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Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Jan 1, 2009

Hidenori Inoue takes a stab at Richard III

During his final year at Osaka University of Arts in 1980, Hidenori Inoue founded the Gekidan★Shinkansen theater company with several classmates. The 48-year-old native of Fukuoka in Kyushu hasn't looked back since.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jan 1, 2009

Volunteers offer jobless temps free food, advice

Temp workers who have lost their jobs amid the global financial crisis lined up Wednesday for free food and consultations with volunteers at Tokyo's Hibiya Park.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jan 1, 2009

Finding beauty in a world of waste

"If we live in a creative universe, we are constantly pushing the chaos out of the way to protect ourselves from the nonlogical — the natural," muses Vik Muniz at an interview late last year at Tokyo Wonder Site. "Even when you think, you create waste. But everything is made in a way to conceal the...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jan 1, 2009

The battle for 2009's box office starts here

The Japanese film industry — particularly at the top, where Toho and the TV networks dwell — had a terrific 2008. Boosted by Hayao Miyazaki's animation "Gake no Ue no Ponyo" ("Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea"), which earned a splendiferous ¥15 billion, Toho passed the ¥70-billion box-office mark...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jan 1, 2009

Words as images

On a single white sheet, the kanji for "snow" — yuki — printed in black, is repeated exactly 1,352 times in a symmetrical grid formation. A 1970 work by Niikuni Seiichi, "flowery snow" (1970) is at once calligraphy, poem and picture. In the Chinese literati tradition — which was influential on...
EDITORIALS
Dec 31, 2008

A year of changes and dangers

If 2008 cannot be called an "annus horribilis," it is only because 2009 might hold even more shocks and surprises. Even outside the worsening economy, everything in Japan seemed a bit subprime in 2008. A midyear survey found that more than 70 percent of Japanese — the highest percentage ever — were...
JAPAN
Dec 31, 2008

S. Korean tourists wither with won

The sharp appreciation of the yen and the dramatic fall of South Korea's won has had a big impact on tourism on both sides of the Sea of Japan.
COMMENTARY
Dec 31, 2008

Good riddance to a bad year

If U.S. President-elect Barack Obama can walk on water, then change really is coming to the United States and the world. If there are no more big unexploded bombs buried in the world's financial systems, then this may be just an ordinary recession. But the most telling image of 2008 was Iraqi journalist...
BASKETBALL
Dec 31, 2008

Webb receives weekly honor

Toyama Grouses power forward Rodney Webb, the team's leading scorer, helped the Grouses record their first winning streak of the season, which ended at three games with Sunday's loss to the Tokyo Apache at Ariake Colosseum. Webb played a big part in extending the streak to three, scoring a game-high...
JAPAN
Dec 31, 2008

Exchange rate woes putting foreign students in a bind

The strong yen and tumbling South Korean won are making life difficult for people whose income depends on the two currency's exchange rates.
BUSINESS
Dec 31, 2008

Foot-to-the-floor Toyota now suddenly has to downshift

Amid the worldwide economic downturn and the dollar's nosedive against the yen, Toyota Motor Corp. is facing a turning point in the aggressive overseas strategy that until now has powered its growth.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 31, 2008

China flexes naval muscle

SINGAPORE — Two Chinese destroyers and a supply ship are on their way to join other foreign warships on anti-piracy patrols in the Gulf of Aden and waters off Somalia. This is a milestone for a navy that has long focused on coastal defense and lacked the capability to project power overseas.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Dec 31, 2008

Blood types — do they shape a personality or mere stereotypes?

Can blood type determine character?
BASKETBALL / NBA / NBA REPORT
Dec 31, 2008

Boozer should take vow of silence

NEW YORK — This week's Bernie Madoff Chutzpah Award goes to Carlos Boozer. In this epoch of bankruptcies and bailouts, unemployment and unsold tickets, he went out of his way recently to damage the reputation of the "Me" generation.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Dec 31, 2008

Japan's science in '08

In Chinese astrology, rats are said to hunger for power and to be unpredictable, and in 2008 — a Year of the Rat — both those characteristics were clearly in evidence. What with the financial crisis that is changing the established order of things, and the food and fuel crises that have sent shock...

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