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December 28, 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.
Ex-PM Miyazawa aired doubts about China's democratization to Clinton in '93
Then-Prime Minister Kiichi Miyazawa (left) and then-U.S. President Bill Clinton meet for talks at the White House on April 16, 1993.
Human error caused JAL jet collision at Haneda Airport: safety board
The wreckage of a Japan Airlines plane after a collision with a Japan Coast Guard aircraft, at Haneda Airport in Tokyo on Jan. 5, three days after the crash.
Osamu Suzuki, who ran Suzuki Motor for five decades, dies at 94
Osamu Suzuki, a former president of Suzuki Motor, in October 2016
Uranium detected in extracted Fukushima nuclear fuel debris
Nuclear fuel debris recovered from the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant No. 2 reactor
Chisako Kakehi, sentenced to death for cyanide murders, dies in custody
Death row inmate Chisako Kakehi, who was convicted of murdering three elderly men between 2012 and 2013 with the intent of inheriting their assets, has died, local media reported Thursday.
Human error caused JAL jet collision at Haneda Airport: safety board
The wreckage of a Japan Airlines plane after a collision with a Japan Coast Guard aircraft, at Haneda Airport in Tokyo on Jan. 5, three days after the crash.
Japan and China to continue delicate diplomatic dance in 2025
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba shakes hands with Chinese leader Xi Jinping on Nov. 15 during their meeting on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Lima.
Increasing number of Japanese bears find human dwellings ‘just right’
A bear trap in Hokkaido Prefecture. Bears have recently been found inside homes and shops.
High levels of PFAS found in water from 44 private suppliers across Japan
The Self-Defense Forces facilities are believed to have become sources of PFAS contamination because they used firefighting foam containing the toxic chemicals in the past.
Start the new year not with one temple visit, but seven
At each shrine and temple, priests create festive, decorative go-shuin stamps, and you can collect the marks of all seven of the lucky gods on one piece of paper (called a shikishi) to serve as a good-luck talisman.

Podcast

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

Longform

Visitors to Kyoto walk along a street near Kiyomizu Temple in April. A popular tourist spot, Kyoto has seen what locals feel to be an overwhelming amount of tourists in 2024.
Is Japan ready for 60 million tourists?
By Kathryn Wortley

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