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Reader Mail
Jun 5, 2008

Where East could meet West

Concerning the ongoing discussion about the existence of God, I agree with William Johnston's May 25 letter, "The reconciliation of opposites," for the simple reason that in the Zen Buddhism tradition, Peter Singer (with his doubts expressed in his May 19 article, "If there is a god, then why is there...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jun 5, 2008

Torifune celebrate the birth of butoh's founder

Last month in his ongoing series Japanese Cinema Eclectics, author Donald Ritchie screened "Horrors of Malformed Men" (Toei, 1969). An "unsung classic" of Japanese film, "Horrors" features the only cinematic performance of Tatsumi Hijikata, the founder of the butoh dance movement. Hijikata, who would...
Reader Mail
Jun 5, 2008

Dedicate a TV channel to English

I would like to propose that the Japan Broadcasting Corporation (NHK) add an English channel to its current general and education channels. The channel would no doubt contribute to improving the English ability of Japanese people, young and old.
Japan Times
Reference / Special Presentations / WITNESS TO WAR
Jun 5, 2008

Donald Richie's memories of life in Japan after the war

On Dec. 7, 1941, a 17-year-old high school student named Donald Richie was fixing the fence at his house in Lima, Ohio, when his mother ran out on the porch to tell him and his father that she just heard over the radio that Japanese forces had attacked Pearl Harbor.
Reference / Special Presentations / WITNESS TO WAR
Jun 5, 2008

Donald Richie offers history lesson

18th in a series
COMMENTARY
Jun 4, 2008

Cluster bomb ban is a good start

The British armed forces clung to their cluster bombs like a baby to its rattle, and some suspected that they were trying to sabotage the treaty on behalf of their American friends. But Prime Minister Gordon Brown overruled them, in the end, and Britain was among the hundred countries that agreed to...
BASKETBALL / NBA / NBA REPORT
Jun 4, 2008

Failure to make Finals will cost Saunders job

NEW YORK — Failing to crash the NBA Finals for the third straight season is guaranteed to cost Pistons coach Flip Saunders a fourth try.
COMMUNITY / Issues / JUST BE CAUSE
Jun 3, 2008

Good news from grass roots

Reader Rodney in Vancouver recently e-mailed: "I've often found your articles informative and useful, but they tend to take a tone of complaint. Please tell us about some face-to-face, grassroots efforts that have helped make Japanese more considerate and respectful of those who are different."
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Jun 3, 2008

Hard work begins once Japan signs child-abduction treaty

If my own mailbox is any indicator, the Internet is buzzing as international family lawyers, family rights activists and others share an exciting piece of news: Japan is reportedly planning to join the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction! Perhaps Japan's days as a haven...
MORE SPORTS
Jun 2, 2008

Deep Sky wins Derby after powerful push

When good things finally come your way they often just keep on coming. Such proved the case for jockey Hirofumi Shii Sunday at Tokyo Racecourse.
Japan Times
JAPAN / TICAD IV
May 31, 2008

Health care crucial to children

YOKOHAMA — Africa continues to be one of the most challenging regions in the world for children.
JAPAN
May 31, 2008

SDF quake-relief airlift to China is ruled out

Acknowledging apprehension in China, Japan has dropped plans to send Self-Defense Forces aircraft to China to transport emergency supplies to earthquake survivors, Chief Cabinet Secretary Nobutaka Machimura said Friday.
Rugby
May 30, 2008

Kirwan to lead Japan against former team

Japan coach John Kirwan will get a little help from his former New Zealand teammates as he prepares his side for the upcoming Pacific Nations Cup.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink
May 30, 2008

Good drinks for those who wait

In most sake breweries, the brewing season is over by May, a month marked by the announcement of the National New Sake Awards, the biggest public prize to which a brewer can aspire. (Those interested can taste some of the prizewinners at the National Sake Fair in Tokyo's Ikebukuro on June 11th.)
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
May 30, 2008

Love 'em or hate 'em

Usually bands this challenging are doomed to wallow in dank flea-pit venues idolized by a few brave souls and sustained only by belief in their own genius.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
May 30, 2008

'Bakemono Moyo'/'Mukidashi Nippon'

Still only 24, Yuya Ishii has not only made four feature films in a blazingly short time, but had them screened in his own section (hard to call it a retrospective) at the 2008 Rotterdam Film Festival. Also, at this year's Hong Kong International Film Festival, he received the first Edward Yang New Talent...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
May 30, 2008

Taico Club

Whether it's Bjork honing her vocal chops on the cliffs of Iceland or the Belleville Three birthing techno in the mean streets of 1980s Detroit, there's a certain romance to seeing music in terms of the environment in which it was created. So when Nathan Fake released his debut album "Drowning in a Sea...
EDITORIALS
May 30, 2008

Mr. Fukuda's vision

In August 1977 then Prime Minister Takeo Fukuda in Manila gave a speech on Japan's Asia diplomacy. Under what was later called the Fukuda doctrine, Japan promised to refrain from becoming a military power, to pursue "heart-to-heart" relationships of mutual trust in various fields, to seek solidarity...
COMMENTARY / World
May 28, 2008

Eagerly awaiting a warmer Arctic

What connects oil at $135 a barrel with last month's discovery of huge cracks in the Ward Hunt ice shelf off Ellesmere Island at the top of Canada's Arctic archipelago? And what might connect those two things with a new, even Colder War?
COMMENTARY / Japan / THE VIEW FROM NEW YORK
May 28, 2008

Behind the failure of the Japanese economy

Takafusa Shioya has sent me his book published last year, "Keizai Saisei no Joken" (Conditions for Economic Recovery). Nearly three decades ago, during a period of a few years when Jimmy Carter's presidency morphed into Ronald Reagan's, he was stationed in the New York outpost of a Japanese trade office...
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle
May 27, 2008

Home alone

When Web designer Soko Hirayama moved to Tokyo five months ago, she did not expect to be living solo.
Japan Times
JAPAN / AFRICA LIFELINE
May 27, 2008

Investors looking beyond raw materials to consumers

Japan and its trading houses have scrambled in recent years to court resource-rich African countries as competition has intensified with Europe and China to secure natural resources and raw materials prices have surged with the demand of rapidly growing emerging economies.
Japan Times
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
May 27, 2008

Law bends over backward to allow 'fuzoku'

Some desires money can't gratify, but for appetites of the flesh, there are ways in Japan to legally sate one's carnal cravings.
COMMENTARY
May 26, 2008

Second wind for cigarette sales

At the initiative of the Finance Ministry, the government has introduced a system to verify the age of anyone using a cigarette vending machine. But the system reportedly is not widely used.
COMMENTARY
May 26, 2008

A winner that Beijing would be wise to cheer

LOS ANGELES — Not every election has significant international repercussions, to be sure. Some are scarcely noteworthy even in the places where they occur. But in March there was a monster piece of an election in East Asia, and early last week the landslide winner was celebrated in happy parties all...
Japan Times
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
May 25, 2008

Carp need more production from Kurihara

Kenta Kurihara is somewhat disappointed in his statistics so far this season, and a bit embarrassed as well.

Longform

Japan's growing ranks of centenarians are redefining what it means to live in a super-aging society.
What comes after 100?