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COMMENTARY / World
Mar 24, 2008

Defense costs bombing the U.S. budget

PARIS — As the United States and the world mark the fifth anniversary of the invasion of Iraq, debates are raging about the consequences — for Iraq, the Middle East and America's standing in the world. But the Iraq war's domestic impact — the Pentagon's ever mushrooming budget and its long-term...
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / NATURE TRAVEL
Mar 23, 2008

Namibia's no man's land

A trek through the vast Sperrgebiet wilderness that will soon be opened to tourism reveals an abundance of flora and fauna, mountains, meteorite craters, pristine beaches, isles with names like Roast Beef Island — and swarms of killer bees.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Mar 23, 2008

You'd have to be drunk to be fooled by Japan's booze commercials

A few weeks ago the Asahi Shimbun printed a letter from a 59-year-old man who complained about a TV commercial for Kirin's Tanrei, one of those beerlike beverages known as happoshu. In the spot, world-famous alpinist Ken Noguchi is seen climbing a mountain, the Gipsy Kings howling away on the soundtrack....
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Mar 23, 2008

The drama of man-and-animal stories, Japan's first bone-marrow bank, and baseball batteries

Few people can resist the dramatic pull of stories that explore the emotional nexus between people and animals.
Japan Times
LIFE
Mar 23, 2008

Oh what an extravaganza

Even the heavens were smiling on Tokyo Girls Collection. Balmy 19-degree temperatures — the year's highest up until then — provided the perfect setting last Saturday for the Spring/Summer edition of this hugely popular fashion-show-cum-showbiz extravaganza, allowing most of the 22,000 teenage and...
SOCCER / PREMIER REPORT
Mar 22, 2008

F.A. must address continuing harassment of referees

LONDON — Ashley Cole would win few popularity polls.
Japan Times
JAPAN / MIXED MATCHES
Mar 22, 2008

Life's a smooth cruise for modern Tanabata couple

The stars aligned for Miki Otsuka and Cameron Scholes on July 7, 1997, in a chance meeting at a record store in Toronto.
MORE SPORTS
Mar 22, 2008

U.S., Japan set to battle in Global Challenge Bowl

KAWASAKI — At first glance, it looks to have replaced its predecessor. But the main concept actually offers a whole lot of new excitement to the young participants.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Mar 22, 2008

Here they are once again — The Cherry Blossoms!

Nothing excites Japanese people the way cherry blossoms do. Cherry blossoms are something the Japanese are so proud of, they can't help but smile when someone mentions the magic word: o-hanami.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Mar 21, 2008

Alice Cooper's psycho vaudeville

Alice Cooper, veteran rock star and all-around showbiz maven, is on the phone from Melbourne, Australia, where he plays two concerts before continuing on to New Zealand and then Japan. The singer promises that his Psycho Drama tour contains "all the hits," as well as the stage theatrics he's notorious...
Reader Mail
Mar 20, 2008

Media's tendency to sensationalize

Regarding Yoshio Shimoji's March 16 letter, "Wrong answers to angry questions," which was a response to Billy Fanska's March 9 letter, "Negative rhetoric defeats everyone": I don't think Fanska was minimizing the crimes committed by the U.S. military against Japanese citizens. Crime rates are meaningless...
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / WILD WATCH
Mar 19, 2008

Egrets' epitome of elegance

Late afternoon sunlight was slanting low, glinting like liquid gold, reflecting in the narrow strip of water between broad expanses of snow.
LIFE / Digital / JAPAN TIMES BLOGROLL
Mar 19, 2008

Mutant Frog

Mutant Frog Travelogue is the blog of Adam Richards, Joe Jones and Roy Berman, three friends who met while studying in Japan. The eclectic subject matter includes posts on technology, law, culture, politics and plenty more. With the three writers living at various times in Japan, Thailand, the U.S. and...
Japan Times
SOCCER / J. League
Mar 16, 2008

