Search - works

 
 
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Jul 28, 2007

All-women NPO acknowledges the small kindness

Bustling with resilience and enthusiasm, Yukiko Yamahashi sets the tone for one of the few Japanese NPOs (nonprofit organizations) that still retains any degree of independence from government control. This means, of course, that it is regarded as troublesome, and a price has been paid.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Jul 27, 2007

Escape from Tokyo Part II

I've been to Nikko countless times, but really could kick myself for putting off a trip to Edo Wonderland for so long. I finally visited on June 23, and fortunately the delayed onset of the rainy season got me there on a day with perfect weather.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jul 27, 2007

Playing their last show, again

"This year is 30 years since I first went onstage with a band called The Cure and 2009 will be 30 years since our first album," says proto-goth Robert Smith, speaking via telephone on a suitably ghoulish Friday the 13th.
Japan Times
JAPAN / UPPER HOUSE SHOWDOWN
Jul 26, 2007

Once unthinkable, farmers may vote DPJ

KUMAMOTO — The city of Yamaga, at the northern edge of Kumamoto Prefecture, is a landscape marked with rice paddies. The farmers who tend them are a socially conservative lot — a loyal source of support for the ruling Liberal Democratic Party.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jul 25, 2007

Unseated champ Takeru Kobayashi practices whole dog

Takeru Kobayashi prepares for the annual Nathan's International July Fourth Hot Dog Eating Contest the same way an Olympic athlete would prep for a track meet.
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
Jul 25, 2007

Our world is being driven by denial

As an environmental columnist, one question that repeatedly comes to mind is, "How much denial is humanly possible?"
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WORDS TO LIVE BY
Jul 24, 2007

Hiroko Tsunoda-Shimizu

Hiroko Tsunoda-Shimizu, age 46, is director of the Department of Radiology at St. Luke's International Hospital in Tokyo, where she works with a team of 15 other doctors and 50 radiology technologists diagnosing and trying to eradicate various types of diseases. Tsunoda-Shimizu has been researching breast...
EDITORIALS
Jul 22, 2007

Passing of the JCP architect

Mr. Kenji Miyamoto, who died Wednesday at the age of 98, embodied the history of the Japanese Communist Party both before and after World War II. The charismatic leader put the party on a realistic policy path, helping the party gain some influence in Japan's politics.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT
Jul 22, 2007

TETRAPODS

Ah, tetrapods!
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jul 20, 2007

'Mala Noche'

Gus Van Sant's first movie feels like an unrequited first love; jagged around the edges, tingling with expectation and inevitably, gorgeously, unsatisfying. Titled "Mala Noche (Bad Night)" and based on the autobiographical novel by Oregon's cult novelist Walt Curtis, the film is so unabashedly poignant...
CULTURE / Music
Jul 20, 2007

Justice "?"

Given the widespread influence of Scandinavian garage bands and the fact that the United Kingdom embraced The Strokes before the United States did, Europeans may prize authenticity in rock more than Americans do. The success of Frenchmen Xavier de Rosnay and Gaspard Auge in wresting the dance floor from...
Japan Times
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Jul 20, 2007

Kids leave stuffiness outside the door

The Czech Philharmonic Children's Choir visit Iizuka City, Fukuoka, and Tokyo for two concerts this month and next of traditional and folk songs from around the world.
COMMENTARY
Jul 16, 2007

Miyazawa knew economics

Obituaries for former Prime Minister Kiichi Miyazawa, who died recently at age 87, agreed that he was a statesman and a genuine internationalist. But some — those from Nikkei, Japan's leading economic media group, especially — also criticized him as a Keynesian economist responsible for Japan's economic...
Reader Mail
Jul 15, 2007

Lots of people share the blame

Of course, the A-bomb disasters could have been prevented! The U.S. government could have refused to order and pay for the development of the bomb. Those who made it could have refused to make it. Those who tested it could have refused. Those who loaded it on two planes could have refused to load...
CULTURE / Books
Jul 15, 2007

Dive into the lower depths

PIERCING by Ryu Murakami. Penguin Books, 2007, 185 pp., $13 (paper) While his wife sleeps contentedly, a father hovers over the crib of his baby daughter, a penlight in one hand, ice pick in the other. Pressures are banking up inside the nervous system of a man who gets goose pimples while soaking in...
BUSINESS
Jul 14, 2007

No Isuzu-Hino tieup in works: Toyota

Toyota Motor Corp., Japan's largest automaker, on Friday denied a report that it was pressing its Hino Motors Ltd. unit and Isuzu Motors Ltd. affiliate to combine their truck-making operations in North America.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jul 13, 2007

'Funuke Domo, Kanashimi no Ai o Misero'

Black comedies about dysfunctional families are common enough in Japan, from Sogo Ishii's anarchic "Gyakufunsha Kazoku (The Crazy Family)" (1984) to Takashi Miike's batty "Katakurike no Kofuku (The Happiness of the Katakuris)" (2001), which also has the distinction of the being the first Japanese zombie...
Japan Times
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Jul 13, 2007

Journeys of self-discovery

While many young Japanese go to Canada to study English and some retirees enjoy holidays there, the number of Canadian theater companies staging performances in Japan are few and far between.
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Jul 13, 2007

Quick, cheap and cheerful

Festa Summer MUZA Kawasaki 2007 advertises classical music as if it were fast food: quick, cheap and cheerful.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jul 12, 2007

From a whim to pottery passion

Masayuki Inoue's repertoire includes sky-high monoliths and massive sculptures that span several meters. Many of these monumental works are held together by metal bolts and industrial adhesive, which in itself is not particularly unusual in the world of contemporary art. But here's the twist: Inoue is...
LIFE / Digital / IGADGET
Jul 11, 2007

Digital graffiti lets you make your mark

Irony is a word that is no doubt found in every language. A case in point is the widely accepted view that English is the lingua franca of the Internet. Unfortunately, while this expression nicely captures the linguistic dominance of English, the term itself originates in Italian. Despite this quirk...
Reader Mail
Jul 8, 2007

'Kawaii' trend is not dead

Regarding the June 30 article "Miss Universe director turns Japanese into women of worldm": I find it quite rich that the one person who actively works for an event that is nothing more than an archaic display of male chauvinism and sexism has the guts to scoff at the "kawaii (cute)" ideal in Japanese...
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Jul 8, 2007

Separated siblings family drama, young romantic comedy, melodrama of women competing for the same man

This summer's crop of drama series is dominated by young female leads as opposed to the usual bunch of cute boys. In its most crucial time slot, Monday at 9 p.m., Fuji TV is offering up "First Kiss," which is about a pair of siblings who were separated as small children when their parents divorced.
Japan Times
LIFE / REFUGEES AND JAPAN
Jul 8, 2007

'Liars' who won lottery

Just 410 — the number of refugees accepted by Japan since 1982 — says a lot about government policy toward those who flee political persecution in their home countries. They wouldn't fill more than a few cars on a rush-hour commuter train!
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / PERSONALITY PROFILE
Jul 7, 2007

Kyoko Mimura

"Recognizing some kind of beauty goes beyond all borders," Kyoko Mimura said.

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