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Japan Times
JAPAN / KANSAI PERSPECTIVE
Aug 27, 2017

Competition to host Japan's first casino resort heats up

As the Diet prepares to debate the structure of integrated casino resorts this autumn, competition in Osaka and neighboring Wakayama to win the rights to host one of the first legal gambling complexes in the country is heating up.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Aug 25, 2017

Netflix's 'Death Note' may be dumber, but is it really evil?

After the furor over the recent "Ghost in the Shell" adaptation, moviegoers should be familiar with the concept of "whitewashing," the insidious Hollywood practice of casting Caucasian actors in roles that originated as non-white characters. But when Lakeith Stanfield, who is African-American, was picked...
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
Aug 25, 2017

DAZN brings boxing superfight to Japan, as streaming apps poised to disrupt broadcasting

In Tokyo and want to watch this weekend's Mayweather-McGregor superfight? You won't need a satellite dish or a sports bar — just an app.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Aug 25, 2017

Drinking to health and history in Kagoshima

Passengers flying into Kagoshima Airport in Kyushu pass over verdant mountains and lush agricultural fields just before landing. This rich terrain, fertilized by ash from a nearby active volcano, partially explains one facet of the prefecture's reputation: Kagoshima is famous for healthy cuisine.
Japan Times
BASKETBALL / B. League
Aug 24, 2017

Sunrockers team up with Hunza to boost ticket sales

Going into the B. League's second season, the Sunrockers Shibuya are trying to fill their arena more with the help of an online ticket sales expert.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / HOTELS & RESTAURANTS
Aug 24, 2017

Luxury hotels set to welcome Olympic guests

In 2020, Marriott International Inc. will open for the first time in Japan two "high-grade luxury lifestyle hotels" with the EDITION Toranomon and EDITION Ginza.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle
Aug 19, 2017

Gachapon: Tracing the evolution of Japan's colorful toy capsules

Where else but Japan could you buy a miniature version of Edvard Munch's "The Scream" figure crouching over a squat toilet, horror-struck? It's one of thousands of ingeniously designed trinkets you can buy for a pittance from toy machines across the nation. They're subversive, beautifully crafted and...
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Tech
Aug 10, 2017

Sega embraces rogue fan programmers with retro Sonic sequel

Sega is doing what Nintendon't.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film / Wide Angle
Aug 9, 2017

'Re:Born': 'Tak' Sakaguchi is back for some major action

Movie fight scenes, even ones that are acted by martial arts experts, rarely duplicate what actually transpires on a street or battlefield. After all, they're performed for entertainment, not as actual matters of life or death.
Japan Times
JAPAN / 50 years of ASEAN
Aug 9, 2017

Youth encouraged to expand horizons through travel

The ASEAN-Japan Centre, which aims to promote trade, investment, tourism and other exchanges between the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and Japan, is holding various events this year to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the foundation of ASEAN.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 5, 2017

Give Los Angeles the Olympics for good

Rotating the Olympic Games between a few select cities would be better than risking having none at all due to spiraling costs.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 4, 2017

For China's billionaires, all that is gold does not glitter

China's newly minted big money men project larger-than-life personalities, but their good fortune can be rescinded at a moment's notice if they displease the reigning commissars.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / FOCUS
Aug 3, 2017

China's fear of becoming Japan fueling crackdown on leverage, corporate buying sprees

President Xi Jinping's top economic adviser commissioned a study earlier this year to see how China could avoid the fate of Japan's epic bust in the 1990s and decades of stagnation that followed.
Japan Times
CULTURE / TV & Streaming
Aug 2, 2017

Winter has finally come for Isaac Hempstead Wright

It's Monday night and the newly opened Brew La La craft beer bar in Tokyo's Shinbashi neighborhood is hopping. As the clock strikes 8 p.m., however, the 60 or so people gathered there fall silent. "Game of Thrones" is on.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Aug 2, 2017

Public hearings on Japan's casino resort policies to be held in nine cities

With its basic recommendations for operating integrated resort casinos now complete, the central government will hold public hearings across the country this month to explain the requirements and the policies to address problem gambling and concerns about money laundering.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film / Wide Angle
Jul 27, 2017

It's a bit out of the way, but Skip City festival makes up for the distance with great films and rare access

The location for the Skip City International D-Cinema Festival doesn't make it particularly easy for casual fans to pop in. The Skip City complex — which hosts studios for audiovisual production, as well as educational and entertainment facilities — is a fairly lengthy bus ride from Kawaguchi Station...
Japan Times
CULTURE / CULTURE SMASH
Jul 23, 2017

Crunchyroll takes anime to a live level

Summer is high season for live celebrations of Japan's pop culture exports. The two largest events in the West, Japan Expo in Paris and Anime Expo in LA, drew hundreds of thousands earlier this month. August will see the U.S. East Coast's biggest anime convention, Otakon, move from Baltimore, Maryland,...
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Jul 22, 2017

Try checking into a love hotel for a good night's sleep

Around the end of each year's rainy season in July, it's common for the media to run articles on the subject of sleep. Hot weather is not the only factor that makes Japan less conducive to sleeping in summer. Since daylight savings is not practiced, the sun rises before 5 a.m., affecting many people's...
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Tech
Jul 19, 2017

NHK develops new VR experience with 8K video projection and hemisphere-shaped screen

The virtually reality experience is no longer limited to bulky head gear with the advent of a new headset-free 8K high-resolution video projection system.
Japan Times
MORE SPORTS
Jul 18, 2017

UFC plots growing presence in Asia, beyond

The Ultimate Fighting Championship is returning to Japan after a two-year absence on Sept. 23, when it will host UFC Fight Night Japan at Saitama Super Arena.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHY DID YOU LEAVE JAPAN?
Jul 15, 2017

Designer Yosuke Ushigome finds solutions to culture shock in English and humor

How do you solve a geopolitical problem like Kim Jong Un? Containment? Embargoes? Propaganda? Regime change? Synchronized baseball?
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 5, 2017

Trump and Moon must work together

Last week's summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and his South Korean counterpart Moon Jae-in demonstrated a shared commitment to ridding Pyongyang of its nuclear weapons and ending its missile program.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jul 5, 2017

Strict ID checks may deter residents from visiting Japan's casinos, LDP's Iwaya says

A proposal that residents be required to give their My Number before entering a casino could severely restrict access, the leader of a ruling party panel working on plans for the Singapore-style resorts said in an interview.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / BACKSTREET STORIES
Jun 30, 2017

A visit to a preschool leads to lessons in noh and nothingness in Higashi-Gotanda

A gentleman I met at an educational conference invites me to tour the backstreets of Higashi-Gotanda, where he has opened a brand new preschool. Exiting A7 of the JR Yamanote Line's eponymous station in the early hours of a cool spring morning, I strike off northeast, along Sakurada-dori, more or less...
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Tech
Jun 27, 2017

Classic Mini: Super Famicom — Nintendo wows gamers with surprise blast from the past

Nintendo Co. has finally unveiled its long-rumored Nintendo Classic Mini: Super Famicom gaming console — to be released in Japan on Oct. 5 — in a surprise announcement that thrilled gamers across the nation.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 26, 2017

Saudi Arabian heir is a dangerous man

Prince Mohammed bin Salman could be too inexperienced and too hotheaded for the fraught situation in the Middle East.

Longform

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