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Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Aug 15, 2008

Another scorching Summer Sonic

Held simultaneously in Tokyo (well, Chiba's Makuhari Messe and Marine Stadium) and Osaka, Summer Sonic pulled a combined 190,000 music fans for a weekend of polite debauchery under a scorching sun on Aug. 9-10.
EDITORIALS
Aug 15, 2008

About-face on Chinese 'gyoza'

It was learned Aug. 6 that an incident of "gyoza" dumpling poisoning occurred in China in mid-June, involving the same Chinese food maker whose gyoza caused cases of food poisoning in Japan last December and January. Although China informed Japan of the June incident on the night of July 7, the first...
JAPAN
Aug 15, 2008

Aug. 15 — Japan's longest day — still resonates

Aug. 15, 1945, a scorcher without a cloud in the sky, is one of the most emotional dates for the Japanese people, as it is considered the day the nation surrendered and ended World War II.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Aug 15, 2008

'Sex and the City'

Hmmm. This is tough. Trashing "Sex and the City" is like saying you don't own one pair of great strap-on heels or a little black dress. It's like admitting to years of celibacy. Immediately, you're seen as less than a woman (the modern definition of one anyway), one with no sense, no taste, weird and...
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball / JAPAN NATIONAL BASEBALL TEAM
Aug 15, 2008

Japan loses to Cuba

BEIJING — Veteran poise carried Cuba to a 4-2 triumph over Japan in their 2008 Olympic opener on Wednesday night.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Aug 15, 2008

Google photos raise privacy issue in Japan

Without ever setting foot in a neighborhood, Google Inc.'s Street View service allows anyone to take a tour by computer.
Japan Times
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Aug 15, 2008

Feel Brazil: Asakusa Samba Carnival

Tokyo's Asakusa district, central to the capital's traditional shitamachi (downtown) area, will be filled with Brazilian rhythm on Aug. 30 for the 28th Asakusa Samba Carnival.
BUSINESS
Aug 15, 2008

Utilities emit 13% more CO2 to meet rising demand, offset idled reactors

Tokyo Electric Power Co. and nine other utilities emitted 13 percent more carbon dioxide after burning fossil fuels to meet higher demand and make up a shortfall from the closure of the world's biggest nuclear plant.
BUSINESS
Aug 15, 2008

Demand for services dives 0.8%

Demand for services fell at its fastest rate in four months in June as higher energy and food costs discouraged spending, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry said Thursday.
Japan Times
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Aug 15, 2008

Comike — the cradle of cosplay

If you're intrigued by cosplay (short for "costume play"), then this is where it all began: Comic Market, or Comike or Comiket, as it's variously known.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Aug 15, 2008

'Les Paul: Chasing Sound'

Any devotee of the electric guitar soon comes to learn the names of those pioneering musicians who realized the instrument's potential: people like Charlie Christian, who first started overdriving his amps and incorporating distortion into his playing, or Jimi Hendrix, who took that concept to the nth...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Aug 15, 2008

Heading to the pubs for beer and bangers

For lovers of good beer, the major event of the spring was the opening of the Nakameguro Taproom. No ordinary pub, Taproom is the Tokyo outlet for Baird beers, the craft brewery in Shizuoka Prefecture that many people — and the Food File, too — rate among the best in the country.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Aug 15, 2008

Everything old is new again

Too often — in this column, just as in life — we have to say goodbye. So it's been a rare pleasure this year to welcome back a couple of longtime favorites that have been sorely missed during their time away.
COMMENTARY
Aug 14, 2008

Growing energy disarray

The energy policies of European nations, and of Britain in particular, are in disarray. Admittedly the ferocious rise in crude oil prices has eased, but how long the present dip will last, with the Russians bombing one of the main oil transit pipelines from the Caspian region through Georgia and the...
OLYMPICS / 2008 BEIJING OLYMPICS: SWIMMING
Aug 14, 2008

Kitajima on target for double haul

BEIJING — Kosuke Kitajima remains on target for an unprecedented repeat double in the Olympic men's breaststroke competition.
COMMENTARY
Aug 14, 2008

China's slow march toward a normal society

In the months leading up to the Beijing Olympics, there was much talk about the state of human rights in China. Some declared that human rights continued to deteriorate while others insisted that the situation had been improving for the last 30 years. Still others asserted that both sides are right and...
JAPAN
Aug 14, 2008

Gist of Tokyo-Pyongyang talks

SHENYANG, China — North Korea agrees to carry out a full investigation into its abductions of Japanese nationals. A North Korean reinvestigation panel will swiftly conduct the probe and try to complete it by fall. Pyongyang will report any progress in the probe to Japan and hold talks whenever necessary....
JAPAN
Aug 14, 2008

Cautious response to investigation counseled

Japanese experts welcomed Wednesday's developments between Japan and North Korea in Shenyang, China, as critically important, but also warned that Japan should not be in a rush to lift sanctions.
Reader Mail
Aug 14, 2008

English program may disappoint

I have been reading about the program to bring 300,000 foreign students to Japan, and to increase the number of offerings in English. But I would have to question why anyone would want to study in an English program here.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Aug 14, 2008

Street players give hoops diplomacy a shot

On one sunny Sunday afternoon this spring, dozens of people of various ages and nationalities converged on the basketball courts at Yoyogi Park in Tokyo. Juking, dunking, shooting and scoring, they played with grit as their competitive juices flowed.

Longform

Koichi Tagawa’s diary entry from Aug. 9, 1945, describes the day of the atomic bombing of Nagasaki.
The horrors of Nagasaki, in first person