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Reader Mail
Oct 25, 2007

Not just a group of friends

The anonymous writer of the Oct. 14 letter "Language schools need regulation" presents a distorted assessment of the role of unions organizing at Nova. For instance, the writer mistakenly states that "no one has talked to Nova management." The General Union has negotiated with Nova for over 15 years....
Reader Mail
Oct 25, 2007

Teaching staff needs diversity

Regarding the Oct. 13 article "Aussie Nova teachers to be helped by consulates": It's interesting to hear of (English-conversation school) Nova's problems due to management. I taught in Japan from 1999 to 2004 for various companies and as an independent teacher. I applied twice to Nova (once in Japan...
Reader Mail
Oct 25, 2007

The will of the Korean people

Ralph Cossa's Oct. 22 article, "Potential for Korean progress," is arrogant because it implies that South Korean President Roh Moo Hyun and his administration are naive and that they need to follow Cossa's advice. It is biased because it reveals Cossa's disgust with the democratically elected Roh government...
Reader Mail
Oct 25, 2007

Missing name weakens report

In the Oct. 20 Kyodo article "Tokyo trader probed over procurement of U.S. night vision goggles," the Tokyo trading house was never mentioned by name. Yet, other parties -- none of whom were under suspicion of misconduct -- were named, including Japan's Defense Ministry and Northrop Grumman.
JAPAN
Oct 25, 2007

U.S.-China ties won't mar Japan bond: Schieffer

U.S. Ambassador Thomas Schieffer tried Wednesday to soothe rising Japanese concern about relations with Washington by repeating that Japanese interests will not be sacrificed for the sake of China.
BUSINESS
Oct 25, 2007

Japanese businesses setting up virtual shop in Second Life

For a year, blue-chip corporations in the West have been setting up shop on Second Life, the online, 3-D alternate reality that is redefining Internet communication.
JAPAN
Oct 25, 2007

Ozawa's main goal still to boot LDP out

DPJ members." Then there is Ozawa's posture on Japan's participation in U.N.-sanctioned peacekeeping forces.
BUSINESS
Oct 25, 2007

Consultancy exec to take Livedoor helm in December

Livedoor Holdings Co. President Kozo Hiramatsu will step down in December and be replaced by Hironori Ishizaka, a 34-year-old consulting company executive, the firm said Wednesday.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Oct 25, 2007

'Afro Samurai': anime international

On paper, the making of "Afro Samurai" reads like a recipe for an identity crisis. An animation about an African-American swordsman in a futuristic feudal Japan, it sprang from the mind of a Tokyo illustrator and was brought to fruition in English by a Japanese-U.S. production team, A-list Hollywood...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Oct 25, 2007

Yasukuni through Chinese eyes

'Yasukuni," a two-hour documentary about the controversial Shinto shrine in Tokyo, had its world premiere at the Pusan International Film Festival earlier this month. It comes two years after "Annyoung Sayonara," a feature about a South Korean woman who sued the shrine to have her father's name removed...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Oct 25, 2007

Heritage + manga = contemporary art

The key to Takashi Murakami's success was that his art came packaged with a theory, and for that theory he relied heavily on a 1970 book titled "The Lineage of Eccentricity," by art historian Nobuo Tsuji.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Oct 25, 2007

A legacy in question as Pop artist gets animated

Artists can never be 100 percent sure of their legacies. Some die famous and confident they'll be remembered for generations. If they're lucky, they might be right.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Oct 25, 2007

Hands on contemporary clay

D.H. Rosen, an occasional contributor to The Japan Times Arts Page, is also a ceramicist who has been studying art at Tama Art University in Tokyo since 2004. Unlike many foreign ceramic artists who come to absorb the traditional wabi-sabi aesthetic of traditional pottery, Rosen was interested in Tama...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Oct 25, 2007

A feel for beauty

English potter-artist-writer Bernard Leach (1887-1979) was lucky to have lived in Japan — during his early childhood and on later occasions — when, even though change was coming rapidly, many centuries-old traditions continued unaltered.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Oct 25, 2007

How will history judge Murakami the artist?

As Takashi Murakami would be the first to admit, art history is all about identifying iconic artists who can be held up as representives of movements or periods.
SOCCER
Oct 24, 2007

Osieck remains focused on task at hand

SAITAMA — Urawa Reds stand just a few games from greatness, but Holger Osieck isn't falling into the trap of speculating on the enviable position in which the Saitama giants find themselves.
BASKETBALL / NBA / NBA REPORT
Oct 24, 2007

Holdouts cause for concern in Cleveland

NEW YORK — At what point will LeBron James flex his all-mighty muscle and put pressure on Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert to resolve the contract gridlock restricted free agents Anderson Varejao and Sasha Pavlovic?
BUSINESS
Oct 24, 2007

Motor show glitz belies car market glut

The Tokyo Motor Show, which opens to the public Saturday, is one of the world's biggest auto exhibitions and a place to show off global carmakers' research and development efforts and state-of-the-art technologies.
EDITORIALS
Oct 24, 2007

Libya comes out of the cold

Libya has won a nonpermanent seat on the United Nations Security Council. Tripoli's victory is the clearest sign of its international rehabilitation and a possible lesson for other so-called rogue states: Returning and respecting international norms can pay real dividends.

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