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COMMENTARY / World
Jul 30, 2006

Dawn of news for Chinese journalism

PRAGUE -- A remarkable incident has emboldened Chinese journalists. Earlier this year, the government suspended publication of the newspaper Bing Dian Weekly, provoking unprecedented open protest, which received extensive media coverage worldwide.
CULTURE / Books
Jul 30, 2006

Working for and beyond the call of hospitality

WELCOME TO SAWANOYA, Welcome to Japan, by Isao Sawa. Omega-Com Inc., 2006, 203 pp., 1,200 yen (paper). It seems at times as if, by common consent for the other's altering tastes, that East and West are exchanging positions. The West's love of the subtle side and back lighting, in the spirit of Junichiro...
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Jul 30, 2006

And in the Japanese corner is . . . Morita-san

Christina Morimoto is sitting in the office of the Tokyo modeling agency she works for, answering questions about her first acting job in the new movie "I Am Nipponjin."
Japan Times
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Jul 28, 2006

Oxford University students stage Shakespeare comedy

Oxford University Dramatic Society (OUDS) will arrive in Tokyo on Aug. 12-13 to perform William Shakespeare's "Love's Labour's Lost," described by the society as a "witty battle of the sexes" containing "verbal sparring and love-struck flirtation."
Japan Times
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Jul 28, 2006

'World Ballet Festival'

The triennial "World Ballet Festival" celebrates its 30th anniversary this year, bringing dancers from all over the world to Tokyo Bunka Kaikan from July 29-Aug. 17 to perform both classical pieces and newly commissioned short works getting their world premiere.
BUSINESS
Jul 28, 2006

Loan rate cap in works

An advisory panel at the Financial Services Agency will draw up by late August proposals on lowering the ceiling on interest rates on consumer loans and dealing with the problem of heavily indebted borrowers, agency officials said Thursday.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art / NEW ART SEEN
Jul 27, 2006

Finally hitting the local

It occurred to me recently that in the more than five years I've been covering contemporary art for The Japan Times, I've never once written about the gallery I visit most frequently -- The Konica Minolta Gallery in Shinjuku.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Jul 27, 2006

The revenge of the Red Demon

Playwright, actor and director Hideki Noda has been the undisputed leader of the Japanese contemporary theater world for 30 years. In that time he has written, directed and often acted in more than 60 plays in Japan -- all of them hits or superhits among his mushrooming fanbase. In fact, Noda has been...
JAPAN
Jul 26, 2006

Nikkei staffer held for illicit trades

Prosecutors arrested an employee of Nihon Keizai Shimbun Inc. on Tuesday afternoon on suspicion of insider trading, investigative sources said.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 24, 2006

Tories need to do more than pick on EU

BRUSSELS -- All the focus groups in Britain demonstrate that people do not care about Europe. Or at least they certainly don't treat it as a priority. The economy, health and education, as well as quality of life and security issues, con- sistently rate higher. Yet David Cameron's Tories are still falling...
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 24, 2006

Containing chemical weapons

Recent events from the Middle East to Northeast Asia have once again highlighted the unsatisfactory state of affairs with respect to the tool kit available to the international community for responding to the challenge of weapons of mass destruction. This makes it all the more curious as to why more...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Jul 23, 2006

Ordinary is illuminated

OZU YASUJIRO: TWO POSTWAR FILMS -- Late Spring & Early Summer, translated, by D.A. Rajakaruna. Colombo (Sri Lanka): Godage International Publishers (PVT) Ltd., 178 pp., $15 (paper). In Japan, in distinction from other countries, film scripts are sometimes read as literature. Those written by Yasunari...
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Jul 21, 2006

Dot artist makes his point

Yoshinobu Kato, a 74-year-old abstract painter, has been putting dots onto canvases and other surfaces for the past 30 years. His latest exhibition, "A dot, that is Cosmic," will be held at Gallery Bijutsu Sekai in Ginza Aug. 3-9.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jul 21, 2006

Ex-additive salesman warns of hidden dangers

A one-time food-additives salesman and chemist is using his insider information to warn people about the dangers lurking in the prepared-food sections at supermarkets and convenience stores.
Japan Times
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Jul 21, 2006

Swiss pianist plays Bach

Pianist Karl-Andreas Kolly has performed both chamber music and as a soloist since studying with Hans Schicker at the Music Academy in Zurich. Kolly performs an all-Bach program at Suda Hall in Tokyo on July 27.
CULTURE / Music
Jul 21, 2006

Greg Graffin "Cold As The Clay"

Having spent 26 years (and counting) fronting California punk act Bad Religion, Greg Graffin has earned the right to branch out. "Cold As The Clay" marks his second solo recording, and the first to be credited to his own name. A mix of time-honored and modern Americana, on "Cold As," Graffin, like many...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jul 20, 2006

Artist as inventor

You, like many, might be satisfied with just dreaming of flying. But for inventor/artist Kazuhiko Hachiya, such an idea is hardly in the realm of fantasy -- he thinks that if people want to fly, he should find a way of making it possible.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jul 20, 2006

First Ikebukuro International Art Festival

Ikebukuro Closes in 18 days
JAPAN
Jul 18, 2006

Carbon monoxide kills chef in Ginza

A chef was found dead of suspected carbon monoxide poisoning in his father's eatery in Tokyo's Ginza shopping district Monday and his parents, who discovered him, were hospitalized, rescue authorities said.
Japan Times
Reference / SO WHAT THE HECK IS THAT
Jul 18, 2006

Morijio

Dear Alice,
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Jul 16, 2006

For Fumiko Hayashi, not every cloud has a silver lining

FLOATING CLOUDS by Fumiko Hayashi, translated by Lane Dunlop. New York: Columbia University Press, 2006, 328 pp., $27.50 (cloth). Toward the end of her life Fumiko Hayashi (1903-1951) said that she did not think her work would outlive her. Happily, she was quite wrong: She remains one of Japan's most...
SOCCER / World cup
Jul 11, 2006

Domenech won't condemn Zidane

French coach Raymond Domenech defended Zinedine Zidane and accused Italy of provocation after his captain was sent off in the World Cup final on Sunday night.
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Jul 11, 2006

Multitasking recluses find route to respectability

There are many factors behind the shoshika (the declining birth rate) trend. One is mistrust on the part of Japanese women toward child rearing. The feeling is: Why have children and divest the best years of one's life bringing them up when they're likely to metamorphose into shonen-hanzaisha (underage...
JAPAN
Jul 9, 2006

Public finally gets to see long-lost Okamoto mural

A long-lost mural by the late painter Taro Okamoto was shown to the public for the first time ever Saturday in Tokyo, following a yearlong restoration.
BUSINESS
Jul 8, 2006

Spending cuts, deferring sales tax hike, get nod

The Cabinet on Friday approved an economic policy guideline for 2006 aimed at shoring up the government's woeful finances with spending cuts and tax revisions, but leaves the dreaded consumption levy hike for a later administration to deal with.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Jul 2, 2006

To be, or not to be published? That no longer is the question

SELF-PUBLISHING IN JAPAN: What You Need to Know to Get Started, by Kathleen Morikawa. Forest River Press, 2006, 76 pp., 1,800 yen (paper). The largest media development since the Gutenberg printing press is coming. The full force has not yet hit, but the waves are lapping our shores. Computers, scanners,...

Longform

Japan's growing ranks of centenarians are redefining what it means to live in a super-aging society.
What comes after 100?