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Japan Times
CULTURE / Art / WEEK 3
Jan 16, 2011

Calligraphy writ large takes in choreography, too

Japanese calligraphy is a challenge at the best of times. So why go to the trouble of using a piece of paper as large as the side of a bus, and a brush that's almost two meters long and weighs 50 kg?
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jan 8, 2011

Subculture inspires young male cross-dressing trend

He's a 52-year-old medical doctor who goes by the name Ayaka Ogawa when living out his cross-dressing fantasies of being a woman in her mid-40s.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jan 7, 2011

Realizing the genius of Leonardo da Vinci

A temporary pavilion in Tokyo's Hibiya Park seems like an unlikely venue for showcasing the hallowed works of Leonardo da Vinci, but for this particular exhibition, the big top-like structure is appropriate. "Leonardo da Vinci: The Genius" is aimed straight at the general public. Designed, produced,...
CULTURE / Stage
Dec 31, 2010

A great year for theater innovation

Japan's drama scene has seen some change in 2010. It was as if the theater crowd grew tired of waiting for the country's ailing economy and faltering politics to offer them anything new to work with and decided to go and find their own inspiration.
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Dec 26, 2010

Who are the oldies to fault young people's various social skills?

Haragei is a word you don't hear very much anymore. Literally "belly art," haragei refers to the variety of persuasive communication that is done not with words but with the silent force of personality. Think of being stared down by a man sitting like a pot-bellied stove in front of you. But to be a...
EDITORIALS
Dec 11, 2010

Test results still worrisome

Japan's ranking had been falling in the triennial international academic survey of 15-year-old students by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). In the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA), Japan fell from eighth place in 2000 to 15th place in 2006 in reading,...
LIFE / Digital
Dec 1, 2010

Lady Gaga goes offline for charity

Alicia Keys and Lady Gaga take charity work seriously, and they're going offline to prove it.
LIFE / Digital / TECH_JAPAN
Nov 17, 2010

Possibilities are endless as Japan's manga fans turn cell phones into libraries

In a development indicative of the growth of Japan's digital publishing industry, key player Celsys Inc. was listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange's second section on Nov. 4. This is in addition to being listed on startup market Centrex.
CULTURE / Books
Nov 14, 2010

Bloody imperial rumble in Burma's jungle

The prologue to this stupendous book opens in Yamagata, where a Japanese general from World War II is struggling to atone for the deaths of soldiers who lost their lives under his command in India. They had been trying to mount an assault from Burma, which Japan had already conquered.
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Nov 12, 2010

Designer retrospective tracks the zeitgeist

The best thing about graphic design is how closely it traces the mood of the day. If Japan over the last decade has been characterized by wishy-washy men who don't eat meat and a kind of wobbly-legged indecisiveness in response to the rise of China, then the graphic designer who has best catered to —...
CULTURE / Books
Oct 31, 2010

Those risky, robust, resplendent architects of Japan

If Europeans are overawed by the architecture of the past, convinced that nothing as accomplished can ever be built again, this is where the Japanese, having none of these convictions or inhibitions, radically deviate, believing they can improve on the past, produce something more outstanding, or at...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Oct 30, 2010

Kyoto-based publication true labor of love for editor

JANE SINGER Special to The Japan Times It wasn't the taste of sushi or the kindness of strangers that hooked American magazine editor John Einarsen on Japan on his first visit in November 1974.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Oct 28, 2010

Japan's biodiversity pledge: $2 billion

NAGOYA — As Japan pledged $2 billion Wednesday to preserve biodiversity in the developing world, negotiators at COP10 reported progress toward concluding an international agreement on access to genetic resources and establishing biodiversity preservation targets over the next decade.
JAPAN
Oct 24, 2010

Envoys near COP10 deal but hurdles remain

NAGOYA — Halfway through the two-week COP10 biodiversity conference, a series of all-night negotiations have left many delegates exhausted but optimistic that a new protocol governing access to and compensation for genetic resources will be adopted before the event concludes Oct. 29.
Japan Times
LIFE
Oct 24, 2010

Nagoya event can feel far distant from nature

I have been in Nagoya attending the U.N. biodiversity confrence, COP10, for nearly a week now (two if you count the pre-COP10 meeting on biosafety, MOP 5), and I think it's safe to say I haven't heard mention of an actual animal or plant yet.
JAPAN
Oct 23, 2010

Resource-sharing deal eludes at conference

NAGOYA — Delegates to the COP10 biodiversity conference said Friday they had made steady progress toward concluding a new international agreement on access to genetic resources and sharing their benefits, but noted long-standing differences continued to keep this goal at arm's length.
EDITORIALS
Oct 19, 2010

Former prosecutor indicted

The Supreme Public Prosecutors Office on Oct. 11 indicted Mr. Tsunehiko Maeda, a prosecutor with the Osaka District Public Prosecutors Office's special investigation squad, on suspicion of tampering with data on a floppy disk seized from a suspect in a case involving alleged abuse of the postage discount...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Oct 19, 2010

Biodiversity parley finding goals elusive

NAGOYA — The Monday start of the COP10 conference was marked by strong differences over how to ensure fair access to genetic resources and how to demarcate terrestrial and marine areas for protection under a new environmental protocol.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Oct 19, 2010

Gaba teachers challenge 'contractor' status

Long accustomed to being ignored, being forgotten proved too much to take for unionized teachers at Gaba language school. On Oct. 4, the General Union registered an official complaint and request for an investigation with the Ministry of Finance's Securities and Exchange Surveillance Commission (SESC)....
EDITORIALS
Oct 16, 2010

NHK reporter crosses the line

Public broadcaster NHK announced Oct. 8 that a reporter in its news department's sports section warned a Japan Sumo Association official that the Metropolitan Police Department would conduct raids on sumo stables to search for evidence indicating that sumo wrestlers had gambled on professional baseball...
EDITORIALS
Oct 14, 2010

An award Beijing doesn't want

The Norwegian Nobel Committee has awarded the 2010 Peace Prize to Mr. Liu Xiaobo for his work promoting human rights in China. Not surprisingly the award comes over the objections of the Chinese government, which considers Mr. Liu a criminal. We applaud the decision and the outstanding work of Mr. Liu,...
COMMUNITY / Voices / HAVE YOUR SAY
Oct 12, 2010

Don't blame JET for Japan's poor English: responses

A selection of readers' views on "Don't blame JET for Japan's poor English" (Just Be Cause, Sept. 7) by Debito Arudou:
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Oct 8, 2010

'Le Petit Nicolas'

For the defeated nations of World War II, the 1950s were a time of chaotic struggle, but for the victors, it was a time of stability, growing affluence and general cheerfulness (at least on the surface). Suited dads went to work and returned home for dinner, while moms stayed at home and could be relied...
EDITORIALS
Oct 5, 2010

Clarifying the betrayal of trust

The public prosecutors offices for the Tokyo, Nagoya and Osaka districts have special investigation squads — elite teams that specialize in the investigation of corruption involving politicians and bureaucrats and large-scale crimes involving enterprises. Unlike other prosecutors, they make arrests...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Oct 4, 2010

N.Y. gets 'one hand clapping' Zen debut

NEW YORK — The publication of J.D. Salinger's "Nine Stories" introduced a new generation of Americans to a Zen Buddhist koan roughly translated as, "What is the sound of one hand clapping?"

Longform

Construction takes place on the Takanawa Gateway Convention Center in Tokyo, slated to open in 2025.
A boom for business tourism in Japan?