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LIFE / Lifestyle / ON THE BOOK TRAIL
Jan 9, 2007

"Happy Feet," "Artemis Fowl and the Lost Colony"

"Happy Feet," Adapted by Kay Woodward, Puffin Books; 2006; 121 pp. Typically, the book comes first; then some smart film director gets his hands on it and turns it into a movie. With "Happy Feet," though, it was the film that came first. But if you haven't watched it -- or if you want the adventures...
Japan Times
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Jan 5, 2007

Donizetti's bel canto greats hit high notes

The Donizetti Theatre, one of Italy's best-known spaces for traditional opera, is currently touring Japan for the first time.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle
Dec 26, 2006

Looking for just the right balance

Having trouble managing life, work and sundry commitments as 2006 speeds to a close? Looking for a refreshing resolution -- something challenging or even cultural -- to ring in the new year?
MORE SPORTS
Dec 25, 2006

Take rides horse to Arima Kinen triumph

FUNABASHI, Chiba Prefecture -- "He flew. He flew like never before." With words he has used race after race, Yutaka Take once again chose them to describe a titan of thoroughbreds -- Deep Impact.
COMMENTARY
Dec 21, 2006

Kremlin fears for its Far East

LONDON -- I don't suppose you read the piece in the Russian newspapers about customs officials' activities in the Russian Far East, at the Poltvaka customs checkpoint in Oktyabrsky County in southern Primorski krai on the Chinese border? It was a very interesting article about how a truck, which had...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / PERSONALITY PROFILE
Dec 16, 2006

Kiyonori Kanasaka

Last October, the Royal Scottish Geographical Society conferred its Diploma of Fellowship upon Professor Kiyonori Kanasaka of Kyoto University.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Dec 14, 2006

Plentitudes to show

'The thing that has been consistently with me is the notion of creating something today that didn't exist yesterday; to make things for me is a kind of curiosity," says the prolific 55-year-old artist Shinro Ohtake.
BASKETBALL / NBA / NBA REPORT
Dec 13, 2006

Randolph's rep tarnished by mistakes

NEW YORK -- Last time Zach Randolph checked in with me late in his rookie year was also the only time . . . until we spoke by phone a few weeks ago.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / WALKING THE WARDS
Dec 1, 2006

Katsushika a cut above all your expectations

Many of Tokyo's award-winning swordsmiths choose to live in Ka-tsushika. Why? "Land has always been cheap here," said Shoji Yoshihara, 61, designated an Important Living Cultural Property of the ward and deputy head of All Japan Swordsmiths Association. "The process of making swords is noisy and smoky,...
CULTURE / Books
Nov 12, 2006

No ordinary guide to China

SHENZHEN: A Travelogue From China, by Guy Delisle, translated by Helge Dascher. Montreal: Drawn & Quarterly, 2006, 152 pp., $19.95 (cloth). Surely those dinosaurs who believed that comics were suitable only for stories of men in tights have all died off. With the popularity of comics growing by leaps...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Nov 12, 2006

Ultraman . . . forever

The "Ultraman" live-action science-fiction series has been a rite of passage for Japanese boys (and a few girls) and their families for four decades now, since the first show was aired in 1966.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art / NEW ART SEEN
Nov 9, 2006

An unexplained howl

I don't much care for those explanatory texts we call "artists' statements," because if an artist has to explain a work of art, then it simply isn't standing on its own. Artists who spell out what their art means (and, in doing so, establish parameters regarding how one should see it), only succeed in...
COMMENTARY
Oct 26, 2006

Revisionists damaging Japan

LONDON -- Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has the reputation of being a tough nationalist. So far, however, he has shown himself to be a pragmatist in foreign-policy issues. His early visits to China and South Korea demonstrated that he wants to improve bilateral relations, which have soured in recent years....
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Oct 19, 2006

Playing with energy

Though on the surface it's easy to think everyone else has got it sorted out, things are not always what they seem. From time to time we all feel like a blip in the universe, trapped by things beyond our control -- whether unbending social powers, finicky laws, monetary limitations or annoying office...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Oct 19, 2006

