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Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Aug 24, 2007

'Sicko'

In the space of merely a few years, director Michael Moore has seen his reputation morph from "the guy who made documentary films truly popular" to "the guy who plays fast and loose with the truth." His moment of greatest triumph at the box office — "Fahrenheit 9/11," which raked in some $120 million,...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Aug 23, 2007

Late to the art party in the 1980s

"Place" and "presence" were two of the core concerns of Minimalism, the last thread of Modernism before it collapsed into Postmodernism's stylistic confusion in the 1970s.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Aug 23, 2007

Behind the mask

Noh is Japan's most inscrutable performing art. A tremendous influence on kabuki and bunraku puppet theater, it is a household name across the nation, yet relatively few Japanese have ever been to a show. Culture vultures marvel at the elaborate costumes and the esoteric, chantlike music; the plays are...
Reader Mail
Aug 22, 2007

Pieces of the lunar/solar calendar

The July 23 Japan Times front page features a wonderful photo of a polar bear chewing on an icy treat at Tennoji Zoo in Osaka, but the tail end of the caption misleadingly says, "The ice was a present ahead of 'Taisho' . . . the hottest day of the year under an old variation of the lunar calendar."...
Japan Times
SOCCER
Aug 22, 2007

Beckham returns to form with perfect timing

CARSON, Calif. (AP) A month into his hugely hyped arrival with the Los Angeles Galaxy, David Beckham has finally made a splash on the field.
MORE SPORTS
Aug 21, 2007

Troubled Vick should seek mercy of the court - and Goodell

Michael Vick has more to worry about at the moment than just what Roger Goodell thinks. Or so it would seem.
SOCCER
Aug 20, 2007

Spurs find form against Derby

LONDON (AP) Tottenham lifted the pressure on manager Martin Jol by scoring three goals in the first 14 minutes on Saturday on the way to a 4-0 Premier League victory over Derby.
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM NEW YORK
Aug 20, 2007

Why can't Americans give up their guns?

NEW YORK — Is there anything comparable to the numbing obstinacy, the utter blindness to reality, that politicians display toward the consequences of untrammeled gun ownership in this country? So I wondered, once again, when I stumbled upon President George W. Bush's answer to what some now call "the...
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design / WEEK 3
Aug 19, 2007

Beauty beheld in brutalism

No matter how wild or wacky their hobbies or obsessions, in the age of the Internet no one need feel isolated any more, and by casting all inhibitions aside almost anyone is assured of finding like-minded others out there in cyberspace — if not just around the corner from home.
Japan Times
LIFE / WEEK 3
Aug 19, 2007

Mere death needn't be a barrier to enjoying a nice cup of tea with the deceased

'Tick, tock, tick, tock," goes the clock of human life. Living with regrets is one of the hardest things to do. What if your dad died and you hadn't had that last cup of tea with him? Not much you can do about that — or so you might think.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Aug 18, 2007

Classical accordionist finds harmony with Asia

Another a fine example of synchronicity if ever there was one!
BASKETBALL / HOOP SCOOP
Aug 18, 2007

JBA needs to give Suzuki more time to turn national team around

Continuity helps breed success. Without it, a sports team rarely finds the necessary components — leadership, in-game chemistry and mastering the fundamentals — to become an elite team.
Japan Times
SOCCER
Aug 17, 2007

Becks scores in first Galaxy start

CARSON, Calif. (AP) It was a night of firsts for David Beckham.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Aug 17, 2007

Girls have all the fun

If there was a festival anthem to this year's Summer Sonic, it was "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun." The overflowing crowd at Cyndi Lauper's Sunday set on the Sonic Stage was mostly made up of women who mouthed every word to her string of hits. And when she finished with her biggest hit, the female members...
Japan Times
CULTURE / OTAKOOL
Aug 16, 2007

How the Net made a bedroom rapper a star in Japan

The Acid Panda Cafe, an underground hip-hop club in Tokyo, is packed. The show is sold out. The racial makeup of the crowd is virtually all Japanese, except for the four African-Americans who hit the stage at 1 a.m. and launch into spirited rhyme. The words, inexplicably, are Japanese.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Aug 16, 2007

"Hiroshi Teshigahara"

Museum of Modern Art, Saitama Closes in 53 days
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Aug 16, 2007

Flying high and free

On a sweltering summer day recently, members of the Condors dance troupe were pouring with sweat as they practiced for their upcoming national tour. Choreographer and lead dancer, Ryohei Kondo, was in the center of a circle of the dancers, who were voicing their opinions freely.
MORE SPORTS
Aug 15, 2007

Mao aiming for world title after near miss in Tokyo

Fresh off a training stint in Russia with famed coach Tatiana Tarasova, and a short vacation in Japan, world figure skating championship runnerup Mao Asada is making no secret of her ambitions for the upcoming Grand Prix season.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 15, 2007

U.S.-India agreement threatens to fuel nuclear proliferation as well as arms race

PRINCETON, New Jersey — The United States is having a difficult time trying to justify the U.S.-India nuclear deal that will be brought into effect by the "123 agreement" that has just been concluded between the two countries.
LIFE / Digital / IGADGET
Aug 15, 2007

Air-conditioned neckties, AERO multifunction iPod docks

Cool Biz is not a principle that your average Japanese salaryman is going to embrace without a robust philosophical debate. A key impediment to his embracing of the green logic is the necktie. If he could have it surgically attached, I do believe that he would. Thanko is giving the poor guy an option...
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / WILD WATCH
Aug 15, 2007

Bliss for a Lazy Birder

Birders are often motivated by their species list — often something akin to their meaning of life.
BUSINESS
Aug 14, 2007

Economic growth slows to annual pace of 0.5%

The economy grew at a weaker than expected 0.1 percent in the April-June quarter as exports to the United States slowed and consumer spending declined, the Cabinet Office said Monday.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / VIEWS FROM THE STREET
Aug 14, 2007

What three things would you want to have if you were stranded on an island?

COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
Aug 14, 2007

Advice on divorce, arachnids

Seeking legal help French national J-L's brother has separated from his Japanese wife.
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Aug 14, 2007

Manga frenzy proves that we're all kids at heart

That whole deal about growing up and behaving like an adult? Scrap it, you don't have to — at least not in the Japan of recent years. Adult responsibilities, adult worries, adult concerns — while we all know such things exist, it's become possible to dodge them well into your 30s and 40s, in a kind...
EDITORIALS
Aug 12, 2007

Summer recuperation

The famous psychologist William James once said, "We learn to swim in winter and skate in summer." What he meant was that relaxing downtime is essential for unconsciously processing the lessons from busier times. James never experienced the heat and humidity of a Japanese summer, but if he had, he might...
CULTURE / Books
Aug 12, 2007

A dark dissection of Tokyo at war

Tokyo Year Zero by David Peace. London: Faber, Aug. 2007, 355 pp., £16.99 (cloth); New York: Knopf, Sept. 2007, $24 (cloth). Aug. 15, 1945 — Emperor Hirohito broadcasts Japan's acceptance of the terms of the Potsdam Declaration, and the body of a woman is found in the flooded basement of Dai-Ichi...

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