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Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Nov 9, 2006

Tokyo National Museum shows Buddhist masterpieces

Living in a land still largely covered with forest, it is not surprising that Japanese have a special reverence toward wood. We see this particularly in traditional architecture, where wood is not only chosen to reveal its best qualities, but is largely left unpainted so that its beauty improves with...
BUSINESS
Nov 8, 2006

Son, Murdoch announce kickoff of MySpace Japan

Softbank Corp. and News Corp. of the U.S. said Tuesday they are teaming up to launch a Japanese version of the MySpace.com social networking Web site.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Nov 5, 2006

Radio rivals are a turn off by playing it safe

In the United States, media critics bemoan the homogenization of FM radio, which has become dominated by a handful of corporations dictating what music is played. Meanwhile, AM radio is considered the exclusive domain of the right wing, filled with talk shows that badger so-called Middle America into...
Japan Times
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Nov 3, 2006

A cultural emblem

Written by Wesley Enoch, one of Australia's leading young director-writers, the world premiere of "Cookie's Table" will be staged with a Japanese cast in Tokyo from Nov. 8 by Rakutendan Theatre Company.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Nov 2, 2006

Make the most of this year's celebration of practical art

Once again, Tokyo welcomes the design world with open arms into its streets, shops, cafes and galleries -- all under the umbrella of Tokyo Design Week, which encompasses four different yet complementary events: Tokyo Designer's Week, 100% Design Tokyo, Design Tide and Swedish Style.
BASKETBALL / HOOP SCOOP
Nov 2, 2006

Joe Bryant and Apache reaching out to community

It's 10:45 on Tuesday morning. Tokyo Apache coach Joe Bryant and his players are busy preparing for another day in the gym. They bring the necessary attire -- sneakers, baggy shorts, jerseys -- and, of course, their basketballs. They have a special audience, too.
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Oct 29, 2006

TV Asahi's "Quiz Presentation Variety Q-sama," Fuji's "Kinyo Prestige" and more

SLack of imagination has not stopped TV producers from coming up with new outlets for all the comedians looking for work. Every week TV Asahi's variety show "Quiz Presentation Variety Q-sama" (Mon., 8 p.m.) offers about a dozen comedians and other tarento the opportunity to present their own quizzes,...
EDITORIALS
Oct 29, 2006

Japanese and the 'Paris syndrome'

How many victims does it take to make a syndrome? According to a French newspaper, a dozen a year will do. In the case of a trend it has dubbed "Paris syndrome," that would be the 12 or so Japanese tourists a year who are said to be so disenchanted by their encounter with the fabled French capital that...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / PERSONALITY PROFILE
Oct 28, 2006

Fumiko Tottori

The International Ladies' Benevolent Society is scheduling its 2006 Christmas Charity Fair on Nov. 11, from 10 to 2 at the Tokyo American Club. Entrance tickets cost 500 yen and can be purchased from any ILBS member beforehand or at the door.
COMMENTARY
Oct 26, 2006

Revisionists damaging Japan

LONDON -- Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has the reputation of being a tough nationalist. So far, however, he has shown himself to be a pragmatist in foreign-policy issues. His early visits to China and South Korea demonstrated that he wants to improve bilateral relations, which have soured in recent years....
COMMENTARY
Oct 23, 2006

Waves build against carrier

The mayor of the city of Yokosuka and the governor of Kanagawa Prefecture have expressed willingness to accept the deployment of a U.S. nuclear-powered aircraft carrier at U.S. Yokosuka Naval Base, stirring optimism among central government officials that a controversial issue is about to be solved....
CULTURE / Books
Oct 22, 2006

Exploring the cobwebs and exposing some dirt

ISTANBUL: Memories of a City, by Orhan Pamuk. Faber & Faber, 2006, 348 pp., £8 (paper). Turkey it seems has always inspired fear. The memory of advancing Turkish units camped outside the gates of Vienna haunted the European mind for centuries. "Where the Turk treads, no grass grows," ran one saying...
CULTURE / Books
Oct 22, 2006

