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Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Apr 18, 2008

'Factory Girl'

"In the future, everyone can be famous for 15 minutes" is one of Andy Warhol's choice aphorisms. When he said that in the late 1960s, the point had already been proven with a vengeance by Edie Sedgwick: Warhol's one-time muse, collaborator and platonic lover (with Warhol, such a thing was possible)....
BUSINESS
Apr 18, 2008

Toho sues Subway over unauthorized Godzilla ads

The Subway sandwich chain is being sued by Toho Co., the maker of Godzilla movies, for allegedly using the prehistoric monster without permission in TV commercials. Subway "not only intentionally created a character that closely resembles Godzilla in its physical appearance, but placed the character...
Japan Times
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Apr 18, 2008

Dance Alive down to finals

Tokyo's Ryogoku Kokugikan, home to Japan's sumo wrestling fraternity, will rumble to a different rhythm Sunday when dancers from around the country converge on the hallowed arena for the grand final of Japan's largest street-dance competition, Dance Alive.
BUSINESS
Apr 18, 2008

Raw-materials cost rise putting economy at risk

Economic growth in Japan is at risk as soaring costs of raw materials squeeze profits, forcing companies to cut spending and wages, economists said.
BUSINESS
Apr 18, 2008

Ailing Hitachi subsidiary spurns U.S. fund's offer

Hitachi Global Storage Technologies Inc., a U.S.-based hard-disk drive subsidiary of electronics giant Hitachi Ltd., said Thursday it will rebuild its business on its own, denying rumors it will sell part of its shares to U.S. investment fund Silver Lake Partners.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / FREEWHEELIN' ACROSS JAPAN
Apr 18, 2008

Salvation sought in Sendai

Second of two parts
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Apr 18, 2008

'Shaolin Girl'

Chihiro Kameyama, Japan's most successful film producer, is not a man to miss an opportunity. When Stephen Chow's comedy "Shaolin Soccer" became a smash in Japan in 2002, Kameyama had the idea of joining with Chow to make a Japanese spinoff. Now, six years later, we have "Shaolin Shojo (Shaolin Girl),"...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Apr 18, 2008

How Cheap Trick put the Budokan on the map

The first pop group to ever play Nippon Budokan Hall in Tokyo was The Beatles in 1966, a concert that caused quite a scandal because of the auditoriums' semisacred status as Japan's premier martial-arts venue. Rightwingers protested the show but in the end the prerogatives of capitalism prevailed.
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Apr 18, 2008

Kurosawa: Hand-rolled soba — the director's cut

The word tsu (connoisseur) is often bandied around when talking about Japanese cuisine. Originally denoting a general savoir-faire in worldly matters — most especially in the pleasure quarters — it is now widely used for those who know their food and drink.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 17, 2008

Have we finally achieved moral progress?

MELBOURNE — After a century that saw two world wars, the Nazi Holocaust, Stalin's Gulag, the killing fields of Cambodia, and more recent atrocities in Rwanda and now Darfur, the belief that we are progressing morally has become difficult to defend. Yet there is more to the question than extreme cases...
Reader Mail
Apr 17, 2008

Noble but unrealistic sentiment

In his April 1 column "Public forums, spinning wheels," Debito Arudou states that "Japanese society must stop the common practice of using grace and physical appearance as a paradigm for pigeonholing people." These are noble sentiments. But so are the sentiments that underpin the failed political philosophy...
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
Apr 17, 2008

Yakult's Ishikawa ready to let his results speak for themselves

Never, ever. Masanori Ishikawa spoke for himself and his team.
EDITORIALS
Apr 17, 2008

Turmoil in Zimbabwe

It has been three weeks since Zimbabwe's voters went to the polls. They are still waiting for the results. By all appearances, they have had enough of President Robert Mugabe and gave opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai and his Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) the reins of power. Mr. Mugabe and his...
Reader Mail
Apr 17, 2008

Bring back old weather forecast

Regarding the April 13 letter "Tough to read new forecast," I agree with Lynda Ichikawa. The new format is terrible, especially for a country where a conversation always starts with the weather. Give us back the old weather forecast with the lovely map of Japan and informative information like sunrise...
JAPAN
Apr 17, 2008

Marshall Islands, nuke test victim call for nonproliferation

With the effects of the U.S. atomic tests in the Pacific still lingering, the Marshall Islands' ambassador to Japan and a Japanese victim of a 1954 hydrogen bomb test recently called for a nuclear-free world.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Apr 17, 2008

A simulacrum of the city

'With love from . . ." — it's the kind of message an expatriate might pen. Implicit in it is the warmth in the offering, a written embrace.

Longform

Bear attacks have dominated Japanese news headlines in recent months, with 13 people so far having been killed by the animals.
Japan’s bears have been on their killing spree for more than 100 years