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Reader Mail
Dec 9, 2007

Dumb and dumber news items

Is it me, or has NHK's News Watch 9 become extremely lowbrow recently? Take, for example, its Nov. 30 program, which plumbed news depths of banality with a story entirely devoted to the increasing popularity of black things. We were treated to a long list of examples of popular black items, including...
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Dec 9, 2007

Kroon latest player to attempt to break 'Yomiuri jinx'

Can Marc Kroon break a jinx with the Giants?
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / ON THE ROAD
Dec 9, 2007

Japan's 'fix'ation with a risky ride

A group of young men huddle around a bicycle in a small shop named Carnival on the second story of a cream-brick building peering over the Yamanote Line in Shibuya.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Dec 7, 2007

Smile and say cheese at Esperia

Enough already with the hype and chatter about Michelin stars. Many of Food File's favorite chefs are those who fly below the radar of that most self-promoting of gourmet guides, shunning the limelight and just getting on with the business of putting fine food on tables — exactly the way chef Katsuki...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Dec 6, 2007

Look back in anger

One way to learn what happened in one of history's most noxious but disputed episodes is to ask Satoru Mizushima. After what he calls "exhaustive research" on the seizure of the then Chinese capital Nanjing by Japanese troops in 1937, estimated to have cost anywhere from 20,000 to 300,000 lives, Mizushima...
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital / IGADGET
Dec 5, 2007

Phones get both weirder and simpler; everything else becomes waterproof

Boning up on new tech: Call me old fashioned, but I like to hear sounds with my ears. Progress, however, is no fan of nostalgia, and so the bone-induction trend continues. NTT DoCoMo ups the ante with its Sound Leaf Plus keitai (cell phone) accessory, due out in February for around ¥13,000. The device,...
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design
Dec 4, 2007

Skin-deep success

It started with an e-mail from my editor: "Get yr (sic) camera ready. Online Dating Minus Ugly People is coming to Japan. Thinking Lifestyle page trend piece. Ready for the money shot?"
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Dec 4, 2007

Taking liberties? Readers respond

The Community Page received an unprecedented number of responses to the "Taking Liberties" series that ran in this section last month. Following are some examples.
CULTURE / Music
Nov 30, 2007

Gallows "Orchestra of Wolves"

"Mayday, Mayday/The captain lost control again/The f***ing ship is breaking up/We're going down in flames" is from Gallows' "Abandon Ship.' The catchy, brain- gnawing melody is catapulted into hardcore heaven by Frank Carter's ferocious vocal assault. Maybe he's shouting about the ailing U.K. music scene,...
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM NEW YORK
Nov 26, 2007

Plenty wrong with U.S. agricultural policy

NEW YORK — The U.S. farm bill — a blanket term for all measures related to agriculture, some barely so — appears doomed this year. The House version passed at the end of July, but the Senate version has been stalled in such a way that there's even talk that its enactment may not occur until after...
COMMENTARY
Nov 26, 2007

Koreans who paid for Japan

This summer I visited several monuments in Hiroshima and Okinawa that console the souls of Koreans who died during the Pacific War while living in Japan or serving in the Japanese military. It was a heart-wrenching experience.
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Nov 25, 2007

Carp manager Brown optimistic despite loss of key players

In 2008, Hiroshima Carp manager Marty Brown will be entering his third season as skipper of the Central League club without his two best players.
JAPAN
Nov 25, 2007

Taiwan's Ma winning converts in Nagata-cho

front-runner and "multiple Japanese government officials" Thursday. The meeting ranks as a first, a source in Ma's entourage said. That Tokyo would risk a row with China by allowing Cabinet officials to meet a Taiwanese presidential candidate speaks volumes about Japan's attitude toward Ma.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / ASIA-JAPAN-U.S. SYMPOSIUM
Nov 24, 2007

Piecemeal denuclearization allows North to have its nukes and aid too

The turnaround in the U.S. approach to North Korea over the past year has achieved tangible limits on Pyongyang's nuclear capabilities but will not guarantee a final denuclearization in the near future, an American expert told the Nov. 12 symposium.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Nov 23, 2007

Cut 'n' paste chaos on a stage near you

A seldom discussed reality of the indie-rock life is the day job, since most bands cannot afford to quit work and spend all their time on music. Take The Go! Team, the sextet from Brighton, England, whose debut album, "Thunder, Lightning, Strike," was an instant hit in Britain on release in 2004 and...
EDITORIALS
Nov 23, 2007

Mr. Fukuda makes progress in Asia

This week Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda stepped up efforts to recalibrate Japan's foreign policy. His visit to the ASEAN summit and its associated meetings were designed to focus attention on the Asia component of Japan's foreign relations. Key to that effort are his meetings with Chinese Prime Minister...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Nov 22, 2007

A taste for blood, arts and culture

One haunting image that lingers in the mind after seeing the exhibition "Legacy of the Tokugawa — The Glories and Treasures of the Last Samurai Dynasty" at the Tokyo National Museum is a carved-wood statue of Ieyasu (1543-1616), the first of the Tokugawa shoguns, now the deity of the Shiba Tosho-gu...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Nov 21, 2007

Foreign arrivals get biometric scan

NARITA, Chiba Pref. — Japan began fingerprinting and photographing foreigners arriving in the country Tuesday under a revised immigration law to keep terrorists out, drawing criticism from rights groups and foreign residents that their data might be abused.
LIFE / Digital
Nov 21, 2007

Product placement seeks online consumers' wallets

Product placement within the entertainment industry has become widely accepted as commonplace. You only have to watch "Casino Royale" — the most recent movie in the James Bond series — to see that in-film advertising is big business. From cars and laptop computers to entire airlines, if it can be...
BUSINESS
Nov 20, 2007

Michelin's first Tokyo guide names eight 3-star eateries

The Michelin Guide named Tokyo the "world leader" in gourmet dining, awarding three-star status to eight restaurants in its inaugural edition for the capital.

Longform

Totopa in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward was picked by consultants TTNE as the best sauna of the year.
Japan’s sauna movement: Relax, refresh, repeat