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Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Mar 5, 2010

Bigelow sticks to her guns

HOLLYWOOD — Kathryn Bigelow is only the fourth woman ever to be nominated for the Best Director Academy Award — and only the second American female. The first two nominees were Italian Lina Wertmuller and Australian Jane Campion; the third was Sofia Coppola.
COMMENTARY
Feb 16, 2010

China's reaction raises doubt about its intent

HONG KONG — China's reaction to the announcement by Washington of a large arms sales package to Taiwan suggests that, 20 months after Taiwan replaced hostility with cooperation in its dealings with the mainland, Beijing still believes it will ultimately need to use force to bring about unification....
COMMENTARY
Feb 14, 2010

Ignorance about Iraq in 2003 echoes today

LONDON — At the Iraq inquiry in London on Jan. 29, former British Prime Minister Tony Blair found a new way to defend his decision to join George W. Bush in invading Iraq in 2003: the what-if defense. What if they hadn't invaded Iraq, and Saddam Hussein had remained in power there?
LIFE
Feb 14, 2010

Key facts about the big cats

The Siberian tiger is variously known as the Amur, the Ussuri, the North China and the Woolly-haired tiger.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Jan 31, 2010

Groping pregnant women shouldn't be what's it about

On Jan. 14, 36-year-old comedian Sayaka Aoki made her last TV appearance before taking some time off to have a baby. The appearance was on Fuji TV's noontime variety show "Waratte Ii to mo" ("It's OK to laugh"), where she was a semiregular. The show's host, Tamori, placed his hands on Aoki's belly as...
Japan Times
BASKETBALL / HOOP SCOOP
Jan 25, 2010

Davis miffed about acrimonious breakup with Apache

Second in a two-part series
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Jan 24, 2010

Angels fans excited about Godzilla's move to Southern California

We can expect to see a lot more Los Angeles Angels games than the New York Yankees on NHK and J Sports in 2010 because of Hideki Matsui, especially when the Angels play the Seattle Mariners with Ichiro Suzuki.
JAPAN / Media
Jan 24, 2010

Movie about balloon dad could clear him

LOS ANGELES — Once Richard Heene admitted in court that he wrongly sent authorities on a wild goose chase across Colorado to save the son he thought was aloft in a runaway balloon, friends and supporters seemed to take off just about as fast as that balloon.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jan 22, 2010

Depp the magical mystery man

HOLLYWOOD — It's no surprise Johnny Depp is starring in a fantastical new movie titled "The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus," which opens in Japan on Saturday.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Jan 16, 2010

How about a gaijin circus in gazelle land?

The other day, my husband bought a shirt at Uniqlo. "Wow, the sleeves are long enough!" he marveled. Clothes in Japan are getting bigger and even now foreigners can almost wear them. But there was still a problem. The arms of the shirt were too tight. This confirms a suspicion I have long had about the...
JAPAN
Jan 5, 2010

Budget to be government's top priority

Passing the fiscal 2010 budget and averting a double-dip recession will be the government's top priority heading into the new year, Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama said Monday.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / CLOSE-UP
Jan 3, 2010

Jake Adelstein: Insider reaching out

Author Joshua "Jake" Adelstein supposes that if he'd stayed home in rural Missouri and had never come to Japan, he'd probably have become a small-town lawyer or a very happy detective on the local police force.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Dec 29, 2009

Stray observations on booming pet culture

Pets are big business these days. Cat and dog cafes, animal accessory shops, dog hotels and even aesthetic salons for animals are easy to find. On weekends, in the large park near my house, I see people walking what appear to be entrants in a pedigree dog competition: dachshunds in mini-sweaters promenade...
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM NEW YORK
Dec 27, 2009

Usual conformist cliches about the Japanese

NEW YORK — So Roger Cohen, a relatively new columnist with The New York Times, concluded after a brief stay in Tokyo earlier this month that Japan is a society laid low by "a tremendous conformity" and trivialized by "otaku" ("Japanese Obsessions," Dec. 14).
Reader Mail
Dec 24, 2009

Article about Gaza wall strays

Regarding Cesar Chelala's Dec. 18 article, "Illegal wall exacerbates disaster for Gazans": I don't understand this article. The headline includes "illegal wall," which is mentioned in other news articles worldwide. Good story on what the Egyptians are building, but the story only has a few lines about...
JAPAN
Dec 21, 2009

Japan finds a little to crow about

COPENHAGEN — The political agreement on climate change formally recognized Saturday has been roundly condemned, but the Japanese government sees it as a diplomatic achievement for including China and the United States, the two largest emitters, and paving the way for a future framework to reduce emissions....
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Dec 20, 2009

Stunning book speaks volumes about the ravages visited on Tibet

Ten years ago, near the end of 1999, the Chinese author Wang Lixiong received a package from a young woman of Tibetan origin named Tsering Woeser. It contained several hundred black-and-white negatives.
COMMENTARY
Dec 20, 2009

Wake up a friend about China at Christmas

LOS ANGELES — Attention last-minute holiday shoppers: We have an easy-to-purchase gift to recommend. And we guarantee that it will fit all sizes, shapes and tastes. This is assuming your intended recipients are intelligent, literate and eager to learn about the world.
EDITORIALS
Nov 26, 2009

Worries about deflation

In its economic assessment for November, the government announced that the Japanese economy is in a state of mild deflation — the first time since June 2006 that the monthly report has referred to deflation. The very mention of it indicates the government's sense of crisis over a possible rise in unemployment...
Reader Mail
Nov 22, 2009

Much ado about nothing

The so-called furor over the bow by the U.S. president is much ado about nothing. The major issue is that the Emperor is a figurehead without real power, and perhaps Barack Obama is in the same boat. Visitors of any stature coming to Japan want to do the right thing and don't understand the many nuances...
ENVIRONMENT
Nov 22, 2009

Our growing Earth?

The world is awash with wild theories, conjecture and speculation about everything you could imagine — and then some.
Japan Times
LIFE
Nov 22, 2009

Our growing Earth?

The world is awash with wild theories, conjecture and speculation about everything you could imagine — and then some.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Nov 13, 2009

Tarantino returns to grind up Nazis

HOLLYWOOD — Quentin Tarantino is back, making another much-publicized and controversial splash similar to (but with more sociological implications) his one-two punch with "Kill Bill: Vol. 1" in 2003 and "Vol. 2" a year later.
Japan Times
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Nov 10, 2009

As status symbol, it tops the rest

The commercial-residential complex of Roppongi Hills opened six years ago, boasting offices, a museum, cinema, condominiums, restaurants and shops, becoming a popular tourist destination and a high-status residence in a part of central Tokyo otherwise known for its nightlife dens.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Nov 7, 2009

Speaking out about domestic violence

Just a year into her marriage, Emi Yoshida realized she might not survive it. Her violent, drug-addict husband had tried to strangle her, then beat her unconscious outside their Tokyo home. When she came to, he was threatening her with a knife.

Longform

Passengers that were on a morning train attacked by members of the Aum Shinrikyo group wait for medical assistance outside Kasumigaseki Station on March 20,1995.
The day a religious cult brought terror to Tokyo