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CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Oct 29, 2006

TV Asahi's "Quiz Presentation Variety Q-sama," Fuji's "Kinyo Prestige" and more

SLack of imagination has not stopped TV producers from coming up with new outlets for all the comedians looking for work. Every week TV Asahi's variety show "Quiz Presentation Variety Q-sama" (Mon., 8 p.m.) offers about a dozen comedians and other tarento the opportunity to present their own quizzes,...
Japan Times
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Oct 27, 2006

Asian prodigies perform under Luisi's baton

The Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra will be in Japan from Oct. 31 to Nov. 13, collaborating with record-breaking young Asian pianists under the baton of Fabio Luisi. They will also tour the country with conductor Nikolaus Harnoncourt, as part of Vienna Philharmonic Week in Japan.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Oct 27, 2006

On-U Sound from way out

At most live gigs, all eyes are on the band while the mixing desk is tucked out of sight with some guy in a T-shirt standing behind it simply making sure each instrument comes out at the right level.
COMMENTARY
Oct 26, 2006

Revisionists damaging Japan

LONDON -- Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has the reputation of being a tough nationalist. So far, however, he has shown himself to be a pragmatist in foreign-policy issues. His early visits to China and South Korea demonstrated that he wants to improve bilateral relations, which have soured in recent years....
BASKETBALL
Oct 24, 2006

Ohba gets set to battle for starting spot on Apache

Yasuhiro Ohba tightens his shoe laces before taking the court, and checks the grip with the wooden floor so he can perform his best.
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design
Oct 24, 2006

Sony's Aquos line, Kaichiro Yamada's Tatami chair, Tokujin Yoshioka's PANE chair, MSG's Kakehouki broom

Slim and sleek
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / PERSONALITY PROFILE
Oct 21, 2006

Debbie Kopinski

Celebrating its 50th anniversary, Ikebana International is holding its Ninth World Convention in Tokyo Oct. 27-30. Some 850 ikebana enthusiasts are participating.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Oct 20, 2006

IC you're old enough to buy cigarettes: new vending machines

Driven by growing concerns over potential health problems of underage smoking, the tobacco industry will introduce vending machines featuring an age-verification system in 2008 to prevent minors from buying cigarettes.
EDITORIALS
Oct 19, 2006

Nuclear logic fails

Liberal Democratic Party policy chief Shoichi Nakagawa's suggestion at the beginning of this week that Japan needs to discuss whether it should arm itself with nuclear weapons is both careless and thoughtless at a time when the international community is making efforts to eliminate nuclear weapons from...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Oct 19, 2006

Shomei Tomatsu retrospective traces post-war experience

At age 15 in 1945, Shomei Tomatsu was working at an aircraft assembly plant in Nagoya. U.S. B-29s were bombing the industrial city so relentlessly that by the end of World War II, nine out of 10 of its buildings were destroyed -- compared with five out of 10 in Tokyo.
Japan Times
LIFE / WEEK 3
Oct 15, 2006

Last rites for the memories as beloved dolls pass away

An opulent pair of Hime daruma prince and princess dolls from Ehime Prefecture in Shikoku has graced the living room of Tamiko Okamoto's home in Funabashi, Chiba Prefecture, since 1964. A wedding gift from a close friend, the dolls, side by side in a glass case, had been part of the family for all those...
Japan Times
LIFE / WEEK 3
Oct 15, 2006

Intimacy crusader strives to rekindle Japan's fires of marital passion

At first glance, 46-year-old Mayumi Futamatsu looks like a regular housewife. But as someone who's "seen both heaven and hell" in her two marriages, she's a woman with a mission to help all women to be happy -- through having better sex lives.
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Oct 15, 2006

Fuji's "Boku no Aruku Michi," TBS's "Kiraware Matsuko no Issho" and more

Japanese television gets around to the difficult subject of autism in the new drama series "Boku no Aruku Michi" (The Road I Walk; Fuji, Tuesday, 10:15 p.m.). SMAP member Tsuyoshi Kusanagi plays Te-ruaki, an autistic 31-year-old man whose emotional development is that of a 10-year-old boy. Teruaki lives...
COMMENTARY
Oct 14, 2006

Get tough with Pyongyang

HONOLULU -- Virtually every statement issued in response to North Korea's apparent first-ever nuclear-weapons test has included an admonition (or plea) for Pyongyang to return to the moribund six-party talks. But, are all parties prepared to take "yes" for an answer?
EDITORIALS
Oct 13, 2006

Mr. Hu is in charge

The Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) held its annual plenum this week. The four-day gathering of top party officials was part pep rally and part policy incubator: It laid the groundwork for next year's Party Congress, which is held every five years. This week's meeting served another...
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 13, 2006

Silent consent to lawlessness

NEW YORK -- It is time to end the fiction that Vladimir Putin's "dictatorship of law" has made postcommunist Russia any less lawless. The murder last Satur- day of Anna Politkovskaya, one of Russia's bravest and best journalists, a woman who dared to expose the brutal murders committed by Russian troops...
EDITORIALS
Oct 11, 2006

Fear of another arms race

North Korea's announcement that it went ahead with a nuclear-weapons test Monday appeared timed to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's summit with South Korean President Roh Moo Hyun -- a day after his summit with Chinese President Hu Jintao.
BUSINESS
Oct 11, 2006

Sanctions seen having little impact

OSAKA -- Although calls in Japan for tough economic sanctions against North Korea will no doubt grow following Monday's nuclear test, economists say stopping the flow of goods between the two countries would have more political meaning than economic.
COMMENTARY
Oct 9, 2006

Easier way to emissions cuts

Generally speaking, innovation is driven by constraints and shortages. When Japan faced the first international oil crisis in 1973, it looked like the end of the world for the nation, since it depended on imports for 99 percent of its oil. However, Japan survived the oil crunch and used it as a springboard...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Oct 7, 2006

Tell me, just whose festival is it, anyhow?

October is a great month for festivals in Japan and our island is no exception. The Shiraishi Aki Matsuri is my favorite event of the year. It's a time when you meet your neighbors at 8 a.m. and start toasting to the Shinto gods. The matsuri men come out and pull the mikoshi and all-day merriment follows....
Japan Times
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Oct 6, 2006

Rock, dance collide at outdoor fest

Billing itself as an outdoor festival in Tokyo "under the sun," the seventh Nagisa Music Festival takes place Oct. 14-15.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Oct 5, 2006

"Kazunori Kumagai: Resolution of My Tap"

BunkamuraSaturday Oct. 9, 6:18 p.m.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / CABINET INTERVIEW
Oct 3, 2006

Transport minister wants road taxes to be spent on more than just roads

Gas and vehicle taxes should not be spent only on road construction but also on protecting the environment, including maintaining the nation's forests, according to the new minister of land, infrastructure and transport.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Oct 2, 2006

Being an insider is best way to sway Europe's shifting rules

Japanese companies need to act as insiders -- not outsiders -- in Europe as they try to cope with the increasingly tough environmental, safety and other laws of the European Union, whose regulatory power extends beyond the region, experts told a recent symposium in Tokyo.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 2, 2006

China losing its battle with corruption

SINGAPORE -- China's rulers rarely wash their dirty linen in public. So the arrest of Politburo member and Shanghai Communist Party boss Chen Liangyu on corruption charges has sent shock waves across the country. Some speculate that the arrest is really part of a power struggle, with President Hu Jingtao...

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.