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Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Apr 30, 2010

'The Box'/'9'

You'd be hard-pressed to find more than a handful of certifiably cult movies from the past decade, but Richard Kelly's "Donnie Darko" (2001) is definitely one of them. This strange hybrid about a troubled teen and his invisible friend (a giant evil-looking rabbit named Frank) could best be described...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Apr 30, 2010

'Zebraman 2: Zebra City no Gyakushu'

Who wouldn't want to be a superhero? The hero of Takashi Miike's 2004 action comedy "Zebraman" certainly would. Ichikawa (Sho Aikawa) is a nerdy teacher whose life is one big zero — until he dresses up like a 1970s superhero and takes to the streets of Yokohama at night, looking for citizens in distress....
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Apr 30, 2010

Hikari Mitsushima: from pop idol to screen diva?

Up until last year, 24-year-old Hikari Mitsushima was best known as a former member of the Okinawan idol group Folder 5.
Japan Times
SOCCER / SOCCER SCENE
Apr 29, 2010

World Cup squad taking shape ahead of May 10 decision

With national team manager Takeshi Okada set to name his World Cup squad on May 10, Soccer Scene takes a look at the candidates. Names in bold are those predicted to make the final 23-man roster:
COMMENTARY
Apr 28, 2010

U.K. overdoses on change

British politics has been turned upside down by recent events. The traditional two-party battle between Labour and Conservatives has been thrown into confusion by a big surge in support for a third party, the Liberal Democrats. The likely result could be a "hung parliament," with the Conservatives being...
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Apr 27, 2010

Japan needs green tech investment

The government should focus more on promoting innovations and utilizing energy-efficient technologies of Japanese companies in the nation's efforts to combat global warming, officials of industry groups said at a recent symposium in Tokyo.
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Apr 25, 2010

Book makes real those whose lives led them to become homeless

When I was living in Kyoto in the late 1960s, I would often see homeless people along the banks of the Kamo River. They generally lived under the bridges in structures made of cardboard and blue sheeting. Having seen many homeless people in my native Los Angeles, I was particularly struck by the neatness...
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM NEW YORK
Apr 25, 2010

Results of carnal prohibition are no surprise

When the Vatican "scandal" erupted, I happened to be reading Kumagusu Minakata's writings on homosexuality — to be exact, his writings as selected, with comments, by Taruho Inagaki. I was doing so because Inagaki (1900-1977) won Japan's literary "grand prize" for his book, "The Aesthetic of the Love...
CULTURE / Books
Apr 25, 2010

Lights on, but who's home?

The first half of this book is told from the point of view of Kiwako, an office worker who kidnaps the baby of her married lover after being pressured into having an abortion herself. She passes through love hotels, bullet trains and ferries; she encounters crazy people and joins a religious cult; she...
Japan Times
LIFE
Apr 25, 2010

Slow 'n' easy

This year is the 1,300th anniversary of the founding of Japan's first major capital, named Heijokyo, and its present-day home prefecture of Nara is basking in that ancient spotlight.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 24, 2010

The limits of China's global charm offensive

BRUSSELS — To many people in the West, China seems to have gone from a country that "keeps a cool head and maintains a low profile," in Deng Xiaoping's formulation, to one that loves a good international bust-up. Putting an Australian mining executive behind bars for 10 years, squeezing out Google,...
JAPAN
Apr 23, 2010

Tokunoshima is a risky gambit

TOKUNOSHIMA, Kagoshima Pref. — When Tokunoshima, an island with about 26,000 residents officially governed by Kagoshima Prefecture but counted as part of the Satsunan Islands that lie closer to Okinawa than Kyushu, first emerged as a candidate host for U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma, local reaction...
JAPAN
Apr 23, 2010

'Cove' director reacts to base ban

The director of "The Cove" said Thursday that a decision by a U.S. military base in Japan to ban the Oscar-winning film on dolphin killings and protests at the local distributor's office won't silence the film's message on saving dolphins.
EDITORIALS
Apr 23, 2010

Going green with nuclear power

The Nuclear Safety Commission and the Atomic Energy Commission have issued their annual reports for 2009, in which they call for the promotion of nuclear energy as an important means of fighting global warming. Nuclear power plants do not emit carbon dioxide while operating.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Apr 23, 2010

'Bushido Sixteen'

Women warriors have been a feature of Japanese films for decades, from Meiko Kaji's revenge-bent heroine in "Shurayuki Hime" (Lady Snowblood, 1973) — a major inspiration for Quentin Tarantino's "Kill Bill" — to Haruka Ayase's sword-wielding shamisen player in "Ichi" (2008).
JAPAN
Apr 21, 2010

Are thicker textbooks the answer?

Faced with a drastic deterioration in academic performance, the education ministry is set to abandon a decade-old policy of relaxed programs and dramatically increase page counts of elementary school textbooks starting next year.
Japan Times
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Apr 20, 2010

Japan's vulnerability to tsunami

Rollers from the giant earthquake in Chile in February and the catastrophic Indian Ocean tsunami in 2004 are still fresh in the world's memories, but in Japan giant tidal waves have never been far from thought.
JAPAN
Apr 20, 2010

Finance officials come up with work-habit ideas

A Finance Ministry project team compiled a set of proposals Monday to reform the ministry, focusing on achieving a more efficient working style and better work-life balance for its bureaucrats.
COMMUNITY / Voices / HOTLINE TO NAGATACHO
Apr 20, 2010

DVD should be seen by all in divorce process

Dear Prime Minister Hatoyama,
COMMENTARY
Apr 18, 2010

A chance for Russia and Poland

First, a tragedy that almost sinks beneath the weight of a huge historical coincidence. A plane carrying the political and military elite of today's Polish society crashes, killing everybody aboard, while bringing them to Katyn forest to commemorate the murder of a previous generation of the same elite...
Japan Times
LIFE / WEEK 3
Apr 18, 2010

Let's Carnaval!

Dressed in green and pink costumes and topped off with Afro wigs, eight Japanese people, including this writer, gathered in the lobby of a hotel in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil's samba capital, at midnight on Feb. 15.

Longform

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