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JAPAN
Feb 27, 2009

Politicians try to spare Calderons

A group of Liberal Democratic Party lawmakers asked the Justice Ministry on Thursday to issue a special permit that will allow an undocumented Filipino family to stay in Japan.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Feb 27, 2009

'Tsumi toka Batsu toka'

Contemporary Japanese comedies generally come in two varieties: wacky and noisy (most films written or directed by Kankuro Kudo), or quirky and dry (Satoshi Miki's "Ten Ten" ["Adrift in Tokyo"] and Yosuke Fujita's "Zen Zen Daijobu" ["Fine, Totally, Fine"]).
JAPAN
Feb 27, 2009

A year in, Osaka Gov. Hashimoto on a roll

After more than a year in office, Osaka Gov. Toru Hashimoto enjoys approval ratings Prime Minister Taro Aso can only dream of, and he's wielding his popularity to push budget cuts and sweeping fiscal and economic reforms on the way to what he eventually hopes will be a semiautonomous Kansai region.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Feb 27, 2009

'This is England'

The gang-movie genre tends to follow a fairly predictable arc: Impressionable youth is seduced by gang life, enjoys the wild times and camaraderie that follow, then inevitably winds up disillusioned with the lifestyle. Whether it's the mods and rockers of 1960s London in "Quadrophenia," or the favela...
Japan Times
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Feb 27, 2009

Clowning around at Cirque du Soleil

For a limited time only, join Cirque du Soleil and its international cast for "Corteo," a magical parade of clowns, acrobats and musicians, imagined by a clown at his funeral. Conceived and directed by veteran writer and choreographer Daniele Finzi Pasca, the show is set between Heaven and Earth, with...
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Feb 27, 2009

Clowning around at Cirque du Soleil

For a limited time only, join Cirque du Soleil and its international cast for "Corteo," a magical parade of clowns, acrobats and musicians, imagined by a clown at his funeral. Conceived and directed by veteran writer and choreographer Daniele Finzi Pasca, the show is set between Heaven and Earth, with...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Feb 27, 2009

Beat Crusaders "Very Best Crusaders"

Rock music in Japan tends to treat a band's move to a major label as a kind of year-zero moment, by which all their previous material is airbrushed from existence like disgraced Politburo members from old Soviet photographs. It's tempting to see this best-of compilation by Japanese punk-pop group Beat...
CULTURE / Music
Feb 27, 2009

Beat Crusaders "Very Best Crusaders"

Rock music in Japan tends to treat a band's move to a major label as a kind of year-zero moment, by which all their previous material is airbrushed from existence like disgraced Politburo members from old Soviet photographs. It's tempting to see this best-of compilation by Japanese punk-pop group Beat...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Feb 27, 2009

Humans, not cogs

Twenty-six years after it premiered at the Cottlesloe Theatre in London, David Mamet's "Glengarry Glen Ross," which caused a sensation in 1983 with its horrific yet realistic depiction of the dog-eat-dog real-estate business in a recession-hit America, could almost be considered a classic. The play went...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink
Feb 27, 2009

One pricey bowl of soup noodles

A bowl of noodles at a typical Tokyo ramen joint is cheap — usually around ¥800 — and served in a convenient location. Fujimaki Gekijo, situated between Nakameguro and Yutenji in Meguro Ward, is neither. And the owner and chef, Shoichi Fujimaki, would have it no other way.
LIFE / Food & Drink
Feb 27, 2009

One pricey bowl of soup noodles

A bowl of noodles at a typical Tokyo ramen joint is cheap — usually around ¥800 — and served in a convenient location. Fujimaki Gekijo, situated between Nakameguro and Yutenji in Meguro Ward, is neither. And the owner and chef, Shoichi Fujimaki, would have it no other way.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / HOTELS & RESTAURANTS
Feb 27, 2009

Party time at the Royal Park

The Royal Park Shiodome Tower has put together a party package at its 24th-floor restaurant Harmony, which commands views of Hama-rikyu Garden and Tokyo Tower from 113 meters above the capital.
CULTURE / Music
Feb 27, 2009

F-cked Up

To promote the release of their sophomore album, last October's blistering "The Chemistry of Common Life," Toronto punks F-cked Up played a free gig in a New York boutique store. So what's the big deal you're wondering? The sextet's performance lasted a punishing 12 hours and saw them collaborating with...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Feb 27, 2009

