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Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Nov 30, 2007

'Beowulf'

'Beowulf" is the epic poem dating from the 8th or 9th century that every high-school English Literature student has learned to dread. With good reason too — try getting your head 'round lines like "I ween with good he will well requite offspring of ours, when all he minds that for him we did in his...
BASEBALL / SPORTS SCOPE
Nov 28, 2007

Ueda may excel on LPGA Tour where Miyazato has not

Not too long ago the general consensus was that Ai Miyazato would become Japan's first breakthrough star on an American golf tour. She may yet become a superstar, but there's another Japanese player that may get there first.
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
Nov 27, 2007

Re-entry for PRs; rent-a-gran

New 'Yokoso' measures Robert inquires about the changes that started Nov. 20.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 27, 2007

Ghosts of possibilities haunt Annapolis

America's return to the Israeli-Palestinian diplomatic front is a welcome development — one surely that EU diplomacy has sought to bring about. U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's efforts to push the peace process forward during her last years in office seem genuine. If they succeed, Rice and...
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 21, 2007

Myth of U.S.-EU economic decoupling

PALO ALTO, Calif. — The fact that America's economy is slowing is bad news for Europeans, regardless of claims that Europe's economy has successfully decoupled itself from the United States. Decoupling is an idea that is based on bad economics — and on some Europeans' reluctance to accept the fact...
Japan Times
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Nov 13, 2007

Dialect-rife Japan can be tongue-twisting

The islands of Japan have many dialects, and students of the language often realize these variations are not taught in classrooms.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Nov 13, 2007

'Gaijin card' checks spread as police deputize the nation

In the good old days, very few Japanese knew about Alien Registration Cards — you know, those wallet-size documents all non-Japanese residents must carry 24/7 or face arrest and incarceration.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Nov 11, 2007

Boy band's effort to recharge battery in solar debate falls flat

In the fall of 2003, the boy band TOKIO embarked from Tokyo on a journey to cover the entire coastline of Japan in a 1997 Daihatsu Hijet minivan that they had refit themselves with a solar roof-panel and a battery-powered engine. Driving in shifts of two, the five members have, as of the most recent...
EDITORIALS
Nov 10, 2007

Hooked on hired help

Blackwater USA, a private security company, is undergoing unprecedented scrutiny following the shooting deaths of 17 Iraqis earlier this year. The investigation has revealed that this was only the most recent in a string of incidents that demonstrates horrific indifference to the violence perpetrated...
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Nov 6, 2007

Citigroup off to strong start on return to TSE

Shares of Citigroup Inc. rose by as much as ¥250, to ¥4,580, on its first day of trading on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, even as the U.S. financial giant was rocked by the resignation of Chief Executive Officer Charles Prince over widening losses stemming from housing loan debts.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 6, 2007

Sympathy for Bhutto surpasses support

PRAGUE — As the initial shock of the terrorist attacks last month against Pakistani opposition leader Benazir Bhutto fade, it is becoming clear that they were a political boon for her, triggering a wave of public sympathy that extends well beyond her local Sindh stronghold.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Nov 4, 2007

Rural living of an old man who does as he pleases

Late Poems Of Lu You, The Old Man Who Does As He Pleases: New Translations by Burton Watson. Burlington, Ontario: Ahadada Books, 2007, 74 pp., $12, ¥2,000 (paper) Lu You (Yu) (1125-1210), often referred to by his literary name of Lu Fangweng ("The Old Man Who Does as He Pleases"), is one of China's...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Nov 1, 2007

Skin goes only so deep

Nothing has changed since Aristotle noted a couple of thousand years ago that "it is not possible without considerable disgust to look upon the blood, flesh and similar parts of which the human body is constructed." Much here in "Skin of/in Contemporary Art," at the National Museum of Art, Osaka, until...
Japan Times
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Oct 26, 2007

Japanese comic storytelling in English

Rakugo story-teller Katsura Kaishi will give an English-language performance on Nov. 7 in Shimokitazawa, Tokyo. Originating in the Edo Period (1603-1868), this traditional form of Japanese entertainment sees a lone rakugo-ka (story-teller) sitting on a stage in kimono relating a long and complicated...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Oct 25, 2007

