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CULTURE / Books
Jan 18, 2009

In love with China: from forbidden fruits to futile fantasies

CHINA DREAMS by Sid Smith. London: Picador, 2008, 183 pp., £7.99 (paper)
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Jan 18, 2009

Finding the fabled Snow Country

"The special delights of the hot spring are for the unaccompanied gentleman," states the introduction to Yasunari Kawabata's "Snow Country," instantly seizing the attention.
JAPAN
Jan 17, 2009

U.S. business envoy warns against protectionism amid economic woes

Japan should steer clear of protectionism and use its extraordinary wealth to stimulate its economy and become a much larger player in the global trading system, the head of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce said Friday in Tokyo.
JAPAN
Jan 16, 2009

Aso's days said numbered

Now that Prime Minister Taro Aso managed Tuesday to force the second extra budget for fiscal 2008 through the Lower House, his next hurdle is the fiscal 2009 budget and related bills.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jan 16, 2009

If you can't sell designer bags, rent them

Japanese consumers are renowned for their appetite for luxury brands, hence Georgio Armani and other high-end labels opened their largest outlets in the world in the glitzy Ginza district in Tokyo.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jan 16, 2009

'Hell Ride'/'Filth and Wisdom'

Glancing at the poster for "Hell Ride," you'd think it was the second coming of some long-lost 1968 biker flick, some Roger Corman-produced exploitation nasty like "The Wild Angels" or "Chrome and Hot Leather." But no, this is a homage to '60s biker flicks, produced by trash-movie sommelier Quentin Tarantino,...
Japan Times
SOCCER / SOCCER SCENE
Jan 15, 2009

No time to lose for Urawa as Finke gets down to business

Urawa Reds were quick off the mark to begin training for the 2009 season this week, but then the Saitama club has good reason to be impatient for a fresh start.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WORDS TO LIVE BY
Jan 15, 2009

Wildlife attendant Pat Kim

Pat Kim is a wildlife attendant at the Hyatt Regency Guam, where she takes care of the exotic birds in the hotel's gardens. Since the arrival of a flock of baby parrots in Guam 15 years ago, Kim's been a virtual mom to them, nursing eight little macaws and two cockatoos into the magnificent creatures...
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jan 15, 2009

Grandson to inherit a carmaker in decline

Akio Toyoda, grandson of Toyota Motor Corp.'s founder and the company's next president, will confront a challenge largely unknown to his ancestors — decline.
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Jan 14, 2009

'Change' is for the better in year's kanji highlights

The most popular kanji in headlines, blurbs and slogans last year had to do with disasters. Hen (変, to change, or metamorphose) was the most used character, according to the Japan Kanji Aptitude Testing Foundation, beating out close second and third choices kin (金 gold) and raku (落, to drop, or...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jan 13, 2009

Respect 'maiko' privacy, don't act like paparazzi, Kyoto tells tourists

KYOTO — It's a freezing December night but tourists are out in force in Kyoto's Gion district, on the hunt for one particular attraction.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Jan 13, 2009

Bloated bureaucracy exposed

A common joke among some foreigners here is that everything makes sense once you realize Japan is a communist country. However, the role of privileged ruling Communist Party (or, if you have a literary bent, the pigs in George Orwell's socialist parable "Animal Farm") is played not by the perpetual opposition...
LIFE
Jan 11, 2009

A meeting of minds

OXFORD ENGLAND — The last leaves were falling and the world was plunging into an economic crisis as journalists from around the world gathered for a meeting in England. The venue, though, was not a conference room in the financial hub of the City of London, but the ancient university city of Oxford,...
Japan Times
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Jan 11, 2009

Time a Darwinian 'true myth' evolved to rival religion

This year, 2009, is a double anniversary of particular relevance for this column.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Jan 11, 2009

Blood, sweat and tears of Zen

Here is an unusually fine translation of a most unusual best-seller: the 1996 "Ku Neru Suwaru: Eiheiji Shugyoki," Kaoru Nonomura's account of the rigors and rewards of hard Zen training.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Jan 11, 2009

Blood, sweat and tears of Zen

EAT SLEEP SIT: My Year at Japan's Most Rigorous Zen Temple, by Kaoru Nonomura, translated by Juliet Winters Carpenter. Kodansha International, 2008, 324 pp., ¥2,600 (cloth) Here is an unusually fine translation of a most unusual best-seller: the 1996 "Ku Neru Suwaru: Eiheiji Shugyoki," Kaoru Nonomura's...
SOCCER / PREMIER REPORT
Jan 10, 2009

Documentary on Gascoigne an absolute disgrace

LONDON — It is rare that a television program involving football makes you feel so uncomfortable that you turn it off.
JAPAN
Jan 10, 2009

Rebuffed, Watanabe set to quit LDP

With all his policy proposals effectively snubbed by Prime Minister Taro Aso, Liberal Democratic Party lawmaker Yoshimi Watanabe's exit from the ruling party became almost certain Friday.
SUMO / SUMO SCRIBBLINGS
Jan 7, 2009

Hatsu 2009 — Asa, Kaio and Harumafuji to headline?

Training is already well underway for the 2009 Hatsu Basho with one man leading the pack in terms of exertion put in, and column inches covering that effort. That man is Asashoryu.
BASKETBALL / NBA / NBA REPORT
Jan 7, 2009

Barkley lives up to reputation as buffoon

NEW YORK — To Charles Barkley's credit, his capacity for audacity and proclivity for stupidity are unrivaled in NBA annals.
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Jan 7, 2009

Modern childhood holds many a lesson for adults

The reader is invited to accompany me on a trip (return, not one-way) to second childhood. Those of us who learned Japanese as adults missed out, after all, on a vast store of linguistic experience. Is it irretrievable? Maybe not. The child's world is laid out in children's books. Leave your adulthood...
COMMUNITY / Issues / JUST BE CAUSE
Jan 6, 2009

Japan makes progress in 2009

As we start 2009, let's recharge the batteries by reviewing last year's good news. Here is my list of top human rights advancements for Japan in 2009, in ascending order:
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Jan 6, 2009

Otaru ruling beats 'mob rule'

Paul de Vries' treatise on group accountability in Japanese society ("Back to the baths: Otaru revisited," Zeit Gist, Dec. 2) offered a new take on the now familiar story of the court case between Japan's naturalized enfant terrible, Debito Arudou, and the managers of the Yunohana public bath in Otaru,...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHO'S WHO
Jan 6, 2009

Academic career in Japan served as vital lesson in culture, says dean

Bruce Stronach, current dean of the Japan campus of Temple University, has a career in academia that spans two countries and over three decades. Sixteen of those years were spent with schools in Japan and have taught him much about Japanese society.
Reader Mail
Jan 4, 2009

Terms suggestive of racism

Regarding Brian Clacey's Jan. 1 letter, "On the lookout for a slight": I took up Clacey's suggestion and asked myself why "Jap" is considered racist while "Brit" is not. While perhaps not answering his question completely, I think looking at who uses these labels offers a partial answer.
CULTURE / Books
Jan 4, 2009

The beauty of imperfection and much more

"Wabi-sabi," which is two words combined, represents in abbreviated form an elusive concept that is key to the understanding of traditional Japanese aesthetics. Indeed, rather than a single concept, it is a cluster of ideas that permeate artistic practice in Japan, or at least did so in the past. Now,...

Longform

Totopa in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward was picked by consultants TTNE as the best sauna of the year.
Japan’s sauna movement: Relax, refresh, repeat