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December 22, 2024
 

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Brett Bull
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE FOREIGN ELEMENT
Dec 23, 2013
Secrets, lies, gaffes, glory: 2013 in quotes
A mix of scandals, achievements, political missteps and commemorations highlighted 2013. Here's a rundown of the quotations that shaped the Year of the Snake.
JAPAN / Media
Aug 12, 2012
Fading shades of pink
At its peak of popularity roughly four decades ago, the form of soft-core pornography known as pinku eiga (pink films) utilized more than 1,000 theaters to screen short, low-budget, erotic films churned out mainly by independent studios.
Japan Times
LIFE / WEEK 3
May 20, 2012
The sky's the limit
After the Great East Japan Earthquake on March 11 last year, the performance of the spectacularly tall Tokyo Sky Tree going up in the capital's downtown Sumida Ward became a subject of heightened interest to experts, residents and the general public alike.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media
Feb 26, 2012
AV stars out to play despite hard times
Since her steamy debut in late 2008, adult-video (AV) actress Kokomi Naruse has starred in hundreds of features, many of which find her playing a young girl desired by older men.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Mar 22, 2011
A dispatch from the disaster zone
I cannot recall ever attempting to take gasoline from a car by sucking through a rubber hose. But on Monday last week there I was, standing in a dirt parking lot while contemplating proper tube diameter to access the tank of our Toyota Belta sedan in the town of Kawasaki, a small suburb just west of...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Oct 8, 2010
Fantastic plastic: Last vinyl presser hosts exam on the record
There are still those for whom the world spins at exactly 33 revolutions per minute. Digital MP3 downloads and YouTube videos may now be the formats of choice in the home and clubs, but the sound of a cartridge needle riding over the groove of a vinyl slab — scratches, skips and all — is quite literally...
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media
Sep 26, 2010
Yakuza groups shoveled aside by Japan's frustrated contractors
News organizations have consistently celebrated the steady rise of the Tokyo Sky Tree in Tokyo's Sumida Ward. Yet the most interesting aspect to the building project, set to reach a height of 634 meters, might be taking place at ground level.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media
Aug 1, 2010
Historic 'pink' theater hopes to put ladies on seats, not just screens
The Kabuki-za theater in Ginza is not the only notable Tokyo structure dating back to the 1950s that has shut its doors this year.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
May 7, 2010
Tortoise
Tortoise's blending of dub, electronica and jazz over its two decades in existence has established the instrumental five-piece as the band that brought progressive rock into the present.
Japan Times
CULTURE
Aug 28, 2009
Cheeky for charity
It is no surprise that an adult entertainment broadcaster would be concerned about the spread of the HIV virus and AIDS. But for one satellite channel in Japan known for silly parodies and wacky porn programming, that concern goes beyond immediate commercial interests — to trying to reverse wilting...
LIFE / WEEK 3
Jul 19, 2009
Bowling 'em over
The game of lawn bowls may appear straightforward — players in whites repeatedly roll 1.5-kg rounded plastic "bowls" over finely cut grass — but Japan's male and female singles champions are taking decidedly different approaches to the World Singles Champion of Champions, set to begin in Ayr, Scotland,...
Japan Times
LIFE / WEEK 3
Jul 19, 2009
Bowling 'em over
The game of lawn bowls may appear straightforward — players in whites repeatedly roll 1.5-kg rounded plastic "bowls" over finely cut grass — but Japan's male and female singles champions are taking decidedly different approaches to the World Singles Champion of Champions, set to begin in Ayr, Scotland,...
Japan Times
CULTURE
Jul 10, 2009
Gundam goes green
Starting tomorrow, prominent Tokyo landmarks — with their fixed steel columns and beams — will likely be feeling a bit inadequate as a new, mobile player is set to rise up and illuminate the capital's skyline.
