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Reader Mail
Aug 14, 2008

No-name arrests don't seem right

Regarding Robert McKinney's opinion ("No advantage in a media circus," Aug. 7 letter) of my July 31 letter ("A HREF="http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/rc20080731a4.html">Mind boggles at police reports"): Perhaps the female slasher who attacked six at Hiratsuka Station is "mentally impaired" —...
SPORTS / ODDS AND EVENS
Aug 14, 2008

'Underdog' Gay ready to face his date with destiny

BEIJING — I spent an hour listening to one of the three fastest men living on the planet speak in slow, articulate sentences earlier this week.
CULTURE / Stage
Aug 14, 2008

Staffing decisions at the NNTT cause a stir in theater world

The Japanese theater world is currently in crisis over the question of to whom public theaters belong, since the decision by the New National Theatre Tokyo (NNTT) to appoint new artistic directors for each of its three divisions. The disquiet has been caused by revelations following a June 30 announcement...
OLYMPICS
Aug 13, 2008

Phelps in esteemed company at top of Mount Olympus

BEIJING — Here's the answer to an obscure trivia question: Michael Phelps' middle name is Fred.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Aug 12, 2008

Custody battles: an unfair fight

"Sport at its best obliterates divisions between peoples, such as ostentatious flag-waving and exaggerated national sentiment." New York Times senior writer Howard W. French — who has covered China for the past five years, was Tokyo bureau chief from 1999 to 2003, and has lived overseas for all but...
BUSINESS / THE VIEW FROM EUROPE
Aug 11, 2008

Beijing squeezed by Olympic ideals, populist distortions

When the Olympic games were awarded to Beijing in 2001, more than a few questions were raised about the host country. It was clear from the start that China was not just making a bid to host a sporting event — it was claiming a place in the developed world.
OLYMPICS
Aug 10, 2008

Important message not quite lost in translation

BEIJING — Olympic blunder No. 1: For any writer making his first trip to the Olympics, the individual will make his/her share of silly mistakes: getting from Point A to Point B in time, misreading the event schedules, etc.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Aug 10, 2008

Celebrity rules as the Olympics strays far from its ideal

The big story this year in competitive swimming is the LZR Racer swimsuit, which was developed by the British sportswear manufacturer Speedo. At least six world records have been set by swimmers wearing the suit. Studies have shown that its drag-diminishing properties lower racing times by 1.9 to 2.2...
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Aug 10, 2008

Engineering a historical oblivion for soldiers of the wrong wars

My dad was a lucky man. Born in 1903, he was just too young for service in World War I and a bit too old for the same in World War II. Not that he couldn't have volunteered for the latter. He certainly could have, but decided not to.
JAPAN
Aug 9, 2008

For DPJ, it's solidarity vs. debate

Whatever other motivations may have been in play, Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda's recent reshuffle of his Cabinet was surely intended to raise the low support rate for his Liberal Democratic Party-New Komeito ruling coalition in anticipation of the next general election.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Aug 9, 2008

'Hyakunin' translations capture commission prize

In the same way that few British people have read all of Shakespeare's sonnets but many can quote at least a few lines of the lyric tradition, any adult who has gone through the Japanese school system is familiar with the Ogura "Hyakunin Isshu."
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Aug 8, 2008

'The Dark Knight'

Like a plague of locusts, the superhero movies descend on us this summer. August brings us "Hancock," with Will Smith as an alcoholic, irresponsible and quite unfunny superhero; "The Incredible Hulk," which is practically a remake of 2003's "Hulk (presumably Ang Lee's version wasn't stupid enough); and...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Aug 8, 2008

Batman hits Tokyo

"Welcome to a world without rules" is the tag-line for "The Dark Knight," but, as usual these days, the press conference for the movie held at Roppongi Hills sure had a few. Rule No. 1, of course, was: Do not ask the stars questions about anything except the movie.
Reader Mail
Aug 7, 2008

No advantage in a media circus

Regarding David Chester's July 31 letter, "Mind boggles at police reports": What business is it of his how police conduct their investigations? Often in the United States, once a suspect's name is in the media, there's a circus on the airwaves and the gossip magazines do a hatchet job on the suspect....
SPORTS / ODDS AND EVENS
Aug 7, 2008

Beijing putting best foot forward as opening ceremony draws near

BEIJING — The Olympic hosts want to make a good first impression. That's no big surprise. The world is watching, and it's why you are greeted by one set of smiling volunteers when you walk off the airplane at Beijing Capital International Airport.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / OLD NIC'S NOTEBOOK
Aug 6, 2008

City gone wild

In June this year I took a group of Japanese friends and members of our Afan Woodland Trust up here in the Nagano hills on a trip to Britain. We went on an All Nippon Airways tour designed for people with an interest in ecology and nature restoration, and we visited our "twin" forest, the Afan Argoed...
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball / JAPAN NATIONAL BASEBALL TEAM
Aug 5, 2008

'Hoshino Japan' shakes off injury concerns as preparations heat up

The Olympics haven't started yet, but "Hoshino Japan" has already dodged a bullet.
JAPAN
Aug 3, 2008

Ibuki tells LDP to draft tax hike scenarios

Finance Minister Bunmei Ibuki said Saturday the ruling Liberal Democratic Party needs to propose a scenario on how and when to ask for a tax hike before it starts campaigning for the next general election.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Aug 3, 2008

The new language of translated films

CINEMA BABEL: Translating Global Cinema, by Abe Mark Nornes. Univ. of Minnesota Press, 2008, 304 pp.,$22.50 (paper) Though foreign film is now seen by all, we are still dependent on translation to discover what is going on up on the big screen or on the little tube. This translation of dialogue can be...
JAPAN
Aug 2, 2008

High-rise concrete pour hits man

A man was seriously injured Friday afternoon after a continuous stream of wet concrete splattered him from eight stories above at a building under construction in Minato Ward, Tokyo, police said.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST
Aug 2, 2008

Martial and marital arts

"So. . . Do you, like, do karate? Or what?"
BUSINESS
Aug 2, 2008

New team to seek tax hikes

Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda brought in a new economic team Friday to show his commitment to reconstruct debt-ridden finances through higher taxes, but economists warn it will not be easy for the government to raise taxes when consumer sentiment is already on the skids.
JAPAN
Aug 2, 2008

Fukuda reshuffles Cabinet, LDP leaders

To boost his acutely low popularity, Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda reshuffled his Cabinet and Liberal Democratic Party executives Friday, replacing 13 of his 17 ministers.
COMMENTARY
Aug 2, 2008

Group of Three or G-13?

The Toyako, Hokkaido, summit witnessed moves to expand the Group of Eight forum of leading industrial nations through the addition of China, India and other new members.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Aug 1, 2008

'Yami no Kodomotachi'

In our anything-goes age, pedophilia remains one subject that makes everyone from film industry executives to ordinary fans nervous, to put it mildly. In "Lolita," Stanley Kubrick made the title character older than the 12-year-old in Vladimir Nabokov's notorious novel, while suggesting the sex rather...
SOCCER / SOCCER SCENE
Aug 1, 2008

Sorimachi's squad faces big challenge

With its constantly changing cast and seemingly endless running time, Japan's Olympic soccer team has begun to resemble a TV soap opera.
EDITORIALS
Aug 1, 2008

Paying up to be promoted

A corruption scandal involving the Oita prefectural board of education is expanding. At first, the corruption concerned teacher recruitment: Five educators, including a former No. 2 board official, have been indicted in this connection. Now it is also known that teachers who wanted to be promoted to...

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