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Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Apr 21, 2004

The brush never lies

Girl With a Pearl Earring Rating: * * * * (out of 5) Director: Peter Webber Running time: 100 minutes Language: English Currently showing [See Japan Times movie listings] What's in a gaze? It's impossible to view Johannes Vermeer's most beloved work, "Girl With a Pearl Earring" (aka...
JAPAN
Apr 21, 2004

10% of abused elders imperiled: poll

A government survey has found that about 10 percent of abused elderly people in Japan have been in a life-threatening situation while being abused.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Apr 21, 2004

A universe far beyond manga as we know it

Realism no Yado Rating: * * * 1/2 (out of 5) Director: Nobuhiro Yamashita Running time: 83 minutes Language: Japanese Currently showing [See Japan Times movie listings] Foreign manga fans are always praising manga's scope as compared with that of American comics stuck in a narrow superhero...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Apr 21, 2004

Not quite now, but for all time

Why could Othello not believe in Desdemona's fidelity, even though she loved and trusted him blindly? The causes were deep-rooted in his psyche, boring into his soul regardless of what his senses should have told him.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Apr 21, 2004

A look on the dark side of life

Sir Antony Sher was born near Cape Town, South Africa, in 1949. He moved to Britain in 1968 to attend drama school. His breakthrough performance was as Richard III for the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1984-5. Since then he has received many acting honors and was knighted in 2000.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Apr 20, 2004

Tama-chan battles flab, sassy new rival

A year has passed since the bearded seal nicknamed Tama-chan moved to the Ara River in Saitama Prefecture from Tama River in Yokohama.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Apr 20, 2004

The green machine

Throughout the first half of the 20th century, "Nakano spy school" turned out thousands of spies, propaganda chiefs and commandos to serve in the furthest corners of Asia during the Pacific War.
EDITORIALS
Apr 20, 2004

Remembering Saint-Exupery

Which is better: a mystery or a clue? Absence or a relic? Proponents of both sides had plenty to say this month after French researchers discovered part of the answer to a puzzle that's endured nearly 60 years: Whatever happened to Antoine de Saint-Exupery?
COMMENTARY
Apr 20, 2004

Clash of ideas behind violence

LONDON -- Behind all the horrors and bloodshed of Iraq lies a clash of ideas. In the words of one mujahedin leader when asked to explain his hatred of America: "We do not want their capitalism. We do not want communism. We have our own ideas about how we want our country to be run in a Muslim way."
COMMENTARY
Apr 19, 2004

Push Japan's good intentions

The lesson from the abduction and subsequent release of five Japanese civilians in Iraq is that the government should send a strong message to the Arab world that it is actively pushing humanitarian assistance and reconstruction in the war-torn country.
CULTURE / Music
Apr 18, 2004

A spiritual journey that begins within

What is the sound of the universe? What does one hear? These are questions that crossed David Sylvian's mind prior to the making of his most recent album "Blemish," the debut release of his Samadhi Sound label last year. Talking over the phone from London last week, the singer/songwriter and frontman...
BUSINESS
Apr 17, 2004

Postal privatization might hurt Japanese government bonds: economists

Privatize post offices and you may risk damaging the most trusted financial vehicle in Japan: the government bond.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Apr 17, 2004

Old folks at the steering wheel of fortune

On a recent trip home to the U.S., I realized that Japan lacks something central to highway driving: old folks behind the wheel. Although Japan's population is aging fast, it seems like most of the old people here do not drive. I rarely see the sticker on cars that old folks must display to drive in...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Apr 16, 2004

The great outdoors -- on a plate

All it takes is the first hint of warm spring weather and we start thinking of the great outdoors. By that, we do not mean sea kayaking, a vigorous hike in the hills or a jaunt to some provincial onsen. For us, it is quite sufficient to salute the first blossoms and leaves from the vantage point of a...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Apr 15, 2004

Families caught in cross fire over Iraq hostage ordeal

The hostage crisis in Iraq has apparently split the Japanese public into two camps.
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Apr 15, 2004

