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CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Jul 20, 2003

Excesses of the exotic: Siam in the eyes of the West

SIAM & THE WEST: 1500-1700, by Dirk Van der Cruysse, translated from the French by Michael Smithies. Chiang Mai: Silkworm Books, 2002, 564 pp., $32.50 (paper). Relations between Siam (now Thailand) and the rapacious West were distinguished by Siam's never having been colonized. The European powers --...
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 6, 2003

State of the 'empire'

BANGKOK — China has suffered most from the deadly severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) virus with thousands of victims, a few hundred deaths and new cases being uncovered daily as the disease spreads from major cities to the countryside.
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM NEW YORK
May 26, 2003

Casualties soar in America's war on words

NEW YORK -- During war, news manipulation comes to the fore; so does language manipulation. In the latest war against Iraq, as in the Persian Gulf War, the Pentagon sold a "Star Wars" depiction of U.S. technological prowess, blithely hiding the carnage it created. And many American news organizations...
JAPAN
Mar 13, 2003

Abductions new cause for text revisionists

OSAKA -- A group that supports revising history textbooks to exclude or downplay atrocities committed by Japan during the first half of the 20th century is now pushing for inclusion of North Korea's abductions of Japanese nationals as an example of human rights abuse.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Feb 16, 2003

A world of fashion at your fingertips

Whether they're designers in search of inspiration, wardrobe masters or mistresses in the theater or movies, students, or just lovers of beautiful things, those interested in the history of women's clothing no longer have to beat a path to Kyoto to see the world's largest private collection of fashion...
Japan Times
JAPAN / MUSEUM MUSINGS
Jul 6, 2002

Everyone's a winner at Tokyo sports gallery

One of most heart-warming memories of the soccer World Cup will be the rival players exchanging their shirts after each game.
COMMENTARY / JAPAN IN THE GLOBAL ERA
Jun 17, 2002

How to avert the risk of war with China

LAUSANNE, Switzerland -- In the rolling green countryside of West Sussex in South England, there is an estate called Wilton Park. Some readers of this column may be familiar with the place and the institution it has become: "Wilton Park conferences" occur throughout the year bringing together politicians,...
Japan Times
JAPAN / CLOSE NEIGHBORS
Apr 18, 2002

Grassroots ties aim to bypass diplomatic gridlock

One click on a mouse turns the hankul characters on an Internet chat site into a Japanese message of welcome, delighting elderly Japanese participants in an online exchange with some of their South Korean counterparts.
COMMENTARY / JAPAN IN THE GLOBAL ERA
Mar 18, 2002

'Gerontocrat' academicians with myopia

LAUSANNE, Switzerland -- After Harvard Professor Ezra Vogel's famous book "Japan as Number One" appeared in 1979, the West experienced a "learning from Japan" boom. I fully participated in this movement in both of its manifestations: publications, seminars etc., and the establishment of university Japanese...
JAPAN
Feb 3, 2002

TV anchor aims to set new standards for news reporting

Most television news programs in Japan neglect their responsibility to inform people of what is happening in society by failing to present news in an understandable way.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Jan 6, 2002

Deconstructing Tokyo

INSIDER'S TOKYO, by Angela Jeffs. Times Books International (Singapore), 2001, 280 pp., with numerous maps and photographs, 2,100 yen (paper) Tokyo must have more foreign-language books devoted to it than any other major city -- not only the guides, which endlessly proliferate, but also serious books...
CULTURE / Art
Sep 19, 2001

Land of the high-and-mighty

History seems to be a dirty word these days. Discussion of it is liable to raise questions of which country or race did what to whom, and whether financial compensation is due.
JAPAN
May 31, 2001

Seoul hopes for 'sincere' answer to textbook request

South Korean Ambassador Choi Sang Yong said Wednesday he hopes Japan will "respond sincerely" to Seoul's request to correct what it sees as factual errors in a controversial history textbook.
COMMENTARY
Feb 12, 2001

Destroying a fragile trust

In the semirural area near Tokyo where I and some others spend weekends, we have just suffered our first break-ins. Nothing serious. Someone, probably delinquent kids, going through unlocked parked cars looking for loose items. Far more interesting is why we have been able to leave our houses and cars...
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / PERSONALITY PROFILE
Feb 11, 2001

Christopher Hughes

Bath in southwestern England, his birthplace and home for his first 18 years, played its part in the makeup of Christopher Hughes. Several generations of his family have lived in that beautiful town of squares, crescents and terraces. Set in a bend of the River Avon and famed since Roman times, Bath...
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM MOSCOW
Feb 11, 2001

