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Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / BACKSTREET STORIES
Sep 19, 2008

Daimyos and deluge around the Kanda River

Most major stretches of greenery in Tokyo are tax-trimmed remainders of massive estates once owned by Edo Period (1603-1867) feudal lords, or daimyo. So, in the wake of this summer's torrential rain and dodging some early autumn typhoons, I set out to find a daimyo domain or two.
EDITORIALS
Sep 17, 2008

SIA cheating pensioners

On the basis of an investigation by a panel of the internal affairs ministry, the Social Insurance Agency has admitted that a staff worker in 1995 instructed a Tokyo company president to lower the figures of the employees' monthly incomes in pension records so that the company could pay lower pension...
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design
Sep 14, 2008

Tokyo's catwalks at last purr with pizazz

"Is Tokyo really the world's fifth fashion capital after Paris, New York, Milan and London?"
CULTURE / Books
Sep 14, 2008

Troubled by ghosts of East Asia

EAST ASIA'S HAUNTED PRESENT: Historical Memories and the Resurgence of Nationalism, edited by Tsuyoshi Hasegawa and Kazuhiko Togo. Westport, CT., Praeger Security International, 2008, 265 pp., $75 (cloth) Arguments over the past among nations are a sure sign of anxieties about the future. East Asia's...
COMMENTARY
Sep 12, 2008

The future of mini-states

LONDON — Russian recognition of the independence of South Ossetia and Abkhazia is a cynical ploy aimed at annoying Georgians and their supporters in the West. If these two enclaves within Georgia deserve to be independent, why has Russia not granted independence to Chechnya or Dagestan?
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Sep 12, 2008

Coach builds brand of affordable luxury goods

Twenty years ago, at the height of the bubble economy, Coach Inc. started out small in Japan, selling its products at the Mitsukoshi department store in Yokohama.
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Sep 7, 2008

New book on pioneer Yonamine a must-read

There are a couple of new baseball books on the scene. One about the life of a foreigner who spent almost four decades in Japanese baseball, and the other a collection of heart-warming tributes by some well-known former players to those who convinced them not to give up chasing the dream of becoming...
CULTURE / Books
Sep 7, 2008

Takashi Hiraide's 'Walnut' is tough nut worth cracking

FOR THE FIGHTING SPIRIT OF THE WALNUT by Takashi Hiraide, translated by Sawako Nakayasu. New York: New Directions, 2008, unpaginated, $17.95 (paper) When a fan of the neglected American genius Guy Davenport wrote to tell him that she admired his ability to express himself, his response was: "Yick!" Davenport's...
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Sep 6, 2008

Land of the Great Pumpkin

The last time I went to Naoshima was in June of 2001, when it was just an island with a museum, a hotel and some tents. It was called Bunkamura (culture village). The museum was Mr. Fukutake's own private art collection of mostly modern art. In 2004 came Claude, Walter and James (Monet, De Maria, and...
EDITORIALS
Sep 3, 2008

Short-term economic fix

The government has announced an ¥11.7 trillion economic stimulus package to prevent a further slide of the Japanese economy. It represents a short-term approach to tide over current difficulties. Apparently the ruling coalition of the Liberal Democratic Party and Komeito hoped the package would help...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Sep 2, 2008

Urawaza — quirky, everyday Japanese tips — head West

Two years ago, a mysterious 20-second video clip triggered some unexpected buzz on the Web site YouTube. In the segment, an ordinary-looking housewife draws an invisible line across the chest of a shirt with her finger. Then she pinches the shirt under the armpit and at the shoulder, does a quick flipping...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / VIEWS FROM THE STREET
Sep 2, 2008

When is sorry not enough?

COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Aug 31, 2008

Can poetry in translation ever be as poetic in its new language?

