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COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST
Oct 24, 2009

A little less east of Eden

John Steinbeck's 1952 novel, "East of Eden," is a tale of two families and one city — Salinas, Calif. — with the plot hinging on the sibling rivalry of a pair of brothers. The movie came along in 1955, winning James Dean a posthumous Academy Award nomination in the role of more convoluted brother....
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Oct 24, 2009

Concretology — getting lost inside a mammoth structure

Japan is the home of concretology. This form of architecture started in the 1960s as a way to use molds, iron bars and rendering to form structures that make people say, "Whoa!"
Japan Times
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Oct 23, 2009

Kiwis take promotional punt over to Tokyo Tower

A giant inflatable rugby ball will appear at the foot of Tokyo Tower for one week from Oct. 28 to advertise the next Rugby World Cup to be held across New Zealand in 2011, also coinciding with the first-ever Bledisloe Cup to be held in Japan — New Zealand's All Blacks vs. Australia's Qantas Wallabies...
CULTURE / Books
Oct 18, 2009

The popular consensus: What's not to like?

FOREIGNERS WHO LOVED JAPAN, by Naito Makoto & Naito Ken. Kodansha International, 2009, 255 pp., ¥1,200 (paper) Arguably, Donald Richie's "The Honorable Visitors," a series of profiles of foreigners who lived or put in significant time here, is the standard against which most writings on expatriates...
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Oct 18, 2009

Obama exclusive: Soda-pop war looms in Americans' best interests

A couple of days ago I decided to bite the bullet and get in touch with U.S. President Barack Obama. It wasn't him being awarded the Nobel Peace Prize that gave me the audacity of hope to speak with him. It was an article in the Oct. 8 edition of the International Herald Tribune.
Reader Mail
Oct 18, 2009

Human face on mental illness

Thank you so much for the Oct. 8 editorial "Depression and suicide." I could not agree more on the need for more awareness and education regarding mental illness. I have suffered from depression for 10 years. I moved back to Japan last year from the Middle East and have had difficulty since there are...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Oct 17, 2009

Brouhaha stirs over Belgian brew

Belgian beer, rich in fragrance, flavor and potency, is not like other brews in Japan.
CULTURE / Art
Oct 16, 2009

Antony Gormley shrugs off the plinth critics

BEIJING (AP) The sometimes scathing reviews of British artist Antony Gormley's public art installation in London's Trafalgar Square are just proof, he says, that it's been as challenging for audiences as he hoped it would be.
EDITORIALS
Oct 14, 2009

Nobel invests hope in leadership

U.S. President Barack Obama has won the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize after less than nine months in office. His critics at home and abroad say the Norwegian Nobel Committee's decision came too early since Mr. Obama cannot yet claim any concrete achievement in dealing with challenging global issues.
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Oct 11, 2009

In cross-cultural situations, remember those emoticons

"My first child was born on December 27th, 1839, and I at once commenced to make notes on the first dawn of the various expressions which he exhibited."
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Oct 10, 2009

A seaside picture of contentment

Sayonara Kawagoe Kinema. Hello Cinema Amigo.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Oct 10, 2009

Poland's Japan boom rooted in historical affinity: ambassador

The growing popularity of things Japanese in Poland is rooted in a curiosity its people have had about Japan since the late 19th century, when Poland was a divided country ruled by neighboring powers, Polish Ambassador to Japan Maria Rodowicz said in Tokyo this week.
COMMUNITY
Oct 10, 2009

A seaside picture of contentment

Sayonara Kawagoe Kinema. Hello Cinema Amigo.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / BY THE GLASS
Oct 9, 2009

Introducing the Californian dream

Swilling an elegant Pinot around your glass, the landscape before you, verdant with vines, undulates in the soft evening light. The little wine you've imbibed sets your senses aglow as you contemplate the cinematic beauty of California's wine country.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Oct 9, 2009

Kengo Kuma's Nezu Museum: an urban haven

"This is the maximum number of people that should ever come in here," says Kengo Kuma, glancing toward a small group of people murmuring quietly in front of a nearby Buddha statue. "It's much nicer when it's empty."
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WORDS TO LIVE BY
Oct 8, 2009

Nissan Chuzousho President Shunichiro Tsuji

Shunichiro Tsuji, 62, is president of Nissan Chuzousho Ltd., Japan's last surviving beigoma maker, located in Kawaguchi City, Saitama Prefecture. Beigoma are small cast-iron spinning tops that are spun in a game that has been a favorite with kids and grown-ups in Japan for many generations. Tsuji has...
JAPAN
Oct 7, 2009

Aum victim distressed by call to lay judge duty

A lay judge candidate who was a victim of the 1995 sarin attack in Tokyo is urging the judicial system to give candidates an opportunity to serve at a different courthouse if they have traumatic memories associated with a certain court.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 6, 2009

Time to acknowledge benefits of migration

BANGKOK — Amid the economic recession, lost jobs and ever greater burdens on health care and other public services, migration has become a hotly debated issue in many of the countries that attract migrants.
COMMENTARY
Oct 5, 2009

Losing control of the heat

LONDON — My youngest daughter is 17, so she will have lived most of her life before the worst of the warming hits. But her later years will not be easy, and her kids will have it very hard from the start. As for their kids, I just don't know.
Japan Times
JAPAN / MIXED MATCHES
Oct 3, 2009

Ain't no mountain in the Andes high enough

Hirohito Ota, 39, a freelance writer, is an adventurer by nature.
EDITORIALS
Oct 1, 2009

Health care for older seniors

Health, Labor and Welfare Minister Akira Nagatsuma has declared that the government will abolish the unpopular health insurance system for the eldery that includes a plan for so-called later-stage seniors, or people aged 75 or over. But it is unclear when the system will be abolished and what shape a...
COMMENTARY
Sep 30, 2009

Too soon to view HIV vaccine as a solution

NEW YORK — The results of a new HIV vaccine trial in Thailand, although encouraging since they show a lowered rate of infection among those vaccinated, should be treated with cautious optimism.
Reader Mail
Sep 27, 2009

Real picture of U.S. health care

John Bosworth has every right to defend the Japanese social insurance system in his Sept. 17 letter, "Universal support for social net," but he presents some very misleading "facts" about the U.S. health care situation.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle
Sep 27, 2009

Cyclists unite in calling for new road-sharing infrastructure

Staff writer Edan Corkill rolled up with his camera to last weekend's 40-km "Tokyo City Cycling 2009" event to celebrate the joys — and utility — of urban bicycling, and asked participants how often they ride, where they like to ride and how they think bike-riding in Japan could be made safer.

Longform

Tetsuzo Shiraishi, speaking at The Center of the Tokyo Raids and War Damage, uses a thermos to explain how he experienced the U.S. firebombing of March 1945, when he was just 7 years old.
From ashes to high-rises: A survivor’s account of Tokyo’s postwar past