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Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / FUZZY LOGIC
Nov 16, 2007

Kyoto's Ultra-man in bedroom revolution

"Shotgun Blues" is the latest track off Hidenori Fujiwara's turbo-charged musical conveyor-belt of rock 'n' roll madness, and it's a blast of bluesy punk that sounds like Kings of Leon being chain-whipped by Iggy Pop in a dark alley.
JAPAN
Nov 16, 2007

Dalai Lama arrives for nine-day tour

The Dalai Lama arrived Thursday in Japan to begin a nine-day tour of the country, despite China's protests over his other trips overseas.
COMMENTARY
Nov 16, 2007

Taiwanese scion strains to catch the sun

HONG KONG — Taiwan leader Chen Shui-bian's greatest successes were scored in 2000 and again in 2004, when he won two presidential elections. His performance as president in the last seven years, however, has been mediocre.
CULTURE / Music
Nov 16, 2007

Hirokazu Matsuda "Sanshin Zanmai"

Nowhere in Japan upholds its musical traditions as proudly as Okinawa. There, to make your name as a musician on a small island where there are hundreds of others, you have to be something special. "Sanshin Zanmai" by the 60-year-old Hirokazu Matsuda, his first album to be released nationwide, could...
JAPAN
Nov 16, 2007

Moriya implicates former defense chiefs

Former Vice Defense Minister Takemasa Moriya divulged Thursday that lawmakers Fumio Kyuma and Fukushiro Nukaga were among those wined and dined by a former executive of defense equipment trader Yamada Corp. now at the center of a widening corruption scandal.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Nov 16, 2007

'Sundome'

Straight-to-video films, locally called "V Cinema," launched the careers of some of the most important directors of the New Wave of the 1990s, including Takashi Miike, Kiyoshi Kurosawa and Rokuro Mochizuki.
Japan Times
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Nov 16, 2007

Bumper weekend for Tokyo clubs

This weekend, Tokyo's clubs feature sets from some of the giants of the Japanese dance-music scene, and while it will be impossible to catch all the artists, going to Air, Ageha or Womb will offer a good idea of the nation's electronic-music offerings.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Nov 16, 2007

Where Tokyo turns green

If you want to feel that you have left the center of Tokyo far behind but don't fancy the time or cost involved in a long trip, then Mitake in Okutama is a good choice.
EDITORIALS
Nov 16, 2007

Shopping rules tourists

Tourist-wise, Japan has a somewhat divided character. Despite Japan's fascinating history and vast cultural treasures, tourists apparently come here primarily to go shopping. A recent Japan National Tourist Organization survey found that nearly 35 percent of the visitors were in Japan for the shops....
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Nov 16, 2007

A one-time hardcore polemicist changes his tune

Alec Empire has never been the kind of guy you'd take home to meet your mother. While other musicians played at being scary, he was the real deal: dour, fiercely political and forever unwilling to let a good time get in the way of some antifascist polemic and white noise.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Nov 16, 2007

Jane Birkin

Jane Birkin
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink
Nov 16, 2007

Japan's top sommelier has plenty of bottle

At midnight Wednesday, Prince Hotel sommeliers marked the release of this year's Beaujolais Nouveau wine with celebrations underwater at the Epson Shinagawa Aqua Stadium at its Shinagawa branch, and on the snow at its Karuizawa ski-resort hotel.
Japan Times
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Nov 16, 2007

Indian puppetry pulls strings

This month, for the first time ever, audiences in Japan will be able to enjoy puppet plays performed in the ancient Yakshagana tradition of the South Indian state of Karnataka.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / HOTELS & RESTAURANTS
Nov 16, 2007

Christmas in Hakone

Christmas in Hakone For those who would like a quieter seasonal setting away from bright lights and crowded stores, the Hyatt Regency Hakone Resort & Spa is offering a Christmas Celebration accommodation package from Nov. 28 to Dec. 25.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Nov 16, 2007

'Waitress'

Pie-making is a tricky business, as are most other things in life. In "Waitress," pie-maker (or rather, pie-genuis as she's known to her friends) and waitress Jenna's habitual reply to "How are you doing today?" is a rolling of the eyes and a quiet, heartfelt, "Same old shipwreck."
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Nov 16, 2007

'A Mighty Heart'

When "The Road To Guantanamo" came out a year ago, a lot of people were ready to jump all over director Michael Winterbottom. His film, which portrayed three British men of Pakistani origin who were picked up and incarcerated at the U.S. military base in Guantanamo, Cuba, was seen by some as one-sided...
BUSINESS
Nov 16, 2007

Consumption tax hike certain: Mitarai

Hiking the consumption tax to finance social security is "unavoidable" because the government is scheduled to raise its portion of the funding in fiscal 2009, Fujio Mitarai, head the Japan Business Federation (Nippon Keidanren), said Thursday.
EDITORIALS
Nov 16, 2007

Another tradition fading

A recent Cabinet Office survey shows a considerable shift in the views of male-female roles over the past decade. Nowadays, more than 50 percent of Japanese men oppose having women stay at home solely as housewives. Yet, with so many women now working full and part time, it is surprising that nearly...

Longform

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