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Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Mar 29, 2007

Magnum's 60 years of Tokyo

Known for its independent stance on photography, the agency Magnum Photos has been home to some of the world's most prominent photojournalists, starting with its legendary founders, Robert Capa, Henri Cartier Bresson, David Seymour and George Rodger.
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital
Mar 28, 2007

'Splume' -- Japan gets its own world of avatars

Judging by Newton's Third Law of Motion the great English scientist really must have gazed into a crystal ball and seen the Japan of today. His famous law states that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. For every anonymous concrete apartment block and crisp white shirt locked in...
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Mar 27, 2007

'Multicultural Japan' remains a pipe dream

In February, education minister Bunmei Ibuki called Japan "an extremely homogenous country." Eighteen months earlier, now Foreign Minister Taro Aso described Japan as having "one nation, one civilization, one language, one culture, and one race." What was notable about these comments is that they were...
COMMENTARY
Mar 27, 2007

A Japanese sense of humor?

Japanese and Germans are thought by some "Anglo-Saxons" to have many similar qualities, including a lack of a sense of humor and a tendency to take themselves too seriously. I don't think the former is fair; the latter is closer to the mark.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Mar 25, 2007

The fanned flames of fashion

Japanese Schoolgirl Inferno: Tokyo Teen Fashion Subculture Handbook, by Patrick Macias and Izumi Evers, illustrations by Kazumi Nonaka. San Francisco: Chronicle Books, 2007, 148 pp., profusely illustrated, $16.95 (paper) Fashionable clothing on young women is often seen as an indication of the state...
CULTURE / Books
Mar 25, 2007

Traveling light at heart, heavy in mind

JAPANESE FOR TRAVELLERS: A Journey Through Modern Japan, by Katie Kitamura. Penguin, 258 pp., 2006, £7.99 (paper) When Katie Kitamura's parents left Japan for the United States they left behind three different generations: Katie's cousins, her aunts and uncles, and her grandparents. In "Japanese for...
EDITORIALS
Mar 23, 2007

Try learning from a critical mistake

It was revealed last week that Hokuriku Electric Power Co. failed to report a "criticality accident" at a nuclear-power plant in Shiga, Ishikawa Prefecture, eight years ago. The accident involved a 15-minute uncontrollable fission chain reaction.
JAPAN
Mar 22, 2007

Substance, not usual campaign noise

and Yoshito Hori, head of the Globis Group, look on at a March 2 event in Tokyo's Chiyoda Ward promoting use of platforms known as manifestos in politics. PHOTO COURTESY OF WASEDA UNIVERSITY
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Mar 22, 2007

Beck: Too much information for an hombre to handle

Beck talks about his upcoming tour of Japan, a stockpile of songs that grows faster than he is able to record them and a trans-Pacific collaboration that will just have to wait
Japan Times
JAPAN
Mar 21, 2007

Costly family plots giving way to common, no-upkeep crypts

Misako Kubo and Sachiko Sakurai are the best of friends. The two seniors sing side-by-side in a chorus group, go out for lunch and dinner together, and even pray for each other.
EDITORIALS
Mar 21, 2007

Educators need support, not orders

A report presented by the Central Council for Education to education minister Bunmei Ibuki on revisions to three education-related laws favors increased government control over education. Regrettably, under pressure from the education ministry, the council spent only about a month on discussions that...
Japan Times
Reference / SO WHAT THE HECK IS THAT
Mar 20, 2007

Japan's gold poop

Dear Alice,
JAPAN
Mar 19, 2007

Convicted Horie stays defiant, slams court

Disgraced dot-com tycoon Takafumi Horie slammed his conviction and harsh sentence for securities fraud Sunday, insisting he committed no crimes and that he had more than paid for any mistakes by losing his company.
COMMENTARY
Mar 19, 2007

British crime and punishment

LONDON -- British Prime Minister Tony Blair, on assuming office in 1997, said his government would be tough on crime and its causes. Although police numbers have increased with police pay, the proportion of reported crimes that have been solved has not shown significant improvement. Filling out bureaucratic...
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 19, 2007

Abe should be looking forward, not back

HONOLULU -- What was he thinking? That is the question most Japan-watchers grappled with following Japanese Prime Minister Abe Shinzo's fumbled questions about the imperial Japanese government's role in recruiting "comfort women" during World War II. His responses came close to undoing the progress he...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / PERSONALITY PROFILE
Mar 17, 2007

Brian S. McElney

The UNESCO designation of World Heritage sites is given to only a few selected cities. Bath in southwest England has the designation. Although it is called one of the best preserved 18th-century cities in the world, its origins go much further back in time.
Japan Times
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Mar 16, 2007

Full-color business and pleasure

If there's one thing that's drawing the eyes of the world toward Japan, it'sanime. From "Akira" to "Spirited Away," through years of moving, high-concept beauties and "video nasties," and right down to the plethora of sprawling half-hour cartoon series, animation is widely regarded as Japan's key artistic...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Mar 16, 2007

'Va, vis et deviens'

On the surface, "Va, vis et deviens" is a political story, drawing from a little-known chunk of history called "Operation Moses." In 1984, 80,000 Ethiopian Jews (known as "Falasha") were airlifted from their native land to Israel in an effort to save them from drought and famine. That incident is a starting...
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 15, 2007

EU defies pessimists' dire predictions

PRAGUE -- As the European Union prepares to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Treaty of Rome later this month, the EU is widely perceived to be on its knees. European integration, is felt to have, somehow met its Waterloo in 2005, when Dutch and French referendums unexpectedly torpedoed the draft...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Mar 15, 2007

In dark woods

The Dazaifu Tenmangu Shrine in Kyushu is a peaceful, tranquillity-filled spot detached from the bustle of big cities like Fukuoka, a half-hour drive away. It has been a place of worship since it was built on the grave of Michizane Sugawara, a beloved high-ranking Heian Period official who died in exile...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Mar 15, 2007

'Crossing the Bridge'

Amusic "scene" tends to arise out of a number of like-minded musicians operating from the same cultural starting point. Think San Francisco psychedelia, Detroit techno, London punk or Kingston's reggae and dub -- all scenes full of musicians sharing the same cultural ferment and arriving at similar sounds....
COMMUNITY
Mar 13, 2007

Coaching helps women avail of new opportunities

Ritsuko Hatano, an energetic sales manager, has steadily climbed the career ladder after she graduated from university a decade ago.
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design / ON: FASHION
Mar 13, 2007

COSMIC WONDER, Shibusei and Monocle magazine

Cosmic reconceptualization
Japan Times
SOCCER / J. League
Mar 11, 2007

J. League's Onitake optimistic about future

The Japan Times recently visited J. League chairman Kenji Onitake at his office to find out about his vision for the future of the league and soccer in Japan.
Reader Mail
Mar 11, 2007

Bigger issues to deal with

Regarding Hidesato Sakakibara's Feb. 28 letter, "Term 'gaijin' has run its course": Sakakibara's awareness that the term "gaijin" upsets many foreigners living in Japan is nice to know. It doesn't bother me, though, because there are too many other important things to deal with. And the habit will never...
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital
Mar 11, 2007

What happens when blog bullies get hot under the collar

In April last year, Jiji Press technology reporter Tsuruaki Yukawa felt as if he had enemies all around him.
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital
Mar 11, 2007

Jimmy Wales: Power to the Wikipeople

An Internet search for almost anything these days will likely lead you straight to Wikipedia, the worldwide online encyclopedia.

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