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LIFE / Food & Drink / BY THE GLASS
Nov 12, 2010

Australia bottles a touch of class

A few weeks ago a decadent dinner held at the American Club in Tokyo showcased some top-notch wines from two Australian family-owned wineries. Though the tablecloths were stiff and well starched, the staff — who served up some cracking fusion cuisine that brought out the best in the wine — were not,...
CULTURE / Film
Nov 12, 2010

'Spring Fever'

Director Lou Ye continues to prove he's one of the more daring directors working in China today with his latest, "Spring Fever." Or perhaps I should say, one of the more daring directors not working in China today, for Lou was placed on the government censors' blacklist in 2006 after his last film, "Summer...
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 11, 2010

Dreaming of a new Edo era

SEOUL — All eyes have shifted to Seoul as Group of 20 leaders convene Thursday and Friday for the first time in the South Korean capital. The choice is long overdue, as South Korea is a remarkable success story: In one generation, the South Koreans, formerly pummeled by civil war, under constant threat...
EDITORIALS
Nov 9, 2010

Making the skies safe for air travel

The First Petit Bench of the Supreme Court in a 4-1 decision on Oct. 26 upheld a Tokyo High Court ruling that had found two air traffic controllers guilty of professional negligence in connection with a near hit in 2001, which injured some 100 passengers and crew members aboard a jetliner. The two were...
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / CLOSE-UP
Nov 7, 2010

Noriko Hama: Scholar brings economics to life

Clouds of gloom have been shrouding Japan and its economy for quite some time. The bursting of the asset- inflated economic bubble in the early 1990s, and the failures of banks, insurers and other big corporations later in that decade, has put a huge dent in Japan's collective self-confidence. That is...
JAPAN
Nov 2, 2010

Medvedev's Kunashiri trip spurs protest

Tokyo lodged a strong protest Monday over Russian President Dmitry Medvedev's visit the same day to Kunashiri Island, one of the four Russian-held islands off Hokkaido that Japan wants returned.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Nov 1, 2010

Haneda resumes overseas service

Tokyo's Haneda airport resumed regular overseas flights Sunday for the first time in 32 years, embarking on a goal of transforming itself from a mostly domestic airport into a 24-hour international hub.
CULTURE / Books
Oct 31, 2010

Odd tales, torments

In the 120 years since Lafcadio Hearn first arrived on these shores, Japan has traded superstition for Super Mario. Were Hearn to disembark in Yokohama today and travel through the country, would he be able to compile contemporary "Glimpses of Unfamiliar Japan" or "Kwaidan: Stories and Studies of Strange...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Oct 29, 2010

Good news for the blues: Tokyo Designers Week

Forget green. Once the only color on the creative minds of the world — from fashion and product design to architecture and packaging — its dominance may soon be usurped.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WORDS TO LIVE BY
Oct 28, 2010

Ryokan owner Kazushi Sato

Kazushi Sato, 63, is the owner of Tsurunoyu Onsen, a hot-spring ryokan (traditional Japanese inn) in Akita Prefecture. Nestled within beech woods deep in the mountains, Tsurunoyu is surrounded by natural beauty — bears wander freely, feasting on mountain grapes, and edible wild mushrooms grow in enough...
JAPAN
Oct 24, 2010

For historians, disputed isles' ownership is academic

Japan incorporated the Senkaku Islands in 1895, declaring the uninhabited islets in the East China Sea to be "terra nullius," or land belonging to no one, by international law and with no traces of Chinese control found.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Oct 24, 2010

Nibutani, Hokkaido: Travel, hospitality and the Ainu identity

Ainu are the indigenous people of Hokkaido, the Kuril Islands and much of Sakhalin. However, their culture in Hokkaido, dating back to the 13th century, was decimated after Japanese settlers began flocking to the huge northern island in the 1800s.
CULTURE / Japan Pulse
Oct 23, 2010

Japan by the numbers (10.23.10)

This week's numbers tell us that the details, whether they be a man's age or a software user agreement, don't really matter.
Japan Times
BASKETBALL / HOOP SCOOP
Oct 22, 2010

Hill, Apache ready for season to tip off

The Tokyo Apache and the Niigata Albirex BB begin the 2010-11 bj-league season a week later than the other 14 teams. And so they've both had extra time to make preparations for their first game.
JAPAN / HANEDA COMEBACK
Oct 20, 2010

Haneda new old kid on the block

This month, Tokyo's Haneda airport returns to scheduled international flight operations for the first time in 32 years as part of the government's goal to turn the offshore facility into a 24-hour hub to compete with global competition and boost the economy.
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Oct 17, 2010

New Russia's political maneuvering harkens back to the U.S.S.R.

If I had to choose the event in my adult lifetime with the greatest historical import it would be, hands down, the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. In 2005, then president of Russia Vladimir Putin was not exaggerating when he called it "the greatest political catastrophe of the 20th century."
JAPAN
Oct 15, 2010

Meet ends with calls to protect heritage

NARA — Representatives from 55 historical cities worldwide wrapped up a three-day meeting Thursday with calls to boost protection of heritage sites against natural disasters, global warming, religious and ethnic conflict, and a form of globalization that emphasizes commercial uniformity over cultural...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Oct 15, 2010

Lopez-Curval tells moving motherly tale

"Meres et Filles" (released in Japan as "Kakusareta Nikki)" is a film about women. But contrary to expectations, it's not a celebration of womanhood. Director Julie Lopez-Curval (working from a script by Sophie Hiet) is more concerned with the telltale details of women's lives: the momentary coldness...
Japan Times
LIFE
Oct 10, 2010

Standing up for the right to sit down in public

A quick story about me, public seating and Japan: It's 1994. I've been in Tokyo less than a week and this is my first time in Shinjuku. Lunchtime comes and my student thriftiness and Australian love of the outdoors beget a plan: I'll grab something at a department-store food counter and eat it on a seat...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Oct 9, 2010

Photography fan ends up manager on floating hotel

James Deering planned on being either a professional photographer or a psychologist. Instead, it was the call of the sea that steered his life. For 16 years now, the American citizen and Tokyo resident has held management positions on the world's biggest cruise lines. In a few days, he will don his uniform,...
COMMENTARY
Oct 7, 2010

Going home is such a bittersweet experience

TUCUMAN, Argentina — Coming home to my native Tucuman, a city in the north of Argentina, has become almost a ritual for me. And, predictably, it has its bittersweet moments.
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
Oct 5, 2010

Kids' camps; more on Baha'i

Baha'i outreach MN thanks us for writing about her community (Lifelines, Sept. 21).
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Oct 3, 2010

Fukuoka: Designed for living

Inquiring as to the whereabouts of English-language bookstores in Fukuoka, the person at the Rainbow Plaza information center's desk straightaway handed me a printout of English listings, maps and directions. This, I began to realize, is a well organized city.

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