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JAPAN
Nov 29, 2008

Prewar detective classic looks back at the mean streets of feudal Japan

The following is an excerpt from the introduction to "The Curious Casebook of Inspector Hanshichi."
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / MAKING A DIFFERENCE
Nov 29, 2008

Second Harvest gets the food to those who need it

Sitting at the wheel of a 4-ton truck, Charles McJilton suddenly says, "Oh wait, wait!" before pulling off his T-shirt and swapping it for a white one with a bright orange Second Harvest Japan logo on the chest and "Food for all people" spanning his back. "It's all about branding," he jokes, as he slips...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Nov 28, 2008

'Broken English'

Zoe Cassavetes' first feature film, "Broken English," hovers expertly between the realm of total credibility and urban fairy-tale for chicks, the kind of story you're likely to hear from a girlfriend over lunch about someone in her office who hasn't had a date in two whole years and wham! She met THE...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Nov 28, 2008

Dreaming of a Pink Christmas

"Almost every year, I'm working at Christmastime," mourns Kaori Asada. "If I'm not working, I'll have a big Christmas party with friends and family. But in the last 10 years, I haven't had that kind of Christmas party, ha ha. Still, I like Christmas."
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Nov 28, 2008

Chanson musicians bring a little warmth to a Japanese winter

As a genre, chanson is difficult to pin down. In French, it simply means "song," and for most of France's history the word described anything from madrigals to romantic poetry. Since the end of World War II, it has come to represent a pop style that places a premium on the fluidity of the French language....
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Nov 28, 2008

Lisa Loeb

Now that it's almost December, there can be only one thing on the minds of kids around Japan: Um, summer camp?
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Nov 28, 2008

'252 — Seizonsha Ari'

Disaster pics have been big in Japan since the days of "Godzilla," the 1954 classic whose title monster served as a rubber-suited symbol for everything from earthquakes (that stomp) and fires (that breath) to atomic bombings (that city-wrecking power).
COMMENTARY
Nov 27, 2008

Time to get tough with Somali pirates

On one side are the eight navies, the world's largest shipping companies, the rich Gulf states that need to get their oil to market, and the great powers, whose commerce depends heavily on the shipping lanes around the Horn of Africa. On the other side are a few thousand Somali pirates in small boats...
EDITORIALS
Nov 27, 2008

Odd motive for stabbings

A man turned himself in to the Metropolitan Police Department Saturday evening, claiming that he had killed a former health and welfare vice minister. Ten knives were found in a rented minivan he drove to the MPD; two were bloodstained. Police initially arrested the 46-year-old for illegal possession...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Nov 27, 2008

Arts of enlightenment

The exhibition "National Treasures of Miidera Temple," presently at Osaka Municipal Museum of Art, tells a fractured story of the famed Tendai Buddhist temple that spread its influence across the regional temples of western Japan, from the establishment of a core of sacred imagery, staturary and mandalas...
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 26, 2008

Too much for the Earth to bear

HONG KONG — The global financial crisis that has sent economies teetering from recession toward slump is preoccupying politicians and families worldwide, who see their livelihoods being snatched away by the consequences of the inventive greed of financial whiz kids.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Q&A
Nov 26, 2008

Import food: Do inspections allay fears?

Public concern over imported food is on the rise, especially produce from China.
Japan Times
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Nov 25, 2008

¥100 shops — consumers' common denominator

With the economy in recession, it should be no surprise that ¥100 stores are thriving, wowing shoppers both local and from far afield with their variety of goods all set at one price, plus the ¥5 consumption tax.
SOCCER / SOCCER SCENE
Nov 23, 2008

J. League title chase enters home stretch

The J. League title race going down to the wire is nothing new, but this year's championship is shaping up to be the tightest yet.
CULTURE / Books
Nov 23, 2008

Bite-'em-up exploits in lower Manhattan

YEAR OF THE DOG by Henry Chang. New York, Soho Press, Inc., 2008, 231 pp., $24 (cloth) Set in lower Manhattan's Chinese enclave, Henry Chang's latest novel is a sequel following the exploits of NYPD detective Jack Yu, who made his debut in "Chinatown Beat" in 2006.
CULTURE / Books
Nov 23, 2008

Deadly disconnect in the 'Real World'

REAL WORLD by Natsuo Kirino, translated by Philip Gabriel. Vintage, 2008, 224 pp., £7.99 (paper) A high school student, unhappy with life, bludgeons his mother to death with a baseball bat. He is calm and appears removed, almost abstracted from the events. He leaves the scene and disappears into the...
Reader Mail
Nov 23, 2008

Longest waiting heir to the throne

Regarding the Nov. 15 Associated Press article "Charles at 60: the would-be king": There was one small error of detail in the report. True, Prince Charles is the oldest heir to the throne, as Queen Victoria's son "Bertie" was only just over 59 when he succeeded his mother in 1901 as Edward VII. But...
BUSINESS
Nov 22, 2008

Workers urged to knock off early, make babies

The Japan Business Federation (Nippon Keidanren) is worried the nation's workers aren't having enough sex.
EDITORIALS
Nov 21, 2008

Drunk driving deadly serious

Recent traffic incidents show that some people are not aware of the serious nature of drunk driving. While the use of marijuana among university students has been in the public limelight recently, drunk driving — an infinitely more common problem with far deadlier results — should be the subject...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Nov 21, 2008

Ebisu Yokocho: Bright lights, retro style

Times are tough, money's too tight to mention, the recession is biting and credit is crunching. Red ink is the new black. Doom-and-gloom mongering is back in vogue.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Nov 20, 2008

You and whose Ami?

When singer and actress Ami Suzuki appears in the TBS drama "Love Letter" this month, she'll finally realize the end of a remarkable comeback.

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