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JAPAN
Jun 1, 2007

Political pressure puts press freedom to test

, director of the Broadcasting Ethics & Program Improvement Organization, announces during a news conference on March 7 the formation of a new subcommittee to prevent fabricated information from being broadcast by TV stations. KYODO PHOTO
EDITORIALS
Jun 1, 2007

Free Aung San Suu Kyi

To no one's surprise, the military junta that runs Myanmar (also known as Burma) has extended the house arrest of Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi for another year. The continued detention of the Nobel Peace Prize laureate is proof of that government's contempt for international opinion, fundamental human rights...
Japan Times
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Jun 1, 2007

Yukichi Hattori loses the plot

Director, dancer and choreographer Yukichi Hattori broke from tradition when he created "Rhapsody in Blue," his innovative symphonic ballet. Unlike classic ballet productions, there is no plot, so performers are left to physically interpret the meaning of the music through dance. "Rhapsody in Blue"...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jun 1, 2007

'Shaberedomo, Shaberedomo'

Japanese are often stereotyped (and tend to stereotype themselves) as bad communicators — or just plain silent. Men, especially, are praised for being miserly with words, though their wives may long for something more than the furo, meshi, neru (bath, food and sleep) that is said to be the sum total...
COMMENTARY / World
May 31, 2007

Latin America learns art of the possible

COPENHAGEN — Shortly after he was elected Uruguay's first left-leaning president, Tabare Vazquez declared that, "We have to reconstruct the future from the limitations of our own times."
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
May 31, 2007

Yukiko Motoya takes a satirical look at the 'Super No-Flat'

There's a new buzz in Japan's theaters these days — and she's called Yukiko Motoya. Hailing from Ishikawa Prefecture on the Sea of Japan, the 27-year-old founder of an eponymous Tokyo-based theater company has quickly become a new source of freshness both in the drama world and other cultural fields....
EDITORIALS
May 30, 2007

Suicide that conceals facts

The suicide of farm minister Toshikatsu Matsuoka amid political funds scandals is both shocking and sad. It is regrettable that he chose to kill himself rather than sincerely answer questions over the suspicions surrounding him. Mr. Matsuoka's suicide should come as a political blow to Prime Minister...
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT
May 30, 2007

Japan refutes 'marine Darth Vader' charges

ANCHORAGE, Alaska Transformed by oil money from the Trans-Alaska Pipeline, and boasting probably more gas-guzzling SUVs per person than any other American city, on a bad day Anchorage can resemble a giant foggy parking lot.
COMMENTARY
May 28, 2007

Apathetic clouds of smoke

Two years after the World Health Organization's Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) took effect, many countries are coordinating efforts to curb tobacco use.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
May 27, 2007

Japan's first cosmopolitan in the face of nationalism

THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF YUKICHI FUKUZAWA, revised translation by Eiichi Kiyooka, preface by Kammei Ishikawa, with a foreword and afterword by Albert M. Craig. New York: Columbia University Press, 2007, (1966), 480 pp., with frontispiece photo, $30 (paper) The political scientist Masao Maruyama wrote in...
Japan Times
LIFE / QUEUING
May 27, 2007

Disney bids to make the waiting fun

If you are looking for some long, hot lines, Tokyo Disney Resort, comprising the Disneyland and DisneySea theme parks, surely beats all others as your destination of choice.
JAPAN
May 26, 2007

Postcards warn Asahi Shimbun 'staff will be killed'

The Asahi Shimbun said Friday it had received death threats against its staff, the latest in a string of threats against journalists.
BUSINESS
May 25, 2007

Kankeiren chief leaves a booming Kansai in debt

OSAKA — When Yoshihisa Akiyama steps down as head of the Kansai Economic Federation (Kankeiren) next Monday, he will leave behind a booming Kansai economy thanks to the federation's focus on greater trade with China.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
May 25, 2007

'Borat'

There must be a way to make people laugh without resorting to scatology, homophobia, racial stereotypes or onanism — but Mars may well be colonized before Hollywood works it out.
COMMENTARY / World
May 24, 2007

Appeasing Serbia hurts EU

This month has been a bad one for the cause of human rights in Europe, as Serbia was allowed to begin its six-month presidency of the Council of Europe, the Continent's oldest political body.

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.