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Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Apr 6, 2012

'Oranges and Sunshine'

Decency is often much harder to swing than heroism or conventional success. And to keep plugging away at it without recognition or reward is not just awe-inspiring but truly humbling. "Oranges and Sunshine" highlights such an act of decency.
EDITORIALS
Apr 6, 2012

Consumption tax tizzy

The March 30 submission to the Diet by the Noda Cabinet of a bill to raise the consumption tax from April 2014 has led some lawmakers of the ruling bloc to express their opposition to the bill. On March 29, Mr. Shizuka Kamei, head of the New People's Party, a minor party forming a coalition with the...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Apr 6, 2012

410,000 attend Okinawa movie fest, but it's still a money-loser

The fourth edition of the Okinawa International Movie Festival, held from March 24 to 31, was a strange beast, combining screenings of 102 films from Japan, Asia and elsewhere with manzai comics and other acts from the powerful Yoshimoto Kogyo agency, which underwrote the entire event, in cooperation...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Apr 5, 2012

Lee Bul: Inspired by the past imperfect

She may be Asia's leading female artist, but Lee Bul has grown very tired of that title.
CULTURE / Art
Apr 5, 2012

Lee Bul: Inspired by the past imperfect

She may be Asia's leading female artist, but Lee Bul has grown very tired of that title.
COMMENTARY
Apr 5, 2012

The stubborn stench of money politics

The co-treasurer of the British Conservative Party, Peter Cruddas, a wealthy self-made businessman, made some revealing and highly embarrassing comments recently to journalists from The Sunday Times posing as potential donors to the Tories.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Apr 5, 2012

Nissan unveils new yellow cab for NYC

New York City's next generation of yellow cabs will be minivans featuring sliding doors, antibacterial seats, air bags in the back and outlets to charge mobile phones.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle
Apr 3, 2012

TED offers everyone the chance to speak or perform

TED — the increasingly popular New York based, California-held ideas event— is coming to Tokyo. The conference, whose speakers were previously by invitation only, will hold an audition in Tokyo on May 29 as part of a worldwide talent search. Organized by the TEDxTokyo team and hosted at Roppongi...
Japan Times
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Apr 3, 2012

Volunteers struggle to track neediest residents

Welfare commissioners cover a broad array of tasks, including regularly checking in on elderly and disabled residents, looking for signs of child abuse, providing local residents with information about services, and even helping them dispose of garbage.
Reader Mail
Apr 1, 2012

Sentiment that does not console

I am surprised at the The Japan Times for printing Megumi Watanabe's March 29 letter, "Hope for 3/11 survivors."
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Apr 1, 2012

Yonaguni: Japan's most westerly isle

A colossal, dark-skinned man rides along the sidewalk on a motorbike: no helmet, two small children aboard — a vision of life in the laconic Tropics. There are times here too on Yonaguni, the westernmost land mass in Okinawa Prefecture, when you see a curvaceous island woman in a vivid, flower-patterned...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Apr 1, 2012

Japan's 'spiritual recrudescence'

SOLDIER OF GOD: MacArthur's Attempt to Christianize Japan, by Ray A. Moore. Merwin Asia, 2011, 167 pp., $35.00 (paperback) India, the jewel in the crown of the British Empire, the largest the world has ever known, was won mainly by attrition, though some of the later additions to it, like Burma, were...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Apr 1, 2012

Fiction that binds: Japan's hope after disaster

Kizuna: Fiction for Japan, edited by Brent Millis. CreateSpace, 2011, 228 pp., $15.99 (e-book) It's no coincidence that the Chinese character chosen to represent the most expressive sentiment of the year in Japan, one that signifies hope after disaster and misery, was kizuna, meaning a bond of fraternity....
EDITORIALS
Apr 1, 2012

Money to study abroad

To combat the decline in Japanese students studying abroad, the Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Ministry is finally taking action. Special five-year grants of ¥100 million to ¥200 million will be offered to 40 universities for study abroad programs. These grants are a welcome step...
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Apr 1, 2012

Sky Tree to offer world's highest bungee jump

Tokyo's newest and biggest visitor attraction, the 634-meter-high Tokyo Sky Tree in Sumida Ward, will open to the public on May 22. And if 11th-hour contract negotiations bear fruit, visitors to the Sky Tree may soon have the opportunity to plummet 430 meters (over 1,400 feet) toward terra firma, in...
SOCCER / PREMIER REPORT
Mar 31, 2012

Chelsea unlikely to retain di Matteo

Roman Abramovich would love nothing more than for Chelsea to win the Champions League final.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Mar 31, 2012

A guide to Jizo, guardian of travelers and the weak

"Jizo Bosatsu has confirmed you as a friend on Facebook," said the email. I clicked on "view profile," which took me to Jizo's Facebook page. Not much information was revealed, except that his religious views are Buddhist, and he has 409 friends. His profile picture is a stone Jizo statue sitting peacefully...
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 30, 2012

Forging a Syrian opposition worthy of support

Syria's crisis is now a year old, with close to 10,000 people, mostly civilians, dead — and no end in sight. The country is at a stalemate: The opposition is unable to topple President Bashar Assad's regime, and Assad's forces are unable to quash the resistance.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Mar 30, 2012

'The Ides of March' / 'Route Irish'

OK, my job this week is to convince you that "The Ides of March" is one of the best films you'll ever see about politics and elections and the eventual disillusion we all come to harbor about both. But this task is complicated by the fact that I don't want to spoil it for you in the least — and believe...
COMMENTARY
Mar 30, 2012

Russia's civil society is key

The future of democracy in Russia will depend on the correct relationship between "people" and "power" — the two major elements constituting any society.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Mar 30, 2012

Art Fair Tokyo searches for new breed of buyer

Occupying almost twice the area of last year's event, and with more galleries set up and side-events being staged than ever before in its Tokyo International Forum venue, this year's Art Fair Tokyo will almost be unrecognizable to regular visitors — let alone anyone returning for the first time since...
CULTURE / Art
Mar 30, 2012

Art Fair Tokyo searches for new breed of buyer

Occupying almost twice the area of last year's event, and with more galleries set up and side-events being staged than ever before in its Tokyo International Forum venue, this year's Art Fair Tokyo will almost be unrecognizable to regular visitors — let alone anyone returning for the first time since...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Mar 29, 2012

Firms furious over Tepco rate hike

Businesses are displeased to say the least with Tokyo Electric Power Co.'s rate hike taking effect April 1, as it will put an extra burden on their operating costs, especially in those industries that use a large amount of power.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 29, 2012

EU can live on without the euro

Great significance — probably too much — has been attached to a possible breakup of the eurozone. Many believe that such a breakup — if, say, Greece abandoned the euro and reintroduced the drachma — would constitute a political failure that would ultimately threaten Europe's stability. Speaking...

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