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JAPAN
Dec 22, 2007

Taiwan's presidential candidates jostle to win Japan's crucial backing

, which supports unification with China, has typically fared poorly at establishing a rapport with Tokyo — something that comes more naturally to the independence-inclined DPP. In November, however, Nationalist presidential candidate Ma Ying-jeou smashed that paradigm with what many pundits hailed...
Japan Times
Reference / SO WHAT THE HECK IS THAT
Dec 18, 2007

Mistletoe

Dear Alice,
CULTURE / Books
Dec 16, 2007

Unlocking the mysteries of Japanese culture

A TRACTATE ON JAPANESE AESTHETICS by Donald Richie. Berkeley: Stone Bridge Press, 2007, 79 pp., $9.95 (paper) In the preface to this new, much-needed book on Japanese aesthetics, Donald Richie points out, "In writing about traditional Asian aesthetics, the conventions of Western discourse — order,...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Dec 9, 2007

Media shows little respect to family of young murder victims

On Nov. 27, 11 days after 58-year-old Keiko Miura and her two preschool grandchildren went missing from Miura's home in Kagawa Prefecture, and the same day Miura's brother-in-law Masanori Kawasaki was arrested for their murder, the online Ohmy News service compared the coverage of the incident to that...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Dec 7, 2007

'Tsubaki Sanjuro'

The films of Akira Kurosawa have generated far more remakes than those of any other Japanese director, beginning with the John Sturges 1960 Western "The Magnificent Seven," a reworking of Kurosawa's "Shichinin no Samurai (Seven Samurai)."
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Dec 6, 2007

Picking up where science slips

When it comes to giving us a handle on the world we live in, science no longer cuts it. In its latest incarnations — superstring and M-theory — it postulates 10, 11 or even more dimensions, only three or four of which we can perceive. Science's explanation of matter is equally unsatisfying. Since...
COMMENTARY
Dec 3, 2007

When we let machines down

LONDON — Dinosaurs, so we are told, died out because they were too big. Or some say they were wiped out by an asteroid. No matter — all agree that their basic problem was size. They were just too large, their brains were too remote from their bodies, and their control systems could not cope.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Nov 29, 2007

A passion for the classics

Mention "Die Soldaten," B.A. Zimmermann's dark, uncompromising and harrowing work of 1960s modernism, and Hiroshi Wakasugi visibly brightens. It's the first season for this highly respected conductor as artistic director of Tokyo's New National Theater, and he's clearly very, very pleased that he has...
COMMENTARY
Nov 28, 2007

Hello to the euro, goodbye to the dollar

LONDON — It's just straws in the wind so far. India's Ministry of Culture announces that foreign tourists can no longer pay in dollars when visiting the Taj Mahal and other heritage sites; they have to pay in good, hard rupees. Iran and Venezuela call for a joint OPEC statement on the weak dollar,...
COMMENTARY / World / SENTAKU MAGAZINE
Nov 27, 2007

Politicians who took a stand

We often hear nowadays that politicians in Japan are "smaller" than they used to be. The reference, of course, is not to physique but rather to the capacity of today's politicians to demonstrate broad-mindedness and magnanimity as their predecessors did.
COMMENTARY
Nov 26, 2007

One (very) small step forward for ASEAN

HONOLULU — The Association of Southeast Asia Nations (ASEAN) has, in commemoration of its 40th anniversary, adopted its first formal charter, thus conferring "legal personality" upon this intergovernmental organization, complete with its own flag, emblem, anthem (to be written), and motto: One Vision,...
Japan Times
BUSINESS / ASIA-JAPAN-U.S. SYMPOSIUM
Nov 24, 2007

China needs to clean up its act to stay on economic growth track

Despite its continuing rapid growth, China faces a host of domestic and international challenges that — without adequate reforms — might derail it from the widely forecast path to global economic pre-eminence, said Elizabeth Economy, senior fellow and director for Asian studies at the Council on...
CULTURE / Music
Nov 23, 2007

Kylie Minogue — "X"
Britney Spears — "Blackout"

As 2007 dribbles to a close, we are treated to long-awaited comeback albums by two renowned lady stars.
EDITORIALS
Nov 22, 2007

ASEAN's broken heart

It was supposed to be a landmark event. To celebrate its 40th anniversary this week, heads of state from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) signed a charter that was intended to push the region toward more complete integration and more coherence. The final product — ASEAN's new charter...
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT
Oct 31, 2007

Tokyo's botanical beauty

A FLOWER LOVER'S GUIDE TO TOKYO: 40 Walks for All Seasons, by Sumiko Enbutsu (Kodansha International, ¥2,200)
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Oct 25, 2007

Heritage + manga = contemporary art

The key to Takashi Murakami's success was that his art came packaged with a theory, and for that theory he relied heavily on a 1970 book titled "The Lineage of Eccentricity," by art historian Nobuo Tsuji.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Oct 25, 2007

A legacy in question as Pop artist gets animated

Artists can never be 100 percent sure of their legacies. Some die famous and confident they'll be remembered for generations. If they're lucky, they might be right.
COMMENTARY
Oct 22, 2007

Potential for Korean progress

HONOLULU — "It could have been worse, a lot worse!" This was my initial reaction to the Oct. 2-4 summit meeting in Pyongyang between South Korean President Roh Moo Hyun and North Korea's "Dear Leader" Kim Jong Il.
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Oct 14, 2007

Will CL champion Giants be rusty after 15-day layoff?

The Yomiuri Giants will host the winner of the on-going Stage 1 of the Central League Climax Series when Stage 2 of the CLCS begins Oct. 18 at Tokyo Dome.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle
Oct 14, 2007

Illustrating Japan's top cover star

For more than 30 years, Masamichi Oikawa has drawn the cover art for Pia magazine, reports staff writer Edan Corkill

Longform

Professional cleaner Hirofumi Sakurai takes a moment to appreciate some photographs in a Gotanda apartment whose occupant died alone.
The last cleanup: Life and death in a lonely Japan