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COMMENTARY
Mar 18, 2007

Blind spot on Africa's population boom

LONDON -- You look at the numbers and you think: "That's impossible." Uganda had about 7 million people at independence in 1962, and in only 45 years it has grown to 30 million. By 2050, there will be 130 million Ugandans, and it will be the 12th biggest country in the world, with more people than Russia...
Reader Mail
Mar 18, 2007

'47 Ronin' reflect true values

Two recent positions taken by the Japanese government -- denial of the military's use of physical force to recruit "comfort women" during the Pacific War and the decision to start hunting humpback whales -- make Tokyo appear determined to alienate the rest of Asia and the West. There must be some reason...
CULTURE / Books
Mar 18, 2007

Hard-boiled in Bangkok

The Risk of Infidelity Index: A Vincent Calvino Crime Novel, by Christopher G. Moore, Bangkok: Heaven Lake Press, 2007, 324 pp., $15.95 (paper) Bangkok-based detective-for-hire Vincent Calvino has found himself in a classic predicament: After coming through with a mountain of solid evidence for his American...
Japan Times
LIFE / WEEK 3
Mar 18, 2007

Thousands in grip of new exam fever

Whether because they are bored, driven to absorb as much of life's wonder as they can, or because they regard certificates as legups on the career pole, many Japanese of all ages are flocking to fonts of knowledge on everything from kanji (Chinese written characters), to shochu (low-class distilled spirits)...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Mar 18, 2007

'I did it my way' -- 'Hey, stop! You do it my way 'cos I wrote the damn song!'

These days, a news report just isn't a news report without three or four men bowing in front of reporters over some misdemeanor.
SOCCER / PREMIER REPORT
Mar 17, 2007

Scheduling making life difficult for McClaren's England

LONDON -- Fancy a good bet?
JAPAN
Mar 17, 2007

Scandal has fans wondering if sumo is on the take

In Japan, Asashoryu is a household name.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Mar 17, 2007

Winning formula prevails in the midst of diversification

As I near the end of my winter stay in Niseko, I am left with a nagging question: Has Niseko been ruined by tourism?
JAPAN
Mar 16, 2007

Tokyo gubernatorial race heats up

The April 8 Tokyo gubernatorial race entered a new stage Thursday as the two leading contenders unveiled their election platforms centered on public safety and the environment.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Mar 16, 2007

'Perfume'

"Perfume" is a film that comes to us with impeccable art-house credentials: It's a story about aestheticism, the appreciation of smells, and thus bathed in sensuality. Its director, Tom Tykwer, is responsible for the art-house hit "Run Lola Run," as well as an ethereal adaptation of a Krzystof Kieslowski...
COMMENTARY
Mar 16, 2007

Apologies of dubious quality

HONG KONG -- The recent verbal gymnastics of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe show why, more than 60 years after the end of World War II, Japan's wartime behavior remains a sensitive issue around the region and why the country's apologies are regarded as insincere.
Japan Times
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Mar 16, 2007

Full-color business and pleasure

If there's one thing that's drawing the eyes of the world toward Japan, it'sanime. From "Akira" to "Spirited Away," through years of moving, high-concept beauties and "video nasties," and right down to the plethora of sprawling half-hour cartoon series, animation is widely regarded as Japan's key artistic...
COMMENTARY
Mar 15, 2007

North Korea prefers Bush?

Japan's distress over the rapid progress in U.S.-North Korean talks for normalization of relations is palpable. The government as well as the mainstream media seem united in hopes that Washington will delay normalization until North Korea meets Japan's demands over the abductee issue -- the return of...
Japan Times
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Mar 14, 2007

What's 'separate' about humankind?

