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Japan Times
LIFE
Jul 11, 2004

Believe it ... or not

Japan's vast hoard of war booty known as Yamashita's Gold was long thought to be buried in caves in the Philippines. But in their book 'Gold Warriors,' Sterling and Peggy Seagrave sensationally claim that the treasure trove was secretly recovered -- and continues to oil the wheels of politics in Japan...
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle / ON THE BOOK TRAIL
Apr 1, 2004

"Sideways Stories from Wayside School," "Where Willy Went/ Cinderella's Bum and Other Bottoms"

"Sideways Stories from Wayside School," Louis Sachar, Bloomsbury; 2004; 139 pp.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Mar 28, 2004

Filling in the template for a changing Cambodia

CAMBODIA, by Michael Freeman. London: Reaktion Books, 2004, 198 pp., 43 color photographs, £19.95 (paper). With Angkor as its capital, the Khmer empire ruled over what is now central and southern Vietnam, southern Laos, Thailand and part of the Malay Peninsula. Now dwindled to Cambodia, Angkor's colossal...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Jan 4, 2004

Informed feelings elicit the essence of Japan

There are many good books on Japan (as well as a number of bad ones), so how do you decide which ones are best? The decision is subjective but, objectively, I think that the best are informed with a certain peculiarity, and it is in this that I would find their pre-eminence. "There is but one way of...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Oct 20, 2002

When romancing medieval Japan, why stop at one?

ACROSS THE NIGHTINGALE FLOOR: Tales of the Otori (Book One), by Lian Hearn. Riverhead Books, 2002, 304 pp., $24.95 (cloth) For over a century, Asia has been a rich and enduring source of inspiration for fantasy and science fiction writers. Since James Hilton created the fantastic Himalayan utopia of...
CULTURE / Books
Jun 23, 2002

Following in the footsteps of Alexander and Marco Polo

AN UNEXPECTED LIGHT: Travels in Afghanistan, by Jason Elliot. Picador, 2001, 473 pp, 3,420 yen (paper) Jason Elliot's "An Unexpected Light" has been pigeon-holed in that genre of literature known as travelogue, but it is a great deal more. An account of the author's two visits to Afghanistan -- the first...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Nov 4, 2001

Cities that go with the flow

LEARNING FROM THE JAPANESE CITY: West Meets East in Urban Design, by Barrie Shelton. London: E. and F.N. Spon/Routledge, 2001, 210 pp., profusely illustrated, 42.50 British pounds (cloth) In this interesting study of Japanese urban space, the author writes that when he thinks of the Western city he envisions...
LIFE / Travel
May 22, 2001

Visiting the Little Prince at Hakone

Breathtaking mountain scenery, a walk through a French village, Provencal cooking and a meeting with the doppelganger of a world-famous author -- sounds like a nice day trip. Especially when you can do it all without leaving Kanto.
CULTURE / Books
Jan 30, 2001

When does a faith become a cult?

FALUN GONG'S CHALLENGE TO CHINA: Spiritual Practice or "Evil Cult," by Danny Schechter. Akashic Books, 2000, 225 pp., $24 (cloth). Last year about this time, I visited Tiananmen Square, mingling with tourists and day-trippers enjoying the warmth of the midday sun. As I reminisced about this historic...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Jan 16, 2001

A lesson for our swollen egos

SOUTHERN SILK ROAD: In the Footsteps of Sir Aurel Stein and Sven Haedin, by Christoph Baumer. Bangkok: Orchid Press, 2000, 152 pp., profusely illustrated with color plates, drawings, maps, $35 soft cover. This is the revised and expanded English edition of Baumer's "Geisterstaedte der Suedlichen Seidenstrasse...
COMMUNITY
Aug 2, 2000

An unlikely affinity with a Japanese ghost

"Before I continue to pour out my soul, let me confide in you that Lebanon is one of those countries that produces nothing but its own periodic tragedies." --"Dear Mr Kawabata," by Rashid al-Daif
CULTURE / Books
Feb 22, 2000

