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SPORTS / MULLY'S MISSIVES
Jul 27, 2007

Nakazawa, Takahara headline Japan's '07 Asian Cup effort

HANOI — Here's a quick player-by-player rating of the performance of the Japan team at the Asian Cup finals:
JAPAN / History
Jul 27, 2007

Is blunt-speaking Aso next act after Abe?

Foreign Minister Taro Aso looked satisfied on the evening of Sept. 20, 2006 — right after the results of the Liberal Democratic Party's presidential election came in.
EDITORIALS
Jul 27, 2007

Fight over preferential treatment

A panel of knowledgeable people organized by the Japan High School Baseball Association has begun discussions on what to do about preferential treatment — such as exemptions of admission and dormitory fees and tuition — offered to talented baseball players. It is hoped that the panel will find a...
COMMENTARY
Jul 27, 2007

North Korea will still want its reactors

HONG KONG — The failure of the six-party talks to agree on a schedule for North Korea to declare and disable all of its nuclear programs shows that there are major obstacles ahead, although the first phase — providing for the shutdown of the Yongbyon nuclear reactor — went relatively smoothly,...
EDITORIALS
Jul 27, 2007

Indicators of financial health

The Diet in the last session enacted a law designed to prevent bankruptcy of local governments like that of Yubari city in Hokkaido. The law became necessary because many local governments suffer from a similar deterioration of finances.
MORE SPORTS
Jul 27, 2007

Murofushi keeping online diary

Koji Murofushi, Japan's record-breaking hammer thrower, is writing an exclusive online diary for the International Association of Athletic Federations (IAAF). Read his insights by logging on to www.iaaf.org/. Here's a snippet from a recent diary: "Humans cannot hope to beat animals in running or jumping...
COMMENTARY
Jul 27, 2007

Scripting the exit from Iraq

LONDON — Prospects for Iraq and its people are gloomy. Responsibility for that rests partly with Saddam Hussein and his evil regime, but also with the Americans and their allies for botching the aftermath of the March 2003 invasion.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jul 27, 2007

'Kappa no Coo to Natsuyasumi'

Movie reviewers come in two broad categories — the ones who try to write truthfully about films, even if the director is a best buddy, and the ones who let personal factors, such as the free lunch from a PR guy, influence their judgment. The two can overlap, though, as I discovered when I went to a...
BUSINESS
Jul 27, 2007

BOJ yet to decide timing of rate increase, Noda says

The Bank of Japan has yet to decide when it will next raise interest rates, BOJ Policy Board member Tadao Noda said Thursday, declining to be drawn into speculating on whether the bank will increase borrowing costs next month.
CULTURE / Music
Jul 27, 2007

Nokemono "Nokemono"

Kyoto four-piece Nokemono are more rock 'n' roll than having Pete Doherty slipping a needle into your eyeball while you're tied naked to a lamppost in Shinjuku's Golden Gai district and painted pink by a supermodel.
Japan Times
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Jul 27, 2007

'Human maggots in a glass'

Dance fans could be excused for, well, dancing in the streets thanks to the fancy footwork of Saitama Arts Theater in luring some of the world's best contemporary troupes to its stage made famous as the home base of international theater titan Yukio Ninagawa.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film / SHORT TAKES
Jul 27, 2007

Renaissance

Director: Christian Volckman Language: English
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jul 27, 2007

'Inland Empire'

A man and a woman are glimpsed, in murky black-and-white images, in a Polish hotel room, their faces mosaiced out. "You want to f*** me?" she asks. "Shut up and take off your clothes," he answers. "I'm frightened." she says. Cut to full color and a girl wrapped in a red sheet, crying, and watching TV....
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jul 27, 2007

Ready for the muddy mountain

Through her three solo albums and work with Peaches, Broken Social Scene and Chilly Gonzales, Leslie Feist (who releases records under her last name) has established herself as the soulful queen of Canadian indie rock. Her new album, "The Reminder," released this month in Japan, is a collection of bruising,...
Japan Times
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Jul 27, 2007

NPO presents 'Anne of Green Gables'

The nonprofit organization The Classic Live for the United Nations, Japan will present its annual musical of Lucy Maud Montgomery's classic children's novel "Anne of Green Gables" at Tokyo International Forum on Sept. 29-30.
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 / Film
Jul 27, 2007

'The Flock'

Richard Gere stars as a creased, rumpled, work-obsessed monitor of sexual offenders in "The Flock" (released in Japan as "Kieta Tenshi)," a vehicle in which he seems to derive absolute pleasure from shattering his own, Desirable Male No. 1 stereotype.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink
Jul 27, 2007

Ikuta: slow-burning class that's a cut above

Alongside geisha and poisonous blowfish, gourmet Kobe beef fits nicely into the stereotype of refined Japan. And like astronomically priced department-store melons, this pricey breed of cattle does much to reinforce the image of a land of big-spenders.
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
CULTURE / Film / SHORT TAKES
Jul 27, 2007

The Messengers

Director: Oxide Pang Chun and Danny Pang Language: English
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / BEST BAR NONE
Jul 27, 2007

A lounge bar for the people

One of Naka-Meguro's best features is the Meguro River. And though, like most of Tokyo's inner-city waterways, its riverbed has been concreted to aid with storm drainage, the banks are topped with cobbled walkways and planted with mile upon mile of cherry trees. The blossoms are breathtaking when in...

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