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JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Nov 20, 2007

World's suicide capital — tough image to shake

Japan has attained a reputation as the suicide capital of the world. A 2007 international comparison of suicide rates (per 100,000 people) by the World Health Organization ranked Japan sixth for females, at 12.8, behind Sri Lanka, South Korea and Lithuania, and 11th for males, at 35.6, well below Lithuania,...
Reader Mail
Nov 18, 2007

Magic feeling of being exempt

Both Susan Menadue-Chun's letter, "SPRs have suffered enough," and William Wetherall's letter, "Exemptions not based on nationality," on Nov. 15 provided thought-provoking information and context to the Ministry of Justice's biometric data-collection program directed at "terrorists" trying to enter...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / FUZZY LOGIC
Nov 16, 2007

Kyoto's Ultra-man in bedroom revolution

"Shotgun Blues" is the latest track off Hidenori Fujiwara's turbo-charged musical conveyor-belt of rock 'n' roll madness, and it's a blast of bluesy punk that sounds like Kings of Leon being chain-whipped by Iggy Pop in a dark alley.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink
Nov 16, 2007

Japan's top sommelier has plenty of bottle

At midnight Wednesday, Prince Hotel sommeliers marked the release of this year's Beaujolais Nouveau wine with celebrations underwater at the Epson Shinagawa Aqua Stadium at its Shinagawa branch, and on the snow at its Karuizawa ski-resort hotel.
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
Nov 13, 2007

Ochiai plans ahead after Asia triumph

There's no rest for the weary. That's a lesson Chunichi Dragons manager Hiromitsu Ochiai is learning the hard way this year.
LIFE / Food & Drink
Nov 13, 2007

Thanks, Michelin, but we already knew Tokyo is top

So it's official: Tokyo is the gourmet capital of the planet. That is the incontrovertible message of the new Michelin guide published Thursday, which awards the city a total of 191 of its coveted stars — compared with 98 in Paris and just 54 in New York.
Reader Mail
Nov 11, 2007

Why exempt Korean residents?

According to Jun Hongo's Nov. 8 article, "Will entry checks cross the line?," The new law requiring non-Japanese to submit to fingerprinting and photographing upon entering the country exempts "special permanent residents of Korean and Taiwanese descent" from this humiliating procedure.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Nov 11, 2007

The poetry of women's emotions

Japanese Women Poets: An Anthology, translated and with an introduction by Hiroaki Sato. Armonk, New York: M.E. Sharpe, Inc., 2007, 548 pp., with photos, chronology, bibliography and index, $34.95 (paper) About lyric poetry, Wordsworth said that it was "the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings."...
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST
Nov 10, 2007

Buddy Hackett, Bob Newhart and why I came to Japan

The man on my right is not comedian Buddy Hackett. But perhaps — if you're a little drunk and have an imagination — you might think he is.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Nov 9, 2007

From trailer park to catwalk

"Sorry, I'm having pure chaos!"
JAPAN
Nov 9, 2007

Gates hears Komura vow to get MSDF bill passed

Japan will make "utmost efforts" to resume its logistic support for the U.S.-led antiterrorism operations in and around Afghanistan, Foreign Minister Masahiko Komura told visiting U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates Thursday.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Nov 8, 2007

Underworld outside their comfort zone

Call it a midlife crisis. Five years ago, Underworld's Karl Hyde and Rick Smith — then aged 45 and 43, respectively — took stock of their careers and realized a change was due.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 6, 2007

Vladimir Putin, part two

LONDON — Opinions about Vladimir Putin run the gamut. In the West, he is regarded as an "authoritarian," an "autocrat," even as a "dictator," while in Russia a huge majority regard him as the most "democratic" of leaders, on the grounds that he has done more than his predecessors to improve the lot...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Nov 4, 2007

It's where you live, and not where you're at, for those bureaucrats

Last week, the Cabinet rejected a recommendation from the National Personnel Authority to raise bonuses and special allowances for some government employees, believing that the public, disillusioned by a constant stream of money scandals involving politicians and bureaucrats, wouldn't stand for it. But...
CULTURE / Film / SHORT TAKES
Nov 2, 2007

Venus

Venus © 2006 Venus Pictures Ltd./UK Film Council/Channel 4 Television Corporation
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 1, 2007

Not so welcome to Japan any longer

HONG KONG — Japan is still purporting to celebrate "Yokoso Japan" or Welcome to Japan — just as it is preparing to inflict on every foreign visitor measures that are harassing, time-consuming, unnecessary, and would be illegal if done to Japanese citizens in Japan.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Nov 1, 2007

"Art x Dance"

Yokohama Civic Gallery, Azamino Ends Nov. 10
SOCCER / PREMIER REPORT
Oct 31, 2007

NFL foray recalls days when London boasted title team

LONDON — Occasionally life deals you a good hand.
LIFE / Digital
Oct 31, 2007

Whole worlds inside the screen

With a population of Net-cafe refugees in Japan reported in August to be 5,400, and the recent demise of a 28-year-old South Korean, identified as Lee, who reportedly died after playing an online computer game for 50 hours straight, many are wondering what online virtual worlds are all about.
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design
Oct 30, 2007

Avoid the chemically impaired

Anyone who has cruised around a Japanese supermarket or the basement of a department store has no doubt feasted their eyes on the robust, red and super-shiny apples at about ¥1,000 a pop.

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