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CULTURE / Music
Nov 17, 2006

HiGE "Peanuts Forever"

It's funny how the Japanese are nowadays often better at U.S. indie than Americans. While most of the world's worshippers at the Nirvana/Pixies/Pavement shrine forget those bands' skewed wit and take themselves far too seriously, in Japan the weirdness thrives.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Nov 17, 2006

The Mars Volta

Despite a resurgence of progressive rock (Battles, Elysian Fields, Porcupine Tree), few groups worth their effects pedals would cop to the term, mainly because most artists hate being pigeon-holed.
BUSINESS
Nov 17, 2006

Fukui still tight-lipped on rate hike

Bank of Japan Gov. Toshihiko Fukui fueled speculation Thursday that the central bank will raise the interest rate before the end of the year.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 17, 2006

Islamic extremism threatens Bangladesh

MADRAS, India -- Bangladesh is the latest South Asian flash point where democracy stands threatened. Bloody street battles between two rival political parties -- led by two women who hate each other -- and other violence have swept the small country northwest of India in recent weeks. The military is...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Nov 17, 2006

FILMeX shows size doesn't matter

Tokyo FILMeX enters its seventh year as the smaller, friendlier, artier alternative to the Tokyo International Film Festival.
JAPAN
Nov 17, 2006

Fewer visa violators sold on leniency exits

The Immigration Bureau on Thursday called on foreigners who are overstaying their visas to turn themselves in because the number of visa violators who take advantage of the bureau's amnesty measures is decreasing.
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Nov 17, 2006

J-tech pioneer returns with album and tour

It's unusual for an exponent of techno music -- often decried as a somehow unartistic form of music -- to be enthusiastically embraced by the establishment, but DJ Ken Ishii has achieved exactly that.
LIFE / Food & Drink
Nov 17, 2006

High tea and cocktails

The ghosts of Tokyo past may still haunt the inner recesses of Kagurazaka, but increasingly they are being hemmed in by the encroaching architecture of the brash modern city. As with Sakura Sakura, though, a small but growing number of the surviving prewar low-rise, timber houses are being given a new...
Japan Times
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Nov 17, 2006

Tale of two con men in kids musical

Every November, the volunteer, nonprofit organization Tokyo Theatre for Children present a children's musical at the Tokyo American Club in Nishi-Azabu to give English-speaking children a taste of live theater. Formed in 1974, the troupe has previously staged "Cinderella," "Aladdin" and "Alice in Wonderland"...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / JAZZNICITY
Nov 17, 2006

Dutch invasion

Jazz has established many homes outside its country of birth, and recently musicians and fans in these widely dispersed countries have begun interacting far from jazz's Mecca of New York City. The scenes in Holland and Japan -- long two of the most thriving -- stepped up their cultural exchanges this...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Nov 17, 2006

Sakura Sakura: After dark in the alleys of Kagurazaka

NOTE: Sakura Sakura is no longer in business.
BASEBALL / MLB
Nov 16, 2006

Matsuzaka follows national heroes' path to global stardom

Japan once lauded seasoned Kabuki actors, kimono-clad traditional dancers and aging masters of obscure ancient instruments like the 13-stringed koto as "living national treasures."
JAPAN
Nov 16, 2006

Defense talks with China on the way

Japan and China will lay the groundwork later this month for resuming discussions between their defense chiefs after a three-year hiatus, officials in Tokyo said Wednesday.
JAPAN
Nov 16, 2006

Fleet targets 860 whales in annual Antarctic hunt

Japan's research whaling fleet is planning to kill 850 minke and 10 fin whales on its annual hunt in the Antarctic, according to the Fisheries Agency.
JAPAN
Nov 16, 2006

Magic men in trouble for defacing coins

Police arrested four people, including a 24-year-old professional magician, for allegedly making holes in coins for use in magic tricks. Defacing coins is illegal.
JAPAN
Nov 16, 2006

Ruling coalition education bill nears passage

is my Cabinet's priority," Abe told reporters Wednesday evening after the committee vote. Yukio Hatoyama, secretary general of the DPJ, the largest opposition party, slammed the vote, which went ahead despite the opposition boycott.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 16, 2006

Two views of Hugo Chavez

BUENOS AIRES -- Hugo Chavez's nearly eight years in power in Venezuela -- which he will seek to extend in presidential elections next month -- seem to defy economic analysis. Indeed, any and all economic examination of Chavez's Venezuela confirms Edgar R. Fiedler's quip that if you "ask five economists...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Nov 16, 2006

A realist and an eccentric

'If you want a real painting, you must come to see me. If it's only a drawing you're after, you should try Okyo," the artist Soga Shohaku famously joked about Maruyama Okyo (1733-95), a renowned practitioner of Western modes of representation.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Nov 16, 2006

"Yoko Ono: OPEN"

Gallery 360° Closes in 10 days

Longform

Mount Fuji is considered one of Japan's most iconic symbols and is a major draw for tourists. It's still a mountain, though, and potential hikers need to properly prepare for any climb.
What it takes to save lives on Mount Fuji