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CULTURE / Film
Dec 17, 2010

'Saigo no Chushingura (The Last Ronin)'

It's long been a rather cynical maxim of the Japanese movie business that, when all else fails, you can always put butts on seats with a revival of "Chushingura."
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Dec 14, 2010

Mail-order buyer, be aware

In retrospect, I didn't really need a new baseball cap. But this one, advertised by the publisher of a nationally circulated magazine, had a humorous logo in Japanese that tickled my fancy, making it — like much of the merchandise sold via mail order — a novelty item not sold in stores.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Dec 12, 2010

Kabuki's golden boy knocked off his pedestal — for now

TBS's Dec. 4 edition of "Newscaster" aired a long report on the run-in that kabuki star Ichikawa Ebizo had with a man at a Tokyo bar in the wee hours of Nov. 25, a dustup that resulted in Ebizo's hospitalization with a fractured cheekbone and broken teeth. Elaborating on the principle of "it takes one...
Japan Times
LIFE
Dec 12, 2010

Brazil: the wild side

Statistics tell us one story of Brazil: It is the world's fifth-largest country and South America's largest by far, and it is an anomaly in being the only Portuguese-speaking nation on that continent.
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Dec 12, 2010

Half the world's people are bilingual — but how many Japanese?

First of two parts
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 10, 2010

In the footsteps of modern morality fighters

LONDON — Liu Xiaobo, the imprisoned Chinese writer and human-rights campaigner, will receive the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday. For the first time in history, however, neither the laureate nor any member of his immediate family will be present in Oslo to accept the award.
CULTURE / Music
Dec 10, 2010

Fukuoka harbors hotbed of new talent

Despite its far westerly location (being closer to Seoul than it is to Tokyo), the Kyushu city of Fukuoka has for a long time been one of the musical powerhouses of Japan.
CULTURE / Film
Dec 10, 2010

'Norwegian Wood (Noruwei no Mori)'

"Love hurts" is a staple message of popular culture everywhere, from blues songs about cheating lovers to tear-jerking Japanese melodramas about teenage couples eternally separated by terminal disease. But "Love can drive you crazy" is one uncomfortable truth mainstream movies, from Hollywood and Japan...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Dec 10, 2010

Owen Pallett

At the tail end of last year, Canadian musician Owen Pallett issued a brief statement that he would be "voluntarily retiring" his stage name. For the previous five years, the songwriter and violin virtuoso had been producing ornate orchestral pop under the moniker Final Fantasy, a reference to the Japanese...
Japan Times
BASKETBALL / BJ-LEAGUE NOTEBOOK
Dec 10, 2010

Palmer making big contribution for Golden Kings

Veteran forward David Palmer has made a profound impact for the Ryukyu Golden Kings this season.
JAPAN
Dec 8, 2010

Forced firings hitting JAL crews in prime

The 51-year-old copilot's career at the once high-flying national flag carrier went south on Sept. 25 when he received his schedule for the following month: no flights.
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Dec 8, 2010

When even teachers run to get things done

It's here: Shiwasu (師走, the month of December), whose kanji characters are composed of shi (師, teacher) and hashiru (走る, running) — put them together and you get a month so busy and jam-packed with events that even teachers have to sprint to get everything done.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Dec 7, 2010

Abuse rife within trainee system, say NGOs

In October 1999, 19 Chinese trainees came to the Takefu city office pleading for help. In their first year in Japan as interns, the women had been promised ¥50,000 a month, but scraped by on ¥10,000. The next year, as technical trainees, they should have received ¥115,000 a month. After health insurance,...
COMMENTARY
Dec 6, 2010

Frankly, says the diplomat

LONDON — There is not much in the latest batch of Wikileaks that should come as a surprise to most well-informed people. It is surely common knowledge that the present Russian government has close connections with Mafia-style criminals. No one could have been surprised by reports of the concerns of...
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / OLD NIC'S NOTEBOOK
Dec 5, 2010

Anyone for a great green gourd?

Copying a Canadian friend, during spring for the last two years I have built tepee frames, not conventional trellises, for my cucumbers to trail around as they grow.
SOCCER / PREMIER REPORT
Dec 4, 2010

Bid process for World Cup a farce

LONDON — Before the host for the 2006 World Cup were decided the general feeling was that South Africa, FIFA president Sepp Blatter's preference, was nailed on. A one-horse race.
CULTURE / Film
Dec 3, 2010

'Whatever Works (Jinsei Banzai!)'

If I were to tell you that Woody Allen's new film, "Whatever Works" (opening locally as "Jinsei Banzai!"), involves a nubile, rather dim young girl falling for a cantankerous, neurotic, much older guy, your reaction might be: "Not again!"
Japan Times
SOCCER / SOCCER SCENE
Dec 2, 2010

Japan facing uphill struggle as World Cup decision looms

Thursday marks the end of a long and vicious battle for hosting rights to the 2018 and 2022 World Cups, but Japan will look to Zurich more in hope than expectation of winning the latter.

Longform

Once smoky, male-dominated spaces, today's net cafes, like Kaikatsu Club, are working to make their operations more attractive to women customers.
The second life of Japan's net cafes