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Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Apr 16, 2010

Director-actor Hideto Iwai proves that anything is possible when you come out of hiding

Tokyo-based Hi-bye, whose name means "crawling-death" (from the Japanese hi-hi, meaning "to crawl," and the English farewell, "bye-bye") was founded in 2003 by playwright, director and actor Hideto Iwai, 35, and has built a reputation for its keen observations of the darker and weaker aspects of humans...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Apr 16, 2010

Finding beauty in the simplest of things

The Japan Folk Crafts Museum in Tokyo's Komaba area was founded by Muneyoshi Yanagi (1889-1961) in 1936 and built in the style of a traditional Japanese house. With natural light filtering through shoji screens, its unusual setting enhances the wonderful displays from its collection of folk-craft items...
Japan Times
Reference / SO WHAT THE HECK IS THAT
Apr 15, 2010

Ear rakes

Dear Alice,
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 14, 2010

Who should lead the IMF?

HONG KONG — With the popularity of Nicolas Sarkozy plummeting in French opinion polls and with Dominique Strauss-Kahn (DSK) winning a good reputation as head of the International Monetary Fund, speculation is already swirling about when Strauss-Kahn will formally quit the fund to seek glory as president...
JAPAN
Apr 13, 2010

Yokota base bans 'Cove' to be neutral

The Academy Award-winning documentary "The Cove" has been banned from screening at the U.S. Air Force Yokota Air Base in Tokyo on the grounds that the film is politically sensitive, a spokesman said Monday.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Apr 13, 2010

'Sambo' racism row reignites over kids' play

"Little Black Sambo, Sambo, Sambo/His face and hands are completely black/Even his butt is completely black."
Japan Times
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
Apr 11, 2010

NPB commissioner Kato has big plans for game

Nippon Professional Baseball commissioner Ryozo Kato has a vision for Japanese baseball that stretches far beyond the nation's borders.
EDITORIALS
Apr 10, 2010

Spotlight on China's censorship

The battle is not over. Google Inc.'s closure of its Chinese Web-search site, Google.cn, and relocation of the portal to Hong Kong last month is only a skirmish in the fight between the Internet giant and the government in Beijing.
Japan Times
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Apr 9, 2010

Tomato founder gives live drawing show

All of a sudden live drawing/painting performances are the hip thing in Japan's creative circles. One of the most recent was by artist Ichiro Endo, who scrawled the word "now" on the April Fool's Day edition of The Japan Times for Art Fair Free last week.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Apr 9, 2010

Up from the underground: Womb turns 10

Since opening its doors in April 2000 with a live set from New York house legend Junior Vasquez, Tokyo's club Womb has been credited with doing more than other local venues to bring dance-music culture into the mainstream.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WORDS TO LIVE BY
Apr 8, 2010

Taxi driver Shahidul Islam Khan

Shahidul Islam Khan, 40, is a cab driver at Royal Limousine in Tokyo. Born in Bangladesh, Khan moved to Japan in 1994 and ran a successful import business until 2008 when the economic downturn forced him to close shop and start driving instead. In the notoriously difficult Japanese cab system, Khan is...
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 7, 2010

The rising stars can walk proudly with giants

PARIS — In the aftermath of the G20 Pittsburgh Summit last year, European and American officials insisted that G20 membership was imposing "new responsibilities." They invited policymakers from the emerging giants to become more involved in designing a new global economic framework — implicitly suggesting...
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital
Apr 7, 2010

Game director Mikami ups speed, action in 'Vanquish'

Fifty-two floors above the ground in Tokyo's Roppongi district, one man is reaping all the applause. As he soaks it up, the look on his face is difficult to read. It has been over four years since he last received such attention, and he has yet to impart the information he came to relay; has yet to experience...
Japan Times
BUSINESS / YEN FOR LIVING
Apr 6, 2010

Annals of Cheap: Super Hotel

The Super Hotel chain ranked high in yearly survey of customer satisfaction, and for good reason. As business hotels go, these are super.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 5, 2010

The unknown promise of Internet freedom

MELBOURNE, Australia — Google has withdrawn from China, arguing that it is no longer willing to design its search engine to block information that the Chinese government does not wish its citizens to have. In liberal democracies around the world, this decision has generally been greeted with enthusiasm....
BUSINESS
Apr 5, 2010

Sharp boasts 3-D mobile tech

Sharp's latest 3-D displays deliver bright, clear imagery without the cumbersome glasses usually required for such technology. Now the bad news: They only work on a 7.5-cm screen held 30 cm from the viewer's face.
EDITORIALS
Apr 5, 2010

New Minamata compensation

More than 2,000 unrecognized victims of Minamata disease who had filed damages lawsuits against Chisso Corp. and the central and Kumamoto prefectural governments reached basic agreements with the defendants March 29 to settle the lawsuits under a court-mediated plan. Each unrecognized victim will receive...
EDITORIALS
Apr 3, 2010

Freedom of expression for all

The Tokyo High Court on March 29 acquitted a former worker of the now-defunct Social Insurance Agency who was indicted on allegations that he distributed copies of a Japanese Communist Party newspaper. He had been charged with violating Article 102 of the National Public Service Law, which prohibits...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Apr 3, 2010

Patience a virtue in miso making

If miso is part of your daily routine, "you're having a decent life," says Tony Flenley, Japan's only British miso maker. Flenley, who runs a 105-year-old miso company in Osaka, believes the time taken to prepare and eat the soup shows the right priorities have triumphed over a fast food lifestyle.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Apr 2, 2010

More than a few favorite things

Museum curators are usually in the position of assessing an artist's career, but rarely turn that same critical lens upon themselves. However, the exhibition "My Favorites-Index of a Certain Collection: Selections from the MoMAK Collection," which opened to the public on March 24 at the National Museum...
JAPAN
Apr 1, 2010

Chinese consortium bids to purchase Tokyo Tower

When Japan changes from analog to terrestrial digital TV broadcasting from July 24, 2011, the Tokyo Sky Tree, now under construction in Tokyo's Sumida Ward, will be the source of these transmissions for the Greater Kanto area. One big question that has remained unanswered up to now is what will become...
BUSINESS
Mar 31, 2010

Toyota takes steps to improve image

TOYOTA, Aichi Pref. — With its reputation severely damaged by safety issues, Toyota Motor Corp. announced several steps Tuesday to improve its image, including the establishment of a panel of regional and local quality-control executives that will call the shots on recalls and other steps.

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