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EDITORIALS
Jan 30, 2007

Will a murder help Turkey?

The assassination of Turkish journalist Hrant Dink has forced Turks to face their past. Mr. Dink was killed because he had called the mass killings of Armenians in the early 20th century a genocide. While his rhetoric angered many Turks, his death appears to have prompted many more of them to think twice...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Jan 30, 2007

Welcome to Misery Park

Shinjuku's Kabukicho is among the world's largest adult entertainment districts, with thousands of bars and sex clubs providing a cornucopia of nighttime entertainment options.
EDITORIALS
Jan 29, 2007

Inconveniences of truth

This January, whether golfing in the snow country of Niigata, butterfly-watching in the Alps or skating over the ice in Texas, the weather is obviously stranger than ever before. The observation of the senses, or at least the quick read of a few news articles, should be enough evidence of global warming...
Reader Mail
Jan 28, 2007

Humane alternative to abortion

Regarding the Jan. 14 article "The birds, bees and the Japanese" (Mark Schreiber's commentary on a survey published in the Jan. 21 edition of Yomiuri Weekly): I got the impression that many Japanese people feel that there are only two solutions to an unwanted pregnancy -- abortion or raising a child....
Reader Mail
Jan 28, 2007

What passes for attractiveness

Recent moves by Spain to rein in eating disorders in the high-fashion industry by sanctioning a healthy body mass index and thereby curbing excessive skinniness among supermodels have spread to Italy and show signs of spreading to other countries as well. This is a good thing and only partly...
CULTURE / Books
Jan 28, 2007

From the truth comes some strange fiction

Homunculus by Hugh Paxton. Macmillan New Writing, 2005, 256 pp., £12.99 (paper). The grotesquely fanged monster armed with a spear and an assault rifle that comes hurtling out of a rising sun on the cover of "Homunculus" should be fair warning to readers that something a tad disturbing is to be found...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jan 27, 2007

SpongeBob soaks up young fans in Japan

Square and loud, SpongeBob wasn't supposed to have much chance for success in Japan, a nation famous for its love of more cuddly characters like Hello Kitty and Pikachu.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / PERSONALITY PROFILE
Jan 27, 2007

Fujie Kagami

Fujie Kagami has devoted her life to studying and teaching the koto. She has been honored with a Cultural Award from Aichi Prefecture.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jan 26, 2007

The ace auteur and the new De Niro

"The Departed" marks the third collaboration between Hollywood A-list actor Leonardo DiCaprio and America's reigning auteur, director Martin Scorsese.
CULTURE / Music
Jan 26, 2007

The Good, The Bad and The Queen "The Good, The Bad and The Queen"

Just shy of 40, Blur/Gorillaz vocalist Damon Albarn has ticked most of the boxes of middle-age rock star cliches: He's done film scores ("Ravenous"), got "down" with ethnic music (2002's "Mali Music") and he's flirted with politics (he's a prominent antiwar activist). The Good, The Bad and The Queen...
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Jan 26, 2007

Jewel of the north country

At its northern tip, Japan's main island of Honshu sprouts what looks like a massive pair of pincers that reach up into the Tsugaru Strait toward Hokkaido. The point at the southern end of Hokkaido that the twin peninsulas seem to be homing in on is the port of Hakodate.
Reader Mail
Jan 24, 2007

Plunder of Philippines continues

Japan has one of the strongest economies in the world. Obviously Japan can afford to build nursing colleges and train nurses. But it has chosen to drastically cut spending on health and other social services and instead spend the money on the military. And it has decided to import nurses from the...
Reader Mail
Jan 24, 2007

'Pirate' in support of whales

I am again disappointed that an Australian government minister, Ian Campbell, would take the view that the Sea Shepherd is using "foolhardy" tactics to try to save whales in the Southern Ocean. Violence in the Southern Ocean is instigated by Japanese whalers. Can someone please explain to me why these...
Reader Mail
Jan 24, 2007

Choice: all-out war or dialogue

It appears now that U.S. President George W. Bush has finally come to grips with his policy failures, but instead of withdrawing from Iraq, he is looking to expand the regional conflict, as his recent speech mentioning Syria and Iran clearly indicates. If such an escalation were to ensue, it would...
BASKETBALL / NBA / NBA REPORT
Jan 24, 2007

World champs star Gasol on trade block

NEW YORK -- Earlier this season I revealed Boston had offered Memphis its choice of any combination of Celtics for Pau Gasol.
COMMENTARY
Jan 23, 2007

U.S. presence vs. the public will

A tense atmosphere prevails in Yokosuka, Kanagawa Prefecture, during its centennial this year due to the planned deployment of a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier at U.S. Yokosuka Naval Base.

Longform

Passengers that were on a morning train attacked by members of the Aum Shinrikyo group wait for medical assistance outside Kasumigaseki Station on March 20,1995.
The day a religious cult brought terror to Tokyo