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Japan Times
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Dec 7, 2007

Absurdly serious play

Keralino Sandroviich is one of Japan's leading contemporary dramatists. But this multitalented workaholic 44-year-old (also known as Kazumi Kobayashi) not only writes for, directs and runs the Tokyo-based Nylon 100° company he founded in 1985, he also makes films and plays in a punk band as well.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Dec 7, 2007

'Angel'

Had filmmaker Francois Ozon ("Under the Sand," "The Swimming Pool") been around in Vienna at the same time as Freud, he would have put the good doctor out of business in a week; this is one man who really, truly understands women and what they want, seemingly without the mighty and constricted efforts...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Dec 6, 2007

Out from under noh's shadow

'F or kyogen actors, Japan losing the war in 1945 was a wonderful event as it liberated kyogen from its long subjugation to noh," actor Shigeyama Sennojo says. "For the first time in 400 years, kyogen was recognized as an independent form of theater."
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Dec 6, 2007

"Norbert Schwontkowski: My Face in My Next Life"

Gallery Side 2
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.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 3, 2007

Setting the record straight on Indonesia

BALI, Indonesia — Japan and India stand as beacons for democracy that surely inspire many of their Asian neighbors. For its part, Indonesia has been struggling with its own experiment with democracy that has enormous implications for the region and the rest of the world.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / MAKING A DIFFERENCE
Dec 1, 2007

Group helps volunteers get their hands on work

No matter how badly someone wants to put their good will to use, getting a handle on where to start is often the hardest thing to grasp. Realizing this difficulty, a group of U.S. volunteers in the late '80s got together to create New York Cares, an organization that helps link the ambitious aims of...
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.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Nov 29, 2007

UNHCR chief pitches third-country resettlement

Japan is notorious for accepting very few refugees, despite making a significant financial contribution to the office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees.
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design
Nov 27, 2007

Feeling designs

'Design is not just about making something, it is about designing the feelings of the person who uses it," says Tokujin Yoshioka, sitting in his Daikanyama studio among magazine-laden shelves and prototypes in various stages of development.
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....
CULTURE / TV & Streaming
Nov 25, 2007

'Best Hit' awards; Kyosen Ohashi tour of Japan; affordable rural real estate

The fifth annual "Best Hit Kayosai (Best Hit Pop Song Festival)" will be broadcast live Monday night at 9 p.m. on the Yomiuri Television network (Nihon TV in Tokyo) from the Osaka Festival Hall.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Nov 23, 2007

'Grbavica'/'Children of Glory'

When the civil war broke out in Bosnia Herzegovina, Jasmila Zbanic was 17 years old.
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...
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Nov 23, 2007

Guided through Japan's deep north by the holy spirit of Basho

Tohoku is Japan's "deep north," through which the famous Zen monk and haiku poet Matsuo Basho walked in 1689, writing one of the most famous travelogues in world literature, "Oku no Hosomichi (The Narrow Road to the Deep North)."
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...
LIFE / Language
Nov 20, 2007

Dial up a good impression with denwa echiketto

"Moshi-moshi. Kochira wa Japan Taimuzu no Shuraibaa to moshimasu. Itsumo wo sewa ni natte orimasu" ("Hello, this is Schreiber of the Japan Times. Thanks as always for your kind support.")
BUSINESS
Nov 20, 2007

Finance panel urges more belt-tightening

An advisory panel to the finance minister urged the government Monday to stick to its belt-tightening policy to restore the government's debt-ridden finances as it compiles the budget for fiscal 2008.
CULTURE / Books
Nov 18, 2007

Grand security plans for a stronger Japan

Securing Japan: Tokyo's Grand Strategy and the Future of East Asia, by Richard J. Samuels. Ithaca, New York: Cornell University Press, 2007, 320 pp., $29.95 (cloth) The security debate is heating up in Japan, revealing more cleavages and anxieties than strategic thinking. Hence, this stimulating and...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Nov 18, 2007

Losing the plot and ratings when jumping on the Showa bandwagon

In order to keep people watching a TV drama series every week, it helps to have a loose plot thread — an overarching mystery that remains unexplained while the various story lines develop over time. The protagonist of the Friday night TBS serial, "Uta-Hime (Song Princess)" (10 p.m.), is Taro Shimanto...
COMMENTARY
Nov 17, 2007

Is the democracy image losing its glow?

BALI, Indonesia — There's no guarantee that an intellectual counter-revolution will last any longer than a major monsoon. But there is in the works in this region growing disenchantment with the views of what one might call democracy fundamentalists. These are the people who insist that the democratic...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Nov 16, 2007

Jane Birkin

Jane Birkin
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Nov 16, 2007

'Waitress'

Pie-making is a tricky business, as are most other things in life. In "Waitress," pie-maker (or rather, pie-genuis as she's known to her friends) and waitress Jenna's habitual reply to "How are you doing today?" is a rolling of the eyes and a quiet, heartfelt, "Same old shipwreck."

Longform

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