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Japan Times
Features
Dec 18, 2005

Legal loner courts controversy every day

Any weekday, if you happen to drop by the Tokyo District/High/Summary Court building in Kasumigasaki, among all the besuited lawyers and the like you'll likely spy a blond, bearded young man leafing through the day's schedules in the first-floor lobby, or shuffling in and out of courtrooms big and small....
EDITORIALS
Dec 18, 2005

Everyday marvels of design

Winter has a way of slowing things down. Animals hibernate. Ponds freeze over. And the human brain turns sluggish, resisting even repeated infusions of double mocha espresso. Then a funny thing happens. As the mind struggles to focus, elemental objects suddenly loom large. With the peculiar concentration...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / PERSONALITY PROFILE
Dec 17, 2005

Lee Colegrove

In 1965, his senior class was studying drama in Lee Colegrove's university English course. The students asked him, "Can we continue to read drama after we graduate?" Pleased, he set up for them a reading group to meet regularly in his Tokyo apartment.
EDITORIALS
Dec 16, 2005

Advocate for the elderly

Next year Japan will take another step forward toward strengthening the protection of the weaker members of society. The Diet has passed a law to prevent cruel treatment of the aged and to assist those taking care of them. Preparations are being made for implementing the law in April. Enactment of the...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Dec 16, 2005

Stripping it down, thriving on basics

Born in 1970 into an acting family -- his father is butoh master Akaji Maro and his brother is rising star Nao Omori -- Tatsushi Omori served as an assistant director for Junji Sakamoto and Kazuyuki Izutsu before working for producer/director Genjiro Arato on "Akame Shijuha-taki Shinju Misui" in 2003...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Dec 16, 2005

A few more before we go

It's always the same story: So many restaurants, so much great food, so little time. The Food File never has enough columns in a year to feature all of the excellent places we've enjoyed over the past 12 months. So, quickly, before we get sidetracked on pouring the mulled wine and carving the turkey,...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Dec 15, 2005

Bridging cultural currents

SEOUL -- It has long been known, though usually not mentioned in public discourse in Japan, that Korea has played a vital role in the transmission of Chinese culture to the country, starting with the introduction of Buddhism in 538. As of Oct. 28, the 60th anniversary of Korea's National Independence...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Dec 15, 2005

Proving it to the people

While waiting for the news conference to begin for "Sayuri" at the Imperial Hotel on Nov. 28, two Japanese women were discussing Zhang Ziyi, the Chinese actress who plays the title role of a geisha during the years leading up to and immediately following World War II.
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Dec 14, 2005

Trade-off apparent in bats' 'costly tissues'

Here's a rhetorical question that isn't just an excuse to talk about something rude. Would you men out there rather have large gonads or large brains? For female readers, how about this: What do you think is most important in a male, testes size or brain size?
EDITORIALS
Dec 14, 2005

Small government vs. welfare

The government is striving to downsize itself. With debts owed by the central and local governments amounting to 800 trillion yen, it stands to reason that, where possible, much of the work presently being carried out by government should be delegated to the private sector. But to uniformly pursue "small...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / VIEWS FROM THE STREET
Dec 13, 2005

What is your purpose of studying Japanese?

Stuart Kirby Teacher, 30 My main reason for studying Japanese is to understand my karate sensei when he's yelling at me, and, obviously, if you're going to live here a while, then you're missing out on a lot by not studying Japanese.
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Dec 13, 2005

The NHK man cometh

NHK, Japan's beleaguered national broadcaster, is facing revenue losses of around 50 billion yen yen for this fiscal year as a result, it says, of people refusing to pay their subscription fees.
Japan Times
Features
Dec 11, 2005

Korean school strives to keep its homeland culture alive

When I first laid eyes on Tokyo Chosen Dai-Ni Shokyu Gakko (Tokyo Korean No.2 Elementary School) in the downtown Edagawa district of Koto Ward, it looked like any other school in Japan.
Features
Dec 11, 2005

Discordant history mars neighbors' friendship overtures

Japanese actress Yoshino Kimura was the lone main guest at the Chuo Kokaido Hall in Osaka in October. She appeared without her Korean counterpart in the opening ceremony to celebrate this year's 40th anniversary of the 1965 Japan-South Korean Treaty that normalized Tokyo-Seoul relations.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Dec 10, 2005

Trailblazing volunteer reflects on path to NGO icon status

When Keiko Kiyama went to Yugoslavia in the early 1990s to help people in the war-torn region, many Japanese probably thought her a bit eccentric.
JAPAN
Dec 9, 2005

Panel gives final OK for young U.S. beef

is just one step. The real test is still to come, of Japan's ability to check (that) the U.S. is implementing precautions" against BSE, said Yasuhiro Yoshikawa, who heads the prion research group under the commission that drafted Thursday's report. "The report was based on a number of preconditions,...
COMMENTARY
Dec 9, 2005

Put a lid on the provocations

LONDON -- U.S. President George W. Bush is reported to have stressed recently to Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi the importance of healthy diplomatic relations between Japan and Asian countries and to have suggested that improved relationships in the region could help to strengthen the U.S.-Japan relationship....
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Dec 9, 2005

Standing firm for tradition

Akitaya is no gourmet dining destination. The food is basic, the sake cheap. Clouds of oily smoke billow out from a blackened, grease-encrusted charcoal grill onto the sidewalk, where customers huddle around tables fashioned from upturned beer crates.
JAPAN
Dec 8, 2005

Actors Watanabe, Minami tie knot

Ken Watanabe, an actor internationally recognized for his roles in Hollywood movies, married actress Kaho Minami on Saturday, their production firms announced Wednesday.
JAPAN
Dec 8, 2005

Christmas tree lights up for refugees

A giant Christmas tree was set aglow Wednesday at JR Tokyo Station to mark the opening of an event to raise money for refugees around the world.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Dec 8, 2005

Inside the belly of the beast

Jennifer Abbott's entire career as a filmmaker and editor has been involved with challenging people's perceptions. Her first documentary, "A Cow at My Table," was on the horrors of factory farming, and Abbott met her co-director Mark Achbar while working as an editor on his documentary on lesbian marriages...
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle / ON THE BOOK TRAIL
Dec 6, 2005

"The Fish in Room 11," "In my World"

"The Fish in Room 11," Heather Dyer, Chicken House; 2005;160 pp.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 5, 2005

Soft power matters in Asia

CAMBRIDGE, Massachusetts -- U.S. President George W. Bush recently returned from Asia after attending the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum summit, but he should continue to pay attention to another Asian summit to which he was not invited. In December, Malaysia will host an East Asian Summit that...
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 5, 2005

China's environmental health challenges

NEW YORK -- The recent environmental crises in China underscore the need to improve the mechanisms for preventing environmental disasters and responding more effectively to environmental emergencies. For the past few decades, China has maintained significant economic expansion while greatly improving...

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