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Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / HOTELS & RESTAURANTS
Aug 1, 2008

Stories that go bump in the night

Stories that go bump in the night In the Edo Period (1603-1867), getting together and telling ghost stories (kaidan) at night was a popular summer pastime. As a hotel located in the middle of Nihonbashi, the historical town that preserves the culture of Edo (Tokyo), the Mandarin Oriental Tokyo is reviving...
COMMENTARY
Jul 31, 2008

Better for China to allow journalists freedom

After long months of controversy, the Olympic Summer Games will finally open in Beijing next week. However, the world's eyes are on not the athletes but on the Chinese authorities and the way they handle protests, which will inevitably be held.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art / INSIDE ART
Jul 31, 2008

You can always buy your way in

Art changes with the times, so why shouldn't art galleries? Some say that Japan's unique "rental gallery" system, where young artists pay hundreds of thousands of yen per week to show their work, is on its last legs. If so, is it a case of good riddance? Or does this represent the retreat of a perfectly...
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 28, 2008

Believe it or not, Mugabe still has supporters

HIROSAKI, Aomori Pref. — The world can't understand how Robert Mugabe has support left in Zimbabwe. After violence and intimidation against his opponents he was able to steal a victory, but at great cost. Why do his people put up with it and why did he gain over 40 percent of the vote in the first...
COMMUNITY
Jul 26, 2008

Psychic travels world to save lives

Professor Jucelino Nobrega da Luz was 9 years old when he had a dream that scared him half to death.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 25, 2008

Do images of scarcity drive prices higher?

NEW HAVEN, Conn. — Could the television image of the Greenland ice cap crumbling into the ocean because of global warming — indirectly and psychologically — be partly responsible for high oil and other commodity prices? The usual explanation of today's scarcity and high prices focuses on explosive...
Japan Times
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Jul 20, 2008

Writer takes memorable trip to Victor Starfin Stadium in Asahikawa

ASAHIKAWA, Hokkaido — Last week I had the pleasure of attending a regular-season baseball game in the central Hokkaido city of Asahikawa, as the Yomiuri Giants played the Chunichi Dragons at the 25,000-seat Victor Starfin Stadium. It was the first appearance by the Giants in 16 years at the ballpark...
Japan Times
LIFE / WEEK 3
Jul 20, 2008

Temporary arrangements

Akio Watanabe knows what a dead end feels like.
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital / JAPAN TIMES BLOGROLL
Jul 19, 2008

My Life as a Gaijin, Kimono Reincarnate

My Life as a Gaijin and Kimono Reincarnate are two different blogs written by Melanie Gray Augustin. The former centers around the experiences of an Australian native living and teaching English in a foreign land, while the latter offers a taste of her artistic interests and entrepreneurial efforts...
Japan Times
OLYMPICS
Jul 18, 2008

Tomita revels in veteran status ahead of second Olympics

Editor's note: As the countdown to the Summer Olympics draws closer, The Japan Times will provide more coverage of Japan's top medal hopefuls, as well as expanded coverage of international Olympians in the print and online editions.
COMMUNITY
Jul 15, 2008

Lawmaker takes 9/11 doubts global: readers' responses

A number of readers wrote to the Community Page in response to John Spiri's June 17 Zeit Gist article on Democratic Party of Japan lawmaker Yukihisa Fujita. Following is a selection of the responses.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jul 15, 2008

Japanese-type game show a hit in U.S.

A new Japanese export is luring U.S. consumers: television game shows that inflict pain, suffering and humiliation for a laugh.
Japan Times
JAPAN / MIXED MATCHES
Jul 12, 2008

Shy Belgian boy falls for worldly Japanese girl

Marc Van Cauteren and Reiko Shinozaki met in Tokyo in 1993 after mutual friends encouraged him to call her during a business trip to Japan.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Jul 12, 2008

Relationship coaching over the phone

It is easy to spot Jack Ito and his wife Toshie. They're walking hand in hand around the lobby of the Prince Hotel in Shinagawa, looking as much culture-shocked as in love.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Q&A
Jul 12, 2008

