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CULTURE / Books
Jan 24, 2010

Become a slave to rhythm

In the introduction to the first English translation of her work, Takako Arai refers to poems as vacant lots, alluding to the economic suffering of her hometown Kiryu, Gunma Prefecture, and to the open spaces left by terrorism and bombs in New York City and Belgrade.
Japan Times
BASEBALL
Jan 24, 2010

Valentine's philosophy brought Marines glory, money

Second in a four-part series
JAPAN
Jan 23, 2010

'Crossing' bares North defector fate

Every year, poverty-stricken North Koreans risk their lives crossing the border into China to escape the repression and starvation plaguing their hermit homeland.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / TAKING A CHANCE
Jan 23, 2010

Bookoff chief guides firm out of attitude bind

Hiroshi Sato took the helm of Bookoff Corp., the nation's largest secondhand book store chain, in 2007, when the company's corporate survival was in doubt after weekly magazines broke news that the firm had rigged its accounts.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST
Jan 23, 2010

Technical support — how it ought to be

My house is stacked with gadgets — from computers to cameras to game machines to bathroom scales that voice my weight, and more.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jan 22, 2010

Hunting for strength

Quentin Tarantino pushed for "Frozen River" as the winner of the Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival two years back and was effusive in his praise. At first glance the film is as far from Tarantino turf as Alaska is from Tahiti, but rumors had it that the struggling single-mom factor got to...
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / HOTELS & RESTAURANTS
Jan 22, 2010

Royal Park stay with flavor of old Edo

The Royal Park Hotel in Nihonbashi, Tokyo, is offering a plan that combines a one-night stay in an executive floor room and dinner in one of the area's long-established Japanese restaurants, through March 31.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 21, 2010

Anxiety fuels the rise of European nativists

PARIS — A referendum in Switzerland forbids the construction of new minarets. Racial violence explodes in the southern Italian region of Calabria. An intense and controversial debate takes place in France on the issue of national identity. These events have little in common, yet they all point to a...
COMMENTARY
Jan 21, 2010

Citizens lose in Google vs. China

The challenge thrown down by Google last week seemed unequivocal: Either China accepts uncensored information on Google.cn or the Internet giant will shut down its operations in the country.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / YEN FOR LIVING
Jan 20, 2010

New recruits quickly get reality checked

The reality of corporate work has a funny way of changing the views of fresh-faced college graduates.
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Jan 20, 2010

'New' hope, anxiety in Japan's Kanji of the Year

As the first decade of the 21st century drew to a close, the Japanese Kanji Aptitude Testing Foundation conducted its 15th annual Kanji of the Year poll, inviting the nation to decide which single kanji best symbolized 2009.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHO'S WHO
Jan 19, 2010

'Hybrids' thrive in Japan, Aussie says

Robert Gumley, general manager of Elanex Japan KK, a translation service, has learned that Japan is an easy country for foreigners to live in — if they choose to be bicultural.
COMMENTARY / World / SENTAKU MAGAZINE
Jan 18, 2010

Ex-minister making waves

Former Health, Labor and Welfare Minister Yoichi Masuzoe, who had lain low for some time, resumed his political activities in earnest late last year. Political observers now wonder what his ultimate aims are: Does he seek to create a political party of his own?
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 17, 2010

Limits on 'Allah' amid paradise's blessings

HONG KONG — An ad shown on the BBC and CNN channels portrays a Caucasian couple frolicking in a paradise on Earth, enjoying jungle greens filtered through dancing sunlight, scantily clad on a pristine golden beach undisturbed except by turtle tracks, snorkeling through vivid clear blue underwater life,...
CULTURE / Books
Jan 17, 2010

Seen in a Beijing minute

Jonathan Tel, in "The Beijing of Possibilities," reminds us that megalopolises such as Beijing are inexhaustible, and therefore offer endless possibilities. In good ways and bad, they never cease to surprise. One is much more likely to see, for example, a gorilla pedaling a bicycle through urban streets...
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 16, 2010

Hope and peril for Sudan

ALGIERS — The future of Sudan hangs in the balance. National elections are due in April. A referendum on the future status of the south of the country is supposed to follow in 2011. Both were key ingredients of the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement, which ended 20 years of civil war between north...
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 15, 2010

Islam's place in politics

BEPPU, Oita Prefecture — The dynamics of Islam and politics in Indonesia are always worth following. Conventional wisdom says that moderates rule the game. In reality, this is not always true.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jan 15, 2010

'The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo'

A French critic in Cannes once remarked that European horror movies are different from Hollywood products in that "they are properly horrific." And that certainly fits the bill for Swedish movie "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo" (released in Japan as "Millennium") — a brave undertaking by director...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / BY THE GLASS
Jan 15, 2010

Reinventing the classics

"In Italy I already had a job and family. If I had come to Japan and everything finished, I could have easily gone back to Italy because I had a place there. Coming here was a bit like a game and it still is for me," says TV celebrity Girolamo Panzetta.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jan 15, 2010

'Blue Gold: World Water Wars'/'A Perfect Getaway'

In 1855, the Suquamish Chief Seattle was asked to sell his land to the United States government. The chief was puzzled by the request: "The president in Washington sends word that he wishes to buy our land. But how can you buy or sell the sky? The land? The idea is strange to us. If we do not own the...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jan 15, 2010

'Kondo wa Aisaika'

Japanese film marriages are as diverse as the real things, ranging from the uncommunicative couple of Kiyoshi Kurosawa's "Tokyo Sonata" (2008) to the doting pair of the "Tsuri Baka Nisshi" ("Dairy of a Fishing Fool") series (1988-2009), though the easy-going wife of the fishing-mad salaryman hero has...
BUSINESS
Jan 15, 2010

Machinery orders hit record low in November

Machinery orders unexpectedly fell to a record low in November as tumbling domestic demand overwhelmed an export revival.
JAPAN / Media / Japan Pulse
Jan 14, 2010

"Ryomaden" romanticizes (and monetizes) history

It's official. Japan is in the throes of what's bound to be a long-term romance with a certain rebel samurai named Ryoma Sakamoto.
Japan Times
SOCCER / World cup
Jan 14, 2010

Surprise callup breathes new life into Ogasawara's World Cup hopes

National team manager Takeshi Okada handed reigning J. League player of the year Mitsuo Ogasawara a World Cup lifeline on Wednesday with a first callup since June 2006.
COMMENTARY
Jan 14, 2010

Good intentions, bad results

A cycle in which intended results become reversed has overtaken Britain's political, government and social scene.

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