COVER
What's Right with Japan (Special Report | What's Right With Japan)
Forget about salarymen, gridlocked politics and zombie corporations. Japan is transforming itself into Asia's cultural dynamoand might be reinventing its economy in the process
SPECIAL REPORT
The Hip Sell (Special Report | What's Right With Japan)
Small, fresh firms are waging a creative revolution in the ad industry
Scene Change (Special Report | What's Right With Japan)
Hirokazu Kore-eda is cultivating Japan's next crop of filmmakers
Redrawing Rules (Special Report | What's Right With Japan)
Koji Yamamura is a lone wolf in the world of assembly-line animation
Rinngo's a Star (Special Report | What's Right With Japan)
On the cookie-cutter pop scene, one singer goes for the unique
Rock-It-Yourselfers (Special Report | What's Right With Japan)
Rage against the idol machineindie acts get shelf space, fans and respect
TomorrowLand (Special Report | What's Right With Japan)
Tycoon Minoru Mori wants to make Tokyo a more livable city
Playing in Place (Special Report | What's Right With Japan)
Funky architects are redesigning where Japan shops, works and plays
Winning Combini (Special Report | What's Right With Japan)
The rise of 7-Eleven is a welcome victory for corporate Japan
Street Wise (Special Report | What's Right With Japan)
Haute designers team up with urban brands for wearable fashion
Cool Under Fire (Special Report | What's Right With Japan)
Heizo Takenaka is determined to rid Japan's financial house of disorder
ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
Turning Up the Heat (Movies)
Canto-pop star Leon Lai makes his action-hero debut in director Benny Chan's latest film Heroic Duo
Those Chinatown Blues (Books)
Iris Chang's narrative history The Chinese in America provides a useful, if shrill, reassessment
TRAVEL
A Beach too Far
Is long-haul travel in irreversible decline?
ASIA
India's Great Divide
Mounting fury over religious discrimination by the Hindu majority is triggering an increasingly violent Muslim backlash
You Can't Go Home Again (Viewpoint)
Yang Jianli returned to China to see how his country was faringand was jailed
Getting in a Few Good Shots Is What Mattered (Letter From Thailand)
In a Bangkok slum, our writer steps into the ring for a bit of a punch-up
BRIEFING
Talking About Talks (Notebook | North Korea)
The U.S. and North Korea exchange barbs as negotiations draw closer
Third Term Lucky (Notebook | Cambodia)
Little surprise as Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen is reelected
Drama Court (Notebook | Terror)
The trial of the accused Bali bombers has had some interesting moments
Bad Boys (Notebook | Philippines)
Philippines President Arroyo survives a mini-mutiny, but many fear other protests may follow
Milestones (Notebook)
Bob Hope dies at 100
Verbatim (Notebook)
Quotes of the Week
Letters (Notebook)
Hong Kong's Velvet Revolution