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Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jun 28, 2007

Russia as it wanted to be

Sir Winston Churchill, one of history's most quotable characters, once described Russia as "a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma." The Anglo-Polish novelist Joseph Conrad summed it up as "an Asiatic monster with a European veneer," while the English writer Rudyard Kipling had a slightly more...
BUSINESS
Jun 27, 2007

Investors slam JAL's surprise '06 share issue

Japan Airlines Corp. shareholders Tuesday slammed the carrier's top executives, saying they had deceived them by issuing new shares last July without consulting them at their 2006 meeting and for failing to restore profitability in the last business year.
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
Jun 27, 2007

Is this a poisons coverup?

Mariners say the oceans reveal their secrets only grudgingly. Shelly Parulis would say the same of the U.S. Navy.
COMMENTARY
Jun 26, 2007

China aims for bigger share of South Asia's water lifeline

NEW DELHI — Sharpening Asian competition over energy resources, driven in part by high growth rates in gross domestic product and in part by mercantilist attempts to lock up supplies, has obscured another danger: Water shortages in much of Asia are beginning to threaten rapid economic modernization,...
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
Jun 26, 2007

Cyber-abuse and paying local dues

Reader J wants to know what can be done about harassment by e-mail or regular mail.
EDITORIALS
Jun 26, 2007

Living as if there were no risks

The government's fiscal 2007 white paper on disaster prevention notes recent changes in patterns of natural disasters. It cites the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's prediction that global warming will lead to more episodes of heavy rain and more intense tropical cyclones. In 1997-2006, Japan...
COMMENTARY
Jun 25, 2007

Ways to steer public opinion

Since last year, moves by the government to sway public opinion in favor of its policies have come to the fore one after another. On June 6, the Japan Communist Party revealed that the Ground Self-Defense Force's intelligence security unit had gathered information on the activities of organizations and...
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 25, 2007

Tobacco watch on public health policy

BANGKOK — A powerful consensus is emerging among health advocates and public officials around the world that the tobacco industry should not have any influence on public health policies.
BUSINESS / JAPANESE PERSPECTIVES
Jun 25, 2007

Social responsibility: the buzz word nobody gets

Spas are for healing, nursing homes are for caring, language schools are for communicating, amusement parks are for amusing and pensions are for carefree retirement. This is how things ought to be. It is not how things are in modern-day Japan.
JAPAN
Jun 25, 2007

Bull-Dog bites back at advance by U.S. fund

Bull-Dog Sauce Co. shareholders on Sunday approved the company's proposal to launch defensive measures to fend off an unsolicited takeover bid by New York-based hedge fund Steel Partners.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Jun 24, 2007

Big breasts, funny hair, anything dumb — the way to go on TV

Last spring, TV tarento Rei Kikukawa made news when she appeared in a bra commercial. TV commercials are the bread-and-butter of most tarento (media stars), and Kikukawa has done her fair share, but since gaining stardom she's managed to avoid overt exploitation of her sex appeal. That's because she...
Japan Times
LIFE
Jun 24, 2007

PARKLIFE: You'd be amazed

Pick a park. Get up early. Stay till late. In between you'll be amazed what goes on.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / U.S. BUSINESS SCHOOL SYMPOSIUM
Jun 23, 2007

Educators school Japan in global management

Japanese executives should look at the introduction of new U.S.-modeled rules on corporate governance as an opportunity to increase the value of their companies, rather than fret over the negative costs of compliance, an American accounting professor told a recent symposium in Tokyo.
Japan Times
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Jun 22, 2007

Architecture takes spiritual turn at GA Gallery

What do China's Chengdu and Saadiyat Island in the United Arab Emirates have in common? Answer: They're all the sites of major future architectural projects featured in the exhibition "GA International 2007," currently running at the GA Gallery in Tokyo's Setagaya Ward. Though small (the exhibition takes...
JAPAN
Jun 21, 2007

Nuclear industry gears up for global push

KYOTO — Japan's nuclear power industry is pushing to get atomic energy on next year's agenda when this nation hosts the Group of Eight summit meetings, saying it is time world leaders recognize the power source as a practical way to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Reader Mail
Jun 20, 2007

Perils of looking inward

Mariko Nihei's comments in her June 6 letter, "Study in Japan is good enough," are at best shortsighted and, at worst, symptomatic of the perils of choosing to look inward.
BUSINESS
Jun 19, 2007

TBS' Rakuten snub reflects protected world

Hiroshi Inoue, president of Tokyo Broadcasting System Inc., does not hide his displeasure when he talks about online shopping mall operator Rakuten Inc.'s attempt to make the broadcaster its affiliate.
JAPAN
Jun 19, 2007

Iwojima, site of fierce battle, is officially renamed Iwoto

Iwojima, the famous patch of volcanic rock in the Pacific where Japanese and U.S. forces fought a fierce battle toward the end of World War II, is no longer known by that name, officially speaking.
JAPAN
Jun 17, 2007

North Korean defectors arrive in South Korea

A South Korean man kidnapped by the communist North more than 30 years ago has escaped and is now safe with South Korean authorities in China, an activist said Saturday. Lee Han Seop, 59, fled the North last month and is at a South Korean consulate in China, said Choi Sung Yong, the head of a group of...
Japan Times
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Jun 15, 2007

Take a psychedelic trip in Shibuya

Twenty hours of multisensory stimulation featuring art installations, contemporary dance and more would tweak the mind of just about any alternative-art aficionado. For the second time, the Tokyo-based Canadian duo of promoter Josh Child and longtime yoga practitioner Patrick Oancia have joined forces...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jun 15, 2007

'The Prestige'

In Hollywood, many a bright young director arrives thinking he'll make a film or two by their rules, pay the mortgage, and then use his newfound power and prestige to make the films he cares about.
Japan Times
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Jun 15, 2007

Bodies interlock in modern dance

Italian contemporary dance is not a cultural field very familiar to the Japanese. To put that right, Japan's 4th Skin Arts Network and Italy's own Associazione Culturale Danza Urbana will present a contemporary dance festival "Corpi Altri (Body Other)," to be held at three Tokyo venues June 23-28. The...
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Jun 13, 2007

Religion's cute, but creation chemistry is complex

The ancient Chinese believed the universe began inside a cosmic egg. In Japanese mythology, two gods, Izanagi and Izanami, stirred the oceans with a giant spear, forming the islands of Japan and, eventually, its people. There are countless more creation myths. Every culture has them. But I like to think...

Longform

Mamoru Iwai, stationmaster of Keisei Ueno Station, says that, other than earthquake-proofing, the former Hakubutsukan-Dobutsuen (Museum-Zoo) Station has remained untouched.
Inside Tokyo's 'phantom' stations — and the stories they tell