Search - member

 
 
CULTURE / Books
Sep 23, 2007

The sentence for keeping a journal

Confessions: An Innocent Life in Communist China, by Kang Zhengguo. W.W. Norton & Co, 2007, 443 pp., $27.95 (cloth) For Kang Zhengguo it all started when he began keeping a diary. In Maoist China, with no place for privacy, even an innocent record of daily life could be an incriminating document.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 23, 2007

Greater mobility for smaller wage gaps

PRAGUE — From its earliest days, the European Union has aimed for balanced economic development across its regions. The Maastricht Treaty contains the striking phrase "overall harmonious development." But however admirable this sentiment may be, there is no "scientific truth" about the "right" level...
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Sep 21, 2007

Touring German ensemble offer up brass from the past

German Brass, one of the world's top brass ensembles, will tour Japan Sept. 23-28. Ten experienced players perform together in a unique combination, showing off their effortless synchronization perfected over more than three decades and entertaining the audience with a wide and varied repertoire.
BUSINESS
Sep 20, 2007

BOJ leaves key interest rate unchanged

The Bank of Japan Policy Board decided Wednesday to keep its key interest rate at 0.5 percent, after the U.S. Federal Reserve cut its benchmark interest rate the day before.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Sep 20, 2007

Seeking collectors in Shanghai, not censors

Shanghai Exhibition Center is a massive, Stalinist birthday-cake of a building surrounded by newly constructed glass-and-steel skyscrapers in Shanghai's center. Originally know as Palace of the Sino-Soviet Friendship, from Sept. 6 to 9, the exhibition center had within its walls a new, capitalist friend,...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Sep 20, 2007

Faces of the screen queen

The screening of "I'm Not There" at the Toronto Film Festival earlier this month left many in the aisles whispering "Academy Award" in reference to just one member of the ensemble cast — Cate Blanchett.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 20, 2007

Filipinos respectful of a star's conviction

BANGKOK — Joseph Estrada, the disgraced former president of the Philippines, faces the prospect of spending his remaining years in prison after a special court in Manila found him guilty of amassing around $15 million in bribes and kickbacks. During the 30 months he ruled his country, from mid-1998...
COMMENTARY
Sep 20, 2007

Another Japanese prime minister falls

LOS ANGELES — Japan is of gigantic importance to the United States and to the world. This nation — of 127 million people squeezed into one relatively small island — developed into the second-largest economy in the world.
Reader Mail
Sep 19, 2007

'Criminality' at the gates

Regarding the Sept. 4 article "Hatoyama a hawk on . . . illegal immigrants": It is nice to know that Justice Minister Kunio Hatoyama is irked by "immigrants" and that he links them with crime. How ironic it is, then, that recent funding scandals involving farm ministers, Vice Foreign Minister Yukiko...
LIFE / Language
Sep 18, 2007

Lang-8 puts networking onto a linguistic level

W ith the current enthusiasm for online networking sites reaching a fever pitch with people flocking to MySpace and, recently, Facebook by the millions — not to mention mixi, which has 8 million users in Japan — it was only a matter of time before there would emerge a Web site devoted to foreign...
JAPAN
Sep 16, 2007

'Shadow' leader Fukuda combative but seasoned

and Taro Aso raise their fists Saturday before officially registering for the Liberal Democratic Party's presidential election, which is scheduled to be held on Sept. 23. KYODO PHOTOS
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Sep 16, 2007

They're fey, maybe not gay, but anyway, the 'talent' are coming out to play

It's been more than 9 months since this column last looked at Johnny's Jimusho, Japan's most powerful talent agency, and in the meantime a lot has happened to the young male charges of reclusive company president Johnny Kitagawa. For one thing, these charges, or at least some of them, are no longer young,...
Japan Times
LIFE / WEEK 3
Sep 16, 2007

Three cheers for the boys!

Take a moment to try to think seriously about cheerleaders. Nowadays, they don't just wear skimpy outfits, wave pompoms and do high kicks. Oh no, the cheerleaders jump, tumble and perform acrobatic stunts. And, of course, they dance, chant and smile as well. But colorful pompoms and short skirts apart,...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Sep 14, 2007

LDP factions huddle to choose new leader

The ruling Liberal Democratic Party scrambled to find a successor to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Thursday as former Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuo Fukuda and Finance Minister Fukushiro Nukaga expressed their intention to vie for the LDP presidency and thus the prime ministership.
EDITORIALS
Sep 14, 2007

Ever ambivalent APEC

The Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), once derided as "four adjectives in search of a noun," is a study in frustration. APEC's strongest asset is also its greatest weakness. The group is made up of 21 member economies that account for 41 percent of the world's output and 50 percent of world trade....
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Sep 13, 2007

Blue Man Group: Attack of the 'Smurfs'

Butoh dance, attack art and the band Devo have all had a role in influencing Blue Man Group — which is bringing a two-month run of avant-garde theater to Japan.
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Sep 11, 2007

Boot-camp bukatsu no place for the fainthearted

Coming out of the Japanese education system, one is thankful for one thing: No more bukatsu (after-school activities)! No more running 50 laps around the school grounds until your lungs are almost bursting out from your throat, no more kowtowing to the senpai (seniors) or having to spend most of one's...
COMMUNITY
Sep 11, 2007

Have your say

The scapegoating of Asa Two thumbs up for James Eriksson and Debito Arudou on their article (Zeit Gist, Sept. 4), the first and only in Japan that actually looks at the facts of the whole (Asashoryu) situation and doesn't just follow the bandwagon of "Asa-bashing."

Longform

The byzantine process for converting a foreign driver’s license into a Japanese one entails mountains of paperwork and significant stamina — unless you're a lucky license holder from a country or region where these requirements are waived.
Driving in Japan isn’t hard. Getting the license is.