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CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Jan 15, 2006

Spreading the word on popular literature

THE BAMBOO SWORD AND OTHER SAMURAI TALES by Shuhei Fujisawa, translated by Gavin Frew. Tokyo: Kodansha International, 2005, 254 pp., 2,400 yen (cloth). Japanese critics have long made a distinction between taishu bungaku, "popular literature," which is simple entertainment, and jun bungaku, "pure literature,"...
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Jan 10, 2006

Men retreat from 'hassle' of loving relationships

We're told that the nation's economy is in its best shape in a decade. While this is "roho (good news)," other things are happening in this country that are not so hot. Literally.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jan 6, 2006

Tokyo talent sings about kids rights in U.S. debut

Agnes Chan wears many hats -- singer, actress, child-rights activist, academic, and mother of three.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jan 5, 2006

Meissen porcelain: Europa's bulls in the China shop

Fragility can sometimes add to beauty -- one of the reasons for the affection for the short-lived cherry blossom. The more fleeting, unstable, or breakable something is, the less likely its beauty will be taken for granted.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / OLD NIC'S NOTEBOOK
Jan 4, 2006

Letting laughter flow in our woods

Two years ago, we started running programs specially designed for visually challenged children in our forest near Kurohime among the Nagano Prefecture hills. Before getting started, our Afan Woodland Trust sent out a questionnaire asking the children what they would most like to do in the woods. The...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Dec 31, 2005

Tsunami book gives peace to some, hope to more

Bill O'Leary is busy on Boxing Day. While back to business in Phuket, Thailand, by midday, he attends first a Muslim ceremony on the beach, and then a Buddhist service in a hotel to remember the 5,500 tourists and local people who were swept to their death by the tsunami of Dec. 26, 2004. Three thousand...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Dec 30, 2005

Pull of the people

My album of the year was M.I.A.'s "Arular," for a number of reasons. First, it's a party album whose energy and imagination never flag. Second, it's utterly distinctive: Maya Arulpragasam's nursery-rhyme rapping style doesn't sound like anybody else's. Third, it's a work of art whose local specificity,...
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design
Dec 27, 2005

Lighting brilliance from Kouichi Okamoto

Lighting is many things to many people. For many, it's simply a practical tool to combat darkness. For others, it plays the role of mood enhancer. Carefully calibrated lighting can transform a space both subtly and dramatically.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Dec 25, 2005

Creators, not hacks

OUTLAW MASTERS OF JAPANESE FILM by Chris Desjardins. London, New York: I.B. Tauris, 2005, 262 pp., $19.95 (paper). IRON MAN: The Cinema of Shinya Tsukamoto, by Tom Mes. FAB Press, 2005. 237 pp., $24.95 (paper) Foreign critics used to worship at the altars of Akira Kurosawa, Yasujiro Ozu and Kenji Mizoguchi...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Dec 25, 2005

Cultural depths of celluloid

READING A JAPANESE FILM: Cinema in Context, by Keiko I. McDonald. Honolulu: Hawai'i University Press, 2005, 294 pp., photo illustrations. $20.00 (paper). Films are not only to be passively watched, they are also to be actively "read." The viewer deciphers not just the story but all the other indications...
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Dec 23, 2005

Kafka on the . . . wall

Scottish artist Jack McLean's exhibition of drawings "Kafka on the...," which runs through Dec. 31 at Artist Residency Tokyo (A.R.T.) Gallery in Tokyo, focuses on two Johnnie Walkers.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Dec 15, 2005

Bridging cultural currents

SEOUL -- It has long been known, though usually not mentioned in public discourse in Japan, that Korea has played a vital role in the transmission of Chinese culture to the country, starting with the introduction of Buddhism in 538. As of Oct. 28, the 60th anniversary of Korea's National Independence...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Dec 7, 2005

Japan, Iraq finalize energy support deal

Japan and Iraq agreed Tuesday that Tokyo will extend financial and technical support for oil and natural gas projects in the war-ravaged country, which intends to expand oil production capacity to 2 million barrels per day next year, a Japanese official said.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Dec 4, 2005

