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COMMENTARY
Aug 22, 2010

Flying the humanitarian flag among Muslims

NEW YORK — What's the one major issue the West absolutely and totally must get right in the years ahead? If the obvious answer is not peaceful international relations with an increasingly assertive China, then it has to be the West's ever-more complicated relationship with the world's Muslims.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Aug 13, 2010

Contemporary art helps revive a city

For theater, dance and art fans in Japan, an unprecedented gourmet selection of performances and exhibitions — the inaugural Aichi Triennale 2010 — will kick off in Nagoya on Aug. 21, running until Oct. 31. Promoting cutting-edge and cross-genre concepts with an emphasis on performance-based works,...
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 11, 2010

A lesson in global civics

ISTANBUL — The reality of the world's epic interdependence is well known. We have seen how financial engineering in the United States can determine economic growth in every part of the world; how carbon-dioxide emissions from China end up influencing crop yields and livelihoods in Vietnam, Bangladesh,...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Japan Pulse
Aug 4, 2010

Taking social games to the next level

Social gaming, supplemented by augmented reality, has reached its tipping point in Japan.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 3, 2010

China's economic pride

HONG KONG — In international business and finance, no less than in politics, diplomacy, defense and control of tiny strategic islands and islets in the seas around it, China is showing an increasingly assertive tendency with the clear message that it will not allow itself to be pushed around by anyone....
Japan Times
LIFE
Jul 25, 2010

A northern odyssey

Komandorskiye Ostrova — the Commander Islands in English — are about as bleak and remote as anywhere imaginable for human habitation. Indeed, the two islands in the group, named Bering and Medny, support only one hardy community of fewer than 1,000 souls in a settlement called Nikolskoye on Bering...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WORDS TO LIVE BY
Jul 22, 2010

Pharmacist Masaaki Goto

Masaaki Goto, 83, runs a tiny pharmacy in Tokyo. Japan has the highest number of prescriptions per capita in the world and, after the United States, it is the world's second largest pharmaceutical market. There are about 50,000 community pharmacies in the country, and large drug stores and convenience...
SOCCER / SOCCER SCENE
Jul 2, 2010

Japan impressed despite falling short of Okada's goal

In the end, national team manager Takeshi Okada got neither the semifinal he craved nor the quarterfinal that looked there for the taking. When the dust settles on Japan's 2010 World Cup campaign, however, the overall feeling will be one of pride rather than regret.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 23, 2010

The beautiful game has an ugly blemish

ANN ARBOR, Mich. — The quality of refereeing at the World Cup had been a source of relief until June 18, when referee Koman Coulibaly of Mali disallowed a perfectly legitimate goal by the United States that would have given it an all-important win over Slovenia. Worse still, Coulibaly never had to...
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 5, 2010

Australian politics heat up

SYDNEY — An angry advertising campaign over a proposed super-tax is pushing usually placid Australian voters toward one of the closest, most divisive elections in memory.
Japan Times
LIFE
May 30, 2010

How can it get too late to learn?

Professor Ryusuke Yoneyama was in the middle of explaining to the members of his music-production class why Baroque-era violin bows, which resembled loosely strung archery bows, produced a weaker sound than their contemporary counterparts when he paused to ask a question.
COMMENTARY / World
May 26, 2010

Thailand is on the brink

HONG KONG — Graphic pictures from Bangkok last week told the grim story of bloodshed, death and destruction, of democracy challenged and mortally wounded. But they cannot convey the smell of burning, the terror of chaos in the center of a supposedly civilized modern capital city, or the human, moral...
Japan Times
LIFE / WEEK 3
May 16, 2010

Globe-trotting Brit sets a new 'Guinness' record for itchy feet

If a thing is worth doing, it's worth doing under ludicrously difficult, not strictly necessary, self-imposed rules. Such was the thinking of 31-year-old Graham Hughes when, stewing on the details of a long-dreamed of plot to visit every country on Earth, he decided to add a bit of hot sauce: He would...
SOCCER / SOCCER SCENE
May 13, 2010

No room for sentiment as Okada separates men from boys

In the end it was simply a matter of fine-tuning for national team manager Takeshi Okada as he named a familiar squad for the World Cup on Monday. Of the few rabbits he did pull out of the hat, however, Yoshikatsu Kawaguchi should be regarded as anything but a sentimental choice.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
May 11, 2010

Japan zines: Never mind the bloggers

Koenji is a nice, quiet place in the suburbs, but venturing along its Kitanaka Street one weekend last March, you could not have missed the commotion coming out of Shirouto no Ran No. 12. Crammed inside this small rental space, dozens of people were poring over, discussing and exchanging piles upon piles...
COMMENTARY / World
May 8, 2010

Diffident India won't get U.S., Chinese respect

LONDON — Recently, India engaged with two major powers — China and the United States — at the highest levels. Both are vital states insofar as Indian national security interests are concerned.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / OLD NIC'S NOTEBOOK
May 2, 2010

Sweet and sour amid the late snow of spring

Two days ago I was in the woods, generally looking around and gathering a few butterburs — the first of the spring sansai (wild mountain vegetables), which I love to serve as tempura.
SOCCER / PREMIER REPORT
Apr 17, 2010

Stakes high for Manchester derby

LONDON — When Manchester United beat Manchester City to the £30.75 million signing of Dimitar Berbatov from Tottenham two years ago, Reds fans were delighted they had pipped their wealthy rivals to the signature of such a talented striker.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Apr 16, 2010

Director-actor Hideto Iwai proves that anything is possible when you come out of hiding

Tokyo-based Hi-bye, whose name means "crawling-death" (from the Japanese hi-hi, meaning "to crawl," and the English farewell, "bye-bye") was founded in 2003 by playwright, director and actor Hideto Iwai, 35, and has built a reputation for its keen observations of the darker and weaker aspects of humans...
COMMENTARY
Apr 13, 2010

Could environmentalism really be communism in disguise?

KYOTO — Vaclav Klaus, president of the Czech Republic, has published a book bitterly critical of environmentalists that has been translated into several languages. The original title of the book in Czech is "Modra, Nikoli Zelena Planeta," which literally translates as "blue planet, not green." Its...

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