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Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / NATURE TRAVEL
Jul 9, 2006

Wild times in the Lost World

The scene looks straight out of Jurassic Park. Huge vehicles thrash through the churned earth burdened with winches and cranes, steel crates and giraffes. Tough guys in uniforms bellow instructions or saunter about holding guns, netting, ropes to restrain buffalo, and all sorts of other neat "boys' toys"...
SOCCER / World cup
Jul 6, 2006

Italy powers through adversity on way to final

DORTMUND, Germany -- Against all odds Italy has made it to the World Cup final.
JAPAN
Jul 4, 2006

Albatross relocation from eruption-prone Torishima planned

Torishima islet in the Izu Island chain has traditionally been a breeding ground for the short-tailed albatross, an endangered species.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
Jun 28, 2006

Marine management is all at sea

Our oceans and seas are in deep trouble, and if the Japanese government is to be believed, part of the blame rests with the whales.
SOCCER / World cup
Jun 27, 2006

Becks bends Ecuadorians

STUTTGART, Germany -- England played poorly once again and won, but Sven Goran Eriksson's men are unlikely to get away with anymore woeful performances such as this one if they are to reach the World Cup final.
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
Jun 27, 2006

On dual citizenship, pensions

Dual citizenship Reader S. doesn't recall ever reading anything in the Lifelines column on dual citizenship.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / FUZZY LOGIC
Jun 23, 2006

Beasts of burden

Seems like a sennin is in town. This mythical Japanese being has supernatural powers -- he can fly, ride clouds and make the winds blow. And he's certainly whipping up a storm in Kyoto. A gale is battering the city and there's something of a musical hurricane blowing in the small rock bar Uh-La-La in...
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 22, 2006

Time to reconsider the ethics of eating

PRINCETON, New Jersey -- Global meat consumption is predicted to double by 2020. Yet in Europe and North America, there is growing concern about the ethics of the way meat and eggs are produced. The consumption of veal has fallen sharply since it became widely known that to produce "white" -- actually...
SOCCER / World cup
Jun 20, 2006

High temperatures burning Zico up

NUREMBERG, Germany -- Japan coach Zico got a little hot under the collar after the Boys in Blue's game against Croatia but apparently not as hot as his players did during the game.
SPORTS / MULLY'S MISSIVES
Jun 20, 2006

English ready to use dreaded own goal if needed

NUREMBERG, Germany -- Here's a tip: Bet on the first goal in the England vs. Sweden match to be an own goal from an English player.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER
Jun 14, 2006

Cattle egret

* Japanese name: Amasagi * Scientific name: Bubulcus ibis * Description: Cattle egrets are in the heron family, but they are shorter and have stouter necks than their relatives. They have a "hunched" posture, even when they stand up straight. They are medium-sized birds, 46-56 cm long, with a wingspan...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WORDS TO LIVE BY
Jun 13, 2006

Suzue Akashi

Suzue Akashi, 74, is a folk musician who plays traditional Japanese songs on shamisen with taiko drum accompaniment. Her insatiable desire to learn took her from a Tokyo dairy to the education center at Haneda Air Force Base, to university in Tennessee and work in Texas during the 1950s. Back in Japan,...
Japan Times
LIFE
Jun 11, 2006

Preparing for 'people's courts'

For more than 60 years since its last form of a jury system was suspended, Japan's courts have been the preserve of a largely unseen elite. Now, though, regular citizens are set to take part again too, and 'mock trials' like those popular in America may play a key role in preparing for this momentous...
SOCCER / World cup
Jun 8, 2006

Eyes on Germany as show time nears for soccer's greatest

BONN -- Finally, the finals.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 6, 2006

Thaksin best underscores fatal flaws of his kind of rule

HONG KONG -- Thailand's "democracy" is in limbo. Judges of the country's three top courts have decided that April's elections were unconstitutional, and new ones must be held. The Election Commission set October for new elections, but the judges said the commission has no power to set the date and its...
CULTURE / Books
Jun 4, 2006

Pensive view of a city's declining identity

KYOTO: A Cultural and Literary History, by John Dougill. Signal Books, 2006, 242 pp., 2,500 yen (paper). "Everyone knew," the wartime narrator of Hisako Matsubara's Kyoto novel "Cranes at Dusk" relates, "there was not a single Japanese city of over a million people that hadn't already been bombed." But...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jun 2, 2006

Instinctive creation

Most people know Michael Nyman for "The Piano" soundtrack, but there's a great deal more to the British minimalist composer than his lush, romantic score for the 1992 Jane Campion film.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
May 25, 2006

Writing a challenge in clay for his proteges

When asked "What kind of ware do you make?," ceramic artist Kimpei Nakamura's tongue-in-cheek response is "Tokyo yaki (Tokyo Ware)." It's a label of his own invention that pokes fun at the traditional system of classifying ceramics by their ties to ancient kiln sites that existed long before the city...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
May 20, 2006

It's a dog's life and I wan it!

The last time I went home to the U.S., my parents told me sternly over the telephone: "This time when you come home, bury your dog. He's been on that shelf in the garage for years now." And they were right. My dog, Dammit, had died while I was in Japan, and the few times I went home, I was either too...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
May 18, 2006

Tamasaburo Bando and Kodo reach for primitive emotions

Kabuki and taiko drumming seem worlds apart: kabuki is a quintessentially urban art form based on nuance and restraint; taiko drumming, from the festival world of matsuri and shrine dances, thrives on athleticism and exuberance. But recently they have been brought together by an unusual collaboration...
COMMENTARY / World
May 11, 2006

While Hamas is snubbed, kids starve

NEW YORK -- The decision by the United States, the European Union and Canada to cut financial assistance to Hamas, the winner of the recent Palestinian elections, not only disrespects the results of a clean and democratic electoral process; more ominously, it will further harm Palestinian children, already...
JAPAN
May 8, 2006

Mahjong banking on an infusion of new blood

shows banker Liam Hearns which tile to discard during a mahjong lesson in Shinjuku Ward, Tokyo.
COMMENTARY / World
May 8, 2006

Tibetans' next hope after Dalai Lama

MADRAS, India -- Railway lines fulfill dreams -- at least in modern times. But the one about to link central Tibet with China threatens to dash hopes.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
May 5, 2006

The man in gray

Fatih Akin, at 33, made several good films before "Head On," but it was this more intense concoction that put him on the map, winning the top prize at 2004's Berlin Film Festival.
SUMO
May 3, 2006

Expectations rise as Natsu nears

With a popular new ozeki in the shape of Mongolian Hakuho to whet appetites and a couple of faithful old Japanese types who were toughening the soles of their feet while he was still a toddler, we have a rather interesting mix of past and present, Japanese and foreign at the rank for the May 7th to 21st...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
May 2, 2006

How to kill a bill

On Oct. 12, 2005, the Tottori Prefectural Assembly approved Japan's first human rights ordinance, a local law forbidding and punishing racial discrimination.
LIFE / Language
May 2, 2006

Manga fans take their Japanese to another level

Manga are the engine of Japan's new multibillion dollar export success, its pop-culture sofuto sangyo -- software industry -- which includes anime, video games, and music. Not surprisingly, perhaps, more and more foreigners are also using manga to learn Japanese.

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