood. Labeled as abstruse and indefinable by critics, it could be considered an acquired taste. Created in post-World War II Japan by Tatsumi Hijikata and Kazuo Ohno, the art form is for some, though, a mesmerizing experience....
JAPAN
Oct 2, 2007

Fukuda vows to regain public trust

urgent issue," Fukuda told the Diet in the 23-minute speech. "Without the people's trust, it is impossible to realize any policy or necessary reforms." The remarks followed Fukuda's warning to his Cabinet last week to keep their hands clean over political funds.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 1, 2007

Price of saving a tree in Latin America

PRAGUE — Latin America is blessed with more than its fair share of wildlife and lush forests. A third of the world's mammal species and more than a quarter of all known reptiles and bird species can be found there.
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...
COMMENTARY
Sep 28, 2007

Bank crisis exposes limits of confidence

LONDON — Mortgage lending is inevitably long term. To cover such lending, banks depend on deposits by savers that may well be short term. If banks don't have enough deposits to cover their loans, they have to borrow on the interbank market. Banks are required to carry enough cash to cover up to five...
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...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Sep 28, 2007

'Baum Kuchen'

"Bridget Jones's Diary" was yet another variation on the Cinderella story, but instead of becoming the belle of the ball, Renee Zellwegger's Bridget stayed pretty much the same pumpkin throughout, but got her prince anyway.
Japan Times
CULTURE / OTAKOOL
Sep 27, 2007

Akihabara's awful truths

While the Establishment packages Electric Town as a mecca for manga and anime obsessives, and a magnet for camera- toting tourists, the reality differs: 'Akiba' is alienating the geeks who once made it great
JAPAN
Sep 26, 2007

Snap election becomes main issue

No sooner had Yasuo Fukuda formed his Cabinet on Tuesday than attention was being focused on how soon Japan's new leader will be forced to dissolve the House of Representatives for a snap general election.
BUSINESS
Sep 26, 2007

Fukuda team built for reform but short of time

Analysts shrugged off any speculation Tuesday that Yasuo Fukuda's election as prime minister will have a major impact on the stock market because his Cabinet's economic policies are likely to be virtually the same as his predecessor's.

Longform

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