Japan Times
LIFE / WEEK 3
Jun 21, 2009
Punchy posters urge Tokyoites to mind their manners
It doesn't take a genius to realize that public spaces in Japan are filled with numerous audible and visual reminders about the importance of maintaining personal decorum.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media
Apr 19, 2009
Potting the pink in Saitama
Thumbing through any of the dozen Tokyo sex-service recruit magazines reveals ads for shops, indexed by region, seeking young ladies to serve in various fuzoku (sex-related) clubs and bars.
JAPAN / Media
Apr 19, 2009
Cops crack whip in fight vs. vice
A leather-clad female physically punishing a compliant male into erotic bliss is the usual image one conjures for BDSM, or bondage, discipline, sadism and masochism. Yet, to spend a Sunday afternoon with the ladies on the roster of La Siora, a high-end club based in Shinjuku, is to realize that the proper...
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media
Apr 5, 2009
The hostess club with the mostest AV stars
The job of a typical club hostess is to jovially engage in simple chat, pour cocktails and attend to any unlit cigarettes for her male patron. Yet it will not be long before his topics of conversation drift from simple pleasantries to more intimate inquiries — an uncomfortable yet obligatory duty for...
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media
Apr 5, 2009
Porn actresses pick up prizes
You've come a long way, baby, and in such a short time.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink
Feb 27, 2009
One pricey bowl of soup noodles
A bowl of noodles at a typical Tokyo ramen joint is cheap — usually around ¥800 — and served in a convenient location. Fujimaki Gekijo, situated between Nakameguro and Yutenji in Meguro Ward, is neither. And the owner and chef, Shoichi Fujimaki, would have it no other way.
LIFE / Food & Drink
Feb 27, 2009
One pricey bowl of soup noodles
A bowl of noodles at a typical Tokyo ramen joint is cheap — usually around ¥800 — and served in a convenient location. Fujimaki Gekijo, situated between Nakameguro and Yutenji in Meguro Ward, is neither. And the owner and chef, Shoichi Fujimaki, would have it no other way.
Freed anti-whaling campaigner Paul Watson arrives in France
U.S.-Canadian anti-whaling environmental activist Paul Watson, who was released from prison in Greenland's capital Nuuk after five months in detention, arrives with Lamya Essemlali, president of Sea Shepherd France, at Charles de Gaulle Airport in Roissy-en-France, near Paris, on Friday.
Nippon Steel alleges undue White House influence on doomed deal review
U.S. President Joe Biden delivers remarks on the economy at the Brookings Institution in Washington on Dec. 10.
Record 78% of people in Japan feel anxious, government survey finds
The public opinion survey on people's lives, conducted by the Cabinet Office, found that 28.1% of respondents think that their standard of living is at a lower-middle level among the general public — the highest percentage to give that response in 35 years.
Police raided suspect's home to arrest him after fatal Kitakyushu stabbing
Broken window glass is seen at Masanori Hirabaru's house in Kitakyushu's Kokuraminami Ward.
Taiwan lawmakers brawl over bills that would 'damage democracy'
Lawmakers from the Democratic Progressive Party and opposition party Kuomintang brawl in parliament in Taipei on Friday.
Casual workouts, cool living, ‘complete’ food: Japan’s health trends of 2024
In 2024, efficiency trumped effort among Japan's fitness-focused aspirants.
The mighty Mekong River's growing plastic problem
A group of elephant keepers in Chiang Saen, Thailand, remove plastic waste from the Ruak River, a tributary of the Mekong River, as a pair of Asian elephants bathe behind them.
Japanese officials inspect Yokota Air Base over PFAS concerns
The Yokota Air Base in western Tokyo in September 2019. An inspection of the base by Japanese government officials on Friday came amid public pressure to investigate suspected links between the use of PFAS-containing firefighting foam by the U.S. base and contamination of soil and groundwater in western Tokyo.
Crime numbers rise in Japan for second straight year
A police officer stands in front of the residence of a man alleged to have stabbed two junior high school students in Kitakyushu.

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