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Japan Times
JAPAN / READERS' FUND
Dec 21, 2009

Refugees struggle to survive funding cuts

Last in a series
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Dec 20, 2009

Stunning book speaks volumes about the ravages visited on Tibet

Ten years ago, near the end of 1999, the Chinese author Wang Lixiong received a package from a young woman of Tibetan origin named Tsering Woeser. It contained several hundred black-and-white negatives.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Dec 20, 2009

Alexandria's library: A phoenix amid the tea fields of Uji

Recalling the glorious Heian Period in Japan's history from 794 to 1185 at once conjures up images of a world of courtiers, 12-layered kimono, elegant poetry competitions beside winding streams — and secret trysts in scented chambers.
Reader Mail
Dec 20, 2009

No outlet for youthful aggression

Regarding the Dec. 13 editorial, "An education in violence": It doesn't take a Harvard economist to know that the peak of physical strength begins in middle school and much of this has no outlet for release. A highly regimented society like Japan only forces everyone to come out like straitjacketed...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Dec 20, 2009

David Burleigh: Best books of 2009

"The road of excess," said the English poet William Blake, "leads to the palace of wisdom," which might serve as an epigraph for this skillfully assembled, sharp and witty book about the drug-fueled quest of certain American poets for enlightenment in India in the 1960s. The sweetness of the whole experience...
SOCCER / PREMIER REPORT
Dec 19, 2009

McCarthy's maneuver a stain on the game

LONDON — Mick McCarthy was destined to be remembered mainly for his bust-up with Roy Keane on the eve of the 2002 World Cup finals when he sent the Republic of Ireland captain home from Saipan.
COMMENTARY
Dec 18, 2009

Illegal wall exacerbates disaster for Gazans

NEW YORK — Collusion between Egypt and the United States in building a wall separating Egypt from Gaza not only threatens Gazans' health and quality of life, already seriously deteriorating because of the de facto Israeli blockade, but also violates international law.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Dec 18, 2009

Looking for personal definition

Art is always a collaboration between the artist and the viewer. Whatever the artist paints, sculpts or photographs is just so much dead matter until it comes alive in the mind of the viewer.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Dec 18, 2009

French writer Claudel paints a not-too-pretty picture

Philippe Claudel is one of France's best known novelists who also defines himself as a teacher.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Dec 18, 2009

Have fun and play with your food

I slip a red dress over my head. The silhouette is fashionably curved, the fabric luxuriously soft and the hemline festooned with small red bobbles.
Reader Mail
Dec 17, 2009

Consequence of 'group' training

The Dec. 13 editorial, "An education in violence," fails to address the underlying problem with the Japanese education system and how this contributes largely to bullying. In Japanese education, nursery school children already learn to act in unison with the group — as I've seen with my own daughter...
Reader Mail
Dec 17, 2009

Better location for a marine base

In his Dec. 13 letter, "Okinawans must challenge Tokyo," Bob Avery states that the Democratic Party of Japan "has no intention of making a strong decision that will change life for Okinawans" by relocating the U.S. Marine Corps air station at Futenma to the main islands of Japan.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle
Dec 17, 2009

Tokyo's trendy greens

Etsuo Asano is Japan's undisputed rock star of specialty vegetable farming.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Dec 16, 2009

Morgan, Goldman rake in Livedoor billions

Livedoor Co., the Internet service provider whose founder, Takafumi Horie, faces prison for inflating profits, is providing a payday for Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Deutsche Bank AG.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Dec 15, 2009

To gargle or not to gargle?

The Web site for the Atlanta-based Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) contains a pandemic influenza storybook filled with personal reflections from survivors, family members and friends. One of the accounts tells the story of Art McLaughlin, who lived about 25 km east of Chicago during...
COMMUNITY / Voices / HAVE YOUR SAY
Dec 15, 2009

Every husband a potential 'abuser': some responses

A selection of readers' responses to Colin P. A. Jones' Nov. 24 Zeit Gist article on child custody and abuse allegations:
Japan Times
MORE SPORTS
Dec 15, 2009

Scandal can't taint Tiger's dominance

NEW YORK — To appreciate how fast and how far Tiger Woods has fallen is to understand what put him on such a pinnacle in sports.
EDITORIALS
Dec 15, 2009

Realistic view on war and peace

In the October announcement of its decision to bestow the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize on U.S. President Barack Obama, the Norwegian Nobel Committee attached special importance to his "vision of and work for a world without nuclear weapons." The committee also praised the U.S. president by stating: "Only very...
Japan Times
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Dec 15, 2009

Protecting biodiversity to be key '10 goal

The United Nations has declared 2010 the International Year of Biodiversity to promote conservation and sustainable biodiversity. In October, Japan will host the 10th U.N. Convention on Biological Diversity, an event held every two years.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / VIEWS FROM THE STREET
Dec 15, 2009

What do you make of today's Japanese youth?

Reader Mail
Dec 13, 2009

Swiss vote was not anti-Muslim

In his Dec. 6 article, "The Swiss and Iranian agents of provocation," Gwynne Dyer commits at least two mistakes — sadly so for one claiming to be an expert in international politics: (1) He compares the referendum in which the Swiss people took responsibility to voice their opinion with the actions...
Reader Mail
Dec 13, 2009

Okinawans must challenge Tokyo

Regarding the Dec. 7 article "Okada's inconclusive visit irks Okinawans": It is very clear that Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada and the new Democratic Party of Japan represent more of the same old baloney that Japan has had in power for years, just under a different name. As an American who feels strongly...
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 13, 2009

Wresting the press from pampered hacks

HONG KONG — Thomas Jefferson, the third president of the United States, was adamant that a free press is the most precious of all freedoms because it opens up or expands other freedoms. He famously wrote that given the choice of a government without a free press or a free press without a government,...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Dec 11, 2009

A decade when Japan's cinema stood up to Hollywood menace

When I started reviewing Japanese films for The Japan Times in 1989, many of the people making and distributing them were convinced that the Hollywood juggernaut was slowly crushing them. How could they hope to compete against superior Hollywood technology and vastly larger Hollywood budgets?
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Dec 11, 2009

And the best Japanese films of 2009 were . . .

1. "Fish Story":
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Dec 11, 2009

In praise of films that refuse to follow formulas

After jostling through a metal detector, having my bag searched and my mobile confiscated by stern-faced blue meanies, I slump in my cinema seat, enduring head-exploding levels of volume from the coming attractions, and unwanted infrared scrutiny from guards patrolling for video-heads looking for their...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Dec 11, 2009

Australia shows off Asia's talent

BRISBANE, Australia — Over the past year, Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has made waves in his country and across the region with his plans to spearhead the development of an Asia Pacific Community. Rudd is in part picking up where former Prime Minister Bob Hawke left off 20 years ago, when Australia...

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