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Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Aug 16, 2007

Flying high and free

On a sweltering summer day recently, members of the Condors dance troupe were pouring with sweat as they practiced for their upcoming national tour. Choreographer and lead dancer, Ryohei Kondo, was in the center of a circle of the dancers, who were voicing their opinions freely.
Reader Mail
Aug 15, 2007

Cheap price has usurped quality

I agree as well as disagree with Tom Plate's July 31 article, "Asians a boon to American prosperity." I agree that there are examples like Toyota, which, although it takes jobs away from Ford and General Motors, invests heavily in the United States, creating jobs and giving us products that in some...
Japan Times
BUSINESS / TAKING A CHANCE
Aug 15, 2007

Hoppy enjoying comeback after radical shift in management

Hoppy, a sparkling low-alcohol beverage usually mixed with "shochu" distilled spirits, debuted in 1948 and became popular mainly in and around Tokyo as a cheap alternative to beer after the war.
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
Aug 14, 2007

Advice on divorce, arachnids

Seeking legal help French national J-L's brother has separated from his Japanese wife.
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design / ON: FASHION
Aug 14, 2007

Marc by Marc Jacobs, Yohji Yamamoto, etc.

Harajuku's new Marc
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WORDS TO LIVE BY
Aug 14, 2007

Sumiko Sakamoto

Sumiko Sakamoto, 70, is a singer and award-winning actress whose heartfelt performances have made her a favorite of the late film director Shohei Imamura. Imamura cast her in three of his films, among them "The Ballad of Narayama," winner of the 1983 Palm d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival, in which her...
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Aug 14, 2007

Manga frenzy proves that we're all kids at heart

That whole deal about growing up and behaving like an adult? Scrap it, you don't have to — at least not in the Japan of recent years. Adult responsibilities, adult worries, adult concerns — while we all know such things exist, it's become possible to dodge them well into your 30s and 40s, in a kind...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Aug 12, 2007

Lauded in the West, ignored in the East

Sessue Hayakawa: Silent Cinema and Transnational Stardom, by Daisuke Miyao. Duke University Press, 2007, 380 pp., with 23 illustrations, $23.95 (paper) Kintaro Hayakawa (1886-1973), born in modest circumstances in Chiba, went on to have an extraordinary and unexpected life elsewhere. Now renamed Sesshu...
Reader Mail
Aug 12, 2007

Fortuitous courtesy on a train

Roger Pulvers' July 29 Counterpoint article, "Erring voyager roots for Japanese courtesy that can't be beat," could not have been more timely. I read it within 48 hours of experiencing the same brand of uniquely Japanese courtesy of which Pulvers writes so admiringly. On the way to Tokyo Station on...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Aug 12, 2007

Failing to learn lessons from a nuclear past

What do disgraced yokozuna (sumo grand champion) Asashoryu Akinori and Tokyo Electric Power Co. have in common? Answer: Both are under the delusion that they can get away with lying in plain sight.
BASEBALL / MLB
Aug 11, 2007

Dice-K fever triggers tourist boom in Beantown

One spring evening at Fenway Park, Koji Sakae rose to his feet in a wave of Red Sox euphoria, joining a packed stadium in a standing ovation for his hero, Daisuke Matsuzaka.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Aug 11, 2007

BOJ injects ¥1 trillion into markets

The Bank of Japan injected ¥1 trillion into money markets Friday amid a plunge in Tokyo stocks and growing global worries about dubious U.S. mortgages.
SOCCER / PREMIER REPORT
Aug 11, 2007

Can anybody challenge Manchester United, Chelsea for title?

LONDON — In life you generally get what you pay for.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film / SHORT TAKES
Aug 10, 2007

Little Children

Director: Todd Field Language: English
Japan Times
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Aug 10, 2007

Festival theater heats up Shibuya

Matsuri (festivals) in Japan are not only about fireworks, as the monthlong "Summer Summit 2007" drama event attests.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Aug 10, 2007

'Mizu ni Natta Mura'

Japan is said to be a land of constant change, where city centers are perpetual construction sites and a house is ready for the wrecking ball after three decades. Venice has pretty much the same look in 2007 as it did in 1807. The Tokyo of 1958 has vanished so utterly, however, that Takashi Yamazaki...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Aug 10, 2007

Two fingers to the mainstream

"We were playing these 200-capacity venues that weren't really legal. There were just too many people in there, climbing on the bar, climbing on the speakers and jumping off," Chris Batten, the 20-year-old bassist from British post-hardcore band Enter Shikari tells The Japan Times.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Aug 10, 2007

A playground by the sea

Naughty Atami is the Shizuoka resort with the beachfront soaplands and other salacious establishments. It's got the fraying Hihokan (literally: House of Secret Treasures), likely the world's least scholarly sex museum, with its holographic strippers and a Marilyn Monroe mannequin that exposes itself...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Aug 10, 2007

'One Day in Europe'

"One Day in Europe" is a comedy of cultural and linguistic misunderstanding that toys with the idea of a unified Europe, where everyone shares the same singular, unifying identity. Unlike many Americans, who proudly admit to being "American," Europeans — single currency and the EU notwithstanding —...
COMMENTARY
Aug 9, 2007

How to deal with disasters

LONDON — Britain is notorious for its weather. This year April was unusually fine and warm. May, June and July were unseasonably cool. To describe these months as "wet" would be an English understatement. There was record rainfall with some places being deluged by rains normally only seen in the tropics....
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER
Aug 8, 2007

Mountain slug

* Japanese name: Yamanamekuji * Scientific name: Incilaria fruhstorferi * Description: Growing up to 20 cm long — bigger than a baby's arm — this is surely no slug, but a monster; a specter from a Hayao Miyazaki movie come to life. If you see one, be prepared to photograph it next to your hand,...
COMMUNITY
Aug 7, 2007

Pride vs. prejudice

Japanese people take 10 months to gestate, have longer intestines and higher body temperatures. And there are no gays in Japan.
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Aug 5, 2007

Coolbaugh's death reminds everyone to stay alert at ballpark

You read about the recent tragedy involving Mike Coolbaugh, the minor league Tulsa Drillers first coach who died after being hit by a line drive off the bat of one of his players. I never met Mike but knew his brother Scott, who played third base for the Hanshin Tigers in 1995.
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Aug 5, 2007

Superstar fortuneteller, Nuremberg trials special, manga dramatization of WWII

Superstar fortuneteller Kazuko Hosoki usually works her caustic consultations on pliable, willing celebrities, most of whom take her harsh criticisms to heart. It will be interesting to see how her style goes down in Hollywood.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / CLOSE-UP
Aug 5, 2007

Antiwar activist Steven L. Leeper

In a sense, it is the ultimate irony: The man appointed to oversee the memorial to victims of the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima on Aug. 6, 1945 by an American B-29 aircraft is . . . an American.

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