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Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jan 22, 2010

'Surrogates'/'The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus'

"Surrogates," the new Bruce Willis sci-fi flick directed by Jonathan Rostow, sketches out a brave new world where the plasticky digital-airbrush aesthetic of Photoshop and Ayumi Hamasaki album covers has triumphed over the imperfections of the meat body; humans lie in "Stim-chairs" all day plugged into...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jan 22, 2010

'Subete wa Umi ni Naru'

MARK SCHILLINGMost commercial films in Japan, as elsewhere, fall into clearly marked boxes, from genre (horror, romcom) to story (zero-to-hero, teen love/tragic death). Indie films here also follow familiar thematic patterns, with miscommunication and alienation being favorites.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / FUZZY LOGIC
Jan 22, 2010

Sweat to a girl riot; soak up Gypsy jazz

"What's that smell in here?" I ask The Harpy's in the dressing room of the livehouse Motion, which lies at the butt end of the sleazy Kabukicho entertainment area in Tokyo's central Shinjuku district.
Reader Mail
Jan 21, 2010

Big mistake to write off Japan

In response to Hiroaki Inui's Jan. 14 letter, "Japan too fossilized to change," I admit there are a lot of things that need to be done to make Japan a better place to live, but if Inui (of Atlanta) is suggesting that America is the answer, he could not be more wrong. I currently live in New York City...
EDITORIALS
Jan 20, 2010

DPJ drawn into Mr. Ozawa's pickle

A regular Diet session started Monday — less than a week after the chief secretary and two former secretaries of Mr. Ichiro Ozawa, the secretary general of the Democratic Party of Japan, were arrested. The Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office's special investigation squad arrested the three on...
BASKETBALL / NBA / NBA REPORT
Jan 20, 2010

Arenas, Wizards continue to look clueless

NEW YORK — So, where do we begin today's NBA installment of Pinhead Wizards?
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Jan 20, 2010

'New' hope, anxiety in Japan's Kanji of the Year

As the first decade of the 21st century drew to a close, the Japanese Kanji Aptitude Testing Foundation conducted its 15th annual Kanji of the Year poll, inviting the nation to decide which single kanji best symbolized 2009.
JAPAN
Jan 19, 2010

As security pact with U.S. turns 50, Japan looks to redefine relations

The Japanese-U.S. security treaty in its current form turned 50 Tuesday. Throughout the decades, the two nations have had their ups and downs and occasional tension, but together they weathered the Cold War and entered a new era and new century.
BASEBALL / SPORTS SCOPE
Jan 19, 2010

Giants need more production from Utsumi

Yomiuri Giants pitcher Tetsuya Utsumi became the team's 17th player rep during the offseason. In 2010, the Giants will be asking him to shoulder a little more of the load on the mound as well.
MORE SPORTS
Jan 18, 2010

Inoue, Baldwin likely done on ice

SPOKANE, Wash. (AP) Rena Inoue and John Baldwin sure know how to make an exit.
Japan Times
BASKETBALL / ONE-ON-ONE WITH ...
Jan 17, 2010

Sugawara steps up game for Golden Kings

The Japan Times will be featuring periodic interviews with players in the bj-league. The league's fifth season bean in October. Yosuke Sugawara of the Ryukyu Golden Kings is the subject of this week's profile.
EDITORIALS
Jan 17, 2010

Japan's cultural heritage

Japanese traditional culture received a big boost late last year when UNESCO added 13 Japanese cultural assets to its Intangible Cultural Heritage List. This worldwide list details cultural arts, traditions and practices that deserve safeguarding for humanity's future. Japan should be proud that it has...
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Jan 17, 2010

Time is now for MLB, NPB to act on 'True World Series'

The proposal by Major League Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig to Nippon Pro Baseball Commissioner Ryozo Kato for a "True World Series" seemed to come out of the blue but is a most welcome idea and, as many would say, it is about time.
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Jan 17, 2010

Seeking exactitude can sometimes exact a high cultural price

I freely admit a prejudice. It is against the concept of "national character," or kokuminsei in Japanese. Is there really such a thing or is it merely a jumble of stereotypes, whichever is the country or culture in question?
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / WILD WATCH
Jan 17, 2010

'Tigers' and naturalists of many stripes

I enter the forest and soon the rhythmic swish-swish of my skis over the snow mesmerizes me. This is my first foray of the new year in Hokkaido, making tracks in the lowland forest of Nopporo close to home just east of Sapporo.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jan 15, 2010

Kan sets his sights on cutting government waste

Given the nation's snowballing deficit and sluggish growth, Deputy Prime Minister and now also Finance Minister Naoto Kan announced Thursday plans to review government spending to reduce waste and come up with policies to expand the economy.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jan 15, 2010

'The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo'

A French critic in Cannes once remarked that European horror movies are different from Hollywood products in that "they are properly horrific." And that certainly fits the bill for Swedish movie "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo" (released in Japan as "Millennium") — a brave undertaking by director...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jan 15, 2010

'Blue Gold: World Water Wars'/'A Perfect Getaway'

In 1855, the Suquamish Chief Seattle was asked to sell his land to the United States government. The chief was puzzled by the request: "The president in Washington sends word that he wishes to buy our land. But how can you buy or sell the sky? The land? The idea is strange to us. If we do not own the...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jan 15, 2010

'Kondo wa Aisaika'

Japanese film marriages are as diverse as the real things, ranging from the uncommunicative couple of Kiyoshi Kurosawa's "Tokyo Sonata" (2008) to the doting pair of the "Tsuri Baka Nisshi" ("Dairy of a Fishing Fool") series (1988-2009), though the easy-going wife of the fishing-mad salaryman hero has...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jan 15, 2010

Dexpistols and Diplo

Over the last few years a new genre has come to dominate dance floors across the globe that combines house music and electro with mash-ups and hip-hop, and on Dec. 22 a global ambassador for the sound, Diplo, will join local DJ duo Dexpistols at Womb. Promoting the party are Dexpistols, who will be celebrating...
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / Japan Pulse
Jan 14, 2010

Smokers escape the gas chamber

Smokers in Japan are losing ground, but Japan Tobacco is doing what it can to find safe havens for puffers.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Jan 12, 2010

Wannabe comics find their voices in Tokyo

"Everyone likes a laugh now and then, right?"
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 10, 2010

Kremlin two-step: modernize or marginalize

MOSCOW — Westerners often see Russian politics in terms of a high-level struggle between liberals and conservatives: Ligachev and Yakovlev under Mikhail Gorbachev; reformers and nationalists under Boris Yeltsin; siloviki and economic liberals under Vladimir Putin.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Jan 10, 2010

Going to pot down Mashiko way

For the most part, visitors to Tochigi Prefecture hit the well-trodden tourist track to the rococo extravaganza of grandiose Toshogu shrine in Nikko. Yet those in search of a more refined showcasing of the Japanese aesthetic would be better directing themselves to a spot in the prefecture's southeast....

Longform

Ichiro Suzuki, one of the most iconic players in NPB and MLB history, was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame with 99.7% of the vote.
With Hall of Fame induction, Ichiro makes himself heard loud and clear