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COMMENTARY
Jul 18, 2008

Cliches won't rescue Earth

LONDON — The recent Group of Eight summit in Hokkaido was one of the least memorable summit meetings. Every G8 spews out cliches; the Hokkaido meeting was no exception. Leaders at the meeting were generally a mediocre lot.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jul 18, 2008

The photographer who snaps it as it is

In his teens, photographer Edward Burtynsky worked in the factory of General Motors in his native Ontario. The experience gave him a taste for "seeing large things in a big perspective," as he describes it. He built his career on stark, amazingly beautiful images of the effects of industry on the environment...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Jul 18, 2008

Unagi Akimoto: Tradition beats the summer heat

Squeezed in between towering modern neighbors, Akimoto's traditional low-rise architecture is so self-effacing you barely notice it. From the tiled eaves to the wood-slatted second-floor windows and the sliding door set back from the street, all is inscrutable.
Reader Mail
Jul 17, 2008

Leadoff street view seems lame

Regarding Debito Arudou's July 8 Zeit Gist article, "Beware the foreigner as guinea pig": I couldn't help but notice the curious order in which opinions about the article were placed in Views From the Street (at the bottom of the page). The first opinion not only is a biased and bigoted viewpoint of...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jul 17, 2008

Aoi Miyazaki: from TV princess to rescuer of trafficked children

EDITORIALS
Jul 17, 2008

Don't let islets issue damage ties

The government's decision to mention the Takeshima islets, in the Sea of Japan, in a teaching manual has cast a pall over ties between Japan and South Korea, both of which claim sovereignty over the islets. South Korean reactions are strong and could touch off strong nationalistic sentiment in Japan....
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jul 16, 2008

Filipinos visit lawmakers in quest for citizenship

Sixteen Filipinos whose fathers or husbands were Japanese men who had moved to the Philippines before and during the war asked lawmakers Tuesday in Tokyo for help obtaining Japanese citizenship.
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital / IGADGET
Jul 16, 2008

Glasses make movies a personal experience

Eyes front: Video may have killed the radio star, as the song says, but television has only bruised the movie screen, despite 70 years of trying to offer an experience to rival the cinema experience. Now cell phones and other mobile devices are competing with television.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / WILD WATCH
Jul 16, 2008

Lives and a death

CHUKOTKA, Russia — This month, instead of writing this column as usual at my desk in Hokkaido, I am writing from a desk on board the Clipper Odyssey as we cross the Gulf of Anadyr in Russia's far northeastern Chukotka region. Our voyage began at Otaru, Hokkaido, and we have taken in southern Sakhalin,...
MORE SPORTS
Jul 15, 2008

Green Bay fans hold rally to support Favre

Brett Favre's fans came to his defense Sunday, rallying outside Lambeau Field to pressure the Green Bay Packers to reinstate him as the starting quarterback.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jul 15, 2008

Japanese-type game show a hit in U.S.

A new Japanese export is luring U.S. consumers: television game shows that inflict pain, suffering and humiliation for a laugh.
EDITORIALS
Jul 13, 2008

Real cost of bottled water

Since the Group of Eight talks produced some agreement on the environment, Japanese can at least take time to reconsider their lifestyles. Recently, one of the hottest environmental issues abroad is bottled water. Not only does bottled water exact a heavy toll on the planet in energy and materials, it...
Reader Mail
Jul 13, 2008

LPG conversions cost too much

I would like to think I am an environmentalist. Japan is one of the leading countries in recycling and reducing emissions. I am proud to live here.
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Jul 13, 2008

Self-praise abounds in the pages of wheeler-dealers' own obituaries

Japanese politicians are known for their perseverance and ingenuity, and the Diet may well be the last place in the country still offering lifetime employment.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Jul 13, 2008

When it's not quite convenient to protect the planet

"They work all day but still can't pay the price of gasoline and meat / Alas! Their lives are incomplete — Warren Zevon.
Reader Mail
Jul 13, 2008

Treated better than the natives

I don't get it. Do I live in a different part of the galaxy from professional victims like Debito Arudou and others who whine about alleged discrimination in Japan? Certainly, Japanese suffer from narrow perspectives, stereotypes and ethnocentrism -- like people the world over, but no worse.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Jul 13, 2008

Beauty of the beasts: mythological and real

A BRUSH WITH ANIMALS: Japanese Paintings 1700-1950, by Robert Schaap, with essays by Willem van Gulik, Henk Herwig, Arendie Herwig-Kempers, Daniel McKee and Andrew Thompson. Leiden: Society of Japanese Arts (distributed by Hotei/Brill), 2007, 206 pp. with 275 color illustrations, $117 (cloth), $81 (paper) This...
EDITORIALS
Jul 13, 2008

The price of ramen

When the price of a bowl of ramen goes up in Japan, people take notice. Rising costs for the wheat that makes the noodles, and the energy that keeps the soup bubbling, have started to appear at the register. When even this most Japanese of meals comes under pressure from larger economic forces, the world...

Longform

Eme-Ima Kitchen is one of over 10,000 kodomo shokudō in Japan. A term first used in 2012 to describe makeshift eateries offering free or cheap meals to disadvantaged kids, it now refers to a diverse range of individuals, groups and organizations working to provide not only food but a sense of belonging to both children and adults.
Japan’s ‘children’s cafeterias’ are booming — but is that a good thing?