"Takanobu Kobayashi Exhibition"

Nishimura Gallery Closes in 10 days
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Oct 13, 2006

School's out for Oreskaband teens

'I don't think being high-school girls is an important part of our band," says 18-year-old Tae-san, drummer with Osaka ska band Oreskaband. And with mere months until their graduation, we're about to find out if she's right.
Japan Times
LIFE
Oct 8, 2006

LONDON CALLING

Home to some 50,000 people born in Japan, London has been well served for some time with aspects of culture and lifestyle from the Land of the Rising Sun.
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Oct 1, 2006

Nihon TV's "News Zero," NHK's "Document 72 Hours" and more

Traditionally, Nihon TV has opted out of the nightly news competition. Whereas TBS, TV Asahi and Fuji TV present hourlong, in-depth news shows, Nihon TV settled for a half-hour bulletin-style report called "Kyo no Dekigoto (Today's Happenings)."
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Sep 29, 2006

The past comes alive in Izu

Japanese and foreign residents of the Kanto region head for Izu to seek that elusive thing, "the real Japan."
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Sep 24, 2006

NHK's "Ongaku Idenshi," Nihon TV's "Diet Combat" and more

One of the most common questions asked of pop musicians is, Who are your influences? This question is the premise behind a new series on NHK, "Ongaku Idenshi" (NHK-G, Mon., 11 p.m.), which literally means "The Genes of Music." According to the show's producers, a musician's particular sensibility is...
JAPAN
Sep 21, 2006

LDP election broke with norm

to a certain degree," he said. "Without Koizumi's guidance, Abe would never have become party president." Abe won 464 votes, or 66 percent of the total, although he had reportedly been shooting for more than 70 percent. Aso came in second with 136 and Tanigaki got 102.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 21, 2006

The next Palestinian struggle

LONDON -- An expert in international law and an old friend of the Palestinian people wrote me with utter distress a few days after Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Prime Minister Ismael Haniyeh were reported to have reached an agreement Sept. 11 to form a national unity government. The content...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Sep 10, 2006

What's love got to do with it? Holding on for a while

Many modern people have probably formed their idea of romantic love through the popular arts. We know from Jane Austen novels that marrying for love is an idea that preceded Hollywood, but people still wed for many other reasons, including simple companionship, convenience and money. Nevertheless, love...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Sep 5, 2006

Future of Japan securities reform at stake

As the trial of Japan's most famous dot-com entrepreneur opened Monday, a much wider issue was also before the court: the nation's tenuous shift toward a more freewheeling market economy.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 4, 2006

An uphill battle for Manmohan Singh

HONG KONG -- When Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, following in the footsteps of Jawaharlal Nehru, spoke from the great gateway of Shah Jehan's Red Fort to celebrate Independence Day, he looked like a tiny, almost insignificant figure, framed by gigantic red sandstone walls, as he looked down on...
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / WALKING THE WARDS
Sep 1, 2006

Slow train coming downtown

Arakawa Ward snuggles like a puzzle piece in the bends of the Sumida River. The third smallest of Tokyo's 23 wards, it has an intimate, unpretentious atmosphere that matches the attitude of many of its residents. Asked what makes Arakawa special, locals and even city officials tilt their heads in thought,...
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle
Aug 29, 2006

Tofu, magic for both body and taste buds

When the summer heat sets in, my Japanese mother religiously serves hiyayakko (chilled tofu) sprinkled with katsuobushi (bonito flakes) and soy sauce. Just looking at this simple dish, I feel myself starting to cool down, knowing that tofu actually helps lower your body temperature.
CULTURE / Books
Aug 27, 2006

Picturing North Korean propaganda

Japan's comic craze was first documented for the West with the publication of Frederick Schodt's "Manga Manga, The World of Japanese Comics" (1983). Since then, the production and consumption of manga and anime -- its moving picture equivalent -- have spread to China and the Republic of Korea. More recently,...

Longform

A man offers prayers at Hebikubo Shrine in Tokyo's Shinagawa Ward. The shrine is one of several across the country dedicated to the snake.
Shed your skin and reinvent yourself in the Year of the Snake