The mathematics of love and loss

RABBIT OF THE NETHERWORLD, by Reiko Koyanagi. Illustrated by Monica Tamano, translated by Hiroaki Sato. Red Moon Press, 1999, 62 pp., $12 (paper). "Rabbit of the Netherworld" is a unique and often compelling memoir, a fragmentary poetic recreation of the author's wartime childhood and its many painful...
CULTURE / Books
Feb 8, 2000

A great tradition resurrected

SEX AND THE FLOATING WORLD: Erotic Images in Japan 1700-1820, by Timon Screech. London: Reaktion Books, 1999, 320 pp., 156 illustrations, 36 color, 16.95 British pounds. Though there has been much scholarly research of the ukiyo-e, woodblock prints from premodern Japan, one sizable genre within this...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
May 18, 2023

R.F. Kuang wrote a blistering satire about publishing. The industry loves it.

The 'Yellowface' author draws on her own experiences in the publishing industry to tackle issues like cultural appropriation and representation.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Nov 16, 2022

Do you have what it takes to be a novelist? Let Haruki Murakami decide.

In “Novelist as a Vocation,” the prolific author paints himself as an everyman while giving frustratingly unclear advice on being a professional writer.
Japan Times
WORLD
Oct 3, 2022

Medicine prize opens Nobel week clouded by war

Breast cancer discoveries and mRNA vaccines are potential winners when the Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine kicks off a week of announcements held under the shadow of war in Europe.
Japan Times
WORLD / Crime & Legal
Aug 13, 2022

Novelist Salman Rushdie on a ventilator after stabbing in western New York

An assailant stabbed Rushdie, 75, in the abdomen and the neck, police and witnesses said, straining to continue the attack even as several people held him back.
Japan Times
WORLD / Science & Health
May 5, 2022

The vanishing COVID variants: Lessons from gamma, iota and mu

While understanding omicron remains a critical public health priority, there are lessons to be learned from lesser lineages of the coronavirus.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Mar 13, 2022

Isabella Bird: Revisiting her intrepid journeys trekking the wilds of Japan

Geographer Kiyonori Kanasaka's extensive knowledge and commentary enrich the works of the 19th-century explorer.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Jan 2, 2022

Escape into the courtly Heian Period with Genji

As a new year dawns, find calm and beauty in the vanished world of Murasaki Shikibu's 'The Tale of Genji.'
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle
Jan 20, 2021

Health-conscious habits from 2020 to keep up

Looking back on 2020, lockdowns and pandemic restrictions forced many people to start new routines. Work commutes disappeared. Fitness classes were canceled. Homes became classrooms and workplaces.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / Japan
Apr 19, 2020

What we’ll miss when bookstores disappear

Nothing can fully replace holding a real book in your hands.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jul 16, 2018

'Akira': Looking back at the future

On the 30th anniversary of the release of the animated version of 'Akira' in Japan, we examine the enduring legacy of Katsuhiro Otomo's sci-fi classic.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
May 20, 2017

'Another Kyoto': Alex Kerr's roving thoughts on Kyoto as it stands today

It appears that when the Japanologist Alex Kerr was a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford, his tutors despaired at his unorthodox use of his time there, with one particularly testy don complaining, "He researches only the ephemera that draw his interest," going on to rail against Kerr's fascination with "superstitions,...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Feb 27, 2016

Tokyo's literature festival resurfaces

The Tokyo International Literary Festival got off to a good start. Both the inaugural 2013 event and the 2014 edition were successful, an auspicious beginning to forging cultural and artistic connections between Eastern and Western writers on a global stage. But since the festival's forced hiatus in...
CULTURE / Books
Jan 16, 2016

The ink-stained road: ‘age of adventure’

If foreign visitors to Japan in the Edo Period (1603-1868) ran certain risks by committing their impressions of the country to paper in a totalitarian state that worked hard to maintain its obscurity, the new Meiji Era (1868-1912) positively encouraged attention.
JAPAN
Dec 29, 2015

New members named to Japan Times Media Advisory Board

The Japan Times on Tuesday announced the appointments of four distinguished individuals to The Japan Times Media Advisory Board, a committee of Japan-based experts tasked with advising the newspaper on its content.

Longform

Professional cleaner Hirofumi Sakurai takes a moment to appreciate some photographs in a Gotanda apartment whose occupant died alone.
The last cleanup: Life and death in a lonely Japan