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CULTURE / Books
May 28, 2006

American intrigues disrupt quiet of Singapore and Seoul

THE AMBASSADOR'S WIFE by Jake Needham. Hong Kong: Prime Crime Press, 2006, 349 pp., £10 (paper). MORTAL ALLIES by Brian Haig. New York: Warner Vision Books, 2002, 580 pp., $6.99 (paper). When a maid finds the nude corpse of a Western female in a suite in Singapore's Marriott Hotel, all hell breaks loose....
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
May 28, 2006

William Blake, well traveled through the imagination of all

THE RECEPTION OF BLAKE IN THE ORIENT, edited by Steve Clark and Masashi Suzuki. London/New York: Continuum, 2006, 348 pp., with b/w illustrations, £45 (cloth). William Blake (1757-1827), poet and engraver, known for his mysticism, sentiment and the complex symbolism of his work, does not seem a likely...
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
May 28, 2006

Japan sleepwalks by design toward peace-renouncing poll

The Japanese people may soon be asked to make a momentous decision in a nationwide referendum. As I write this, the major political parties are at loggerheads over conditions under which that referendum will be conducted. Behind the closed doors of the Diet, but barely touched on in the media, this debate...
Japan Times
LIFE
May 28, 2006

Manga by any other name is . . .

With the video-game business now outgrossing Hollywood's box office, and anime being distributed to destinations as diverse as Patagonia and Phuket, the influence of Japan's entertainment industry on young people worldwide has never been as powerful.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art / NEW ART SEEN
May 25, 2006

Incidentally Capturing the city

Berlin is not beautiful like Paris, rich like London, or charming like Amsterdam. Prewar buildings in the German capital are pockmarked by bullet holes, while postwar architecture testifies to the city's division due to the Cold War -- American, British and French sectors were restored or rebuilt, the...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
May 25, 2006

Writing a challenge in clay for his proteges

When asked "What kind of ware do you make?," ceramic artist Kimpei Nakamura's tongue-in-cheek response is "Tokyo yaki (Tokyo Ware)." It's a label of his own invention that pokes fun at the traditional system of classifying ceramics by their ties to ancient kiln sites that existed long before the city...
JAPAN
May 24, 2006

Three firms hit for tax evasion

Chubu Electric Power Co. failed to declare about 7.6 billion yen in taxable income in the two-year period to March 2005, while Brother Industries Ltd. failed to declare about 2.2 billion yen in the two-year period to March 2004, tax agency sources said Tuesday.
LIFE / Language
May 23, 2006

Opening up to difference: The dialect dialectic

Many people in Japan lead a double life -- linguistically speaking, that is. In their community, they speak the hogen (dialect) of their city, town or village, while outside it they may be accustomed to use hyojungo (standard Japanese). Their native language, in the true sense of that word, is their...
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
May 21, 2006

Will Japan's 'positive influence' persist as it didn't before?

Well, the news is out, and it's good news.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
May 21, 2006

Lurking in the shadows, following in Edgar Allan Poe's footsteps

THE BLACK LIZARD AND BEAST IN THE SHADOWS, by Edogawa Rampo, translated by Ian Hughes, introduction by Mark Schreiber. Fukuoka: Kurodahan Press, 2006, 284 pp., $15.00 (paper). Edogawa Rampo, the pen name Taro Hirai (1894-1965) adopted in homage to Edgar Allan Poe (think phonetically), is the father of...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
May 21, 2006

Yukio Mishima's prequel to the end

YUKOKU (Patriotism), 1966, produced, written and interpreted by Yukio Mishima, associate producer Hiroaki Fujii, associate director Masaki Domoto, photographed by Kimio Watanabe. Tokyo: Toho DVD, 2006, Disc One: 28 minutes, Disc Two: 175 minutes, 6,300 yen. In 1961 Yukio Mishima published a short story,...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / PERSONALITY PROFILE
May 20, 2006

Norma Diaz de Polski

Mention Argentina, and two stereotypes spring to mind: soccer and beef.
BUSINESS
May 18, 2006

Bankruptcies surged 14.9% in April

The number of corporate bankruptcies in Japan jumped 14.9 percent in April from the previous year to 1,087, with debts totaling 426.78 billion yen, and among them are contractors stung by a state crackdown on bid-rigging, Tokyo Shoko Research said Wednesday.
BUSINESS
May 18, 2006

