Search - works

 
 
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jun 27, 2003

Tottori governor sees hope in recent reform plan

Tottori Gov. Yoshihiro Katayama is hoping that Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's plans to reform local finances will be the first step for local governments to stand on their own feet.
Japan Times
JAPAN / IN WITH THE NEW
Jun 19, 2003

DPJ security advocate bridges internal, LDP gaps

When the Democratic Party of Japan suffered a serious rift earlier this year over contentious war-contingency bills, the fate of the nation's largest opposition force hinged on Seiji Maehara, the DPJ's security policy chief.
Japan Times
JAPAN / IN WITH THE NEW
Jun 19, 2003

DPJ security advocate bridges internal, LDP gaps

When the Democratic Party of Japan suffered a serious rift earlier this year over contentious war-contingency bills, the fate of the nation's largest opposition force hinged on Seiji Maehara, the DPJ's security policy chief.
Japan Times
JAPAN / IN WITH THE NEW
Jun 19, 2003

DPJ security advocate bridges internal, LDP gaps

When the Democratic Party of Japan suffered a serious rift earlier this year over contentious war-contingency bills, the fate of the nation's largest opposition force hinged on Seiji Maehara, the DPJ's security policy chief.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Jun 8, 2003

Four musicians on a mission shared

In harmony like the great string quartet they are, Joel Smirnoff, Ronald Copes, Samuel Rhodes and Joel Krosnick each listened carefully to whichever one of then was taking the lead in explaining their missions as educators and performers -- and their love of music.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES
Jun 4, 2003

Keith Jarrett: "Up For It"

Keith Jarrett has one of those artistic temperaments. After walking out on Miles Davis in the late '60s, he refused to ever touch an electric keyboard again. Throughout his own career, he rejected imperfectly tuned pianos, demanded smokeless environments long before they became a legal offense and disappeared...
Events
Jun 1, 2003

KANSAI: Who & What

Japan films screened free every Wednesday: The Japan Foundation Kyoto Office is inviting foreign residents to its free weekly showings of Japanese films, starting at 2 p.m. each Wednesday this month at its facility in Kyoto's Nakagyo Ward.
COMMENTARY
May 27, 2003

Recovery debate overlooks sensible economic policies

Is there something in the Japanese mind that prevents sensible economic debate?
COMMENTARY
May 27, 2003

Is there something in the Japanese mind that prevents sensible economic debate?

Japan's semi-public National Broadcasting Corporation (NHK) recently gave more than three hours of prime time for a round-table discussion on how to save the economy. Predictably, much of the talking revolved around Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's claim that "structural reform" is the key to recovery....
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
May 18, 2003

'Out' of the ordinary

OUT, by Natsuo Kirino. Kodansha International, 2003, 359 pp., 2,500 yen (cloth). Mystery novels and short stories, both original works and translated works, have a huge following in Japan. The flow of translations, however, is not entirely one way, but overwhelmingly favors English to Japanese. A scholar...
EDITORIALS
May 13, 2003

Streamlining state subsidies

In a move toward greater local autonomy, a government panel has submitted a report to Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi calling for large cuts in state subsidies to local governments, including a reduction in government payments for public education. Currently the central government pays half of the salaries...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
May 7, 2003

Come on, come on, let's get together

There's collaboration in the air in Japan's contemporary theater world; collaboration between foreign directors and Japanese actors, directors and producers.
JAPAN
Mar 29, 2003

Miyagi Prefecture is No. 1 in disclosing information

Miyagi Prefecture is the most open and willing prefecture to disclose information to the public, a position it has held for five consecutive years, according to a recent study by a citizens' ombudsman association.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Mar 19, 2003

Former Diet aide gets 30 months

A former secretary to a Diet member was sentenced Tuesday to 30 months in prison for bribing the governor of Tokushima and two mayors in Ibaraki Prefecture.
JAPAN
Mar 8, 2003

Bribe-taking mayor gets suspended term

Yoshishiro Kimura, a former mayor of Ishioka, Ibaraki Prefecture, was sentenced Friday to a suspended prison term for taking 2 million yen in bribes in 1999 while he was still in office.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Feb 9, 2003

Life was but a stage for Japan's troubled genius

MY FRIEND HITLER And Other Plays of Yukio Mishima, translated by Hiroaki Sato. New York: Columbia University Press, 2002, 316 pp., $49.40 (cloth), $18.95 (paper). Though he is most famous as a novelist, Yukio Mishima was also a prolific dramatist. From 1949, when his first play was published, to 1969,...
BUSINESS
Jan 24, 2003

