Search - question

 
 
Reader Mail
Jan 4, 2009

Terms suggestive of racism

Regarding Brian Clacey's Jan. 1 letter, "On the lookout for a slight": I took up Clacey's suggestion and asked myself why "Jap" is considered racist while "Brit" is not. While perhaps not answering his question completely, I think looking at who uses these labels offers a partial answer.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art / INSIDE ART
Dec 25, 2008

If you don't get them with art, give them architecture

Struggling to maintain visitor numbers, often in the face of drastic cuts to their budgets, many of Japan's museums have been turning to an unlikely source of respite: architecture.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle
Dec 23, 2008

Children say the darndest things

Another holiday season is upon us. There is a nip in the air, lights of all colors twinkle throughout neighborhoods and cityscapes across the country, and holiday cheer radiates throughout our schools, workplaces and communities. During this festive time, friends and families often come together in true...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Dec 5, 2008

'WALL-E'

They say the best creators of science fiction are those able to extrapolate just a bit into the future. Think of William Gibson's descriptions of a wired, digitally interconnected world dominated by multinational corporations in 1984's "Neuromancer," or Terry Gilliam's imagining of a perpetual war on...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / MAKING A DIFFERENCE
Nov 29, 2008

Second Harvest gets the food to those who need it

Sitting at the wheel of a 4-ton truck, Charles McJilton suddenly says, "Oh wait, wait!" before pulling off his T-shirt and swapping it for a white one with a bright orange Second Harvest Japan logo on the chest and "Food for all people" spanning his back. "It's all about branding," he jokes, as he slips...
CULTURE / Art / INSIDE ART
Nov 27, 2008

Asian art 'madness' a la mode

"Sometimes I think they're all too young to remember what it was like 20 years ago," said Australian curator-turned- academic Caroline Turner at the 3rd Asian Art Museum Directors' Forum, held in Tokyo last week.
JAPAN
Nov 26, 2008

Aso: Extra budget is for next Diet

The government will put off submitting a second supplementary budget designed to stimulate the economy until January, when the ordinary Diet session assembles, rather than float it during the current extraordinary session, Prime Minister Taro Aso revealed Tuesday.
BUSINESS / THE VIEW FROM EUROPE
Nov 17, 2008

Unlike blue chips, services firms' Japan quirks thwart global reach

Japan's firms are on an unprecedented shopping tour overseas. The value of January-October M&As hit a record ¥6.7 trillion, nearly four times more than a year earlier. The largest was Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group's $9 billion investment in Morgan Stanley.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 15, 2008

Oil puts Brazil on collision course with future

SAO PAULO — Brazil is poised to take its place among the world's petro-powers. Estimates of its newfound oil reserves place it in eighth place among oil-producing nations, ahead of Nigeria as well as Brazil's rival for influence in Latin America, Venezuela. Such newfound wealth is normally a source...
EDITORIALS
Oct 11, 2008

A secret kind of control

The Defense Ministry on Oct. 2 dismissed a 50-year-old colonel of the Air Self-Defense Force for allegedly passing a "defense secret" to a Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper reporter more than three years ago. The information was about a Chinese submarine that had surfaced in the South China Sea and was adrift....
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 9, 2008

Much to a name in U.S. politics

SENDAI — The most important televised debate of the current American presidential campaign was held on the night of Oct. 2, and it featured not the presidential candidates themselves, as one might expect, but rather their vice presidential running mates. The debate was interesting because, while the...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Oct 3, 2008

'American Teen'

With a simplistic name that disguises the depth of its topic, "American Teen" is a fantastically straightforward documentary that follows one year in the lives of a bunch of high-school seniors in Warsaw, Indiana. Director Nanette Burstein ("The Kid Stays In The Picture") spent 10 months shooting during...
SUMO / SUMO SCRIBBLINGS
Sep 10, 2008

Sumo struggles as Aki Basho approaches

In the days leading up to the Aki Basho, sumo is on the ropes.
EDITORIALS
Sep 9, 2008