Honda to build three new plants

Honda Motor Co. announced business expansion plans Wednesday that include construction of a new factory in Japan and two more in North America by 2010 to meet increasing demand for its vehicles.
CULTURE / Books
May 14, 2006

Asia needs to fill its brand deficit

ASIAN BRAND STRATEGY by Martin Roll, Palgrave Macmillan, 2005, 272 pp., $42.50 (cloth). Shizuka Arakawa's graceful spins and spirals enthralled a nation as she won Japan the gold medal in women's figure skating at the Winter Olympics. But few would have cheered more loudly than Tokyo rice producer Toyorice...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
May 13, 2006

The Japan Lite reader shrine

Dear Amy: Every time I read you I get more sentimental for the land of my birth. I was born in Yokohama Japan, of British parents in 1920, and was evacuated just prior to Pearl Harbor, 1941. Thank you so much for all the pleasure you have given me over the years I have been reading you. I [went] back...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
May 13, 2006

Retired volunteer is a pioneer in world blind golf

Toshitake Hirose is tickled pink to think he is the only Japanese-Aussie in the world to be helping blind golfers play the game they love at the local and international levels.
CULTURE / Music
May 12, 2006

Fatboy Slim

Fatboy Slim, aka Norman Cook, is the DJ everyone can love: drunken college meatheads, glow-stick-toting ravers, classic rock lovers and parents of small children alike. His popularity has gone beyond mere love for his music; it has crept into the arena of institutional adoration.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
May 11, 2006

Children of Lesotho orphaned by AIDS

MASERU, Lesotho -- If I had heard a sadder song, I could not remember.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
May 11, 2006

Grappling with gravity

At the Dairakudakan performance space in Kichijoji, a group of female performers move with the particular deliberateness of the butoh dance style. Their partners in the dance are snow-white noh masks, fully true to tradition but with one important modification: lurid red tongues extend and curl from...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WORDS TO LIVE BY
May 9, 2006

Kae Wakita

Kae Wakita, 35, is a dermatologist and owner of Skin Solution Clinic in Shintomicho, not far from Tokyo's Ginza area. A confessed workaholic, she is perfectly happy with her life but not with the state of the Japanese medical system. She does, however, have a few good ideas about how to treat this ailing...
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
May 7, 2006

Giants pitcher Powell: 'Best month I ever had'

Congratulations to Yomiuri Giants pitcher Jeremy Powell on being named Central League Pitcher of the Month for April. Powell won all four of his starts on successive Tuesdays, April 4, 11, 18 and 25, finishing the month with a league-leading 1.03 ERA, two shutouts and three complete games.
CULTURE / Books
May 7, 2006

Following the great haiku poet on the road

BASHO'S JOURNEY: The Literary Prose of Matsuo Basho, translated with an introduction by David Landis Barnhill. State University of New York Press, 2005, 191 pp., $19.95 (paper). The great haiku poet Matsuo Basho (1644-1694) was first represented to the West just over a century ago. This was in W.G. Aston's...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / CLOSE-UP
May 7, 2006

May Shigenobu: A life less ordinary

In November 2000, May Shigenobu stood speechless in front of her TV set in Beirut, staring at crackly satellite images of her mother, Fusako Shigenobu, giving the thumbs-up and smiling as she was led away by police in Osaka, half a world away.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
May 5, 2006

Man from Wareika returns

During a break in a Tokyo recording session, Rico Rodriguez puts down his trombone to lark around on the roof with the teenage members of Oreskaband, the all-girl ska band he's been working with. That, at 72 years old, he is now old enough to be their grandfather doesn't even faze him.
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
May 5, 2006

Baroque 'n' roll

Collegiate ensemble the University of Southern California Thornton Chamber Choir performs at Suntory Hall in Tokyo on May 19. Under the leadership of Director William Dehning, the USC Chamber Choir has won seven prizes in international competitions. The USC Chamber Choir's repertoire spans a wide range...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
May 4, 2006

"Jim Lambie -- P.I.L"

Mizuma Art Gallery Closes in 10 days
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
May 4, 2006

"Chihiro Ito -- A Landscape Wall Painting"

Ai Gallery and SPC Gallery Closes in 16 days
COMMENTARY
May 1, 2006

From reforms to deadlock

On Wednesday, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi greeted the fifth anniversary of his rule, becoming Japan's third-longest serving postwar leader after Eisaku Sato and Shigeru Yoshida.

Longform

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