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CULTURE / Books
Feb 17, 2008

Max Hastings' analysis in a bombshell

NEMESIS: The Battle for Japan, 1944-45, by Max Hastings. HarperPress, 2007, £25, 699 pp., (cloth). (U.S. release is titled RETRIBUTION: The Battle for Japan, 1944-45. Knopf, 2008, $35) At Frankfurt airport, the insecurity police screening hand baggage discovered something in my bag that alarmed them....
COMMENTARY
Feb 15, 2008

McCain's stubbornness raises questions

LOS ANGELES — One of my all-time favorite Chinese proverbs goes like this: "To listen well is as powerful a means to influence as to talk well, and it is essential to all true conversations."
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Feb 15, 2008

'Fast Food Nation'

Once upon a time, the spread of freedom and democracy was measured in the spread of hamburger franchises. Beaming network correspondents would report from places like Moscow or Beijing on how formerly gray and monolithic communist societies had opened their doors to the Golden Arches. This, truly, was...
COMMENTARY
Feb 14, 2008

Why is the Pentagon begging for billions?

LONDON — Last week the Pentagon asked Congress for the biggest defense budget since World War II: $515 billion, plus an additional $70 billion to cover the costs of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq for part of the coming year. The United States is proposing to spend more on the armed forces, quite...
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 14, 2008

Chinese views on North Korea

In recent years, issues pertaining to North Korea have been hotly debated by Chinese institute researchers. The publication of conflicting views in authoritative media suggests that these debates are sanctioned by the Chinese leadership.
Reader Mail
Feb 14, 2008

Let tourists know where they stand

Regarding the Feb. 7 article "Tsukiji looks to curb glut of pesky tourists": There is no question that there are too many tourists in Tokyo's Tsukiji fish market, although whether they are "pesky" is a matter of opinion. It's a wonder it has taken the merchants this long to say something.
COMMENTARY
Feb 13, 2008

A growing laundry list against Beijing

LOS ANGELES — Some double-standards are two-faced in the extreme, but not all.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Feb 13, 2008

Let science empower you

The setting: The 350-year-old Royal Society in London, whose magnificent neo-Classical base overlooks the Mall, which has Buckingham Palace at one end of the boulevard and Trafalgar Square at the other. The speaker: Lord Rees of Oxford, the Astronomer Royal. Martin Rees is the current president of the...
JAPAN
Feb 13, 2008

Okinawa rape case sparks resentment

A U.S. Marine who allegedly raped a 14-year-old Okinawa girl was turned over to prosecutors Tuesday in a case that has prompted government officials to voice outrage and warn the incident could affect the Japan-U.S. alliance and the reorganization of U.S. bases in the prefecture.
JAPAN
Feb 11, 2008

U.S. base proponent takes Iwakuni mayoral race

IWAKUNI, Yamaguchi Pref. — Voters here Sunday put hopes for economic revitalization ahead of concerns about a U.S. military base by electing Yoshihiko Fukuda, a former Liberal Democratic Party member of the Lower House, as mayor.
Japan Times
LIFE
Feb 10, 2008

Stricken land of soldiers and slaves

The Saffron Revolution is Burma's 9/11; much will never be the same again after the killing, arrest and torture of monks by the government.
Reader Mail
Feb 10, 2008

Patriotic love can't be compelled

Regarding the Feb. 5 article "Kanagawa to keep tracking anti-anthem instructors": Any country that attempts to compel anyone, for any reason, to stand and sing a patriotic song should stop and ask itself why it would be necessary to do this.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Feb 10, 2008

There's no way of stopping the poisoned food sent from abroad

Last week, when the Chinese government sent five experts to talk with Japanese counterparts about those pesticide-tainted frozen gyoza (Chinese dumplings) imported from their country, the head of the team, Li Chunfeng, expressed concern over the feelings of Japanese consumers. He also offered a veiled...
CULTURE / Books
Feb 10, 2008

Risk-taking 'Cure' for J-Horror

THE FILMS OF KIYOSHI KUROSAWA: Master of Fear, by Jerry White. Berkeley, CA: Stonebridge Press, 2007, $19.95 (paper) Kiyoshi Kurosawa has been an international cult favorite since the release of "Cure," his breakthrough film, in 1997. Telling the strange tale of a blanked-out young man who hypnotizes...
EDITORIALS
Feb 9, 2008

Consensus on surrogate birth

A committee of the Science Council of Japan has made public a draft report that calls for enacting a law to ban surrogate births in general. Since surrogate births include ethical, legal and medical problems, medical service people, experts in ethical problems, health authorities and lawmakers should...
BUSINESS / CHINA SYMPOSIUM
Feb 7, 2008

Will Beijing's military spending lead to 'security dilemma'?

Uncertainties over China's intentions behind its rapidly rising defense spending — or how it will use the new capabilities — are seen as a source of potential instability in Asia. Participants at the Jan. 23 symposium discussed whether this will cause a "security dilemma" in the region and how China's...
COMMENTARY
Feb 7, 2008

Russia disappoints the world

LONDON — What are we to do about Russia?
Japan Times
JAPAN
Feb 6, 2008

Shakespeare 'karuta' ambition realized

To be or not to be has never really been a question for Shakespeare aficionado Ayako Yoshimi.
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital / JAPAN TIMES BLOGROLL
Feb 6, 2008

Tokyo Jazz Site

Brooklyn-born James Catchpole runs Tokyo Jazz Site, a blog that documents the capital's extensive jazz scene.
Reader Mail
Feb 3, 2008

Policies discourage childbearing

Moving the birthrate up from its presently pitiful levels is a task for which every member and segment of Japan government, community, business has some degree of responsibility. From the point of view of the business world, it would be helpful if pricing policies made the participation of families in...
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / ON THE ROAD
Feb 3, 2008

Nano's low price comes at a cost

It's hardly surprising that Tata Group Chairman Ratan Tata chose the theme from the film "2001: A Space Odyssey" as the soundtrack to his unveiling of the Nano mini-car. Simply put, this car is epoch-making. It is the Ford Model T of India.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Feb 2, 2008

Celebrating black Americans in Yamanashi

American diplomat Ayanna Hobbs is a dynamo of energy and enthusiasm. She's just finished her weekly Japanese class, and thinks it the most amazing coincidence that her wonderful teacher happens to be from Yamanashi, the prefecture that lies so close to her heart.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 1, 2008

Suharto puzzle still in play

HONG KONG — In death, Indonesia's former President Suharto was praised as a great and almost saintly ruler. At Suharto's state funeral Monday, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono saluted the casket, one general to another, and declared "His service is an example to us."
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 30, 2008

New approach for the DPJ

When the Lower House of the Diet passed the antiterror special measures law on Jan. 11, it became clear that the Democratic Party of Japan is not in control of the political situation. After briefly setting the agenda in the aftermath of the July 29 Upper House election by opposing the refueling mission...

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