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Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Nov 30, 2007

In touch with his inner Tommy Lee

"It wasn't so much the style of music as the attitude toward performing and doing shows. That's what we wanted to bring back from America to Japan," says Yasuaki Sakai, reminiscing about his immersion in America's Pacific Northwest music scene that began nearly a decade ago as the singer/guitarist of...
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...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Nov 30, 2007

'Hannari — Geisha Modern'

Over the years, many people have asked me why I bother to review Japanese films, when so few non-Japanese-speaking foreigners can fully appreciate them.
EDITORIALS
Nov 30, 2007

No defense of corruption

The arrest of former Vice Defense Minister Takemasa Moriya on suspicion of bribery has greatly damaged people's trust in the Defense Ministry and the Self-Defense Forces, as Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda said. The government needs to tighten discipline among bureaucrats. It also needs to overhaul the ministry's...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / NIHONSHU
Nov 30, 2007

Winter's the season for sake nouveau

Sake breweries are mostly dead quiet over the summer, and are just now getting into full swing as the chilly weather makes for more brewing-friendly conditions.
CULTURE / Music
Nov 30, 2007

The Hot 8 Brass Band "Rock with the Hot 8"

Why would anybody choose to play the tuba? It's the heaviest and most expensive piece of brass, it belches notes that could make buildings fall down, and the brightest career hope is to play the rom-pa-pom-pom of fat people walking in cartoons. Despite those failings, The Hot 8 Brass Band was put together...
EDITORIALS
Nov 30, 2007

Next step toward devolution

In its interim report, a government panel for devolution spells out specific fields in which the central government should transfer powers to local governments and calls for strengthening local financial bases. The report is a precursor of the panel's full recommendations to be submitted to the government...
JAPAN
Nov 29, 2007

China warship on historic visit

A warship from China docked Wednesday at Tokyo's Harumi Pier, making the first port call in Japan by a Chinese naval vessel from the communist country — a highly symbolic display of improving ties between the two Asian giants.
EDITORIALS
Nov 29, 2007

Science fact, not fiction

In its fourth and final report, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), winner (with Mr. Al Gore) of this year's Nobel Peace Prize, concluded that global warming is "unequivocal" and already threatens hundreds of millions of lives and as much as two-thirds of the species on the planet....
Reader Mail
Nov 29, 2007

Japan must lead on security

In his Nov. 25 letter letter, "Foreigners overrate themselves," Peter Stevenson makes some interesting points that I tend to agree with. Still, one needs to ask who is really behind the hornet's nest of cameras, fingerprinting, photographing, delays at airports, etc. worldwide. Beyond a doubt, it is...
Reader Mail
Nov 29, 2007

Who watches the watchers?

Regarding the Nov. 20 article "Security cameras: Ensuring safety or invading privacy?": Here we go again with "I have nothing to hide, so why should I not give up some privacy for security." This way of naive thinking is worrisome and wrong. The issue is not "security versus privacy" but rather "liberty...
BASKETBALL / NBA / NBA REPORT
Nov 28, 2007

Long before Jordan, there was the Big O

NEW YORK — The last time I spoke to Wilt Chamberlain, 13 months before he died, Oct. 12, 1999, out of nowhere he appealed, "Don't ever let people forget how good we were."
JAPAN
Nov 28, 2007

Panel passes bill to end Iraq mission

In another symbolic move reflecting the divided Diet, a House of Councilors panel on foreign affairs passed a bill Tuesday to end the Air Self-Defense Force's airlift mission supporting the reconstruction of Iraq.
COMMENTARY
Nov 28, 2007

Labor wins by a Rudd-slide

WATERLOO, Ontario — Poor John Howard. Reckless on climate change, clueless in Iraq, fickle on civil liberties, mean to migrants and minorities, ruthless toward the workers — and now jobless. He also was set to lose the Parliament seat he has represented since 1974, the first sitting prime minister...
Reader Mail
Nov 27, 2007

Payback on language studies

Regarding the Nov. 22 article "Japanese workers at U.S. bases strike": As a former U.S. Air Force member assigned to Yokota Air Force Base, I found the housing and base operations restaurant staff very helpful in making the transition from the United States to Japan. I believe the special allowances...
Reader Mail
Nov 27, 2007

Don't stop with pro-whale protests

I share everyone's sadness over the needless killing of whales but feel that, for many, the concern is rather selective. I wonder how many of the people complaining are meat-eaters. The production of beef is one of the most devastating activities for the Earth's environment -- far more so than the culling...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Nov 27, 2007

Prints rejected, scribe accepted

T he center of the little monitor — I'd guess about 20 cm from the looks of it — flashed the word "Yokoso" (welcome). Its colored border was festooned with a collage of images near and dear to visiting tourists' hearts: "torii" gates, the shinkansen, Zen gardens, Mount Fuji . . .
EDITORIALS
Nov 27, 2007

Spending without accountability

A report submitted by the Board of Audit to Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda shows that government organizations and state-financed corporations still waste public money. The board uncovered 451 cases of inappropriate or illegal accounting amounting to ¥31 billion in fiscal 2006. Some cases border on crimes....
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Nov 27, 2007

Japan zeroes in on homegrown jetliner

On Sept. 30, 2006, Japan retired the last of its only domestically produced airliner, the YS-11.
EDITORIALS
Nov 26, 2007

GDP raises warning flags

The nation's gross domestic product in the July-September period grew an annualized 2.6 percent from the previous quarter — more than economists expected. This was a rebound from the 1.6 percent contraction in the previous quarter.
EDITORIALS
Nov 26, 2007

Breakthrough in stem-cell research

Scientists from Kyoto University and the University of Wisconsin have announced that they have succeeded in producing equivalents to embryonic stem cells by reprogramming human skin cells. The new findings represent a breakthrough in regenerative medicine research. Behaving like embryonic stem cells,...
Reader Mail
Nov 25, 2007

Just more work for immigration

In his Nov. 20 letter, "Common protection and control," Hideo Kaito certainly knows how to stir up a hornet's nest with his remarks supporting the introduction of fingerprinting, etc., for non-Japanese arriving at ports of entry.
Reader Mail
Nov 25, 2007

Foreigners overrate themselves

The sense of self-importance contained in the Nov. 20 Zeit Gist article "Watching them watching us" -- in which writer Michael Hassett complains about the capacity of the Japanese government to subject him to "physical abuse" by virtue of its ability to theoretically track him via security cameras from...

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?