F-cked Up

To promote the release of their sophomore album, last October's blistering "The Chemistry of Common Life," Toronto punks F-cked Up played a free gig in a New York boutique store. So what's the big deal you're wondering? The sextet's performance lasted a punishing 12 hours and saw them collaborating with...
BUSINESS
Feb 27, 2009

TGE turns down Tocom merger

The Tokyo Grain Exchange, which forecasts a net loss this year, is rejecting proposals to merge with other bourses and will boost product offerings to revive profit, according to Chairman Yoshiaki Watanabe.
BUSINESS
Feb 27, 2009

Nippon Oil, Mining delay merger plan

Nippon Oil Corp. and Nippon Mining Holdings Inc. will delay a plan to merge in October because they need time to submit documents to U.S. regulators, sources said Thursday.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink
Feb 27, 2009

Ivan Ramen, ready in an instant

The success of Ivan Ramen, a noodle shop founded in 2007 by U.S.-born chef Ivan Orkin, has been well documented in the press over the past year. Indeed, it is not unusual for the 10-seat restaurant in Minami Karasuyama, Setagaya Ward, to have dozens of people waiting outside its doors to try the handmade...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Feb 27, 2009

An insider's view, open to the masses

The performing-arts world in Tokyo seems to flourish in spring, with numerous (and similarly named) events taking place within the city. The Tokyo arts crowd is spoiled for choice with the Theater/Festival (formerly The Tokyo International Arts Festival), The Tokyo Performing Arts Festival and Tokyo...
BUSINESS
Feb 27, 2009

Deterioration outpacing predictions

Bank of Japan Policy Board member Tadao Noda said the economy is deteriorating more than the central bank forecast last month as the global recession triggers unprecedented drops in exports and output.
Japan Times
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Feb 27, 2009

House legend Farley can't shake the habit

When the house scene exploded in Britain in the late 1980s, Terry Farley could surely not have predicted that he would one day play a four-hour set in Tokyo at the age of 50.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Feb 27, 2009

'The Life Before Her Eyes'

A woman's life isn't easy at 17 years old, and it doesn't get much better at 32, even when the woman is equipped with shimmering blonde hair and dazzling outfits that look they jumped straight out of a Ralph Lauren ad.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Feb 27, 2009

Linking video games to their visual history

Think of post-World War II popular culture in Japan as it relates to contemporary art, and you invariably arrive at Murakami Takashi and his Kaikai Kiki company/studio. But a new generation that draws from Japanese pop culture — and yet has no close connections to Murakami's art stable — has emerged...
Reader Mail
Feb 26, 2009

Family pays for breaking law

Regarding Donald Seekins' Feb. 19 letter, "People who can revitalize Japan": "Give me a break!" is what I say to Seekins' complaint that by deporting the Calderon family back to the Philippines, Japan is ruining its ability to revitalize itself by not injecting itself with fresh foreign influences.
Reader Mail
Feb 26, 2009

Problem with new ID system

Regarding the Feb. 18 article "Justice Ministry looking to take over foreigner ID cards": It seems that neither The Japan Times nor other English-language newspapers can agree on whether changes to the new zairyu (residence) cards would have to be reported to the Immigration Bureau or to the Justice...
EDITORIALS
Feb 26, 2009

Students and cell phones

The education ministry has told the nation's prefectural boards of education to instruct primary and middle school authorities to ban students from bringing cell phones to school. It also has called for improvement in the education of morals related to communications.
COMMENTARY
Feb 26, 2009

Liberal Democratic parties: up and down?

Big crises like the current recession change a lot of things that once seemed to be a permanent part of the landscape. In Japan the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), which has governed the country for all but nine months of the past half-century, is about to go over a cliff.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Feb 26, 2009

Fall in U.S. Japanese students worrisome

In a bid to stop the dramatic decline in Japanese studying in the United States, representatives of U.S. colleges and universities met Wednesday with education minister Ryu Shionoya to demand that Japan improve efforts to promote study abroad.

Longform

An illustration features the Japanese signs for "ganbare" (good luck) and the Deaflympics, which will be held between Nov. 15 and 26.
A century of Deaf sport finds its moment in Tokyo