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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 Times
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...
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital / TECH_JAPAN
Jun 27, 2012

Weighing up ultra-thin new laptops from Japan

Over the past few weeks we have seen a barrage of great new laptop offerings from PC manufacturers, all hoping to deliver thin, light, and powerful mobile-computing solutions driven by Intel's new Ivy Bridge processor. Competition in this space will be fierce, perhaps even more so now that Apple's has...
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / BACKSTREET STORIES
May 27, 2012

Rolling around Sendagi

The Yanesen district of central Tokyo, whose name features bits of the names of the three neighborhoods it comprises (Yanaka, Nezu and Sendagi), charms visitors with its temple-studded streets, craft shops and prewar architecture. Oddly, though, maps in either Japanese or English rarely guide visitors...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Mar 6, 2012

Island fortresses floated for Tohoku

The idea of building raised stadium-size "islands" to accommodate tsunami-ravaged communities might sound like a bad joke, but that's exactly what one architect is urging devastated towns in Tohoku to consider.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Mar 2, 2012

After 3/11, short-film director has one message: Don't forget

Isamu Hirabayashi is an incredibly versatile man. The 39-year-old Shizuoka native's day job is to direct TV commercials, and he normally works on five or six projects at the same time. Since 2002, he has also been active as a filmmaker, with his short films being shown at numerous festivals overseas,...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink
Feb 10, 2012

Sweet somethings

Japan Times
LIFE / Digital / TECH_JAPAN
Jan 4, 2012

A look back at the best games of 2011

It's that time of year again: Time to look back at all the games that were released in 2011 and sort out the best of the best. Which games won over gamers and stood out from the pack?
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital / TECH_JAPAN
Nov 23, 2011

Ultrabook goes Zen; camera sees double

It will be interesting to see how far the 3-D bandwagon can chug along before it runs out of gas. Consumers don't seem too excited about 3-D TVs or 3-D personal computers anymore, but nevertheless, Panasonic hopes that its new Lumix DMC-3D1 camera will inject some enthusiasm back into the market.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Jul 26, 2011

Living and loving The Alien from Nagoya

The year 1990 might not seem so long ago, but for many reasons, and in Japan especially, it was a completely different world. There was no Internet. There were no mobile telephones. There was hardly any way to get up-to-date English information on places beyond Tokyo and Osaka except by going there....
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital
Jun 15, 2011

Nintendo et al roll out the big guns at E3

The annual Electronic Entertainment Expo is gaming's main event. It's when the industry's heavyweights face off with new games and new hardware. Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo (which doesn't traditionally participate in the Tokyo Game Show) all go head to head. This year's E3, in Los Angeles, provided...
BASKETBALL / BJ-LEAGUE NOTEBOOK
May 20, 2011

Osaka-Ryukyu battle highlights semifinals

Final Four weekend brings three teams to Tokyo that were expected to be here and one that joined the mix by a less conventional route.
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
May 17, 2011

Print is suffering, but English readers have never had it so good

Returning to Osaka after several years, James wonders what became of Kansai Time Out, the magazine that served the English-speaking community in that region and beyond:
Japan Times
BASKETBALL / BJ-LEAGUE NOTEBOOK
Apr 1, 2011

Satterfield acquisition a big move for Evessa

After all of the unexpected changes this season over the past few weeks, this is no surprise: The Osaka Evessa and Ryukyu Golden Kings will play a meaningful series in April, one that could have a significant impact on the playoff picture.
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital / TECH_JAPAN
Mar 30, 2011

New TVs get socially networked while a solar-powered lamp saves energy.

At the Consumer Electronics Show 2011 in Las Vegas earlier this year, Sony previewed its new line of BRAVIA LCD televisions, and the company has now announced that they will be released at the end of April.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / MAKING INROADS
Feb 19, 2011

Firm flourishes amid smart phone boom

The growing popularity of smart phones is changing the landscape of Japan's cell phone market, which has long taken a different path from the rest of the world, and the trend is giving more business chances for newcomers from abroad, including HTC Corp. of Taiwan.
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital / TECH_JAPAN
Feb 2, 2011

Handheld wars redux

For more than a decade, Nintendo ruled handheld gaming. Challengers, such as the Atari Lynx and the Sega Game Gear appeared, but Nintendo batted them away one by one. Only Sony and its PlayStation Portable could withstand the Nintendo onslaught. And Sony isn't going away anytime soon — launching a...

Longform

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