Steady now: quick tips on quake preparation

Earthquakes are a fact of life in Japan. Only one month ago, a 7.2-magnitude temblor and a number of aftershocks struck the Tohoku region, killing 13 in Fukushima, Miyagi and Iwate prefectures and leaving 10 still listed as missing in Miyagi and Akita prefectures.
Reader Mail
Jul 10, 2008

Emotional needs of 'generation Z'

Jenny Uechi's article is phrased in terms of a dominating opposition in Japanese society between seken -- the society or people that one deals with -- and what her article looks forward to -- namely, an "individualist revolution."
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
Jul 8, 2008

Japanophiles wind up in jam

An interior designer in California is wondering how she can get some fabric — "preferably the Kyoto brocade known as Nishijin-ori" — woven to order in Japan. "I'm working on a house owned by a couple of Japanophiles, and they have very specific ideas for what they want."
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 8, 2008

Thickheadedness on African debt

ACCRA, Ghana — In the runup to the Group of Eight meeting in Japan last week, activists of all stripes were working hard to ensure that their issue would be on the agenda. While the agenda changes from year to year, one item has become a mainstay: debt relief. The fact that this issue repeatedly resurfaces...
JAPAN
Jul 8, 2008

DoCoMo developing next-generation 'wearable' gadgets

Rolling your eyes to turn up the volume on a portable music player and tapping your fingers to turn on a DVD player are among technologies Japan's top mobile carrier is testing to make "wearable" gadgets.
COMMENTARY
Jul 4, 2008

One small step for stability

HONG KONG — The June 18 announcement of the Beijing-Tokyo agreement to jointly develop gas fields in the disputed waters of the East China Sea should help ease tensions between the two countries as they try to forge a new, forward-looking cooperative relationship, but it may cause internal difficulties...
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / HOTELS & RESTAURANTS
Jul 4, 2008

Beer, wine and a hot spring facelift

'New' Noboribetsu Grand reopens With the addition of rooms equipped with private open-air hot-spring baths, renovations at the Noboribetsu Grand Hotel in Hokkaido have been completed.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jul 4, 2008

Fans raise $50,000 for Japanese band

To most bands, it sounds like a dream come true: $50,000 with no strings attached; the opportunity to record an album with one of the world's top engineers; and the freedom to make any kind of record you want, unhindered by interfering labels just waiting to drop you at the first sniff of commercial...
COMMENTARY
Jul 3, 2008

Iraq's petroleum dilemmas

An intense debate is going on inside Iraq about the future of its oil industry. That such a debate should be going on at all is encouraging and a sign that at last the security situation may be getting better and the government more established.
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital / IGADGET
Jul 2, 2008

These won't bust your bonus

Compact in disguise: Among digital-camera makers, Ricoh is known as a small player, but one that likes to do things differently. Its latest burst of independence is the just-announced Caplio GX200, an evolution of its GX100 compact that raised eyebrows last year.
Reader Mail
Jun 29, 2008

Theory full of logical fallacies

I was quite surprised to see John Spiri's June 17 Zeit Gist article, "Lawmaker takes 9/11 doubts global," because, despite Yukihisa Fujita's credentials as a Diet member, he is simply repeating the tired intonations of completely discredited theories regarding the events of 9/11.
Japan Times
JAPAN / MIXED MATCHES
Jun 28, 2008

The whole package: a couple's lifetime of love

In 1988, Yuki Takai, a native of Kyoto, and Jonathan Nordhausen from St. Paul, Minn., met in Atlanta while working for Yusen Air and Sea Service Co.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / HOTELS & RESTAURANTS
Jun 27, 2008

Star-crossed celebratory feast

Star-crossed celebratory feast A Gourmet Legend dinner will be the centerpiece of the seventh anniversary celebrations of the Cerulean Tower Tokyu Hotel on July 7, the day of Tanabata (Star Festival).

Longform

Totopa in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward was picked by consultants TTNE as the best sauna of the year.
Japan’s sauna movement: Relax, refresh, repeat