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Japan Times
BUSINESS
May 22, 2007

Toyota engineers reflect as Prius approaches 10th birthday

TOYOTA, Aichi Pref. — In January 1994, engineers at Toyota Motor Corp. gathered at the head office in Aichi Prefecture to brainstorm the car of the future.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WORDS TO LIVE BY
May 22, 2007

Haruko Iino

Haruko "Big Momma" Iino, an independent public relations consultant, became one of Japan's first female advertising account executives back in the 1980s. Even before working at advertising agencies Chuo Senko and Dentsu Eye, the now 63-year-old Iino had understood the potential of the luxury fashion...
Reader Mail
May 20, 2007

Do the poor dream of nationalism?

Regarding Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and the Liberal Democratic Party's repeated pushes to re-militarize Japan, I think it is useful to consider this in the wider social context of what is happening in this country right now.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
May 20, 2007

Buy a car and drive up your grocery bill

Toyota Motor Corp. made headlines when it announced that its profit for 2006 was a record-breaking 2.24 trillion yen. In the United States, the news was greeted with some bitterness, since the Japan automaker had recently surpassed General Motors in terms of worldwide sales for the first time ever.
Reader Mail
May 20, 2007

Personhood is an achievement

I was excited by the May 5 article "Activists push for chimp to be declared a 'person,' " largely because of the fascinating philosophical issues it raises and the currents in modern culture that it exposes. Personally, I disagree with the notion of animals -- even high-order animals like chimpanzees,...
Reader Mail
May 20, 2007

The toughest job in town

I just read an article in The Japan Times about the nation's record-low birthrate. I am one of the angry people who have four children in this country -- I am German and my husband is Japanese. If anybody would like to know why there are so few children, I would like to show them how hard it is to have...
CULTURE / Books
May 20, 2007

Listening to history's creaking bones

ORACLE BONES: A Journey Between China's Past and Present, by Peter Hessler. HarperCollins, 2006, 491 pp., $26.95 (cloth) Beside their obvious antiquity, why should heaps of cattle shoulder-blades and turtle shells dating from the 13th and 14th centuries B.C. be of such immense importance to today's...
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
May 20, 2007

An exemplar of where the war-crimes buck stops

Over the coming months in this column, I will return a few times to a film titled "Ashita e no Yuigon (Best Wishes for Tomorrow)." I have been very fortunate to be able to write the script for this together with its director, Takashi Koizumi, whose last film, "Hakase no Aishita Sushiki (The Professor...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
May 19, 2007

A reflection on harmonious cohabitation

It seems the insects arrive every year during Golden Week. Is it possible that even the insects are on this Japanese work schedule with set travel times? Or maybe it's insect tenkin. Transfer or travel, during Golden Week we are all on the same migration pattern. Face it, we're all just really large...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
May 19, 2007

Doctor to foreign community moves with times

Dr. Fred Shane is a familiar figure in his community. Something to do with his pink hat, perhaps? "I've always sported colorful head gear," he chuckles, peering over his doctor's desk in a brand new clinic in Minato Ward, Tokyo. "This one my daughter bought for me. Before that, I had a red hat — I...
JAPAN
May 18, 2007

Trail to Obara said overlooked in '92 death

Second of two parts
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film / SHORT TAKES
May 18, 2007

Stranger Than Fiction

Director: Marc Forster Language: English
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
May 18, 2007

Marisa Monte

Motherhood prompted genre-busting Brazilian singer-songwriter Marisa Monte to take a break from touring a few years ago. Now, maternity has her back on the road with a 10-piece band and headed to Japan for her first concerts in 15 years.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
May 17, 2007

"From Alps Architecture to Katsura Detached Palace"

Watari Museum of Contemporary Art Closes in 11 days
Reader Mail
May 16, 2007

Lupus sufferers need help

On May 10, lupus organizations observed the fourth annual World Lupus Day. Lupus is a potentially life-threatening autoimmune disease where the immune system mistakenly attacks various parts of the body. Over 5 million people worldwide, including an estimated 50,000 people in Japan, suffer from the disease....
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle
May 15, 2007

Sweltering in matsuri mayhem

As the temperature rises and languid, lazy days melt into humid nights, Japan shifts gear, readying itself for the plethora of local matsuri ceremonies that blossom across the nation in the months ahead.
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
May 15, 2007

Unique presents, being seen

Customized 'omiyage' Several of you have responded to the request for ideas for interesting personalized gifts.
EDITORIALS
May 13, 2007

Amusement park safety

A broken axle led to the May 5 derailment of a roller coaster at the Expoland amusement park in Suita, Osaka Prefecture, which killed a woman and injured 19 other holidaymakers. Not only had there been a lack of safety consciousness on the part of the operator but also unclear legal stipulations concerning...
Reader Mail
May 13, 2007

Obara ruling disgraceful

I was astonished and outraged at the acquittal of Joji Obara in the Lucy Blackman rape and murder case. If Blackman did not get the justice that she deserved, at least her case will open eyes and make people question the quality of police forensic work and, above all, the credibility of the entire judiciary...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
May 13, 2007

Combining East and West in dramaturgy

AN ACTOR'S TRICKS by Yoshi Oida and Lorna Marshall, foreword by Peter Brook. London: Methuen Drama, A&A Black Ltd., 2007, 102 pp., £10.99 (paper) Yoshi Oida, born in 1933, is one of Japan's most interesting actor-directors. Trained in the classical stage disciplines, particularly that of the Kyogen,...
SOCCER / PREMIER REPORT
May 12, 2007

Gang of Four holding out hope courts will drop West Ham

LONDON — Celebratory glasses will be raised by those who escape relegation from the Premiership, but a nasty whiff of sour grapes surrounds the final round of fixtures tomorrow Sunday.

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