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Features
May 9, 2004

Lost in translation on Japanese screens

Unlike the countries that tend to dub foreign movies, Japan has been mainly using subtitles for more than 70 years. No one knows exactly why, but some say the Japanese simply enjoy hearing the original voices of the actors and the sounds in the background. Most now take it for granted that going to the...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
May 9, 2004

Steve Kimock: more than a feeling

A friend of mine calls improvisational guitarist Steve Kimock "The Master," constantly marveling at his shimmering harmonics, dynamic swings and musical "feel." What does Kimock have to say to this straightforward sort of hero worship? (Think Wayne's World's "We're not worthy!")
Features
May 9, 2004

Language aide's value went way beyond words

Being an interpreter involves a lot of time and hard work, but the job's many rewards often include a chance to get close to the action.
Features
May 9, 2004

Translators' icon with rhythm writ large in his lexicon

When people decide to read a book by a foreign author, they may be drawn by what they know of the writer, or by an intriguing title. But for many Japanese readers, the attraction is that a book was translated by Motoyuki Shibata -- and will therefore likely be to their taste as well as his.
Japan Times
JAPAN
May 7, 2004

Troubled kids find caring for animals good therapy

Problem and abused kids are on the rise and need help from many quarters, not just professional, to turn their lives around, and animals can and do play a therapeutic role to this end, according to an American expert in the field.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
May 5, 2004

'Kill Bill: Vol. 2': Back into the pit of vipers

True originality is a many-splintered thing. Let us recall that Shakespeare was indebted to Marlowe, Picasso drew inspiration from African totems and Van Gogh dug ukiyoe prints. Then this thing called postmodernism gave artists carte blanche to quote, sample, appropriate, reinterpret -- you name it,...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art / NEW ART SEEN
May 5, 2004

Hara solo gives Rika Noguchi liftoff

Sometimes, for whatever reason, a "buzz" develops around an art exhibition, and soon everybody is talking about it. I'm still not sure exactly why, but there was a real buzz at the vernissage for "I Dreamt of Flying," a new Rika Noguchi show comprising about 40 photographic prints that is now showing...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
May 5, 2004

Re-presenting the modern by any means

"So what's modern art all about?" is a question I am often asked. It's about as easy to answer as "What is the meaning of life?"
COMMENTARY / World
May 5, 2004

China can't stop counterfeit DVD sales

LONDON -- Some months ago I was coming out of a classroom at Fudan University in Shanghai when a man sprinted past me with a suitcase under his arm. He was closely followed by a policeman, who suddenly leaped at him in a rugby tackle and brought him down. The suitcase went up in the air and came crashing...
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
May 4, 2004

Past and Present

'Ican forgive, but I won't forget," says Jack Simmonds, an 82-year-old Australian, who was detained as a prisoner of war in Japan during World War II.
SUMO
May 4, 2004

Elder says Tochiazuma doubtful

Chances are high ozeki Tochiazuma will not compete in the upcoming Summer Grand Sumo Tournament as he has yet to recover from a left shoulder injury, the wrestler's father and sumo elder Tamanoi said Monday.
EDITORIALS
May 3, 2004

Limits to good intentions

The government was right to flatly reject the demand from Islamic hostage-takers last month that Japan withdraw its troops immediately from Iraq. That resolute response was supported by most Japanese, boosting Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's popularity ratings. Yet, as security in Iraq continues to...
Japan Times
JAPAN
May 3, 2004

Public gradually more accepting of constitutional change

Revising the war-renouncing Constitution, which has not seen a single change since it was introduced in 1947, is increasingly becoming a possibility, although a public consensus is still elusive on the most sensitive issue of what to do with Article 9.
JAPAN
May 3, 2004

Distrust in pension framework growing

The recent revelations that seven Cabinet ministers, as well as the current and former leaders of the largest opposition party, have been delinquent in paying their mandatory pension premiums have further fueled public distrust of the basic public pension framework.
JAPAN
May 3, 2004