Complexity drawn from emptiness

THE ANCIENT CAPITAL OF IMAGES by John Mateer. Fremantle, Australia: Fremantle Arts Centre Press, 2005, 61 pp., A$22.95 (paper). The poet John Mateer has published previously in South Africa, where he comes from, Australia, where he now lives, and Indonesia, which he has traveled in. A group of his poems...
SOCCER / PREMIER REPORT
Nov 26, 2005

Keane's baggage may scupper his dream move to Celtic

LONDON -- In August, you would probably have been able to name your own odds against both Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson and captain Roy Keane seeking new employment midseason. One half of any such bet has already come up trumps, and unless United beat Benfica in Lisbon on Wednesday week,...
BUSINESS
Nov 23, 2005

RCC to sue Chongryun for 62.8 billion yen

The government-backed Resolution and Collection Corp. will file a civil lawsuit with the Tokyo District Court to seek the return of 62.8 billion yen from a North Korean group, sources said Tuesday.
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Nov 22, 2005

The 'IC you' card

People are still reeling from September's LDP landslide election, realizing that Koizumi can essentially legislate whatever he wants.
Japan Times
Features / WEEK 3
Nov 20, 2005

Update beckons for 'lucky' feline

A retired mannequin sculptor who fashioned his entire career out of observing women's curves is now eyeing curves of an even more mystical kind: those of the manekineko, the good-luck "beckoning cat" statues found all over Japan in the corners of bars, restaurants and lottery-ticket booths, where their...
JAPAN
Nov 18, 2005

MUFJ profit tops Toyota's, hits record

The estimated consolidated April-September net profit of Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc. has topped the group net profit of Toyota Motor Corp. to become the largest in Japan, figures released Thursday showed.
JAPAN
Nov 15, 2005

Teen says hatred from being snubbed drove him to kill

The 16-year-old boy arrested in the fatal stabbing of a 15-year-old schoolmate said he felt snubbed by the victim and bore a grudge, investigative sources said Monday.
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design
Nov 15, 2005

Marie-Helene de Taillac, Side by Side, Viliue cosmetics, Youth Records

Staff writer A gem of an idea
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 15, 2005

Aussies preparing for worst

SYDNEY -- Tough new antiterrorist laws will soon give troops shoot-to-kill authority when patrolling Australian streets in anticipation of a terrorist attack. But the change will come only after the Australian public has agonized over a claimed loss of civil liberties.
Japan Times
Features / JAPAN FASHION WEEK IN TOKYO 2005
Nov 13, 2005

Catwalk caperings

In the major fashion capitals, only the bravest of designers dare to push the envelope of a show beyond the conventional parade of models marching with their pouts and haughty glares along a catwalk. In Tokyo, though, while the clothes themselves may not match up to those gracing European runways, the...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Nov 6, 2005

A modern master of an old tradition

MIREI SHIGEMORI: Modernizing the Japanese Garden, by Christian Tschumi, photographs by Markuz Wernli Saito. Stone Bridge Press, 128 pp., $18.95 (paper). A revival of interest in the dry landscape garden of Japan both domestically and internationally took place during the early Showa Era (1926-1989),...
Japan Times
JAPAN / CABINET INTERVIEW
Nov 4, 2005

Keep road taxes for road projects, Kitagawa says

Reappointed transport minister Kazuo Kitagawa says motorists will be disgruntled if tax revenue currently earmarked for road construction is shifted to the general budget.
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
Nov 1, 2005

Sumo, golf and old maps

Sumo memorabilia Mark in Tokyo would like to purchase old sumo "tegata" (wrestlers' handprints) and "banzuke" ranking sheets. "Any ideas?" he asks.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / BEST BAR NONE
Oct 28, 2005

The velvety allure of Aoyama

Aoyama is full of small, high-end hideaways where service is delivered in studied silence and conversations are reduced to a whisper.

Longform

Construction takes place on the Takanawa Gateway Convention Center in Tokyo, slated to open in 2025.
A boom for business tourism in Japan?