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Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Apr 30, 2010

'The Box'/'9'

You'd be hard-pressed to find more than a handful of certifiably cult movies from the past decade, but Richard Kelly's "Donnie Darko" (2001) is definitely one of them. This strange hybrid about a troubled teen and his invisible friend (a giant evil-looking rabbit named Frank) could best be described...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Apr 30, 2010

'Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire'

"Precious" is a "woman's movie" — it speaks to women, rubs them rightly or wrongly, touches a few raw nerves. Male viewers may find it hard to stomach. The scene in the screening room after the lights came on reflected this. The distributors were grouped around the entrance doors, collecting the critics'...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Apr 30, 2010

Acid Mothers Temple

Since being formed by band leader Makoto Kawabata in the mid 1990s, Osaka's premier purveyors of heavy psychedelic rock and modern kosmische musik have existed in an ever-mutating series of iterations, incorporating dozens of members, collaborators and former members. The intimidatingly- titled "Battle...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Apr 30, 2010

Arabaki Rock Fest

Boasting its biggest lineup to date, the 10th edition of Miyagi Prefecture's Arabaki Rock Fest includes nearly 120 acts. Attracting an average annual weekend crowd of 35,000, the outdoor concert features six stages of live music from morning till night on Saturday and Sunday. Those staying overnight...
COMMENTARY
Apr 28, 2010

U.K. overdoses on change

British politics has been turned upside down by recent events. The traditional two-party battle between Labour and Conservatives has been thrown into confusion by a big surge in support for a third party, the Liberal Democrats. The likely result could be a "hung parliament," with the Conservatives being...
BUSINESS
Apr 27, 2010

Japan needs green tech investment

The government should focus more on promoting innovations and utilizing energy-efficient technologies of Japanese companies in the nation's efforts to combat global warming, officials of industry groups said at a recent symposium in Tokyo.
BASEBALL / HIT AND RUN
Apr 27, 2010

Game takes backseat as Giants, Carp pay their respects to Kimura

Sometimes a baseball game can be about more than strikeouts and home runs. About more than wins and losses.
BASKETBALL
Apr 26, 2010

Marshall stays hot as Lakestars win again

Mikey Marshall has quietly made a big impact since he joined the Shiga Lakestars in early March.
Reader Mail
Apr 25, 2010

Time for housecleaning at Vatican?

In regard to the April 11 letter "Coverup sets church apart," one must say "Amen." For far too long the Catholic church has been playing a frightful game of "hide the pedophile priest," putting untold numbers of children and families at risk. When an innocent child falls victim to sexual assault by a...
JAPAN
Apr 24, 2010

Small parties looking for bigger say

With the approach of the summer Upper House election, several new parties are vying for voters disenchanted with the Democratic Party of Japan, which swept to power last year on the promise of change but became mired in money scandals and accusations of poor leadership.
JAPAN
Apr 23, 2010

Geos' fate sealed by failure to react quickly to rapid drop in demand

The failure of major language-school operator Geos Corp. occurred because the company didn't trim unprofitable branches fast enough at a time when the industry was facing a drastic drop in students, people in the industry said.
EDITORIALS
Apr 22, 2010

Helping post-conflict countries

On April 16, Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada chaired a United Nations Security Council debate on peace building in post-conflict countries. The council adopted a presidential statement calling for long-term and comprehensive support for such countries.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 20, 2010

Nuke ban must apply to all

The Obama administration's Nuclear Posture Review (NPR), released this month, has received much attention for declaring that the United States will not use nuclear weapons against nonnuclear weapon states. As an NGO representative involved in an ongoing debate between Japan and Australia over this issue,...
BASEBALL / HIT AND RUN
Apr 20, 2010

Streak's end could signal new beginning for Kanemoto

As he had done for the past eight years, Tomoaki Kanemoto arrived at the stadium on Sunday, put on an ash gray Hanshin Tigers road uniform, laced up his spikes, grabbed his hat and went about his preparations to play the Yokohama BayStars.
COMMENTARY / World / SENTAKU MAGAZINE
Apr 19, 2010

Playing ends off the middle

Komeito, the third largest political party in Japan, is striving not to antagonize but to be friends with as many rival groups as possible in a determined bid to win in the Upper House election scheduled for this summer. The principal reason for pursuing this tactic, which has been described by some...
JAPAN
Apr 18, 2010

Foreigner suffrage opponents rally

Conservative intellectuals and key executives from five political parties were among the thousands who gathered in Tokyo on Saturday to rally against granting foreign residents voting rights for local elections.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Apr 17, 2010

Fuji veteran brings kids English Adventure

If you hike in the Chichibu mountains this summer in Saitama Prefecture, you may stumble across an American-style summer camp with huge tents and 50 to 60 school kids exploring nature with walks and tree-climbing adventures and enjoying campfires and roasting marshmallows.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 16, 2010

Cruelty of chance deals Poland another blow

MOSCOW — In Russia, somewhere behind every event lurks the question: Who is to blame? In the tragedy that claimed the lives of Polish President Lech Kaczynski and 95 other Polish leaders, we can answer that question with certainty in at least one respect: History is to blame.

Longform

After the asset-price bubble crash of the early 1990s, employment at a Japanese company was no longer necessarily for life. As a result, a new generation is less willing to endure a toxic work culture —life’s too short, after all.
How Japan's youth are slowly changing the country's work ethic