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April 08, 2025
 

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Philip Brasor
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Sep 4, 2011
Actress's inheritance saga plays out like melodrama
Sometimes the components of a news story fit together so perfectly that you can't help but wonder how much of it was engineered by the press. Actress Hisako Manda, a former beauty queen who found success in recent years as a cover girl for magazines catering to women in their 50s, is currently at the...
BUSINESS / YEN FOR LIVING
Sep 2, 2011
Annals of cheap: Kenko.com
Right now bottled water is cheaper than . . . water.
BUSINESS / YEN FOR LIVING
Aug 31, 2011
Discount strategies: Every dog, and man, has his day
The service industry is finally targeting guys.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Aug 28, 2011
Star's exit shows it's not what you know — but who
If you asked anyone in the world with access to any sort of media what last week's big news story was, they would probably say Libya. If you asked the same question of similarly connected people in Japan, they would probably say the retirement of comedian Shinsuke Shimada. The fall of Tripoli didn't...
BUSINESS / YEN FOR LIVING
Aug 26, 2011
Annals of cheap: Fukushima peaches
For a limited time only, peaches are really cheap.
BUSINESS / YEN FOR LIVING
Aug 23, 2011
All in the family: Keeping inheritances is a tricky business
Many people hide inheritances to avoid paying taxes, which is relatively easy to do.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Aug 21, 2011
Korean television dramas are not the real problem
On July 23, actor Sosuke Takaoka tweeted that he was sick of all the Korean dramas on Fuji TV, a network he "used to be indebted to," and demanded more "traditional" Japanese programming. "If anything related to South Korea is on," he continued, "I just turn it off." The backlash was swift, and the actor...
BUSINESS / YEN FOR LIVING
Aug 18, 2011
There's gold in them there wardrobes!
More people are mining closets and wardrobes for the precious metals they might contain.
BUSINESS / YEN FOR LIVING
Aug 16, 2011
Which appliance is the energy hog? It's not your air conditioner
The media aren't really telling you the best way to save energy at home ...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Aug 14, 2011
Media coverage often 'the last push' to suicide
In May, 24-year-old TV personality Miyu Uehara was pronounced dead shortly after a friend found her hanging from a door in her Tokyo apartment. Uehara's death was called an "apparent suicide" by the media, and while the terminology was cautious the reporting itself took for granted the belief that Uehara...
BUSINESS / YEN FOR LIVING
Aug 10, 2011
Disaster housing proves cash cow for general contractors
Local construction companies in Tohoku have been squeezed out of the short-term housing boom.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Aug 7, 2011
Fabricated public opinion is the norm
The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry's energy agency recently contracted with an outside advertising company to monitor "inaccurate" online information regarding nuclear energy. In response, the media cried "censorship," but as pointed out in last week's issue of Aera, the agency has employed...
BUSINESS / YEN FOR LIVING
Aug 4, 2011
Cool to be kind: Air conditioners for the needy
Tokyo has started to provide funds for low-income households to buy air conditioners.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / How-tos / HOME TRUTHS
Aug 2, 2011
Once settled in, chances are you'll have to pay to stay
In 1946, Japan was in ruins. The housing shortage was severe and inflation was high, so the government issued a directive to freeze rental fees. To make up for the perceived loss of income, property owners came up with supplemental fees — renewal fees, called koshinryō, and "gift money" or reikin,...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Jul 31, 2011
Nadeshiko Japan show that a relaxed approach gets the best results
The national women's soccer team that just won the FIFA World Cup in Germany is called Nadeshiko Japan. "Nadeshiko" is the name of a flower, but it also represents a certain ideal of Japanese femininity that's demure, quiet and accommodating to men; or, at least, it used to be. Japan's victory over the...
BUSINESS / YEN FOR LIVING
Jul 27, 2011
After the death of analog, whither Tokyo Tower?
How will Tokyo Tower remain solvent in the shadow of Tokyo Sky Tree?
BUSINESS / YEN FOR LIVING
Jul 25, 2011
Hidden pachinko industry workers make some noise
A labor strike draws attention to the shadowier side of the pachinko business.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Jul 24, 2011
Today is D-Day for analog television
Sony recently announced it would discontinue production of the MiniDisc Walkman in September. It was just over a year ago that the company dropped the cassette Walkman, so within the space of 18 months two media will have bitten the dust. Though audiophiles may lament the end of another era, to most...
BUSINESS / YEN FOR LIVING
Jul 20, 2011
The imperfect science of delineating poverty
How informative is the 'relative poverty' index?
BUSINESS / YEN FOR LIVING
Jul 18, 2011
Nadeshiko Japan obviously doesn't do it for the money
Will victory mean more money for women's soccer in Japan?
Nissan says it will not take new U.S. orders for Mexican-built Infiniti SUVs
A Nissan manufacturing complex in Aguascalientes, Mexico. Nissan says it will not take new orders from the United States for two Mexican-built Infiniti SUVs following new auto tariffs levied by the U.S.
Why Japan is running out of rice — and farmers to grow it
An ongoing shortage of rice has resulted in rising prices for Japan's main food staple.
Nikkei plunges in third-biggest daily loss ever amid Trump tariff concerns
Pedestrians stand in front of an electronic board showing the numbers of the Nikkei Stock Average on the Tokyo Stock Exchange along a street in the Japanese capital on Monday.
Ride-hailing services spreading in Japan
Vehicles used for ride-hailing services in the city of Kiryu, in Gunma Prefecture
Taiwan eyes zero tariffs with U.S., pledges more investment
Kids view the area from a lookout point over cranes and containers at the Port of Keelung, Taiwan, on Thursday.
‘Let’s make it practical’: NATO chief eyes greater defense-industrial ties with Japan
NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte plans to visit Japan on Tuesday and Wednesday — his first to the Indo-Pacific region since taking office in October, as he seeks to implement lessons from the ongoing war in Ukraine.
Tottori takes a bold leap forward in the arts
The city of Kurayoshi in Tottori Prefecture celebrated the opening of its public art museum with festivities such as a parade that drew 1,000 revelers.
Haruki Murakami TV adaptation revisits 30 years of watershed moments
Though Haruki Murakami's trademark whiff of offbeat existentialism is threaded throughout NHK's "After the Quake," the final episode — conceived as a sequel to the story "Super-Frog Saves Tokyo" — is the most stylized, featuring an anthropomorphic talking frog (voiced by Non) and his erstwhile associate Katagiri (Koichi Sato).
Nintendo to launch the Switch 2 on June 5
The controllers for the Switch 2 will attach to the console magnetically rather than sliding on rails as with the original device.
A new human trafficking trend emerges from Myanmar scam centers
Victims of scam centers who were tricked or trafficked into working in Myanmar gather at a compound inside KK Park, a fraud center on the country's border with Thailand, after a multinational crackdown in February.

Podcast

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

Longform

An ongoing shortage of rice has resulted in rising prices for Japan's main food staple.
Why Japan is running out of rice — and farmers to grow it
By Alex K.T. Martin

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