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COMMENTARY
Oct 8, 2008

The truth comes too late

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert was well aware that he resembled the generals who join a peace movement as soon as they retire. "I have not come here to justify my actions over the past 35 years," he said. "For a large portion of that period, I was unwilling to look reality in the eye."
Japan Times
MORE SPORTS / ICE TIME
Oct 8, 2008

Murakami case shows JSF short on skater support

"Those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it.''
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER
Oct 8, 2008

Falling-letter weevil

Japanese name: Otoshibumi
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Oct 5, 2008

So you think U.S. democracy's dying? Well, you're probably right

The national conventions of the U.S. Democratic and Republican parties are now but fast-fading memories. The only thing that I really wanted to know once they were over was: Who has the balloon concession for these events, because there's obviously a lot of easy money to be made from hot air.
SOCCER / PREMIER REPORT
Oct 4, 2008

Loss to Hull could push Ramos closer to the door

LONDON — At the start of the season Sunday's Premier League fixture between Tottenham and Hull had the look of a game between one team riding comfortably high with the other in the relegation zone.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 29, 2008

Blank check for Paulson?

NEW YORK — U.S. Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson's $700 billion rescue package ran into difficulty on Capitol Hill over the weekend. Rightly so: It is ill-conceived. Congress would be abdicating its responsibility if it gave the Treasury secretary a blank check.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle
Sep 28, 2008

A step-by-step guide to owning a home in Japan

So you are ready to be king of your own castle in Japan. Adios to the days when you, a mere rent-paying tenant of a grotty apartment, worried about landlords taking you to the cleaners for spilling tea on the carpet or making minuscule holes in the walls to pin up framed pics.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Sep 26, 2008

'Tokyo Sonata'

Kiyoshi Kurosawa has long been filed under "horror director," though his take on the genre is anything but standard. The villain of "Cure," his deeply creepy 1997 breakout film, is not a maniac with a sharp-edged weapon but a blank-faced drifter who hypnotizes his victims into killing themselves.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Sep 25, 2008

Sri Lanka: isle of earthy delights

Although Sri Lanka has been long-renowned for its natural beauty, the art of the island seems to have been far less celebrated — or even studied — than that of other South Asian countries that share Theravada Buddhist culture, such as Burma or Cambodia. Though Sri Lanka was obviously greatly influenced...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WORDS TO LIVE BY
Sep 23, 2008

Vivienne Sato

Vivienne Sato is a unique cultural concierge in Tokyo, full of the lowdown on both high art and mass culture. Vivi knows what and who's happening in the city 24/365, and if she's present, the party is on till the wee-wee hours. Always dressed to the nines — and often to the nine hundreds — with her...
JAPAN
Sep 22, 2008

Ozawa, DPJ have to prove they can govern

Now that Ichiro Ozawa has officially been handed a third term as president of the Democratic Party of Japan, the DPJ is gearing up for the upcoming general election in hopes of taking control of the government under Ozawa's leadership.
CULTURE / Books
Sep 21, 2008

From Murakami's memoir to your own diary

WHAT I TALK ABOUT WHEN I TALK ABOUT RUNNING by Haruki Murakami, translated by Philip Gabriel, London: Harvill Secker, 2008, 192 pp., £9.99 (cloth) MURAKAMI DIARY by Haruki Murakami, London: Vintage, 2008, 176 pp., £9.99 (paper)
BUSINESS
Sep 17, 2008

Collapse echoes through Japan

Monday's bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc., the fourth-biggest financial institution in the United States, sent shock waves through the global financial industry, and Japan was no exception.
EDITORIALS
Sep 14, 2008

Worrisome NSG agreement

India has won a significant victory in its efforts to claim an exception to rules designed to thwart the proliferation of nuclear weapons. Delhi did not accomplish this on its own: It got considerable help from Washington, which seeks to build a new relationship with the world's largest democracy.
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital / JAPAN TIMES BLOGROLL
Sep 10, 2008

NihonHacks.com

Japan is not the cheapest place to live, and it can be frustratingly confusing, even for long-timers. Fortunately, there is NihonHacks.com, the blog devoted to tips for stretching your yen and saving time, courtesy of American-born, Japan-based blogger Thomas Hjelm (with some input from his wife and...
COMMENTARY
Sep 8, 2008

