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Japan Times
BUSINESS
Oct 10, 2008

Huge video game show kicks off

CHIBA — Tokyo Game Show, one of the world's biggest gaming events, kicked off Thursday with a record 879 software titles expected to attract 180,000 people during its four-day run.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Oct 10, 2008

Potts' luck: the rise of a superstar

It's a cliche to say "don't take things for granted" or "you never know what's going to happen in life." But it sounds more convincing from the mouths of certain people.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle
Oct 7, 2008

Spicy food, sexy idols and now . . . fashion

SEOUL — In the late 1990s, the Korean Wave — "Hallyu" as it's referred to in its native tongue — began as South Korea's television, film and music industries gained greater international followings, especially among its Asian neighbors.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Oct 5, 2008

Diet 'juniors' and Japan's politics of descent

One of the busiest people on TV right now is Daigo Naito, a 30-year-old who dresses and gesticulates like a rock star while speaking in the tones of a narcotized 16-year-old. Daigo isn't a comedian, though his droning delivery elicits laughs, and he's not really a rock star, though he did start his show...
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Oct 3, 2008

Nice to nestle at Japan's hometown

One could be fooled into thinking Onomichi was an island, where the ocean air whisps about the often deserted streets and the locals thrive from eclectic arts and hospitality industries. That would all be true, except the island part.
COMMENTARY
Oct 2, 2008

Averting Asian water wars

As the most pressing resource, water holds the strategic key to peace, public health and prosperity. The battles of yesterday were fought over land. Those of today are over energy. But the battles of tomorrow will be over water. And nowhere else does that prospect look more real than in Asia.
Reader Mail
Oct 2, 2008

Don't sacrifice culture to please

Regarding the Sept. 27 article "Tourism minister apologizes for gaffes" -- about Nariaki Nakayama's remarks on the lack of self-sacrifice by Japanese in "opening the country to foreign tourists": I wish to state that I have not found another country whose people are as tolerant as the average Japanese...
COMMENTARY
Oct 1, 2008

The Middle East quartet's failing mission

The creation in 2002 of the Quartet on the Middle East, comprising the United States, Russia, the European Union and the United Nations, raised hopes for its critical contribution to the peace process in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. A report released on Sept. 25, "The Middle East Quartet: A Progress...
JAPAN
Oct 1, 2008

Bug cuisine not for the squeamish

Putting your prejudices aside can lead to different, and possibly better, experiences — such as eating insects.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Oct 1, 2008

New tourism agency to act as policy 'control tower'

The Japan Tourism Agency will be established Wednesday with the aim of attracting more foreign tourists to the country.
Reader Mail
Sep 28, 2008

No offense intended to 'gaijin'

Regarding the Sept. 23 Community page article "Readers get last word on 'gaijin' tag": It is way too extreme to compare the word "n--ger" to "gaijin." I get the point that Debito Arudou made in his Sept. 2 article about the debate over the use of "gaijin." But as a Japanese, I have to say that most Japanese...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Sep 28, 2008

When is an 'election' not an election?

The personality contest foisted on the public as a campaign for the presidency of the Liberal Democratic Party insulted the intelligence of anyone with a nervous system, and not just because Taro Aso was known to be a shoo-in from the beginning. By presenting five candidates who were supposedly vying...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Sep 26, 2008

Flying Lotus brings a deeper hip-hop beat

Even when he's speaking from the other end of a crackly long-distance phone line, Steve Ellison sounds a lot like he does on record. As Flying Lotus, the Californian producer makes records of woozy, largely instrumental hip-hop whose beguiling surfaces conceal a restless, fidgety energy. Nothing stays...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Sep 25, 2008

Lindsay Kemp's Virgin Queen comes to Japan

It was a scorching day in July and the air in Tokyo's concrete jungle was shimmering in the heat. But on a visit here prior to next month's opening of his voluptuous production "Elizabeth I: the Last Dance" at Theatre Cocoon, avant-garde performance-art icon Lindsay Kemp — a self-described "stranger...
COMMENTARY
Sep 23, 2008

Roots of antipathy toward China

In almost all international polls, Japan ranks high in ratings with regard to peacefulness or contribution to world peace and stability. In other words, people in many countries have a favorable image of Japan. There is, however, a noteworthy exception: China.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / TAKING A CHANCE
Sep 23, 2008

Robot development takes a homeward turn

While Japanese robotics companies have made robots that look and move like human beings, the goal of making a society where human beings and robots interact in everyday life has remained out of reach.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives
Sep 21, 2008

Kenji Miyazawa: In harmony with all creation

If the primary theme of human life in the 21st century is living in harmony with other animals and plants — and also preserving the bounties of the Earth — then Kenji Miyazawa is the Japanese writer who can most thoroughly help us to understand and pursue this theme.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Sep 21, 2008

Koizumi branded the bad boy in latest food scandal

Most of the recent food-related scandals were motivated by pure greed, so they were easy to understand. The current scandal involving inedible imported rice bought from the government and sold as edible rice is more complicated and raises some questions. How do the governments of the countries that produced...
COMMUNITY
Sep 20, 2008

Putting women on paths of potential at work and at play

Australian-born Sara-Shivani is learning hard and fast the nature of her bliss — what she was born to be and do. Her mantra — As I am now, recognize/ As I was born to be, remember/ As I wish to be, visualize/ As nature intended, live — is the motto of the program of holistic heath she is offering...
BUSINESS
Sep 20, 2008

Lehman in talks to sell off Japan equity, assets

Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. is in talks to sell some Japan assets to Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group Inc. in an effort to save its 1,300-employee operation, three people familiar with the matter said.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Sep 19, 2008

Will open-door immigration plan die after Fukuda?

Japan isn't exactly known as an open country to foreigners, but there was a recent brief ray of hope in June.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Sep 17, 2008

Asia needs to put lid on inflation, ADB warns

Asia's economies are under threat of inflation stemming from high fuel and food costs, and containing it is an immediate challenge for the region if sustainable growth is to be maintained, an Asian Development Bank executive said earlier this month.
JAPAN
Sep 17, 2008

Forum addresses public's aversion to China

Chinese and Japanese political, economic and academic leaders shared their apprehensions about the ever-growing aversion to China among the Japanese public when they met for a two-day forum in Tokyo starting Tuesday.

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