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BUSINESS / Tech
Sep 8, 2015

Apple ramps ups hiring but faces obstacles to making phones smarter

Apple has ramped up its hiring of artificial intelligence experts, recruiting from Ph.D. programs, posting dozens of job listings and greatly increasing the size of its AI staff, a review of hiring sites suggests and numerous sources confirm.
CULTURE / Music
Aug 9, 2015

Even if you don't see Yasutaka Nakata at Summer Sonic, you'll probably hear him

Punters heading off to Makuhari Messe this weekend for SonicMania — the all-night event preceding the annual Summer Sonic music festival — should try to arrive at the venue early to secure a prime spot for the evening's first act: pop trio Perfume.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Jul 11, 2015

The ogres of Oga are not as frightening as they may appear

Although surely one of Japan's most scenic areas, the Oga Peninsula in Akita Prefecture is off the beaten track and retains an unhurried vibe, still relatively untouched by commercial tourism. Here, it is still possible to see small fishing hamlets as you drive round the coast, rewarded with stunning...
Japan Times
WORLD / Science & Health
Jun 26, 2015

Fossilized Triassic-era reptile found in south Germany called 'grandfather' of all turtles

EUTERS
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 6, 2015

Why carmakers don't want robots to drive

While automakers are embracing technology that eliminates the drudgery of driving, they haven't warmed up to the idea of autonomous cars.
Japan Times
JAPAN / UN WORLD CONFERENCE ON DISASTER RISK REDUCTION
Mar 14, 2015

Japan understands threat of natural disasters

An international conference on disaster prevention kicks off March 14 in the disaster-hit Tohoku region and it is aiming to adopt a new global framework to mitigate effects from natural disasters for the coming decade or so.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jan 22, 2015

Where Buddhism and Shintoism meet

Works from the Tendai Buddhist Gakuenji temple in Shimane Prefecture form the feature exhibition of Kyoto National Museum's New Year's show. Tradition tells that the priest Chishun established Gakuenji around the time of the Empress Suiko (554-628) though centuries passed before it was first alluded...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / LAW OF THE LAND
Jan 7, 2015

Never mind the facts — logic alone demolishes 'comfort women' deniers' case

Never mind all the living and documentary proof — the idea that 'comfort women' were somehow exempt from wartime coercion and organization is absurd.
Japan Times
WORLD / Society
Dec 1, 2014

Plastic surgery in demand as more and more people snap selfies

Dental hygienist Jennifer Reynolds was always self-conscious about her looks, never took selfies and felt uncomfortable being tagged in photographs posted on social media.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Sep 30, 2014

tofubeats calls on pals for his 'First Album'

Yusuke Kawai tries to start a para para dance halfway through his Sept. 5 DJ set, but the inside of an Apple Store isn't an ideal space for this endeavor. Kawai, who records under the name tofubeats, is performing a special show at the recently opened Omotesando store. Half of the floor eagerly watches...
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital / ON: GAMES
Sep 26, 2014

The New Nintendo 3DS, plus scary games to get you ready for Halloween

The new New Nintendo
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Tech / FOCUS
Sep 14, 2014

Cars that drive themselves starting to chat with each other

A Honda Motor Co. Acura RLX sedan demonstrated an unusual way to tow another car last week: the vehicles were not physically attached. The second car drove itself, following instructions beamed over by the first in a feat of technology that indicates a new stage in automation is happening faster than...
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital / ON: GAMES
Jul 25, 2014

New games to keep you occupied in the summer

These warriors rule
CULTURE / Music
May 20, 2014

Not Yet aren't ready to take the AKB48 crown

Not Yet "Already" (Nippon Columbia)
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital / ON: GAMES
Apr 21, 2014

Mario returns on wheels and in plastic, and the gun of a giant "Macross" robot fits in your hand

Start your Mario Karts
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Apr 19, 2014

Dresden cashes in on German unification

American novelist Kurt Vonnegut, a prisoner of war in Dresden during World War II, has a scene in "Slaughterhouse Five" where time-traveling hero Billy Pilgrim sees the city's firebombing in reverse, with phosphorous bombs sucked back into warplanes.
Events / KANSAI: WHO & WHAT
Apr 4, 2014

Imperial Palace in Kyoto drops reservations

The Imperial Palace in Kyoto, which usually requires reservations to visit, will be open to the public from Wednesday to April 13.
Japan Times
JAPAN / ADVANCES IN PROGRESS
Dec 9, 2013

Ultracompacts zip into the future

In the near future, the nation's traffic scene may be characterized by the widespread use of ultracompact cars.
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design
Nov 25, 2013

Lions and dragons of Japan's islands

When I arrived at the workshop of Setsuko Oshiro in August, the sky was a clear blue and the heat like the inside of a kiln, but there were storm clouds gathering, dark thunderheads over the East China Sea.
LIFE / Digital
Nov 19, 2013

Church of Apple tests the faith of its flock

Someone once said that one of the advantages of religion is that it offers security in return for obedience. This point was not lost on the late Steve Jobs, the cofounder, savior and high priest of Apple. And it led Italian semiotician, philosopher and novelist Umberto Eco, in an essay published in the...
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / WILD WATCH
Oct 12, 2013

Just picture that — and know how to

A sleek, black anchor shape, etched against the blue sky, hurtles in pursuit of prey. A Northern Hobby, a flashy falcon, is chasing dragonflies. Sighting one alone speaks to me of summer in Hokkaido, especially with its mate brooding or feeding a growing fledgling in a nearby treetop nest.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Oct 3, 2013

Ebizo rethinks kabuki's strategy

In the glitzy and gossipy world of Japanese celebrity, hardly a week goes by without revelations being made about — or made by — Ichikawa Ebizo XI.
BUSINESS
Sep 17, 2013

Communication apps put employees' personal devices to work

A handful of tech companies are betting that smartphones will eventually serve a different role in the workplace than they do outside.
Japan Times
BASKETBALL / BJ-LEAGUE NOTEBOOK
Dec 21, 2012

Aoki continues All-Star streak with seventh selection

Before the Ryukyu Golden Kings ever played a game and before Okinawa proved to be a terrific location for a Japanese professional basketball team, Cohey Aoki had already established himself as a fan favorite in the bj-league.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / BACKSTREET STORIES
Nov 25, 2012

The fall fires of Nishigahara

Burning to see fall colors, I head to Tokyo's northern Kita Ward, where Kyu Furukawa Teien, the former estate of copper magnate Ichibei Furukawa, features not only a traditional Japanese garden but also Western-style flowerbeds of autumn-blooming roses. At this time of the season, it should be ablaze....
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital / TECH_JAPAN
Oct 24, 2012

Fujitsu aims at women; Huawei targets Japan

Fujitsu tends to get left out of the conversation when it comes to the world's top PC-makers these days, but it's still an important player in its home market of Japan — where it holds about 15 percent of the market, placing it second behind the NEC Lenovo Group. And in an effort to maintain that position,...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Aug 17, 2012

The art of making monsters

Good news for monster fans: Not one, not two, but three separate tokusatsu exhibitions are stomping their way through downtown Tokyo as you read these words.
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
CULTURE / Film
Aug 3, 2012

'7 Días en La Habana (7 Days in Havana)'

Just last week this column trotted out the movie industry's defense — post-Colorado "Batman" shootings — that films don't influence actual behavior. Now along comes "7 Días en La Habana (7 Days in Havana)," a raucous compendium film that features scene after simmering scene of people getting righteously...

Longform

Professional cleaner Hirofumi Sakurai takes a moment to appreciate some photographs in a Gotanda apartment whose occupant died alone.
The last cleanup: Life and death in a lonely Japan