Finding accord in the fight

On July 7, when leaders of the Group of Eight industrialized nations gathered at Toyako Lake, Hokkaido, for their annual summit, I happened to be in Istanbul for the opening session of the multinational Global Conference on Global Warming.
Reader Mail
Sep 7, 2008

'Biomimicry' has a history

I have read the Aug. 24 article by Winifred Bird, "Natural by design" -- about "biomimicry" -- with great interest, but was somewhat surprised that the author seems to believe this field of research is relatively new. Not a single reference is made to its more traditional name: bionics (bionik, bionique)....
Japan Times
JAPAN / LETTERS FROM KOBE
Sep 5, 2008

Letter trove details Occupation life

More than 1,000 pages of handwritten letters from 1947 to 1948 by an American woman who witnessed and described in detail the Allied Occupation of Japan have been discovered in Nebraska and recently obtained by The Japan Times.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / GRAND OLD HOTELS
Sep 5, 2008

The Parnassus of Surugadai

Ochanomizu, the Tokyo neighborhood stretching from Yushima, Bunkyo Ward, to Kanda, Chiyoda Ward, gives good vibes. Jazz, rock and reggae spill from music stores and guitar shops lining Meiji-dori as it drops south toward Yasukuni-dori. Mid-slope is Meiji University's Liberty Tower, where one drizzly...
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / IN BLOOM
Sep 3, 2008

Blackberry

He roves, half-indolent and self-employed, To rob the little birds, Of hips and pendant haws, And sloes, dim-covered as with dewy veils And rambling bramble-berries, pulpy and sweet,Arching their prickly trails Half o'er the narrow lane.
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
Aug 29, 2008

Giants' Uehara returns to rotation with a win

Koji Uehara returned to the Yomiuri Giants' starting rotation against the Yokohama BayStars on Thursday night.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Aug 28, 2008

Indecisive moments

Henri Cartier-Bresson's legacy of the "decisive moment" had a profound impact on photography. As a cofounder of the photographic cooperative Magnum Photos in 1947, his philosophy influenced a whole generation of photojournalists, and, for decades, Magnum photographers were instrumental in constructing...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Aug 28, 2008

Contemplative in Gunma

The Hara Museum ARC in Shibukawa, Gunma Prefecture, has just opened a revolutionary new space designed by world-renowned architect Arata Isozaki that interweaves motifs of Japanese traditional architecture and art with modern ones. Called the Kankai Pavilion, the exciting new exhibition space is being...
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle
Aug 26, 2008

Tattoos come out of hiding

'There are tattoos that you can show and ones that you should hide," says Shura, an Osaka tattoo artist. "Traditional tattoos are only OK to show at festivals, certain public baths and during fights.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Aug 22, 2008

Seasoned J-pop duo ELT keep it positive

"When I'm walking beside her, people tell me I'm a lucky guy," sang John Lennon on the 1964 Beatles track "Every Little Thing." Sitting comfortably next to iconic lead singer Kaori Mochida of the band of the same name, guitarist Ichiro Ito has had 12 years to get used to such a feeling. However, he admits...
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER
Aug 13, 2008

Collared Scops Owl

Japanese name: Ookonohazuku
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Aug 12, 2008

Custody battles: an unfair fight

"Sport at its best obliterates divisions between peoples, such as ostentatious flag-waving and exaggerated national sentiment." New York Times senior writer Howard W. French — who has covered China for the past five years, was Tokyo bureau chief from 1999 to 2003, and has lived overseas for all but...
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / ON THE ROAD
Aug 10, 2008

Fiat's 'Bambina': a 'small car with a big heart'

Japan makes plenty of fun little cars, but it is far from having a monopoly on the aesthetic.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Aug 8, 2008

'It's a Free World'

In the world of U.K. filmmaker Ken Loach ("Raining Stones," "Sweet Sixteen," "The Wind That Shakes the Barley") the working class have dignity; they speak and act with principle, even when these happen to be misguided. They may be bogged down by poverty, lack of schooling, recessions and unemployment,...

Longform

An ongoing shortage of rice has resulted in rising prices for Japan's main food staple.
Why Japan is running out of rice — and farmers to grow it