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CULTURE / Art / INSIDE ART
Aug 28, 2008

Why curators stay at home

When I interviewed 28-year-old curator Shinya Watanabe a month ago, he surprised me when he said his dream was to curate Documenta, the massive exhibition of international contemporary art held once every five years in Kassel, Germany. He might as well have said all he wanted was to be the most famous...
JAPAN
Aug 27, 2008

Seiko Noda: The time is ripe for consumer agency

Establishment of a consumer protection agency couldn't come at a better time, what with the current deterioration of the consumer environment, consumer affairs minister Seiko Noda said Tuesday.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Aug 27, 2008

Steps eyed for temps' plight

The Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry may submit a bill to the Diet this fall that will urge, but not require, temp staffing agencies to pursue regular employment for the workers they dispatch in a bid to bring more stability to the lives of the underpaid.
JAPAN
Aug 27, 2008

Ota downplays flap over funding

A political support group for agriculture minister Seiichi Ota declared more than ¥23 million in office fees in 2005 and 2006 in its annual political funding reports for an office registered at the Tokyo home of his ministerial secretary, even though no rent money was actually paid.
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM NEW YORK
Aug 25, 2008

The longest day ever for Japan

I recently stumbled upon a YouTube recording — actually, two — of the Showa Emperor telling his subjects over the radio that Japan was accepting defeat. The first one I heard was what appeared to be a cleaned-up version; the second was the one with static, bits of which I had heard before. This was,...
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Aug 24, 2008

'Nation of copycats' maligns Japan's fine science and technology

One of the most commonly discussed issues of national character in Japan revolves around the question of personal creativity. Put simply, it is this: Are the Japanese lacking in the DNA of originality?
SOCCER / PREMIER REPORT
Aug 23, 2008

Barwick's departure comes as no surprise

LONDON — England's uninspiring 2-2 draw against the Czech Republic on Wednesday was overshadowed by the news that Brian Barwick is to leave his post as chief executive of the Football Association after four years in it.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Aug 23, 2008

Reaping summer's rewards

In July, a package arrived on my genkan doorstep like all packages arrive at my house — with a thud. I could hear the postman grunt out a greeting before he shut the screen door behind him. I went downstairs to investigate the thud.
BUSINESS
Aug 23, 2008

Wal-Mart gives credit-starved companies samurai bond with Japan

Corporate borrowers are turning to Japan for cash that is becoming increasingly hard to get anywhere else in the world.
OLYMPICS
Aug 22, 2008

Team USA hoping for golden birthday treat

BEIJING — Kobe Bryant turns 30 on Saturday. U.S. basketball teammate Michael Redd celebrates his 29th birthday on Sunday.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 21, 2008

Moscow called West's bluff

Forty years ago this week, the night sky above Prague began to rumble with the sound of transport aircraft. On distant frontiers, tanks lurched forward. The invasion of Czechoslovakia had begun.
COMMENTARY
Aug 21, 2008

World gives Russia an unfair rap

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is an intelligent woman. So how can she possibly want to tell the world that Russia's response to the Georgian attack on South Ossetia resembled the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Aug 21, 2008

Betting on Beijing

In late April this year, two Tokyo galleries set up shop in Beijing just in time for the Olympic fervor, believing that Beijing, rather than Tokyo, was the place to bring contemporary Japanese art to an international audience. Sueo Mitsuma of Mizuma Gallery in Nakameguro opened Mizuma & One and Yumie...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Aug 21, 2008

A linguistic boxing match from a true classic

Internationally acclaimed English theater director David Leveaux first visited Japan 20 years ago as the substitute director of "Dangerous Liaisons" after an English colleague had to pull out. Now Leveaux, 50, is back in his second home after a bewildering series of trips from his London base to Vienna,...
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital / IGADGET
Aug 20, 2008

This mask is used for seeking, not hiding

Photo mask: Underwater photography for the average consumer usually entails picking a waterproof instant camera with a good wrist strap, or in extreme cases, encasing valuable equipment in some expensive one-of-a-kind plastic capsule, either way ending up with often disappointing results.
OLYMPICS / ODDS AND EVENS
Aug 19, 2008

Japan's judoka should be saluted

BEIJING — Every four years there are great expectations for Japan's judoka at the Summer Olympics.
Japan Times
OLYMPICS / 2008 BEIJING OLYMPICS: SWIMMING
Aug 17, 2008

Phelps wins fly, ties Spitz with 7th gold

BEIJING — Michael Phelps has obliterated swimming records left and right during the 2008 Beijing Games.
EDITORIALS
Aug 17, 2008

Mr. Mugabe's maneuvers

Never count Mr. Robert Mugabe out. That is surely the lesson of events of the last few months. Despite losing presidential and parliamentary elections, facing regional and international criticism and potential isolation, Zimbabwe's president remains determined to maintain his grip on power.
OLYMPICS / 2008 BEIJING OLYMPICS: BASEBALL
Aug 17, 2008

China wins first game

In preliminary-round action, Taiwan's batters scored four runs in the top of the 12th inning to break a 3-3 tie. However, host nation and newcomer China erupted for five runs in the bottom frame to upset Taiwan 8-7 and claim the country's first-ever Olympic win in baseball.
JAPAN / History / JAPAN TIMES GONE BY
Aug 17, 2008

1908 Olympics, Tokyo drunks and a hot summer

100 YEARS AGO
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST
Aug 16, 2008

Geeks I have known

The meeting itself is not unusual. I have had students seek my consul before — on all kinds of topics.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Aug 16, 2008

Yoga helps bring balanced stance

Every morning, Linda Gould opens the doors and windows of Riverside Yoga studio in Hadano, Kanagawa Prefecture, and feels her body relax, spirit quicken and mind lighten.
EDITORIALS
Aug 16, 2008

Cloudy economic outlook

The Cabinet Office has announced that Japan's gross domestic product in the April-June quarter shrank 0.6 percent, or an annualized 2.4 percent, from the previous quarter in real terms — the first drop in four quarters and the largest drop since the July-September quarter of 2001 when the economy shrank...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Aug 15, 2008

Google photos raise privacy issue in Japan

Without ever setting foot in a neighborhood, Google Inc.'s Street View service allows anyone to take a tour by computer.
Reader Mail
Aug 14, 2008

English program may disappoint

I have been reading about the program to bring 300,000 foreign students to Japan, and to increase the number of offerings in English. But I would have to question why anyone would want to study in an English program here.

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