Kodansha and Random House tie up

Kodansha Ltd. and U.S.-based Random House Inc. announced Thursday they have agreed to forge a joint venture aimed at publishing books in Japanese.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Dec 15, 2002

On the trail of a killer in ancient Kyoto

RASHOMON GATE, by I.J. Parker. St. Martin's Minotaur: New York, 2002, 336 pp., $24.95 (cloth) Scholars who pen historical mystery fiction must tread a fine line between being faithful to the materials they research and creating stories and characters that will appeal to contemporary readers. It's by...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art / CERAMIC SCENE
Dec 11, 2002

In search of the real artist-potter Ogata Kenzan

"Sensational art finds are both desired and feared: desired because they become a form of pleasure and capital; feared because they displace something or somebody. Japan has had its share of such moments."
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art / NEW ART SEEN
Dec 4, 2002

The secret language of janitors

Although it is my pleasure to cover contemporary art by living artists in this column, I hope readers will give me leave to discuss a dead one this week, because the Henry Darger exhibition at the Watari-Um Museum of Art is just too fantastic an event to ignore.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art / NEW ART SEEN
Nov 20, 2002

Getting emotional as the Sagacho closes its doors

Last Friday evening, as a waxing moon arced low across a clear autumn sky, more than 600 people made what for most would be their final pilgrimage to the Mecca of Tokyo's contemporary art scene. Alone or in clans -- some boisterous, others silent -- they crossed the Sumida River, wound their way through...
Japan Times
LIFE / Language
Nov 15, 2002

Shinta Cho wins award

Children's book writer and illustrator Shinta Cho won the 2002 ExxonMobil Children's Culture Award on Tuesday.
CULTURE / Music / HOGAKU TODAY
Oct 20, 2002

Orchestrating exchanges for peace

"The Japanese society of the eighth century was extremely internationalized and integrated with the rest of Asia. Foreigners comprised much of the skilled labor force and, like England in the 16th and 17th centuries, there was an active exchange of artists, musicians and statesmen with the mainland....
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art / NEW ART SEEN
Oct 2, 2002

Oppai -obsessed oeuvre that isn't well-rounded

I'm often asked the question: "What characterizes Japanese contemporary art?" At the risk of over-generalizing, I usually reply that two qualities recur among artists at the vanguard of this country's creative culture -- an obsessiveness vis a vis the subject, or an obsessive attention to detail in the...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Sep 29, 2002

Modernism goes East

MODERNISM IN THE RUSSIAN FAR EAST AND JAPAN: 1918-1928, edited by Toshiharu Omuka, Kyoji Takizawa, Yoshiko Tachibana and Tsutomu Mizusawa. The Tokyo Shimbun, 2002, 254 pp., trilingual (Japanese/English/Russian), profusely illustrated, 2,500 yen (paper) In the autumn of 1920, two Russian artists arrived...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Sep 25, 2002

Printers who made an impression

LONDON -- In 1945, as the Japanese contemplated defeat, devastation and occupation by a foreign power for the first time, the future must have seemed bleak and uncertain. But along with the terrible toll on life and property, the war years damaged Japanese society in ways that were harder to see.
BUSINESS
Sep 17, 2002

Electric toothbrush sales increase as prices decay

Sales of electric toothbrushes are booming in Japan following a significant decline in product prices.
BUSINESS
Aug 31, 2002

Panel formalizes road-firm privatization report

A key government panel on Friday formalized an interim report on ways to privatize four road-related public corporations, proposing to freeze a number of pending highway projects and minimize the financial burden on taxpayers.
CULTURE / Art / NEW ART SEEN
Aug 14, 2002

A 'fantasy war' artist who draws the lines of conflict

Wars are fought by people, but equipment has always been critical to their ability to perform in battle. Now, imagine a time machine that could equip Genghis Khan with rocket launchers, or Napoleon with a division of Panzer tanks -- that would change the course of history, wouldn't it? Tokyo artist Akira...
JAPAN
Aug 4, 2002

Suzuki allegedly helped contractor by limiting competition on projects

Arrested lawmaker Muneo Suzuki attempted to ensure that a favored contractor won bids on public works projects by excluding competitors, sources said Saturday.

Longform

Construction takes place on the Takanawa Gateway Convention Center in Tokyo, slated to open in 2025.
A boom for business tourism in Japan?