'Afro Samurai': anime international

On paper, the making of "Afro Samurai" reads like a recipe for an identity crisis. An animation about an African-American swordsman in a futuristic feudal Japan, it sprang from the mind of a Tokyo illustrator and was brought to fruition in English by a Japanese-U.S. production team, A-list Hollywood...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Oct 25, 2007

A feel for beauty

English potter-artist-writer Bernard Leach (1887-1979) was lucky to have lived in Japan — during his early childhood and on later occasions — when, even though change was coming rapidly, many centuries-old traditions continued unaltered.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 21, 2007

EU as Mideast player, not just a payer

PRAGUE — The European Union's policy in the Middle East is the litmus test of its common foreign and security policy. Many Europeans share this belief, but as the EU considers entering the fray of Middle East peace talks, it must respond to former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's jibe that in...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Oct 21, 2007

TV in cahoots with the shamed Kameda boxing clan

In the fuss over the Oct. 11 WBC flyweight title match between 33-year-old world champion Daisuke Naito and 18-year-old contender Daiki Kameda, the media has been the object of criticism as much as Kameda, who has since been punished with a one-year suspension by the Japan Boxing Commission for rules...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Oct 19, 2007

'Stardust'

"People who know" say that fantasy is the next big thing in Hollywood. "People who know" obviously haven't seen "Stardust" yet.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Oct 19, 2007

'Scoop'

"Scoop" is not exactly Woody Allen back in top-notch comedy form, but there's a giddy, debonair humor to it that makes you think he was really happy when making this film. And that is probably due to the fact that he was working with Scarlett Johansson for the second time in a row after the dark, stylish...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Oct 18, 2007

A film director in the theater

Daisuke Tengan is an acclaimed filmmaker, but search for him on the Internet and the first thing you'll discover is that he's the son of director Shohei Imamura, who won the Palme d' Or at the Cannes Film Festival for "Narayamabushiko" in 1983 and "Unagi" in 1997.
SUMO / SUMO SCRIBBLINGS
Oct 18, 2007

Who killed Takashi Saito?

That any life should be lost during sport is tragic, and sumo is no exception.
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball / 2007 NPB PLAYOFFS
Oct 16, 2007

Marines level series

SAPPORO — The Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters posed for their Pacific League Championship picture after Game 2, but all the in-game glamour shots belonged to Tomoya Satozaki.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Oct 14, 2007

Nagai Kafu's geisha: expurgated, revised, then finally fully exposed

Rivalry: A Geisha's Tale, translated by Stephen Snyder. New York: Columbia University Press, 2007, 166 pp., $24.95 (cloth) Komayo, widowed young, resumes her life as a geisha, taking up with a former patron who wants to redeem her. She, however, falls in love with a young actor specializing in female...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Oct 11, 2007

Videotaping interrogations worth a look?

When the Toyama Prefectural Police announced in January they had found the real culprit in two rape cases in 2002 — for which 40-year-old Hiroshi Yanagihara had already been convicted and served time — it was no surprise to legal experts.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Oct 11, 2007

Little friends for the other world

Tomb artifacts have a powerful effect over their viewers, reminding us of the grandeur of the past. The design of tombs and funeral vaults on a monumental scale and with luxurious details stand as symbols of a desire for immortality.
Japan Times
Reference / Special Presentations / WITNESS TO WAR
Oct 10, 2007

Hellcat bent for leather — a navy flyboy's tale

From 26,000 feet he punched through a hole in the overcast over Tokyo early on a freezing Feb. 12, 1945, rolled into a roaring 60-degree dive and fired his rockets at a Mitsubishi engine plant.
Japan Times
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Oct 9, 2007

ODA shrinking but still key tool

Official development assistance is an important diplomatic tool for Japan, which relies heavily on other countries for resources, food and many other economic necessities.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Oct 6, 2007

Jumping mullets, it's the season for fire prevention!

Ahh, autumn on Shiraishi Island when I wake up to quacking ducks paddling around in the port in front of my house waiting for me to open the Duck Cafe.

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