In a sense, I'm a mind reader. In writing this, I believe that you think that I want you to think that I intend to persuade you of something I believe. Got that?
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Mar 13, 2007

What women want is to be treated 'like a girl'

Since the Danjyo Koyo Kikai Kinto Ho (Equal Employment Opportunity Law) kicked in two decades ago, it's become the norm for women to work as hard and long as men, though not necessarily under the same conditions. Accordingly, money matters between danjyo (men and women) have become a lot more complicated....
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Mar 13, 2007

Bigger is not always better for Japan's English teachers

While exact figures are unavailable, but it is fair to assume that a large number of foreigners who work in Japan will spend at least some of their time teaching in a language school.
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design / ON: FASHION
Mar 13, 2007

COSMIC WONDER, Shibusei and Monocle magazine

Cosmic reconceptualization
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WORDS TO LIVE BY
Mar 13, 2007

Mamoru Oshii

Animation and live-film writer and director Mamoru Oshii, 56, is best known for making the animated 1995 movie "Ghost in the Shell," which was a strong influence on the Hollywood movie "The Matrix" (1999). The work Oshii is most satisfied with is the 2004 sequel to that film, "Innocence" (which was nominated...
BASKETBALL / ONE-ON-ONE WITH ...
Mar 11, 2007

Takamatsu's Nakagawa reaped benefits from time spent playing pro ball overseas

The Japan Times will be featuring periodic interviews with players in the bj-league -- Japan's first professional basketball circuit -- which is in its second season. Kazuyuki Nakagawa of the Takamatsu Five Arrows is the subject of this week's profile.
SOCCER / J. League
Mar 11, 2007

Hayakawa's early goal gives Yokohama FC derby victory

YOKOHAMA -- Newly promoted Yokohama FC beat Yokohama F. Marinos 1-0 in their derby match on Saturday evening, Tomonobu Hayakawa giving his side its first-ever victory in the top flight with an early goal.
Reader Mail
Mar 11, 2007

Bigger issues to deal with

Regarding Hidesato Sakakibara's Feb. 28 letter, "Term 'gaijin' has run its course": Sakakibara's awareness that the term "gaijin" upsets many foreigners living in Japan is nice to know. It doesn't bother me, though, because there are too many other important things to deal with. And the habit will never...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / PERSONALITY PROFILE
Mar 10, 2007

Bernard Krisher

One interviewer called him "a mobile office." Others called him "a pusher, a hyperactive bundle of energy and ideas, a class act." Magazines referred to him as "a Japanese institution," and "a one-man United Nations."
Japan Times
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Mar 9, 2007

Ethereal beings

Twenty years ago when he was in his mid-20s, Yukikazu Kano founded the Hanagumi Shibai Theater Company to start what he called "neokabuki." His idea was to bridge the gap between the traditional and contemporary theater fields in Japan.
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design
Mar 8, 2007

Top-selling author Atwood: sometimes caustic, never without cause

She enjoys immense popularity in Japan. Twelve of her books have been translated into Japanese and more are on the way. But internationally acclaimed Canadian author Margaret Atwood wasn't in Japan recently to promote a new book. She was here to look at birds.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Mar 8, 2007

Confusing the categories

Maybe it's just as well that the Museum of Modern Art, Kamakura was as deserted as it was, because the sculpture of Wakiro Sumi is art that whispers rather than shouts. At one of Tokyo's busier museums or galleries, with your head still abuzz with the screech of traffic, the blitz of advertising, and...
BASKETBALL
Mar 7, 2007

Hoop dreams: Nakayama aims to inspire compatriots

Editor's note: This is the first of a two-part series on Asumi Nakayama and the Utah Valley State women's basketball team, which wrapped up its 2006-07 season on Saturday. Part II tomorrow explores the relationship assistant coach Chris Boettcher, who has lived and coached in Japan, has developed with...
BASKETBALL / NBA / NBA REPORT
Mar 7, 2007

Wizards-Warriors finish strange as it gets

NEW YORK -- Sunday's one-point Wizards' win over the Warriors was one of the most bizarre finishes in NBA history.

Longform

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