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CULTURE / Music
Nov 2, 2007

Various Artists "Good Girls Don't! Neo"

Nowhere does squeaky grrrl-punk as well as Japan. Heck, it's one of the country's top selling points, as music fans lured here by Shonen Knife or the output of the Benten label will attest.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Nov 2, 2007

'Once'

The characters in "Once" don't even have names; it's just the Guy (Glen Hansard) and the Girl (Marketa Irglova), and the story spans about 10 days in their lives one autumn in Dublin. "Once" was a sleeper hit at the Sundance Film Festival — and it's like a small, shining halo of brightness that recalls...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Nov 2, 2007

Oden: Japanese for 'soul food'

There's no need to look at the changing leaves to know what season it is; just walk into your nearest 7-Eleven outlet and sniff. Those trays of oden stewing by the checkout are all you need to know that winter is on its way.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Nov 2, 2007

Shins wince their way to success

In a recent article in The New Yorker, music critic Sasha Frere-Jones said that the term "indie rock" has become "an aesthetic description, and no longer has anything to do with (record) labels." If that's the case, then exactly what kind of aesthetic does indie rock describe?
Reader Mail
Nov 1, 2007

Apology late but courageous

Regarding the Oct. 24 article "Vivisectionist recalls his day of reckoning": I would like to pass along my thanks to former Japanese Army surgeon Ken Yuasa for having the courage to try to atone for what he has done. Looking at one's own misdeeds and then attempting to redeem oneself require a special...
Reader Mail
Nov 1, 2007

When to show the alien card

I think the Oct. 28 Timeout article "Masters of all they survey" does a disservice to foreigners when it mentions, without fully stating the law, that police have the right to request to see a foreigner's alien registration card. Police may do so only if a foreigner is suspected of committing a crime...
Reader Mail
Nov 1, 2007

Loss of trust in employers

Regarding the Oct. 28 letter "Bureaucratic disaster all around": The author is most correct in predicting the ramifications stemming from the Nova scandal. The economic impacts as a result of this fiasco will be felt for some time, and at a time when the last thing the economy needs is a financial...
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
Nov 1, 2007

Dragons close in on Japan Series

NAGOYA — The Chunichi Dragons came into the Japan Series looking for revenge and they're one win away from getting it.
Reader Mail
Nov 1, 2007

Requests won't move U.S.

Regarding Manuel Sandoval's Oct. 25 letter, Don't judge marines too fast": Sandoval says if we don't like Americans protecting Japan, then the American military can just leave and Japan can fend for itself. Could he? Could he ask the U.S. State Department and the Defense Department to remove their bases...
Reader Mail
Nov 1, 2007

Silly references in editorial

I'm neither a rightwinger nor a racist, but the Oct. 29 editorial, "China and Japan," disgusted me. It says at one point that "Many other Chinese leaders . . . also spent time in Japan . . . a fact that is ignored on both sides of Sea of Japan, or the East Sea, depending on your point of view."
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 1, 2007

Not so welcome to Japan any longer

HONG KONG — Japan is still purporting to celebrate "Yokoso Japan" or Welcome to Japan — just as it is preparing to inflict on every foreign visitor measures that are harassing, time-consuming, unnecessary, and would be illegal if done to Japanese citizens in Japan.
COMMENTARY
Nov 1, 2007

CCP changes but elitism remains intact

HONG KONG — Oh, what a difference a few decades make! Back in the days of Chairman Mao Zedong and his little red book, China was proud to proclaim the Communist Party as the party of workers, peasants and soldiers.
EDITORIALS
Nov 1, 2007

Anatomy of a fabrication

Former defendants who were charged with violation of the Public Offices Election Law and eventually found innocent have filed a damages lawsuit with the Kagoshima District Court, invoking the State Tort Liability Law. Twelve former defendants and five family members of a dead former defendant demand...
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
Nov 1, 2007

Fighters help to put smile on fan's face

SAPPORO — Takako Miura says she beats her two plastic sticks together so hard when rooting for her beloved Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters that she almost breaks them.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Nov 1, 2007

Art al fresco in Daikanyama

Years ago, Daikanyama was one of those places you could visit for a bit of peace and quiet in Tokyo. It had beautiful tree-lined streets and lovely old traditional Japanese houses. There was also a slightly bohemian edge to it, with small independent shops and galleries littered among the back alleys....
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Nov 1, 2007

Eyes on Japan's crazed radicalism, twisted psychology

This year's Tokyo International Film Festival was a bit different for me. For the first time since 2003 I was not on the jury for Japanese Eyes, a section spotlighting Japanese movies that might otherwise get lost in the glare of big commercial releases. This gave me more leeway to pick and choose what...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Nov 1, 2007

Skin goes only so deep

Nothing has changed since Aristotle noted a couple of thousand years ago that "it is not possible without considerable disgust to look upon the blood, flesh and similar parts of which the human body is constructed." Much here in "Skin of/in Contemporary Art," at the National Museum of Art, Osaka, until...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Nov 1, 2007

"Asae Soya: Prism"

Nishimura Gallery Runs till Nov. 17
BUSINESS
Nov 1, 2007

First half a mixed bag for electronics makers

Digital products pushed up sales and profits of major electronics makers in the first half of business 2007, but the industry also suffered from tougher competition in the core flat-panel TV business in the U.S. as cheaper off-brand TVs won the hearts of consumers there.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / TAKING A CHANCE
Nov 1, 2007

Retiree starts anew with Kidzania career theme park

It was in May 2004 that retired restaurant manager Einosuke Sumitani first visited a career theme park called Kidzania in Mexico and saw children cheerfully engaged in jobs there.

Longform

Juzo Itami’s “Tampopo” was released Nov. 23, 1985, and though it wasn’t a hit at the time, it has gained a cult following in the years since.
Eat, slurp, love: 'Tampopo' turns 40