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Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / WALKING THE WARDS
Dec 1, 2006

Katsushika a cut above all your expectations

Many of Tokyo's award-winning swordsmiths choose to live in Ka-tsushika. Why? "Land has always been cheap here," said Shoji Yoshihara, 61, designated an Important Living Cultural Property of the ward and deputy head of All Japan Swordsmiths Association. "The process of making swords is noisy and smoky,...
EDITORIALS
Dec 1, 2006

Peace at the top of the world

Citizens of Nepal have been rejoicing since their political leaders agreed to a peace deal that ended 10 years of bitter and bloody civil war. The accord lays the foundation for a durable peace in Nepal, but much depends -- as always -- on its implementation. Two other factors will also have a profound...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Dec 1, 2006

Tale of the tape

Tapes 'n Tapes, this year's designated Internet-sparked American indie band are, for the moment at least, enjoying their rocket trip to notoriety. Touring their butts off since self-releasing their debut album "The Loon" about a year ago, the Minneapolis-based quartet have already achieved a certain...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Dec 1, 2006

Klaxons

While scores of Western bands have recently rediscovered the jarring joys of late-1970s punk-funk, creating an explosion of apoplectic guitar dance-'em-ups, few are as odd as Klaxons. Fusing this sound with an electro edge, the band have found themselves touted as glowstick-bearers of the so-called "nu-rave"...
JAPAN
Dec 1, 2006

Murakami enters plea of not guilty in NBS case

Yoshiaki Murakami, founder of Japan's best-known investment fund, pleaded not guilty Thursday to charges of insider trading involving shares of Nippon Broadcasting System Inc.
CULTURE / Music
Dec 1, 2006

Moools "Dub Narcotic Sessions"

Moools' modest inroads abroad, as documented in "Dub Narcotic Sessions," a CD/DVD package of the trio's tour around the Pacific Northwest in 2003, come from their music's own merits alone. The tone of the album is set by "Bubble Ki," the opener on the four song EP, a quirky piece of lo-fi-psychedelia...
JAPAN
Dec 1, 2006

Film on Korean identity woes released in South

, yet feeling awkward about the country he supports. The filmmaker said in a recent interview in Tokyo that she loved her parents but chose to take South Korean nationality in 2004 because she felt uncomfortable with the North Korean regime, which has left many people destitute and starving.
JAPAN
Dec 1, 2006

Murakami enters plea of not guilty in NBS case

Yoshiaki Murakami, founder of Japan's best-known investment fund, pleaded not guilty Thursday to charges of insider trading involving shares of Nippon Broadcasting System Inc.
BASKETBALL / BJ-LEAGUE NOTEBOOK
Dec 1, 2006

Apache on fire after slow start

For a coach with a pen, a pad and a plan, this is never part of the winning formula: Open the season with three straight losses.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Dec 1, 2006

Journey into the mind of a musical genius

Agnieszka Holland has long been known for translating classical/historical material into pop-culture matter (in "Total Eclipse," for instance, she cast Leonardo di Caprio as a punkish Arthur Rimbaud) and her latest, "Copying Beethoven," is a fictional biopic of the famed composer during the last years...
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Dec 1, 2006

High-end dining: two of our best

Change and entropy, as the philosophers might say, are the only constants. Nowhere is that more evident than in this mighty metropolis and its ever-evolving restaurant scene. New places open, others fade away, but the very best understand how to keep moving with the times.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / JAZZNICITY
Dec 1, 2006

Ub-X freely tinkers with the engine of jazz

Piano, bass and drums form the engine of jazz. Most jazz bands build on this foundation by adding other instruments, while a select few work from within to upend the conventions of the piano trio and fashion a completely new sound. Ub-X, one of the latter, is a group that sounds like no other.

Longform

An illustration features the Japanese signs for "ganbare" (good luck) and the Deaflympics, which will be held between Nov. 15 and 26.
A century of Deaf sport finds its moment in Tokyo