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Japan Times
CULTURE / Art / CERAMIC SCENE
May 18, 2005

Spectacular diversity of clay

As noted in this column last month, Japanese ceramic art is finding a wider audience overseas. Many collectors search out the great potters of the past, such as Shoji Hamada (1894-1978) or Kanjiro Kawai (1890-1966), while more savvy collectors are looking to find out who's hot in Japan today.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art / NEW ART SEEN
May 18, 2005

Roppongi's art gallery boom

Roppongi, which used to be chiefly known as a pick-up party pit for Tokyo's ex-pat population, has recently begun to emerge as a contemporary art center. Spurred by the Mori Art Museum's opening in 2003, the neighborhood now presents the possibility of a short walking tour of new and interesting art...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
May 15, 2005

Composing with an eye on the big picture

The Aichi Expo, with its theme on "Nature's Wisdom" and its pavilions packed with technological wonders, obviously sees no irony in its situation. This contradiction may be highlighted, however, when composer Philip Glass brings his ensemble to perform the music of "Koyaanisqatsi." Directed by Godfrey...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
May 15, 2005

The last of the romantics: lost beauty and childhood

HELEN WADDELL'S WRITINGS FROM JAPAN, edited and introduced by David Burleigh. Dublin: Irish Academic Press, 2005, 184 pages, with b/w illustrations, 42.50 euros (cloth), 25 euros (paper). Now famous as a medieval savant, author of "The Wandering Scholars" and "Medieval Latin Lyrics," Helen Waddell (1889-1965)...
EDITORIALS
May 14, 2005

A Holocaust memorial

A monument 17 years in the making officially opened Tuesday in the heart of Berlin. The Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe -- a city block of blank gray concrete slabs or pillars erected near the German Parliament building -- drew predictably mixed responses. Yet, by all accounts, its American architect,...
COMMUNITY
May 1, 2005

Memories are made of . . . history managed and manipulated?

Way back in 1964 and 1965 I made extended trips to and around the Soviet Union. Memories that are 40 years old are hard enough to relate to the reality of the present, let alone when they are of a country that has ceased to exist. This, though, is precisely what I aim to do.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 30, 2005

A groundbreaking sentence in Spain

NEW YORK -- The recent sentencing in Spain of an Argentine former navy commander, Adolfo Scilingo, to 640 years in prison for crimes against humanity will have groundbreaking consequences for the trial of those guilty of similar crimes worldwide. As a result of this trial, crimes committed in Chile,...
JAPAN
Apr 30, 2005

May Day rallies draw over 200,000

More than 200,000 people attended May Day rallies across Japan on Friday, calling for peace and nuclear disarmament ahead of a key international conference on the matter.
COMMENTARY
Apr 27, 2005

Electoral fatigue takes a toll on Britain

LONDON -- The British general election takes place May 5. It was formally announced April 3 but electioneering has been going on for months and many voters had become bored even before the dissolution of Parliament. It is widely feared that boredom and disillusionment with politicians of all the parties...
EDITORIALS
Apr 26, 2005

Mending battered ties

It appears that Japan-China relations, severely strained by recent anti-Japanese demonstrations in Chinese cities, are beginning to move toward rapprochement. Credit goes to Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi and Chinese President Hu Jintao, who agreed on the urgent need to improve bilateral ties at a...
MORE SPORTS
Apr 26, 2005

Kitajima, Shibata selected for world championships

Athens Olympic breaststroke double gold medalist Kosuke Kitajima and freestyle Olympic gold medalist Ai Shibata were among 35 swimmers named Monday to compete in the world championships in July, the Japan Swimming Federation said.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 25, 2005

Enough blame to go around

HONOLULU -- Deteriorating relations among Japan, South Korea and China underscore the failure of leadership in all three countries. Recent events have triggered a downward spiral in relations, but this shift hasn't occurred in a vacuum. All three governments share the primary burden to set a strategic...
Japan Times
Features
Apr 24, 2005

