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Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Jul 1, 2006

Palestinians need a book as good as 'The Israelis'

Donna Rosenthal heads the pack across Shibuya's famed pedestrian crossing, grinning from ear to ear and arms waving hello. In Tokyo to meet with her agent about a possible Japanese edition of her book "The Israelis," she's more than happy to meet up in old territory.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jun 29, 2006

Koizumi-Bush friendship one for the ages

What has been touted as the best Japan-U.S. relationship in the postwar era started with a cowboy movie and will end with an Elvis Presley museum.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 29, 2006

WTO: a call for 'enlightened negotiators'

The current multilateral trade negotiations under the auspices of the World Trade Organization (WTO) are approaching the moment of truth. The major gridlock among key players, such as Japan, the United States, the European Union and Brazil seems, however, difficult to be unlocked at the series of ministerial...
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 28, 2006

Women in China falling victim to gender violence

NEW YORK -- Although it is under-recognized and underreported, it is one of the most significant epidemics in China today. It is gender violence, manifested essentially as violence against women. This kind of violence occurs in all regions in China. It affects families of all ethnic backgrounds and social...
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
Jun 28, 2006

Marine management is all at sea

Our oceans and seas are in deep trouble, and if the Japanese government is to be believed, part of the blame rests with the whales.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WORDS TO LIVE BY
Jun 27, 2006

Tadanobu Tsunoda

Tadanobu Tsunoda, MD, 79, is the author of "The Japanese Brain" (now in its 38th Japanese edition), and the inventor of the Tsunoda Key Tapping Machine. He developed this simple analog system in the 1960s, and claims it is still the most accurate machine in the world for measuring the brainstem's switch...
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Jun 25, 2006

What's in it for them to return us to 'prewar values'?

The leaders of many countries evoke their nation's history as if it were an idyll of virtue and civility. They gaze into the mirror of the past and see no dark blemish, only purity, goodness and light.
Japan Times
LIFE
Jun 25, 2006

Lives in their hands

Uniformed officials of East Japan Railway Co. are solemnly but methodically at work. Their train has just made an emergency stop after running over a middle-age man, who is either unconscious or dead. The driver radios the control office in central Tokyo, from where police and an ambulance are alerted....
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 24, 2006

Japan heats up whaling wars

The battle over whaling has grown more acrimonious in recent years principally because Japan has become a more vociferous and belligerent advocate for a resumption of commercial whaling. In the recently concluded meeting of the International Whaling Commission (IWC), Japan's representative browbeat and...
JAPAN
Jun 24, 2006

Schools taking anticrime steps

Over 90 percent of elementary schools have implemented measures to help protect their students from crime, including "hazard maps," according to an education ministry survey.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / PERSONALITY PROFILE
Jun 24, 2006

Beatrice M. Bodart-Bailey

A new book published by the University of Hawaii Press appeared recently on bookshelves in Japan. Painstakingly written by Beatrice M. Bodart-Bailey, it is titled "The Dog Shogun: The Personality and Policies of Tokugawa Tsunayoshi."
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Jun 24, 2006

Irrepressible force raising funds for 3,000 kids

It seems ironic to find 30-year-old Sylvia Charczuk worrying about her biological clock when already she has 3,000 children. But her energy is so prodigious, her determination so single-minded, that it would take a very special kind of partner to fit into the scheme of things. She knows this, of course,...
Japan Times
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Jun 23, 2006

Brainstorm to save Shimokita

With the hip, culturally vibrant neighborhood of Shimokitazawa in western Tokyo's Setagaya Ward threatened by a major development project, participatory design group Urban Typhoon is organizing a series of workshops to raise awareness on the importance of preserving the culture of the area. The workshops,...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jun 23, 2006

She sticks the boot into a male world

There aren't a whole lot of women filmmakers and even fewer of them who choose to depict fighting, mayhem and group violence.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jun 22, 2006

Anime, J-indie equals 'Woodstock for geeks'

'Agrand collision of two Japanese subcultures -- anime and Japanese indie music," was one blogger's take on FanimeCon 2006, the biggest anime convention in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jun 22, 2006

The D.I.Y. route to rock stardom

From the suburbs of Tokyo to downtown Toronto is hardly the most direct route to pop stardom -- or one assured of success. But it was the path that blues-rock outfit Stone Deaf chose earlier this month in what was a bold move for a group whose sole claim to fame is having been Marky Ramone's backing...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / VIEWS FROM THE STREET
Jun 20, 2006

Should the "Kimigayo" be forced on schools?