Distrust in pension framework growing

The recent revelations that seven Cabinet ministers, as well as the current and former leaders of the largest opposition party, have been delinquent in paying their mandatory pension premiums have further fueled public distrust of the basic public pension framework.
JAPAN
May 2, 2004

U.S. looks to expand Japan's military role

OSAKA -- On Nov. 19, 1953, then U.S. Vice President Richard Nixon mounted the podium at a special meeting of the Japan-America Society in Tokyo.
JAPAN / History
May 2, 2004

U.S. looks to expand Japan's military role

OSAKA -- On Nov. 19, 1953, then U.S. Vice President Richard Nixon mounted the podium at a special meeting of the Japan-America Society in Tokyo.
EDITORIALS
May 1, 2004

Challenging upgrade for the EU

The European Union enters a new era Saturday when it admits 10 new members, eight of them former communist countries of Central and Eastern Europe. The future is fraught with uncertainty, but one thing is clear: The East and West are coming together, putting their Cold War divisions behind them. A greater...
BASKETBALL / NBA / NBA REPORT
May 1, 2004

Hall of Famer Yardley engaged in different kind of battle

NEW YORK -- Contrary to conventional conviction, George Yardley's induction into Springfield's Hall of Fame in '96, leading the NBA in scoring (27.8) and becoming the league's first player to amass 2,000 points in a (72-game) season (Wilt doubled that output four years later) did not compare with his...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Apr 30, 2004

Kimono makes comeback -- in used form

Every once in a while, 27-year-old Junko Nagumo and five companions visit boutiques in upmarket Tokyo districts such as Omotesando and Ginza -- not to buy trendy fashion items but to find inexpensive used kimono.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / How-tos
Apr 30, 2004

When your kids are cooperating, but the weather isn't

Special to The Japan Times You're ready to spend some quality time with the kids. It's raining cats and dogs. Here are 10 places to drag the little ones to when the weather isn't cooperating:
COMMENTARY
Apr 29, 2004

British fault line with Bush

LONDON -- Commentators on both sides of the Atlantic have been raising the possibility of a split between Britain and America on the handling of Middle Eastern affairs.
ENVIRONMENT / OLD NIC'S NOTEBOOK
Apr 29, 2004

'Little blighters' that drive me barking mad

Two years ago, we transplanted 20 cherry saplings cloned from an ancient and historical tree (see Old Nic's Notebook; May, 1, 2003) here where I live in Kurohime, Nagano Prefecture. We then raised the saplings with loving care in our own little nursery for six years, before replanting them at the entranceway...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Apr 28, 2004

Fashionable marriage

Best known in Japan as a fashion photographer and music-video director, Kazuaki Kiriya has made his feature-film debut with "Casshern," the Japanese film industry's most extravagant marriage yet between live action and 3-D animation.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Apr 28, 2004

Winning charm points with Mum and Kurosawa

The demands of stardom are not easily ignored: When Jude Law failed to show for a Tokyo press conference in early April with director Anthony Minghella and co-star Renee Zellweger, the disappointment was palpable -- not just among his many female fans, but also that of the film's distributor, who is...
JAPAN
Apr 27, 2004

Koizumi still popular as he marks third anniversary

Experiencing ups and downs but being kept afloat by generally strong public approval ratings, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi on Monday marked the third anniversary of the inauguration of his administration.
COMMENTARY
Apr 27, 2004

Don't credit PM for recovery

The Japanese economy is recovering. Why? Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi can hardly take the credit.
JAPAN
Apr 27, 2004

Founder of McDonald's in Japan is dead at 78

Den Fujita, a charismatic businessman who established the McDonald's fast-food chain's Japan presence as well as the country's Toys "R" Us debut, has died of heart failure, a company official said Monday. He was 78.
EDITORIALS
Apr 26, 2004

No place for partisanship

With national elections around the corner, partisan politics is blocking progress on pension reform. Although debate has resumed in the Lower House Welfare and Labor Committee, the two largest parties, the ruling Liberal Democratic Party and the opposition Democratic Party of Japan, are spending more...

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