Menswear to the rescue

The Fall 2005 season saw the Tokyo Collections in a sorry state.
COMMENTARY
Apr 24, 2005

A provincial pitch for votes

LONDON -- Britain is now in the grip of a general election campaign with voting due May 5. As with political campaigns generally in the modern world, this one is heavily oriented toward domestic issues and disputes. Globalization and the worldwide information revolution seem to have had the opposite...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Apr 24, 2005

Time for some Showa trivia and Heisei melodrama

GEISHA -- HARLOT -- STRANGLER -- STAR: A Woman, Sex & Morality in Modern Japan, by William Johnston. New York: Columbia University Press, 2004, 245 pp., $29.50, (cloth). ISOLATION, by Christopher Belton. New York: Leisure Fiction, 2003, $6.99, 372 pp., (paper). To be honest, I've never really understood...
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 24, 2005

Purge U.N. panel of the freedom-haters

STOCKHOLM -- For Sweden, my homeland, the United Nations is a sacred cow. But today, many Swedes, like others around the world, are having second thoughts. Three events incited these doubts. The first was the slaughter in Rwanda a decade ago of more than 800,000 people within 100 days -- probably the...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / PERSONALITY PROFILE
Apr 23, 2005

Nuzhat Niaz

"It is by God's grace that we are donors, not recipients. The sincerest form of gratitude is providing meaningful help to those weaker than ourselves."
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 22, 2005

CCP smacks of hypocrisy

LONDON -- At the end of his visit to India last week, China's Premier Wen Jiabao made a strong political attack on Japan. With respect to Japan's bid for a seat on an expanded U.N. Security Council (UNSC) Wen opined that "Only a country that respects history, takes responsibility for history and wins...
EDITORIALS
Apr 21, 2005

Security for Afghanistan

Afghanistan's president, Mr. Hamid Karzai, has announced that he wants a formal long-term strategic relationship with the United States. That seems only natural: The U.S. led the invasion of Afghanistan that put Mr. Karzai in power. Others worry that such a relationship could result in a permanent U.S....
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 20, 2005

Put a lid on rising Sino-Japanese tensions

WASHINGTON -- Relations between Japan and China, the two great powers of Northeast Asia, have in recent months sunk to their worst levels at least since Tiananmen Square in 1989. This past weekend's anti-Japanese riots in China were unprecedented in the modern era, but they were only the latest in a...
JAPAN
Apr 19, 2005

History not key issue: Chinese in Japan

OSAKA -- The current tensions between Japan and China have less to do with history textbooks and more to do with a long-term political and economic rivalry, according to some knowledgeable Chinese living in Japan.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 18, 2005

Howard boosts neighborly ties

SYDNEY -- A bridge between East Asia and the South Pacific has been formed. The way is open for economic and security links to be strengthened between the Asian mainland and its Southern Hemisphere neighbors.
SPORTS / SPORTS SCOPE
Apr 15, 2005

Labor icon Miller: NHL players didn't get message out

Well, I never thought it would come to this.
EDITORIALS
Apr 13, 2005

Troubling events in China

The recent wave of anti-Japanese demonstrations in China raises questions about Beijing's will to stabilize the situation. At the beginning of this month, demonstrators went on a rampage in Sichuan and Shenzhen in southern China, smashing windows of a Japanese supermarket and committing other acts of...
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
Apr 12, 2005

Credit card fraud, bike attacks and clothes swap

More on accidents Last month, two people in different parts of Tokyo -- teacher Kristin Newton (who had to use a cane for three weeks) and natural healer/nutritionist Daniel Babu (still suffering headaches) -- were hit by bikes ridden by Japanese teenagers who then fled.

Longform

Mount Fuji is considered one of Japan's most iconic symbols and is a major draw for tourists. It's still a mountain, though, and potential hikers need to properly prepare for any climb.
What it takes to save lives on Mount Fuji