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Japan Times
BUSINESS / YEN FOR LIVING
Aug 10, 2009

Free java, no jive

Step back Starbucks. McDonald's is making a power move on the coffee market in Japan with free java.
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Aug 9, 2009

Humor may be universal, but Japan's is largely its smut-free own

Swedes crack jokes about Norwegians, Poles knock the Russians, and though everyone likes a good Italian joke, they're less funny than they used to be thanks to the genuinely grotesque antics of Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi.
JAPAN
Aug 8, 2009

New Party Nippon pledges 'basic income' for all

Minor opposition party New Party Nippon unveiled its campaign platform Friday, promising several major policies, including the enactment of a monthly "basic income" allowance for all citizens and a re-examination of all public-works projects to cut down on wasteful spending.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Aug 7, 2009

The 'big bang' at Echigo-Tsumari

It is a picture-book perfect shrine. Tiny and tranquil, it is framed by a red gateway at the top of a winding forest path. But there is one surprising intrusion on the scene: a shiny Coca-Cola bench matching the vermilion hue of the shrine sits under its roof.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 7, 2009

Choosing the slow lane en route to free trade

LONDON, INTERNATIONAL POLICY NETWORK — This week India and South Korea sign an agreement that they say will reduce barriers and boost trade between our two important economies. But the reality of the Comprehensive Economic Partnership (CEPA) is in the fine print.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Aug 7, 2009

Art triennial helps revitalize rural Niigata

Visiting Echigo-Tsumari Art Triennial 2009 is a strange and wonderful journey. A satoyama (mountain homeland) adventure replete with rice paddies brimming with bright green shoots, refurbished abandoned houses and closed-down elementary schools, it features 370 contemporary artworks by little-known and...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Aug 7, 2009

Surf Kamakura's spicy Asian turf

A chilled bottle of Singha beer forms a ring of condensation on the table. The heady aromas of fried garlic, lemongrass and curry spices waft from the kitchen in the corner of the wooden hut. Two waitresses gossip in Thai.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Aug 4, 2009

Party offers a third way: happiness

As a historic general election looms on Aug. 30, Japan's long-suffering electorate faces a clear choice: vote for the conservative party that has virtually monopolized power since 1955, or opt for its more liberal but untested rival, which promises long-awaited reform. For those with a taste for the...
CULTURE / Books
Aug 2, 2009

Occult novel dredged from Tokyo's shadowy history

To say the second book in David Peace's "Tokyo trilogy" is haunting would be to start this review with a cliche of which "Occupied City" is devoid. Yet the book stays with you, hunkers down in your memory like some needling parasite.
Japan Times
JAPAN / PARTY POWERS
Aug 1, 2009

Hatoyama disses LDP but is otherwise vague

With the pivotal Aug. 30 election looming, Democratic Party of Japan President Yukio Hatoyama said Friday the upcoming Lower House battle will offer the public an opportunity to hand down its judgment on the past four years of Liberal Democratic Party rule.
COMMENTARY
Aug 1, 2009

Tough times for politicians

Democratic governments everywhere are in trouble. In Britain, the Labour government is tottering. In Japan, defeat looms for Prime Minister Taro Aso's Liberal Democratic Party. In Italy, Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi is clinging on amid a sea of scandal. In France, hyperactive President Nicolas Sarkozy...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Aug 1, 2009

Baseball expert lines up new book on mobsters in Japan

Robert Whiting is best known as an expert on baseball. But he's much more than that. He's also an expert on mobsters in Japan and the sound a radar site makes when it is "spotted" by a U2 spy plane.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink
Jul 31, 2009

Sake returns to its organic roots

The sake world is looking greener as an increasing number of producers invest more time and resources in developing organic lines. In 2004, Niigata-based giant Kikusui attracted attention for opening the Sake Culture Institute, an immaculate facility dedicated to organic sake research, and small producers...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jul 31, 2009

Mimi Gates brings Seattle Art Museum's Asian collection back home

When Mimi Gates moved to Seattle in 1994 to be director of the Seattle Art Museum (SAM), it was the museum's superb Asian collection that had lured her away from the Yale University Art Gallery after 19 years working there, 12 as curator and seven as director). At Yale, she had championed Oriental art...
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design / ON: DESIGN
Jul 30, 2009

Summertime designs run hot and cool

Recovered crests
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Jul 29, 2009

Web-based flash cards will dazzle language learners

Remember the days when it took markers, index cards and three hours to assemble a set of 100 flash cards? Remember all that time wasted that could have been better spent studying? It's amazing how much has changed in a few short years thanks to computers and the Internet.
EDITORIALS
Jul 29, 2009

DPJ's election promises

The Democratic Party of Japan has announced its manifesto for the Aug. 30 Lower House election. It has two pillars: scheduled measures to directly help households and steps to end bureaucracy-led politics.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Jul 28, 2009

New law: no dues, no visa

In your wallet or somewhere at home, do you have a blue or pink card showing that you are enrolled in one of Japan's national health and pension programs? If not, and if you are thinking of extending your stay here, you may want to think about a recent revision to visa requirements for foreign residents....
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHO'S WHO
Jul 28, 2009

Ability to bridge the gap a banker's boon

For Sanjeev Gupta, senior managing executive officer and head of the Individual Group at Shinsei Bank, his 25-year career in Japan started out with a resume he dropped off at an accounting firm in Tokyo while visiting Japan on a tourist visa.
Japan Times
Events / WHERE IT'S AT
Jul 28, 2009

English speakers gather for human rights

Amnesty International Tokyo English Network offers English speakers, both native and otherwise, an opportunity to participate in the activities of the worldwide human rights organization Amnesty International while in Japan.
CULTURE / Books
Jul 26, 2009

A peaceful challenge against globalization

London's famous Ritz Hotel boarded its windows, construction sites were cleared of rubble and bankers were warned to stay home. The event was the April 2009 meeting of the Group of 20, and no effort was spared to protect the visiting dignitaries — and financial district — from demonstrations by anti-...
JAPAN / History
Jul 26, 2009

Soldier who stayed on tells filmmaker how 'We had to kill, kill, kill'

The most astounding moment in "Flowers and Troops," a documentary film by Yojyu Matsubayashi, is when the young director leans close to one of his subjects — an 87-year-old former corporal in the Imperial Japanese Army — and says, "I've heard that some Japanese soldiers ate human flesh."
Japan Times
LIFE
Jul 26, 2009

Words of War

In among the familiar roll call of memorial services, television specials, peace ceremonies and other events in Japan planned to coincide with next month's 64th anniversary of the end of World War II, one stands out for its unlikely involvement of youth.
Japan Times
JAPAN / MIXED MATCHES
Jul 25, 2009

Belgian no waffler on love, life in Japan

Pascal Latui, 28, first fell for Yumiko, 36, on a backpacking trip in Japan in June 2006. She was a receptionist at the Tokyo youth hostel where he was staying.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Jul 24, 2009

Japan gets a taste of bracing 'in-yer-face theater'

The auditorium at Setagaya Public Theatre in Tokyo's Sangengaya district was filled with the mostly female fans of actor Masaaki Uchino, patiently waiting for the play "Blackbird" by David Harrower to begin. The taunt and provocative drama that subsequently unfolded no doubt caught some of them by surprise....

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