One day, Japan's 'losing dogs' will howl in unison

There's a new phrase out there and it's making a lot of people self-conscious. "Makeinu (losing dog)," which once meant nothing more than the literal translation, now indicates that swelling segment of the Japanese population: single people over 30.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Apr 14, 2004

Interpreter's notes

Lost in Translation Rating: * * * * (out of 5) Director: Sofia Coppola Running time: 102 minutes Language: English, Japanese Opens April 17 at Cinema Rise [See Japan Times movie listings] The dialogue of "Lost in Translation" never sizzles, never gets out of line, doesn't really reveal...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Apr 14, 2004

Sowing the seeds of a new genre

Appleseed Rating: * * * 1/2 (out of 5) Director: Shinji Aramaki Running time: 103 minutes Language: Japanese Opens April 17 [See Japan Times movie listings] Japanese animation is edging into the mainstream internationally, while insinuating itself into everything from "Kill Bill Vol....
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Apr 14, 2004

Shooting at the top

Another reason to love Sofia Coppola: She had the good sense (and stubbornness) to refuse to do any more interviews while in Japan. Judging by her news-conference comments, she is better at making her films than talking about them -- no crime, that -- so it was a smart move to delegate the explaining...
BUSINESS
Apr 14, 2004

Japan Post sees international business as cornerstone

Japan Post aims to beef up its international business to survive intensifying global competition ahead of its planned privatization beginning in 2007, according to Masaharu Ikuta, president of the government-owned entity.
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
Apr 13, 2004

Divorce and insurance policies

Divorce I was married for two years to a Japanese woman (no children). We separated almost one year ago. I recently asked my wife for a divorce, but she wants financial compensation before she will agree.
COMMUNITY
Apr 13, 2004

Rappers relish the opportunity to express individuality

Japanese-born, but with roots in Korea, MCs Jewong, 20, and Liyoon, 22, of rap duo KP, have caused a stir in the booming Japanese hip-hop industry with music and a message drawn from their experiences as members of the Korean community in Japan.
JAPAN
Apr 11, 2004

52% of young adults uninterested in science, survey shows

More than half of Japanese between the ages of 18 and 29 are not interested in science, and the percentage is growing despite an increased exposure to information technology products, according to a government poll.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Apr 11, 2004

Religion of the East through the eyes of the West

THE BUDDHA AND THE SAHIBS: The Men Who Discovered India's Lost Religion, by Charles Allen. John Murray, 2003, 322 pp., £8.99 (paper). The story begins with a botanist. At the end of the 18th century, a Scottish doctor named Francis Buchanan was employed to carry out surveys of Burma and Nepal, neither...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Apr 11, 2004

Chosuke Ikariya: the professional amateur

In his autobiography, Chosuke Ikariya, who died two weeks ago at the age of 72, mentions that when he won a Japan Academy Award in 1999 for his performance in "Odoru Daisosasen (Bayside Shakedown)" he felt guilty because he had never taken acting that seriously. It sounds like the requisite modesty of...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Apr 11, 2004

The struggle to find a collective identity

JAPAN UNBOUND: A Volatile Nation's Quest for Pride and Purpose, by John Nathan. New York: Houghton Mifflin, 2004, 271 pp., $25 (cloth). In this engaging book, largely based on extensive interviews, John Nathan probes the pathologies, contradictions and search for identity in contemporary Japan. He ranges...
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Apr 11, 2004

NHK's "Sonotoki Rekishi ha Ugoita" and more

Zenigata Heiji is an enduring fictional character in Japanese popular culture. Many of Japan's top leading men have portrayed him in dozens of movies and TV series.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 11, 2004

India girds for world's biggest tamasha

Between April 20 and May 10, staggered over five rounds, Indians will vote in the 14th general election since inde- pendence in 1947. When Florida caused such a fuss in the last U.S. presidential election four years ago, Indians were bemused and amused in equal measure. They suggested that Americans...
Japan Times
Features
Apr 11, 2004

Women in noh

Backstage at a noh theater in downtown Tokyo, the play was about to begin.

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