Yeltsin and Reagan revisited

This year there were two sad anniversaries in the first week of February: two former political superstars, U.S. President Ronald Reagan and Russian President Boris Yeltsin celebrated their birthdays in the shadow of severe health problems. Confined to hospital, they were unable to appreciate the cheering...
COMMENTARY
Feb 1, 2001

Resist the revisionist impulse

LONDON -- Digging up the past has become politics, not archaeology. All round the world, whether in dusty archives or beneath sand-covered mounds, new "facts" are being uncovered, half-forgotten outrages reanalyzed, old myths debunked, old grievances exhumed and apologies or compensation, or both, demanded....
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 1, 2001

U.S.-Japan ties face new challenges

Japan-U.S. relations now seem to be at a major turning point. This is not because we are entering a new millennium, but rather because various conditions that brought about past turning points in the history of bilateral relations now seem to be maturing and ripening once again.
COMMENTARY
Dec 18, 2000

At long last, signs of progress

During his Tokyo visit in October 1998, South Korean President Kim Dae Jung and then Japanese Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi signed a joint declaration on the bilateral partnership for the 21st century. In the document, Obuchi expressed "keen remorse" and apologized for the historical fact that Japan, through...
COMMUNITY
Dec 17, 2000

Naturalist issues guide to Tokyo wildlife

Kevin Short leads two quite distinct lives. In California, he is a husband and father, with a home, a dog and three cars. In Japan -- based in Chiba -- he is a natural history writer and environmental consultant, involved with fieldwork, writing, botanical illustration and lectures, and leading secret...
EDITORIALS
Sep 2, 2000

A fragile outpost in space

There are three kinds of people in the world: those who are intrigued by and optimistic about the International Space Station; those who are outraged by and skeptical of it; and those who look blank and say, "What International Space Station?"
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Nov 17, 1999

An eyewitness to early Meiji

REMEMBERING AIZU: The Testament of Shiba Goro, edited by Ishimitsu Mahito, translated with an introduction and notes by Teruko Craig. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1999; 160 pp., $37 (cloth), $19.95 (paper). A popular account of the beginnings of the Meiji Period (1868-1912) has it that the...
CULTURE / Books
Nov 17, 1999

Window on the fragile world of the Ainu

LAND OF ELMS: The History, Culture and Present-Day Situation of the Ainu People, by Toshimitsu Miyajima, translated by Robert Witmer. Ontario, Canada: United Church Publishing House, 1998; 184 pp., 2,000 yen (paper). Some books are published before the happy ending even happens, which can give readers...
JAPAN
Mar 17, 1999

Events set to mark 400th anniversary of Dutch ties

NAGASAKI -- 2000 marks the 400th anniversary of ties between Japan and the Netherlands, and various events are slated for the year to fete the shared history.
JAPAN
Mar 25, 1997

New group to fight wartime revisionism

In an attempt to counter moves to "denounce descriptions of Japan's wartime misconduct in history textbooks," 26 intellectuals set up a group Mar. 25 to protect freedom of expression and ensure accurate history is disseminated.
Japan Times
Special Supplements / Hiroshima G7 Summit Special
May 19, 2023

Seto Inland Sea area boasts lush nature, bustling cities, cultural heritage

The area surrounding the Seto Inland Sea, Japan’s largest inland body of water, constitutes the Setouchi area, represented by the cities of Hiroshima, where the G7 Summit will be held, Okayama, Matsuyama and Takamatsu. Spanning the prefectures of Hiroshima, Okayama, Ehime and Kagawa, respectively,...
Japan Times
WORLD / Science & Health
Apr 14, 2023

Oldest-known bat skeletons shed light on evolution of flying mammals

Fossils show that, early in their history, bats already possessed many traits seen in modern species.
Japan Times
WORLD
Mar 6, 2023

Biden marks Selma’s 1965 ‘Bloody Sunday’ with eye on 2024 race

The U.S. president sought to restrengthen ties with Black voters 58 years on from incident in which White state troopers attacked voting-rights demonstrators in the Alabama city.
Japan Times
JAPAN / History / THE LIVING PAST
Feb 19, 2023

What makes a good priest — good looks or a knack for violence?

It was a time when the temples owned great tracts of land. The priests who managed them were armed and pugnacious, ready to defend and possibly extend.

Longform

After the asset-price bubble crash of the early 1990s, employment at a Japanese company was no longer necessarily for life. As a result, a new generation is less willing to endure a toxic work culture —life’s too short, after all.
How Japan's youth are slowly changing the country's work ethic