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November 23, 2024
 

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Philip Brasor
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Dec 11, 2011
Mr. Momoe Yamaguchi finally decides to speak
Last week a new movie called "Railways" opened in Tokyo. It's about a driver on a small rural electric train line who retires after 40 years and is sort of a sequel to a film with the exact same title released in 2010. That movie centered on a Tokyo executive who loses his job and decides to pursue his...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / How-tos / HOME TRUTHS
Dec 6, 2011
If you can't afford the land, why not just buy the house?
The real estate agent picked us up in a company car at Takayanagi Station in Kashiwa, Chiba Prefecture, about an hour and 15 minutes commuting time north of central Tokyo. The car had long scratches on the side, probably incurred during attempts to park in unfamiliar spaces, and we drove to the property...
Japan Times
BUSINESS / YEN FOR LIVING
Dec 5, 2011
Competition taking a bite out of dentistry schools' tuition schemes
Dentistry schools in cutthroat competition for new students.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Dec 4, 2011
Mass media not clean in soap-allergy controversy
Two weeks ago, the health ministry announced that at least 471 people have suffered severe allergic reactions related to the use of a facial soap called Cha no Shizuku. Sixty-six of these people have also been hospitalized. In May, Yuuka, the direct sales company that markets the soap, started recalling...
Japan Times
BUSINESS / YEN FOR LIVING
Dec 2, 2011
Annals of cheap: 5manika.com
A new website works a niche and specializes in cheap but decent apartments in Tokyo.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / YEN FOR LIVING
Nov 29, 2011
Solar soon to be heating up in Tokyo
Tokyo to reduce CO2 output through solar heating rather than solar electricity.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Nov 27, 2011
Publishers' ties to distribution a barrier for e-books
On Nov. 13, publisher Takarajima took out newspaper advertisements for its magazine-like book "Denshi Shoseki no Shotai" ("The Real Shape of e-Books"), describing it as a polemic "against electronic books." It includes input from Naoki Award winning novelist Miyuki Miyabe, who explains why she isn't...
Japan Times
BUSINESS / YEN FOR LIVING
Nov 25, 2011
Are digital newspaper subscriptions worth it?
Japanese newspapers still have cold feet when it comes to embracing their digital editions.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / YEN FOR LIVING
Nov 20, 2011
Annals of cheap: Skymark Airlines
For a limited time Skymark Airlines is offering u00a5980 flights to several Japanese cities.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Nov 20, 2011
The B-class-food boom reveals true Japanese cuisine
Two weeks ago, an advisory panel to the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries recommended it apply to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization for recognition of Japanese cuisine as an intangible cultural asset. The panel made its suggestion after UNESCO granted...
Japan Times
BUSINESS / YEN FOR LIVING
Nov 15, 2011
Fair Trade turns from a movement into a brand
Are products with the Fair Trade logo targeted at certain types of consumers?
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Nov 13, 2011
Media takes both sides of TPP debate
Last week Kyodo News conducted a survey on the public's understanding of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, which Japan is thinking of joining. The TPP basically constitutes a free-trade zone among member countries in the Pacific rim region, including the United States, but right now it is still in the negotiation...
Japan Times
BUSINESS / YEN FOR LIVING
Nov 11, 2011
Back to business as usual for condominium developers?
High-rise condominiums are set to make a comeback.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / YEN FOR LIVING
Nov 7, 2011
The more, the thriftier: guests indispensable for expensive weddings
There's an economic rationale for big weddings in Japan.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Nov 6, 2011
In abuse cases, family takes priority over the child
November is Child Abuse Prevention Month, an annual government campaign to promote programs that protect children from violence. Most people will say that they know child abuse when they see it, but what characterizes almost all the recent child abuse incidents in the news is lack of intervention on...
Japan Times
BUSINESS / YEN FOR LIVING
Nov 2, 2011
Car taxes could be cut next year
The government may try to spur car sales by slashing related taxes.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / How-tos / HOME TRUTHS
Nov 1, 2011
Japan's 'new towns' are finally getting too old
In September, real estate developer Tokyo Tatemono started to demolish the Suwa Ni-chome apartments in the western Tokyo region of Tama. The Suwa danchi (housing development) was an integral part of Tama New Town, which opened in 1971. Of the various "new towns" built in the late 1960s and '70s by the...
Japan Times
BUSINESS / YEN FOR LIVING
Oct 30, 2011
Doctors afraid new fee will reduce customers … er, patients
The government wants to add a u00a5100 fee to your medical bills, and doctors are furious.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Oct 30, 2011
Cyclists piste at Tokyo police crackdown
Last month, comedian Mitsunori Fukuda was stopped and cited for riding a fixed-gear racing bike on a public street in Tokyo's Setagaya Ward. These bicycles, also known as "piste bikes," have become popular in the past few years, not so much as a conveyance but more as a fashion statement. They usually...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Oct 23, 2011
Minister attacked for challenging the 'family system'
Yoko Komiyama is the first woman to ever occupy the post of Japan's minister of health, welfare and labor. As a mother, she may have more insight than her male colleagues into issues her ministry addresses, and from the start of her appointment in August she has stirred up controversy, mainly with her...
Japan approves ¥21.9 trillion stimulus plan
The policy chiefs of the Democratic Party for the People, Liberal Democratic Party and Komeito — Makoto Hamaguchi (left), Itsunori Onodera (center) and Mitsunari Okamoto — shake hands after reaching an agreement on an economic stimulus package on Wednesday.
Tokyo Metro’s overseas efforts begin in earnest with London deal
Tokyo Metro will soon have a role in the running of London's Elizabeth Line, a major train route serving the U.K.’s capital city and environs.
Saitama court bans demonstrations over anti-Kurd hate speech
Kurdish people in Japan in 2015. A court injunction has banned acts that defame the Japan Kurdish Cultural Association and are disrespectful, such as putting up banner flags or handing out fliers with hate speech like “Refugees should go back to their home countries.”
China reinstates visa-free travel for Japanese nationals
Beijing Daxing International Airport
U.S. aircraft carrier returns to Japan carrying navy’s ‘most capable fighter’
U.S. 7th Fleet Commander Vice Adm. Fred Kacher speaks to reporters shortly after the arrival of aircraft carrier USS George Washington at Yokosuka naval base in Kanagawa Prefecture on Friday.
Shohei Ohtani wins National League MVP award
Shohei Ohtani celebrates after hitting a three-run home run against the Padres during the National League Division Series at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles last month.
The slow-burn success of ‘A Samurai in Time’
A 19th-century warrior gets struck by lightning and wakes to find himself in 21st-century Kyoto in Junichi Yasuda’s surprise hit “A Samurai in Time.”
Around a quarter of Japan married couples in their 20s met through dating apps
A survey released by an organization promoting “Good Couples Day” shows that 24% of couples in their 20s met their marriage partner through a dating app.
'Tokyo Swindlers': Get deep into the minds of real estate con artists
In Ko Shinjo's "Tokyo Swindlers," a group of con artists manipulates real estate giants into falsified deals within the highly competitive, quick market.
Japan, U.K. and Italy discuss inviting more countries to joint fighter project
A new concept model of a next-generation fighter jet to be jointly developed by Japan, Britain and Italy is on display in Farnborough, Hampshire, in July.

Podcast

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.
Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Longform

Construction takes place on the Takanawa Gateway Convention Center in Tokyo, slated to open in 2025.
A boom for business tourism in Japan?
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