It would be a crime to underestimate the gardener

This past summer I was delighted to discover a new "ethnic detective" character named Masuo "Mas" Arai, an elderly Japanese-American gardener whose credentials include a green thumb and a nose for sniffing out criminals. The creation of Los Angeles-based journalist and author Naomi Hirahara, Arai made...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Oct 21, 2006

Astrologer reaches out with readings of counsel

His certification as an astrologer reads Tatsuhiro Percival Nakajima. Why? The gentle Japanese -- still coolly dressed for summer -- replies smiling: "Because I am the Fool."
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Oct 20, 2006

An intro to Tokyo's film fest

The Tokyo International Film Festival, Japan's biggest, glitziest film fest, opens Saturday, Oct. 21, and runs for nine days at Toho Cinemas Roppongi Hills in Roppongi, Bunkamura in Shibuya and other venues around the city. The selection is huge, beginning with the four main sections: the Competition,...
Japan Times
LIFE / WEEK 3
Oct 15, 2006

Intimacy crusader strives to rekindle Japan's fires of marital passion

At first glance, 46-year-old Mayumi Futamatsu looks like a regular housewife. But as someone who's "seen both heaven and hell" in her two marriages, she's a woman with a mission to help all women to be happy -- through having better sex lives.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Oct 13, 2006

School's out for Oreskaband teens

'I don't think being high-school girls is an important part of our band," says 18-year-old Tae-san, drummer with Osaka ska band Oreskaband. And with mere months until their graduation, we're about to find out if she's right.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Oct 12, 2006

Sony's battery fiasco a symptom of bigger woes at legendary firm

It was a fine day at Los Angeles International Airport on Sept. 16 when a passenger's ThinkPad laptop, containing a Sony Corp. battery already recalled by other companies, was suddenly wreathed in smoke and started emitting sparks.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Oct 12, 2006

Telling another side of the story

James Bradley wrote the book "Flags of Our Fathers," on which one of Clint Eastwood's new films is based. "Flags" tells the true story of what is arguably the most famous photo in warfare, taken as his father and five other marines raised the Stars and Stripes on Mount Suribachi, Iwo Jima in 1945.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Oct 7, 2006

Tell me, just whose festival is it, anyhow?

October is a great month for festivals in Japan and our island is no exception. The Shiraishi Aki Matsuri is my favorite event of the year. It's a time when you meet your neighbors at 8 a.m. and start toasting to the Shinto gods. The matsuri men come out and pull the mikoshi and all-day merriment follows....
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Oct 6, 2006

Old school rappers look to new schools

Since hip-hop emerged in the late 1970s, it's been closely linked with basketball. But just as the United States is no longer the dominant force in international hoops, its dominance in the world of beats and rhymes is also waning.
EDITORIALS
Oct 5, 2006

JAL flying through stormy skies

The international and domestic operations units of Japan Airlines Corp., the nation's flag carrier, merged Oct. 1. The merger means the complete reorganization of JAL and a new start for the airline. But the new JAL faces rough times ahead.
EDITORIALS
Oct 1, 2006

Mr. Abe takes the stage

I n his first Diet policy speech, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe emphasized opening the economy further, building a healthy, safe and "energized" society, carrying out financial reconstruction decisively, "resuscitating education" and switching to an assertive diplomacy.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / CLOSE-UP
Oct 1, 2006

Hisashi Inoue: Crusader with a pen

So wide-ranging are 71-year-old Hisashi Inoue's talents and activities that it is difficult to know which to focus on at the expense of others.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Oct 1, 2006

Stars strive to be normal guys . . . and you buy it

During the 1980s bubble era it was almost obscene how much money Japanese companies overspent on things they didn't really need. In the media world, this extravagance was manifested in the hiring of foreign celebrities to appear in TV commercials.

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