Masae Takase Web shop owner, 31 When I was at school, singing the national anthem was just a natural thing to do. We didn't think of it as being right or wrong. I don't believe people should be forced into it, though. We should have the right to choose.
CULTURE / Books
Jun 18, 2006

Roles that lead a company to success

THE TEN FACES OF INNOVATION by Tom Kelley and Jonathon Littman. Doubleday, 276 pp., 2005, $29.95 (cloth). "It's the smile, stupid."
Japan Times
LIFE / WEEK 3
Jun 18, 2006

Retro's where the future's at

Japan's talking heads of a liberal persuasion are clearly troubled by a rising nationalistic sentiment they detect throughout the land. But while speculation on the geopolitical consequences of any such shift may be an absorbing topic, trends in the world of culture -- and the changing tastes of consumers...
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST
Jun 17, 2006

Those were the good old days

The other day I spied a foreign couple across the room in a Japanese restaurant. They were so new to Japan they bore an aura of green. Bright green. So bright, I had to squint.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jun 15, 2006

"Keiichi Tanaami-ism"

Ginza Graphic Gallery Closes in 12 days
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / VIEWS FROM THE STREET
Jun 13, 2006

Should Japan impose restrictions on non-Japanese-speaking-foreigners coming here to work?

Niels Hansen Business owner, 38 I just wonder if the Japanese would want the same standards applied to them if they went anywhere else. It would damage international business. I don't think it's a good path to go down when you start imposing borders.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 11, 2006

Ready for global discussion on migrants

NEW YORK -- Ever since national frontiers were invented, people have been crossing them -- not just to visit foreign countries, but to live and work there. In doing so, they have almost always taken risks, driven by a determination to overcome adversity and to live a better life.
CULTURE / Books
Jun 11, 2006

Explore the beauty of stoneware

JAPANESE WOOD-FIRED CERAMICS by Masakazu Kusakabe & Marc Lancet. Iola, Wisconsin: Krause publications, 2005, 320 pp., $44.99 (paper) The art of making ceramics originated in Japan during prehistoric times, and over recent centuries has evolved to rank higher even than painting in the eyes of this country's...
BUSINESS
Jun 10, 2006

Nonpermanent workers' training shortfalls hit

Part-time and contract workers in the manufacturing sector get less training than their permanent, full-time colleagues, raising concern that young people may not be gaining enough skills, according to a government report.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 10, 2006

Intolerance to the arts is growing in India

MADRAS, India -- The recent anger against director Ron Howard's latest film, "The Da Vinci Code," reminds us that intolerance against artistic freedom is growing in a world that we thought was past caring about such issues.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Jun 10, 2006

Scholar offers illumination on the 'Lotus Sutra'

Gene Reeves, who sounds like he might be an American cowboy but is in fact an internationally respected Buddhist scholar of the highest order, also ranks physically impressive: as tall as he is broad, with a fulsome beard used to going its own way.
EDITORIALS
Jun 8, 2006

The act of a professional?

Mr. Yoshiaki Murakami, who has drawn intense public attention as Japan's most controversial investment fund manager, was arrested Monday by the Tokyo Public Prosecutor's Office on suspicion of violating the Securities and Exchange Law. He is suspected of having engaged in insider stock trading when his...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jun 8, 2006

Seikado Bunko Art Museum shows off one-of-a-kind collection

Depictions of swashbuckling fights on Japanese battlefields have often graced the silver screen, bringing international fame to the samurai and his indispensable sword. Admired for their craftsmanship, swords hold a special place in Japan not only as weapons, but as an art form as well.

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