On to November

The race is on. With the official selection of Arizona Sen. John McCain as the GOP contender on the November ballot, the campaign to be the next president of the United States gets down to business. With less than two months to go before the election, the two parties' strategy and tactics are clear,...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Sep 3, 2008

G8 speakers' summit upstaged

HIROSHIMA — Lower house speakers from the Group of Eight nations promised Tuesday to strengthen efforts to uphold and reinforce the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, which comes up for review in 2010.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Aug 30, 2008

A Welshman's 10,000-km tale of Japan

What on earth would induce anyone to cycle around a country for six months?
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Aug 28, 2008

Ainu musician Oki brings the world to Hokkaido

With a Japanese mother and Ainu father, the appearance of Oki on "The Rough Guide to the Music of Japan" with his Oki Dub Ainu Band presents a rare glimpse of the multiracial underbelly that Japan seems reluctant to own up to. Despite being indigenous to Hokkaido, or Ezo as it is known to them, the Ainu...
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 19, 2008

The hidden costs of thinking about money

PRINCETON, N.J. — When people say "Money is the root of all evil," they usually don't mean that money itself is the root of evil. Like St. Paul of the New Testament, from whom the quote comes, they have in mind the love of money. Could money itself, whether we are greedy for it or not, be a problem?...
COMMENTARY
Aug 14, 2008

Growing energy disarray

The energy policies of European nations, and of Britain in particular, are in disarray. Admittedly the ferocious rise in crude oil prices has eased, but how long the present dip will last, with the Russians bombing one of the main oil transit pipelines from the Caspian region through Georgia and the...
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 9, 2008

U.S.-India nuclear deal weakens nonproliferation

On Aug. 1 the Board of Governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) endorsed a "safeguards agreement" with India that would allow inspections of nuclear facilities that India designates as "civilian."
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Aug 8, 2008

15 minutes with the Grandmaster

If you are a fan of hip-hop, then you have Grandmaster Flash to thank. He is one of the art form's earliest exponents, and the first hip-hop artist in history to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
EDITORIALS
Aug 5, 2008

Victory for Turkish democracy

Turkey's Constitutional Court ruled last week that the country's governing party will not be banned for violating the country's constitution. The outcome is a victory for democracy, as the court decision amounted to a rejection of conservative opposition to the ruling Justice and Development Party and...
COMMUNITY / Issues / JUST BE CAUSE
Aug 5, 2008

Once a 'gaijin,' always a 'gaijin'

Gaijin. It seems we hear the word every day. For some, it's merely harmless shorthand for "gaikokujin" (foreigner). Even Wikipedia (that online wall for intellectual graffiti artists) had a section on "political correctness" that claimed illiterate and oversensitive Westerners had misunderstood the Japanese...
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 3, 2008

Singh rises above the fray to keep fighting

HONG KONG — It was hardly the finest hour for Indian democracy, but Prime Minister Manmohan Singh finally called the bluff of his so-called leftist allies last month and won a vote of confidence in Parliament after two days of stormy debate and widespread allegations of bribery and corruption.
EDITORIALS
Jul 23, 2008

A final chance for Iran?

After dismissing calls to talk to its adversaries as a sign of "appeasement," the United States has reversed course and sat down with Iran to discuss Tehran's nuclear ambitions. As anticipated, Saturday's meeting yielded no breakthrough, but it did send a message to Iran: Windows of opportunity are closing...
EDITORIALS
Jul 22, 2008

Peace or justice with the ICC?

In a historic move, the chief prosecutor at the International Criminal Court (ICC) has charged Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir with genocide. After years of conflict in Darfur that has claimed hundreds of thousands of lives, the move would seem to have been obvious, but the decision to bring...

Longform

Totopa in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward was picked by consultants TTNE as the best sauna of the year.
Japan’s sauna movement: Relax, refresh, repeat