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Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Mar 6, 2009

'Plastic City'

You can take the boy out of Tokyo but you can't take Tokyo out of the boy. Jo^ Odagiri, currently described by the Japanese media as "the most Tokyo-like of actors" stars in "Plastic City," an ambitious, multicultural project by Nelson Yu Lik-Wai (best known as director Jia Zhang-Ke's cinematographer)...
SOCCER / J. League
Mar 6, 2009

J. League also-rans looking to change gear

The following is the first of a two-part J. League preview for the upcoming season. Team-by-team previews of the nine bottom-ranked teams competing in the first division are listed.
Japan Times
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Mar 6, 2009

Dancing to the rhythm of destruction

Listening to echoes of the dead through sound art and experimental dance, the audience at a poignant artistic event on March 10 will experience for themselves something of the infamous Tokyo Fire Bombing of World War II when — at 00:08 on March 10, 1945 — the first waves of U.S. bombers began dumping...
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball / WORLD BASEBALL CLASSIC
Mar 5, 2009

Japan hungry for second WBC title

Ichiro Suzuki expects Asian baseball to once again show the world its might on the international stage over the next two weeks.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Mar 5, 2009

Elementary school English: Ready or not

Poor English skills and coordination with visiting English speakers are just two of the problems worrying elementary school teachers as the government's two-year transition period to inaugurate weekly classes in the language begins next month.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / GLOBAL ECONOMY SYMPOSIUM
Mar 3, 2009

Falling U.S. demand, investment challenges export-driven Asia

Asia will need to brace for sharply reduced consumption in the United States over an extended period following the global financial crisis, and change the export-dependent structure of its economies and create more regional demand to drive their growth, experts told a recent symposium in Tokyo.
BUSINESS / JAPANESE PERSPECTIVES
Mar 2, 2009

Zero-rate bonds must be studied but 'invoice system' shows promise

F inance ministers and central bankers from the Group of Seven top economies wrapped up two days of talks last month with the recognition that the global economy will continue to deteriorate this year, and urged governments to act in concert to stabilize their finance sectors and inject stimulus to boost...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Mar 1, 2009

Human Rights Watch coming to Tokyo

Civilians are killed as the Sri Lankan military closes in on the Tamil Tiger rebels.
EDITORIALS
Feb 28, 2009

Mr. Obama's vision

Technically speaking, U.S. President Barack Obama's address to a joint meeting of Congress on Tuesday was not a state of the union speech. The president has been in office a little more than a month and he felt that was not enough time to render a judgment on the state of the nation. In fact, the speech...
JAPAN
Feb 28, 2009

Aso short of excuses for delaying election

Friday's passage of the fiscal 2009 budget and related bills through the Lower House was bittersweet for Prime Minister Taro Aso, who still faces the dilemma of when to call a general election.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / FUZZY LOGIC
Feb 27, 2009

True icon of indie

The Wedding Present's latest album, "El Rey," is one of the best records I've heard over the last few years and has also been widely lauded in the British music media. Criminally, it has not been picked up for distribution in Japan. But you'll be able to hear the new songs at the band's upcoming Japan...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Feb 27, 2009

Linking video games to their visual history

Think of post-World War II popular culture in Japan as it relates to contemporary art, and you invariably arrive at Murakami Takashi and his Kaikai Kiki company/studio. But a new generation that draws from Japanese pop culture — and yet has no close connections to Murakami's art stable — has emerged...
BUSINESS
Feb 26, 2009

UBS cancels wrong ¥3 trillion order

UBS AG's local unit placed an erroneous ¥3 trillion Capcom Co. convertible-bond order Wednesday that was subsequently canceled, the Tokyo Stock Exchange said.
COMMENTARY
Feb 25, 2009

Building an Asian safety net

Asian finance ministers have agreed to build a regional safety net to help countries withstand currency weakness and avoid a financial meltdown. However, they appear to be making haste slowly when the deepening global recession demands decisive action.
BUSINESS / U.S. DIPLOMACY SYMPOSIUM
Feb 24, 2009

