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COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST
May 26, 2007

In the darkness of our times

One night after visiting friends, I hopped on the local bus for a ride home. At the very first stop, the other passengers — a cane-clutching obaasan and a mother with her pre-schooler — stepped off, leaving me all alone as the bus barreled through the dark.
Japan Times
LIFE / WEEK 3
May 20, 2007

Citizen journalists aim to serve all

For Kenichiro Masuyama, who lives in Matsumoto City in central Japan's scenic Nagano Prefecture, news that more foreign visitors than ever before are now coming to savor the region's delights is hardly a surprise.
Reader Mail
May 20, 2007

Personhood is an achievement

I was excited by the May 5 article "Activists push for chimp to be declared a 'person,' " largely because of the fascinating philosophical issues it raises and the currents in modern culture that it exposes. Personally, I disagree with the notion of animals -- even high-order animals like chimpanzees,...
CULTURE / Books
May 20, 2007

Listening to history's creaking bones

ORACLE BONES: A Journey Between China's Past and Present, by Peter Hessler. HarperCollins, 2006, 491 pp., $26.95 (cloth) Beside their obvious antiquity, why should heaps of cattle shoulder-blades and turtle shells dating from the 13th and 14th centuries B.C. be of such immense importance to today's...
SOCCER / PREMIER REPORT
May 19, 2007

Mourinho's criticism of Ronaldo for diving is laughable

LONDON — If the Wembley gods are looking down on the first F.A. Cup final back at the rebuilt national stadium, they will decree that Manchester United takes an early lead against Chelsea.
BUSINESS
May 18, 2007

Rakuten refuses to limit TBS stake goal to 20%

Rakuten Inc. President Hiroshi Mikitani said Thursday that he won't limit his acquisition goal for shares of Tokyo Broadcasting System Inc. to 20 percent.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
May 17, 2007

"From Alps Architecture to Katsura Detached Palace"

Watari Museum of Contemporary Art Closes in 11 days
Japan Times
JAPAN
May 16, 2007

Documentary traces 'ritual' of Japan election campaign

In Japan, candidates who run for office generally don't rise naturally from the grass roots. Many are molded into politicians by extremely organized election campaigns.
SUMO
May 15, 2007

Sumo and an American woman's search for Hinkaku

The summer basho is underway and I, an American woman who has never been to Japan, am so excited.
BUSINESS
May 12, 2007

Pentax can let go of Hoya ties: camera exec

Backed by brisk earnings in 2006, a senior executive at Pentax Corp. said Friday the firm was confident it could go it alone without Hoya Corp.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
May 11, 2007

Peace is found in a historic town

Not since my Adidas-donning days in my hometown Croydon (famous as the breeding ground of chavs) in southeast London, have I ridden trams around town, and even then it was only to pick up a Chinese take-away and buy the odd large hoop earring. So, when I visited Nagasaki with a couple of friends, touring...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art / NEW ART SEEN
May 10, 2007

Looking at the garish and the free

Let's face it, there really is nothing like the face. Lovers dream of faces, poets stretch and struggle to juggle the words so that they might capture and communicate a countenance. Even businesspeople, the ultimate pragmatists, will travel across towns or oceans — when a telephone or e-mail could...
COMMENTARY
May 8, 2007

Groom Japan's gifted students

On April 11, the public broadcaster NHK's program "Close-up Gendai (Current Affairs)" took up the issue of the International Science Olympiads (ISOs) for middle- and high-school students. The competition tests knowledge in mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology, informatics, astronomy and other areas...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / VIEWS FROM THE STREET
May 8, 2007

Do people work too hard in Japan?

Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
May 8, 2007

Confessions of a hostess

Teaching English in Taiwan wasn't always as easy as ABC, so days would often unwind drinking with the betel-nut-chewing, red-gob-hawking locals.
CULTURE / Books
May 6, 2007

In Japan, dogs 'wan,' cats 'nya' and cows 'mo'

HIRA HIRA KIRARI: Michey's Word Play, Onomatopoeia 1, 2, 3, by Mitsuko Hasse, illustrated by Haruko Nakaune, translated by Darrel Frentz. Fuzambo International, 2006, 155 pp., 2,000 yen (paper) Those familiar with The Japan Times' bilingual page will know Michey, the star of Word Play, a cartoon column...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / CLOSE-UP
May 6, 2007

Karel Van Wolferen: Insights into the new world disorder

When Karel Van Wolferen released his seminal book "The Enigma of Japanese Power" in the dying months of the bubble economy, the normally staid monthly magazine Chuo Koron described its impact as akin to being struck by a bolt of lightning. For once, the hype was merited. Little before had matched the...
SOCCER / PREMIER REPORT
May 5, 2007

Liverpool, Milan prove worthy Champions League finalists

LONDON — The Athens police, sponsors, television companies and millions of fans around the world can relax. The Champions League final will not be between Liverpool and Manchester United, a matchup that would virtually have guaranteed nasty scenes in the Greek capital between two sets of fans whose...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
May 3, 2007

Banners for the boys

Celebrated on May 5, Japan's Children's Day originated as an ancient Chinese festival from the old lunar calendar that marked a day to ward off evil spirits and pray for good health.
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Apr 29, 2007

Spare a shudder in memory of an American 'ism' that lives on

This coming Wednesday, May 2, marks the 50th anniversary of the death of a venal and cowardly man, a true antihero of the 20th century.
BUSINESS
Apr 28, 2007

Citigroup bags Nikko Cordial for 920 billion yen

Citigroup Inc. announced Friday its public tender offer for scandal-tainted Nikko Cordial Corp. has succeeded, resulting in the biggest buyout -- at 920 billion yen -- of a Japanese firm by a foreign company.
BUSINESS
Apr 27, 2007

Nissan logs double-digit profit drop in '06

Nissan Motor Co. on Thursday reported a double-digit drop in profit for the business year ended March 31, marking its first full-year dip since Carlos Ghosn took charge in 1999.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Apr 26, 2007

Take a peak inside Henry Darger's mind

Outsider artists often present a pathetic spectacle to the world: forgotten inmates of mental institutions; shuffling, muttering loners; or misfits, like Henry Darger, who spent his workdays as a low-paid janitor and his free time writing and illustrating an unpublishable 15,145-page novel about a vast...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Apr 26, 2007

Japanese/Chinese production tackles history

In 2002, the FIFA World Cup of soccer hosted by Japan and South Korea boosted already flourishing cultural exchanges between the two countries in areas such as pop music, shopping and television dramas. The same year, the scriptwriter and director Oriza Hirata, who founded the Tokyo-based Seinendan Theater...

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