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COMMENTARY / World / SENTAKU MAGAZINE
Jun 16, 2008

Reluctant runner viewed as possible Fukuda fill-in

It is expected that a race for Japan's national leadership will start after Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda hosts the summit meeting of the Group of Eight industrialized nations in Toyako, Hokkaido, in July.
Japan Times
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Jun 13, 2008

Fireflies set the nights alight

It seems no one really knows why the two predominant varieties of hotaru (firefly) in Japan are known as genji-botaru and heike-botaru.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 12, 2008

Why do displays of compassion differ between East and West?

NEW YORK — Why are French, British and American warships, but not Chinese or Malaysian warships, sitting near the Burmese coast loaded with food and other necessities for the victims of Cyclone Nargis?
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Jun 12, 2008

Actor Nomura brings noh to new audiences

If you've ever napped through a noh performance, you're not alone. But this 600-year-old Japanese theatrical genre is being updated to make it more of a 21st-century entertainment than a Japanophile's endurance test.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Jun 12, 2008

The space to act out in Shizuoka

Shizuoka Performing Arts Center is Japan's first so-called European-style public theater. Founded by the Shizuoka prefectural government in 1997, it has its own company (also called SPAC) and an artistic director in residence when the norm is for public theater companies to share venues and for artistic...
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER
Jun 11, 2008

Burrowing rat snake

Japanese name: Jimuguri
JAPAN
Jun 10, 2008

Experts ponder whether Kato felt disenfranchised from society

The deadly stabbing rampage Sunday in Tokyo's Akihabara district stunned the nation, but experts said the carnage was just another example of a young man unhappy with his lot in society.
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
Jun 10, 2008

Health cover; donating clothes

Reader TJ writes:
Reader Mail
Jun 8, 2008

Most Koreans not 'forcibly brought'

The final line of the June 4 article from Kyodo News, "Chinese now No. 1 foreign group," erroneously characterized the 426,227 Koreans who are classified as special permanent residents as "those who were forcibly brought to Japan from the Korean Peninsula when it was under Japanese colonial rule, and...
Japan Times
LIFE
Jun 8, 2008

Dutch women bid for techno parity

AMSTERDAM — Seen from Japan, a country known for dragging its feet in terms of gender equality, the Netherlands is often regarded as a model of social enlightenment.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 7, 2008

Hot air over global warming

HONG KONG — Fresh reports every day tell of glaciers melting, thinning polar ice triggering prospects of a scramble for the riches under the Arctic ice cap, worries about rising water levels inundating low-lying countries, and soaring oil prices.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Jun 7, 2008

NPO brings smiles to the Philippines

Yokohama-based dental practitioner Dr. Kimio Miyake defines the turning point in his professional and personal life as taking place in the Philippines in 1983." I was dining at a terrace restaurant above the sea, and there were naked children on the rocks below diving for coins thrown by visitors. One...
BUSINESS
Jun 7, 2008

Nomura execs take heat, pay cut in wake of insider-trading arrests

Nomura Holdings Inc. Chief Executive Officer Kenichi Watanabe said Friday that he will take a pay cut after a committee said management was partly to blame for an insider trading incident at the nation's largest securities firm.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / GRAND OLD HOTELS
Jun 6, 2008

A grande dame on the waterfront

Urban planning can be a zero-sum game. A case in point is Yokohama. The city redeveloped the waterfront to create Minato Mirai (Port of the Future), where visitors shop in boutiques, revolve on a Ferris wheel and whoosh in one of the world's fastest elevators to the top of Japan's tallest building, the...
Japan Times
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Jun 6, 2008

Festival explores artistic side of Thai cinema

The realm of Thai cinema goes well beyond martial arts movies such as "Ong-bak" (titled "Mach!" in Japan), which was a hit here in 2004. Movie fans in Japan unfortunately rarely ever get a chance to experience much else from Thailand's vibrant film industry, which has more to offer that is surprisingly...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Jun 6, 2008

Maru 3-kai: Maru steps up one more floor

Location, location, location. It's the cardinal rule, the holy trinity of real estate, the prerequisite for success in many a trade — and almost an essential for any restaurant. So how come one of Tokyo's most happening little diners is in a part of town that few people would ever consider their first...
EDITORIALS
Jun 4, 2008

Severe sentence for assassin

Last week the Nagasaki District Court sentenced 60-year-old gangster Tetsuya Shiroo to death for assassinating Nagasaki Mayor Itcho Ito during his election campaign. The death penalty is rarely handed down in cases involving a single murder, particularly when the defendant had no prior convictions for...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / VIEWS FROM THE STREET
Jun 3, 2008

Why do you think Japan's suicide rate is so high?

COMMUNITY / Issues / JUST BE CAUSE
Jun 3, 2008

Good news from grass roots

Reader Rodney in Vancouver recently e-mailed: "I've often found your articles informative and useful, but they tend to take a tone of complaint. Please tell us about some face-to-face, grassroots efforts that have helped make Japanese more considerate and respectful of those who are different."
BUSINESS / THE VIEW FROM EUROPE
Jun 2, 2008

Europe poised to take chance on reducing farm subsidies

I f If there is one topic that has been catching a lot of attention lately, it is the global rise in prices for resources, especially the most precious resource of all: food.

Longform

Sumadori Bar on Shibuya Ward's main Center Gai street targets young customers who prefer low-alcohol drinks or abstain altogether.
Rethinking that second drink: Japan’s Gen Z gets ‘sober curious’