Introspective Europe may find it difficult accepting U.S.'s wider world view

Despite widespread public enthusiasm in Europe for the new U.S. administration of President Barack Obama, long-term worrying trends remain that confront the trans-Atlantic relationship, said James Goldgeier, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations.
EDITORIALS
Feb 22, 2009

The freedom of Mr. Khan

On its face, the decision to release Mr. Abdul Qadeer Khan from house arrest in Pakistan is a slap in the face of international opinion and a blow to efforts to halt the proliferation of nuclear weapons. According to Pakistan's Foreign Ministry, the work of the world's greatest proliferator "is a closed...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Feb 22, 2009

Be it booze or cheese, LDP loves to court controversy

Was he or wasn't he? That is the question the media wrestled with last week when discussing former Finance Minister Shoichi Nakagawa's behavior at the Valentine's Day news conference held during the Group of Seven meeting in Rome. By this point everyone seems convinced he was drunk, but the relationship...
Japan Times
LIFE
Feb 22, 2009

Refuge . . . of a sort

The main character of the one-act play that follows is loosely based on the few known facts concerning a Russian nobleman-refugee named Semyon Nikolaevitch Smirnitsky. Born in St. Petersburg in 1879, Smirnitsky fled the Russian Revolution in 1919 and spent the rest of his life in Japan, mostly in Otaru,...
SOCCER / PREMIER REPORT
Feb 21, 2009

Manchester United looking like a juggernaut

LONDON — It is not so much a question of when Manchester United will lose again in the Premier League, as when it will even concede a goal.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 21, 2009

U.S. policy shift in South Asia

LONDON — The recent visit by U.S. Special Envoy to Afghanistan Richard Holbrooke to South Asia comes at a time of growing unease in the region and underscores the Obama administration's efforts to formulate a new strategy for winning the Afghan war.
Reader Mail
Feb 19, 2009

Harvard has yet to sell itself

Regarding the Feb. 5 article "Why can't Japanese kids get into Harvard?": The answer is that they are not interested. Harvard is difficult, expensive and far from Japan. Although there are many promising Japanese candidates for Harvard, they usually go to medical schools or to Tokyo University. Therefore,...
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 18, 2009

Stunned Australia starts searching for answers

SYDNEY — The worst natural disaster in Australian history has killed at least 200 people, destroyed 7,000 houses and a dozen villages, and left a nation agonizing over the question — why did we let this happen?
EDITORIALS
Feb 17, 2009

Beware of protectionism

The U.S. House and Senate have adopted a $787 billion economic stimulus package and the U.S. Treasury Department has announced a $2.5 trillion rescue plan for the U.S. financial system. The main point of the financial system stabilization plan is to set up a public-private investment fund to finance...
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 16, 2009

Involve, don't attack, China

HONG KONG — U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on her maiden overseas trip has a golden opportunity to show that the new administration of Barack Obama understands and is prepared to make its best efforts to put America's most important bilateral relationship on a surer footing. I'm not talking...
COMMENTARY
Feb 14, 2009

When it's wrong to protect

LONDON — A government's first duty is to protect its citizens. So say all the authorities and experts. It sounds simple, but in practice and in real life it is a very complex and problematic matter.
JAPAN
Feb 13, 2009

Waffling Aso roasted on public griddle

If there is one thing contributing to Prime Minister Taro Aso's sagging approval rate, it's his flip-flopping on the issues.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Feb 13, 2009

Theater unchained in Marx-themed play

The grave of Karl Marx in Highgate Cemetery, North London, is marked by a bronze bust of the German political philosopher and economist atop a massive granite block on which is inscribed: "Workers of all lands unite."

Longform

Dangami House is a 180-year-old former samurai residence of the Kato clan, who ruled over Ozu, Ehime Prefecture, until the Meiji Restoration.
A house, a legacy and the quiet work of restoration in rural Japan