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Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink
Aug 31, 2007

Peninsula makes a play for luxury hotel crown

The Peninsula Tokyo opens its doors Saturday, flexing its muscles with a premier location at the foot of Marunouchi's Naka Dori, dazzling interiors from Yukio Hashimoto, alumnus of local interior bigwigs Superpotato, a 900-sq.-meter spa with "experience showers," and the city's second-largest suite,...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Aug 31, 2007

'Because I Said So'

As a longtime fan of Diane Keaton, it's always disheartening to see her in roles that seem inadequate for the Oscar-winning, lean and brainy hipster icon of the 1970s ("Annie Hall," "Manhattan" and "Interiors," to name just a few). But her most recent foray into mainstream rom-com is just plain painful....
Japan Times
JAPAN
Aug 31, 2007

Masuzoe stakes political life on fixing pension mess

New Health, Labor and Welfare Minister Yoichi Masuzoe says he will "stake his political life" on matching the 50 million unidentified pension premium records, whose decades of mishandling by the Social Insurance Agency led many people to receive smaller payments than they were due.
Japan Times
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Aug 31, 2007

A day (or two) for every dog

Super Dogs Carnival 2007, Japan's premier canine festival, will be held Sept. 1-2 at the Goodwill Dome in Saitama Prefecture. And the good news for us humans: we're welcome, too.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Aug 31, 2007

'Planet Terror'/'Death Proof'

With their double-feature project "Grindhouse," directors Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez seek to revive a bit of cinematic history, namely the grindhouse: the flea-pit inner-city theaters of the 1970s (think NYC's old Times Square), with dodgy clientele, that inevitably had a double-feature of...
CULTURE / Music
Aug 31, 2007

Gogol Bordello "Super Taranta!"

The previous album by this motley crew of Brooklyn-resident immigrants was called "Gypsy Punks." It's a good description of the music, but the generic-sounding title may have also fooled people into thinking it was some kind of anthropological exercise.
BUSINESS
Aug 31, 2007

BOJ's Mizuno says loan crisis shows why rates need to rise

The Bank of Japan needs to raise interest rates to prevent excess borrowing that helped trigger the U.S. subprime mortgage crisis and subsequent financial-market turmoil, central bank Policy Board member Atsushi Mizuno said Thursday.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Aug 31, 2007

A great escape to Biwako

Jasmine, a writer who hails from Hiroshima and is much older than me but has a refined magnetizing beauty that cannot be ignored, pours me a cup of green tea on my first ever junket. It's just before the world turns blue; just before I'm dropped into a Marc Chagall painting by an invisible but all-seeing...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film / SHORT TAKES
Aug 31, 2007

The Wicker Man

Director: Neil Labute Language: English
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Aug 31, 2007

Mono find fan in Steve Albini

While big-name music acts look to foreign markets to continue fattening their already oversize bank accounts, for Tokyo quartet Mono, it's a simple matter of survival.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Aug 31, 2007

Jack Peñate

Jack Peñate wants to inject human feeling into pop music again. And not just in the vocals — he wants it in every last note played. He and his crack band, Joel Porter (bass) and Alex Robins (drums), play a lively, sometimes frenetic mix of rockabilly, country, rock 'n' roll, Latin, lounge jazz and...
BUSINESS
Aug 31, 2007

Toyota releases new SUV in Japan

Toyota Motor Corp. released the new Vanguard sport utility vehicle Thursday to help stem a drop in domestic sales.
MORE SPORTS
Aug 31, 2007

Gay razes field in 200 meters

OSAKA — The IAAF dubbed it the "sub-20-second war" in its preview story in the daily program.
Japan Times
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Aug 31, 2007

Tokyo goes techno

Simply put, Wire is the most awesome techno event in Japan.
BUSINESS
Aug 31, 2007

Indonesia to slash future LNG sales

Indonesia's natural gas sales to Japan's utilities may tumble 75 percent under a 10-year, 25 million metric ton contract that reflects the Southeast Asian nation's dwindling reserves of the fuel. State oil company PT Pertamina will propose slashing the supply when existing contracts with Japanese utilities...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film / SHORT TAKES
Aug 31, 2007

Offside

Director: Jafar Panahi Language: Persian
MORE SPORTS
Aug 30, 2007

Worlds notebook; Day5

OSAKA — News and notes from Day 5 of the 2007 IAAF World Athletics Championships.
MORE SPORTS
Aug 30, 2007

Thomas soars to gold in men's high jump

OSAKA — Mankind has always had a desire to soar to new heights. The U.S. astronauts' historic 1969 trip to the moon is the prime example.

Longform

Mamoru Iwai, stationmaster of Keisei Ueno Station, says that, other than earthquake-proofing, the former Hakubutsukan-Dobutsuen (Museum-Zoo) Station has remained untouched.
Inside Tokyo's 'phantom' stations — and the stories they tell