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COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Dec 28, 2008

'The noise of time' ensures that art's unbowed spirit is heard

We live apart from our land Our words dying at 10 paces And anything put edgewise Concerns the Kremlin backwoodsman His coarse fingers are thick, like worms His statements trusty, like the weights on a scale Cockroaches smile on his upper lip And the rims of his shoes blind He is surrounded by a flock...
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Dec 28, 2008

Place your wager on Macau

A charitable take on Tokyo's landfill projects would have them simply extending the city's alluvial plains into Tokyo Bay. Given another millennium or two, natural siltation might end up doing the same thing.
Reader Mail
Dec 28, 2008

Scrutinize asylum seekers

In his Dec. 18 letter, "Asylum seekers sidelined," David Wood criticizes "Japan's crass disregard of its responsibility" vis-a-vis opening its doors to asylum seekers. Some, including myself, might see Japan's approach as wise. We — or rather the British government on our behalf — have been very...
Japan Times
MORE SPORTS
Dec 28, 2008

Ekiden pulls them in from around the world

Foreign athletes have been conspicuous in numerous ekiden long-distance relays since the 1980s.
CULTURE / Books
Dec 28, 2008

Folklore meets detection in Asia

CURSE OF THE POGO STICK by Colin Cotterill. New York: SOHO Press Inc., 2008, 240 pp., $24 (cloth) Some mystery series adopt a backdrop in which indigenous cultures are forced to deal with the incursion of a more modern and powerful civilization. One example would be Eliott Pattison's of mysteries set...
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Dec 28, 2008

Longtime baseball writer will miss these people, places, things in '09

As we see the end of 2008 and the beginning of 2009, I have compiled a list of five people, places and things I will miss when the new Japanese baseball season rolls around in the spring. Here they are:
Reader Mail
Dec 28, 2008

With a fiscal stimulus for all

After reading the Dec. 25 article "State to aid foreigners in dire financial straits," I thought how much longer will the media report with metaphorically raised eyebrows that permanent foreign residents here are entitled to benefit from government policies equally with Japanese citizens? Why is that...
LIFE / Lifestyle / 2008 MEDIA ROUND-UP
Dec 28, 2008

Making sense of the strange changes of 2008

Every year, the Japan Kanji Aptitude Testing Foundation selects a "kanji of the year." This year's is "hen," meaning "change" or, equally, "strange, peculiar."
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Dec 28, 2008

The swift strokes of 'no-brush' calligraphy

KEN-ZEN-SHO: Zen Calligraphy and Painting of Yamaoka Tesshu, with a foreword by Rupert Faulkner, introductions by Sarah Moate and Alex Bennett, an essay by Terayama Tanchu and an afterword by Takemura Eiji. Bunkashi International (Kendo World Publications), 2008, 200 pp., 33 color plates, 67 b/w pictures,...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Dec 28, 2008

Critics switched off over digital-TV plans

Yukichi Amano is one of Japan's sharpest media critics, so it was disconcerting to see him on NHK several weeks ago pimping for digital TV.
Reader Mail
Dec 28, 2008

Opportunity to help children

Recently the focus of actress Aoi Miyazaki on the problem of trafficked children has been a wonderful way to get the attention of so many who can help. As a resident of San Francisco, I personally would like to volunteer my own efforts in this work. Hundreds, even thousands of us, who live around the...
COMMENTARY
Dec 27, 2008

Is the end of oil in sight?

Worried about "peak oil?" The International Energy Agency's annual report, "The World Energy Outlook 2008," admits for the first time that "although global oil production in total is not expected to peak before 2030, production of conventional oil . . . is projected to level off toward the end of the...
EDITORIALS
Dec 27, 2008

'Unusual' budget response

The government has approved a record ¥88.548 trillion budget for fiscal 2009. Marking an increase of 6.6 percent from the initial fiscal 2008 budget, it represents an attempt to keep the Japanese economy from suffering the worst effects of the global financial crisis.
EDITORIALS
Dec 27, 2008

Stick to nonnuclear policy

Newly declassified Japanese diplomatic documents show that the late Prime Minister Eisaku Sato expressed his expectation to then U.S. Defense Secretary Robert McNamara that the United States would immediately retaliate against China with nuclear weapons if war occurred between China and Japan.

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