Grampus thump disjointed Reds

SAITAMA — Urawa Reds slumped to their second straight defeat of the new J. League season on Saturday as Nagoya Grampus hit them with a high-tempo onslaught to claim a 2-0 win at Saitama Stadium 2002.
Reader Mail
Mar 16, 2008

Leave immigration to Darwin

Roger Pulvers, in his March 9 Counterpoint column, "Surely it's time for Japanese to stop being so parochial," continues to distort facts while racializing people in stereotypical "ethnic" categories. Taiwanese and Koreans did not become "citizens" of the Empire of Japan. Japanese law did not then, and...
Reader Mail
Mar 16, 2008

Plea for better judgment this time

With the remaining term of the George W. Bush administration getting shorter by the week, I would like to ask a simple question as a pure political amateur, hoping that the comments of some wise pro -- a Democrat, Republican or other -- could enlighten me and other amateurs a bit.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Mar 16, 2008

Poetic reasons to take a card game seriously

ONE HUNDRED POETS, ONE POEM EACH: A Translation of the Ogura Hyakunin Isshu, by Peter McMillan with a foreword by Donald Keene and an afterword by Eileen Kato. New York: Columbia University Press, 2007, 280 pp., with line drawings, $39.50 (cloth) This is a new translation of one of Japan's most famous...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Mar 14, 2008

Back to square one after a lifetime of work

With spring comes the annual wage negotiations, when unions press employers for higher pay. These days, however, an increasing number of the workers at the bargaining table are themselves in the autumn of life — 60 or older.
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Mar 14, 2008

'Vagina Monologues': Did you know it was about ending violence?

Ten years ago, playwright Eve Ensler and a group of women performed "The Vagina Monologues" in a New York theater on Valentine's Day to raise awareness and money to stop violence against women and girls. The success of the play launched the "V-Day" movement, with its goal of putting an end to the violence....
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Mar 14, 2008

Hanami among the mountain gods

Spring once again blushes the face of Japan, nowhere more so than in Yoshino, the nation's most famous sakura (cherry blossom) viewing destination and UNESCO World Heritage site. Each year, the sleepy mountain village in Nara Prefecture comes to life at the end of March in anticipation of the monthlong...
BUSINESS
Mar 14, 2008

Dollar dive against yen dents exporters' profits

The dollar's sharp dive to a 12-year low against the yen Thursday raises the specter of reduced profits among major export-driven manufacturers in Japan, including Toyota Motor Corp. and Sony Corp., analysts say.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink
Mar 14, 2008

Digging up a real gem of an Indian curry

Northern Indian cuisine — which features some of the country's most elaborate dishes — was largely influenced by the Moghuls, who invaded India from the Middle East in the eighth century. In addition to red meat, the Moghuls enjoyed poultry, nuts, saffron and ghee. Over the centuries a distinctive...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Mar 13, 2008

Nemuro faces fisheries-conservation dilemma

NEMURO, Hokkaido — Despite requests by a committee of UNESCO and the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources, fishery associations in Nemuro remain baffled by the idea of safeguarding their traditional foe.
BUSINESS
Mar 13, 2008

Key sectors to hike pay but amid caution

Major automakers and electronics companies said Wednesday they will raise base wages and bonuses for a third consecutive year but the increases will be moderate this time because of global economic uncertainties.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Mar 13, 2008

A graceful step onto Edo's stage

'Now that his life-long dream of having the stage name of Sakata Tojuro has come true, I think Tojuro aspires to revitalize the style of kabuki acting unique to the Kamigata (Kansai) region," says Shoichi Yamada, the former executive director in charge of bunraku puppet theater at the National Theater....
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Mar 12, 2008

Food for thought in our ways of seeing

W hen the famed Michelin food guide belatedly reached Asia recently, it seemed to make up for lost time, awarding more of its coveted stars to restaurants in Tokyo than are held by restaurants in New York and Paris combined. About time, too.

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