A friend who was visiting recently from Germany posed me a difficult question: How can poetry be translated?
BUSINESS
Aug 30, 2008

Stimulus package ready for Diet OK

Hammered out in lengthy negotiations among ministries and the ruling parties, the government put forward an ¥11.7 trillion economic stimulus package Friday financed by a ¥1.8 trillion supplementary budget to be submitted to next month's extraordinary Diet session.
Japan Times
LIFE
Aug 24, 2008

Biomimicry: Natural by design

I magine being able to maintain a perfect temperature and humidity in your home year round, without spending a single yen in electricity or gas bills. That's exactly what Professor Emile Ishida of Tohoku University in northern Japan is striving to achieve — and he got the idea from termites.
CULTURE / Art
Aug 21, 2008

'Parallel Worlds'

Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Aug 21, 2008

Betting on Beijing

In late April this year, two Tokyo galleries set up shop in Beijing just in time for the Olympic fervor, believing that Beijing, rather than Tokyo, was the place to bring contemporary Japanese art to an international audience. Sueo Mitsuma of Mizuma Gallery in Nakameguro opened Mizuma & One and Yumie...
Japan Times
SPORTS / ODDS AND EVENS
Aug 20, 2008

Beach volley provides good fun for everyone

BEIJING — I think I've discovered a very important fact: The public-address announcer at the Olympic women's beach volleyball matches considers himself to be the luckiest man on the face of the earth.
OLYMPICS / 2008 BEIJING OLYMPICS: SWIMMING
Aug 15, 2008

Double glory as Kitajima repeats feat

BEIJING — Fifteen minutes after repeating as a double gold medalist at the Water Cube on Thursday morning, these were the final words of breaststroke specialist Kosuke Kitajima: "Ashita oyasumi."
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Aug 14, 2008

Shock tactics return

"The only thing humans, rats and crows have in common is garbage," announced Ryuta Ushiro, leader of artist unit Chim ↑ Pom, with a mischievous smile.
Japan Times
BASKETBALL / HOOP SCOOP
Aug 12, 2008

Cool Wade sparkles in return to spotlight

BEIJING — I've attended hundreds of basketball games at the high school, college, and professional level in the United States, as well as the 2006 FIBA World Championship in Japan and a few dozen bj-league games over the past two seasons.
OLYMPICS / 2008 BEIJING OLYMPICS: JUDO
Aug 10, 2008

Tani falls short in quest for gold

Her fighting spirit never wavered and her effort was never less than stellar, but judoka Ryoko Tani came up short in Beijing on Saturday in her quest to capture a third straight Olympic gold medal.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Aug 9, 2008

'Hyakunin' translations capture commission prize

In the same way that few British people have read all of Shakespeare's sonnets but many can quote at least a few lines of the lyric tradition, any adult who has gone through the Japanese school system is familiar with the Ogura "Hyakunin Isshu."
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink
Aug 8, 2008

Taking the Japan Wine Challenge

Despite the countless half- finished bottles of wine that lined the walls, the atmosphere in the plush function room of Tokyo's Sheraton Hotel was decidedly tense rather than tipsy. Japanese and Westerners were sitting around tables deep in concentration, thoughtfully holding a glass up to the light...
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Aug 8, 2008

Atami's Kiunkaku ryokan: The art of a great garden

You enter Kiunkaku through a beautiful, tile-roofed wooden gate flanked by tall trees, reminiscent of some temple gates, which gives a hint of the purpose:historical grandeur you will find within.
OLYMPICS / 2008 BEIJING OLYMPICS
Aug 3, 2008

Japan hopes for repeat of glory in Beijing

As a nation, Japan collected a record 37 medals at the 2004 Summer Games, including 16 golds, which matched the nation's all-time record set at the 1964 Tokyo Games. And so it's only natural for people to be curious if Japan can duplicate that level of success or achieve a higher medal count at the 2008...
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / HOTELS & RESTAURANTS
Aug 1, 2008

Stories that go bump in the night

Stories that go bump in the night In the Edo Period (1603-1867), getting together and telling ghost stories (kaidan) at night was a popular summer pastime. As a hotel located in the middle of Nihonbashi, the historical town that preserves the culture of Edo (Tokyo), the Mandarin Oriental Tokyo is reviving...
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital / IGADGET
Jul 30, 2008

New compact Lumix makes room for better summer memories

More sensor: Increasing the number of pixels in a digital camera's sensor without increasing the sensor's size is an underhanded act designed to sell more cameras, and in that regard, Panasonic is as guilty as any compact camera maker. But the Japanese electronics giant is earning early points for parole...

Longform

Visitors walk past Sou Fujimoto's Grand Ring, which has been recognized as the largest wooden structure in the world.
Can a World Expo still matter? Japan is about to find out.