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CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Feb 24, 2008

Coming of age mini-series, cop-thriller-drama, Kazakhstan documentary

Owing presumably to TV viewers' dwindling attention spans, drama series are becoming shorter. This week, Fuji TV presents a four-part dramatization of an award-winning novel over the course of four consecutive nights rather than four consecutive weeks.
CULTURE / Books
Feb 24, 2008

Stephen Barber: Re-imagining the Megalopolis

THE TOKYO TRILOGY by Stephen Barber. Creation Books, 2008, 320 pp., $16.95 (paper) Apocalyptic orgasms, feral abattoir gangs and the digitalization of Hitler's ghost rarely appear in mainstream literature, and Stephen Barber's "The Tokyo Trilogy" — comprising "Tokyo Sodom," "Tokyo Slaughterhouse" and...
Japan Times
LIFE / THE SKY'S THE LIMIT
Feb 24, 2008

Mum fights nuke power

Yurika Ayukawa, the special adviser on climate change to the environmental organization World Wide Fund for Nature Japan (WWF Japan), believes the key to combating global warming lies in changing humans' means of generating energy.
Reader Mail
Feb 24, 2008

Critique of culinary culture

I am a food barbarian. The Feb. 21 article "Tokyo's samurai chefs devoted to their craft" got me thinking more about the wasted concern that restaurants, hotels and food professionals afford their Michelin ratings. There are only three things important to me about food: (1) is it delicious? (2) can...
Reader Mail
Feb 24, 2008

Promo piece light on research

The Feb. 20 article "Dyson urges youths to take interest in engineering, science" was a sad piece of journalism. The real story on British-born James Dyson (the founder of Dyson Ltd. who was in Tokyo this month to promote a new vacuum cleaner) would require a more time-consuming article on the quality...
Reader Mail
Feb 24, 2008

Try dispensing real justice

Despite declarations from high-level Japanese government officials to the contrary, it is no secret that the Japanese no longer want U.S. military forces here. Who can really blame them? If my country had to play host to foreign military troops for 60 years, I would want to see these troops leave too....
Japan Times
LIFE / THE SKY'S THE LIMIT
Feb 24, 2008

Polar pioneer sets her sights high

For her doctoral thesis, Kazuyo Sakanoi studied the mechanisms of flickering auroras — those luminous phenomena in the atmosphere that appear like curtains of light.
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Feb 24, 2008

Will rookie slugger Nakata live up to hype in Hokkaido?

One guy getting a lot of attention these days, including gaudy front-page coverage in Japan's daily sports newspapers and on TV "Camp Report" segments, is Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters rookie phenom Sho Nakata.
Japan Times
LIFE / THE SKY'S THE LIMIT
Feb 24, 2008

Cancer specialist beats the odds

For breast surgeon Takako Kamio, 53, science is all about going to your limit to seek the truth.
JAPAN
Feb 24, 2008

JAXA puts high-speed satellite Kizuna in orbit

JAXA said Saturday that it launched a communications satellite capable of high-speed data transmission that could allow for virtual, long-distance medical care.
COMMENTARY
Feb 24, 2008

Dawning of strategic realism in Cyprus

LONDON — To call Tassos Papadopoulos a dinosaur is a slur on the entire Cretaceous era, but at least the age of the dinosaurs has ended in Cyprus. Running for re-election as president last Sunday, Papadopoulos, the man who almost single-handedly scuttled a peace settlement in Cyprus four years ago,...
Japan Times
LIFE / THE SKY'S THE LIMIT
Feb 24, 2008

Mother of 2 leads the way

Izumi Washitani is not only a professor of conservation ecology at the top-flight University of Tokyo, she's also a committed activist who applies her studies to restoring threatened biodiversity.
Reader Mail
Feb 24, 2008

Romantic fantasies about training

The Feb. 14 editorial "Violence in sumo training" pointed out "a culture characterized by tolerance of corporal punishment," but this "tradition" goes far beyond the sumo ring.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Feb 24, 2008

Asian art for art's sake

WHAT'S THE USE OF ART? — Asian Visual and Material Culture in Context, edited by Jan Mrazek and Morgan Pitelka. Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press, 2008, 314 pp., with illustrations, $58 (cloth) The question is rhetorical, that is, uttered for effect, to make a statement rather than to obtain an...
Reader Mail
Feb 24, 2008

Punished for the acts of a few

Regarding the Feb. 21 letter "Americans shouldn't be surprised": Seriously, does the writer really believe that Korea wouldn't have teamed up with China, the Philippines and other Far East countries to attack Japan to serve revenge for their perceived abuse by the Japanese in past wars?
Reader Mail
Feb 24, 2008

No qualifiers for emergency care

The Feb. 15 editorial "Burden of prenatal care" implies that regular checkups by a medical institution are a prerequisite if a woman whose contractions have begun expects acceptance by the same institution or another institution that's part of a perinatal care network. It somehow implies it is mainly...
EDITORIALS
Feb 24, 2008

The age(s) of adulthood

One of Japan's most thriving holidays is Coming of Age Day, when those who turn 20 that year dress in bright kimono or formal hakama and take photos at shrines. The celebration of adulthood, however, is not without controversy. Recent debates by the Legislative Council have suggested that the legal definition...
JAPAN
Feb 24, 2008

Collision suspicions pointing to coverup

The public distrust surrounding the maritime collision between a Japanese warship and a fishing boat has politicians, the fishing industry, and the relatives of two missing fishermen all thinking one thing — officials in the Defense Ministry may be hiding key information.
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Feb 24, 2008

New values rise from the ashes of conformity

Second of two parts
CULTURE / Books
Feb 24, 2008

Intrigues above and below the 38th parallel

HIDDEN MOON by James Church. New York: Thomas Dunne Books, 2007, 293 pp., $23.95 (cloth) THE WANDERING GHOST by Martin Limon. New York: SOHO Press, 2007, 314 pp., $24 (cloth)
JAPAN
Feb 24, 2008

Bangladeshi foreign minister to visit

The foreign minister of Bangladesh was to arrive Sunday for talks with his Japanese counterpart aimed at reviewing bilateral relations and exploring new areas of cooperation, the Bangladeshi Embassy said Saturday.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / ON THE ROAD
Feb 24, 2008

New rules for cyclists go round in circles

Putting the brakes on the country's bicycle chaos requires more than just imposing bans on headphones, cell phones and umbrellas.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / NATURE TRAVEL
Feb 24, 2008

Inside Namibia's forbidden zone

First of two parts

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