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JAPAN / Media
Dec 20, 2009

New Year's Eve party, anyone? Nah, put your feet up and enjoy a Japanese tradition on the TV

Sport, sex, thrills: It was back in 1945 that radio producer Tsumoru Kondo declared that these were the three essential ingredients for successful entertainment. He called them the "three S's," even though they were two S's and a T. The producer obviously knew more about entertainment than he did about...
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Dec 5, 2009

Jackson, Spidey not part of Sony's 3-D plan

Michael Jackson videos or the next "Spider-Man" movie won't be among the titles that Sony Corp. releases in 3-D as it gears up to boost TV sales, according to Chief Executive Howard Stringer.
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 / EXPLAINER
Apr 14, 2009

So, you wanna be a Johnny?

What do the most popular male celebrity in Japan and a star of Clint Eastwood's "Letters from Iwo Jima" have in common?
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Nov 16, 2008

What's between sex and gender?

GENDER GYMNASTICS: Performing and Consuming Japan's Takarazuka Revue, by Leonie R. Stickland. Melbourne, Australia: Trans Pacific Press, 2008, 282 pp., with five plates (I through V). A$49.95 (cloth) The Takarazuka Revue is one of the several entertainment anomalies of Japan. It is an all-female presentation,...
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Jul 25, 2008

Kyoto's geisha: Behind the sliding door

A waitress took our drink orders and we waited, my anticipation building by the moment. Suddenly the door slid open and there knelt Ms. Ichimame, our maiko entertainer for the evening. She bowed deeply and introduced herself, smiling slightly.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
May 10, 2007

Muscling in on the world of showbiz

Some of Japan's top athletes are using their talents to carve out new careers in the theater spotlight — and they have created one of the nation's most successful entertainment exports along the way
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Dec 8, 2004

Film it and they will come

When in Rome, visitors might not necessarily do as the locals do, but many certainly follow the example of Audrey Hepburn's character in "Roman Holiday" by sticking their hands in the "Mouth of Truth" near the church of Santa Maria in Cosmedin, or buying a gelato on the steps of Piazza di Spagna.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Oct 15, 2003

The razzle-dazzle of Edo life, art

The allure of the Japanese folding screens of the Edo Period (1603-1867) lies in their elegance, their dazzling schemes of silver and gold, and the painstaking detail of their form and decoration. A wonderful opportunity to appreciate such pieces is the exhibition "Paintings of the Edo Period," now showing...
BUSINESS
Jul 30, 2003

Household spending logs first rise since September

Spending by households of Japanese wage earners rose a real 0.4 percent in June from a year earlier, marking the first rise since September, the government said Tuesday.
JAPAN
Apr 10, 2003

Dial-up 'adult' services soaring under new law

The number of "adult entertainment" telephone services registered with the government has grown 4.5-fold in three years, and such businesses are believed to involve prostitution and provide income for organized crime, the National Police Agency said.
BUSINESS
Apr 1, 2003

Sony rewards video game executives with promotions

Electronics and entertainment giant Sony Corp. promoted executives in charge of its video game and entertainment units Monday under larger changes aimed at strengthening its home network businesses.
JAPAN
Sep 4, 2001

Gas pipes ruled out as cause of Kabukicho blaze

An inspection of the gas pipes in the Meisei 56 Building in Shinjuku where 44 people died in a Saturday morning fire has ruled out the possibility the blaze was triggered by a gas explosion stemming from corroded pipes, Tokyo Gas Co. said Monday.
JAPAN
Sep 2, 2001

44 die in fire, blast at Tokyo nightspot

A powerful fire and explosion ripped through a mah-jongg parlor and an adult entertainment club in the Kabukicho entertainment district of Tokyo's Shinjuku Ward early Saturday, killing at least 44 people and injuring three others, authorities said.
BUSINESS
Aug 11, 2001

Sony, Honda work on useful, entertaining robots

Ever since Sony Corp. and Honda Motor Co. unveiled prototypes of humanoid robots last year, expectations have been growing that they can be developed to carry out household chores and used for entertainment.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
May 20, 2001

Yoshimoto's talent for comedy

There was a time when parents in Osaka used to scold their kids by threatening, "I will send you to Yoshimoto!" if they were fooling around. Today, though, Yoshimoto Kogyo Co. has become Japan's largest entertainment agency, and most parents would be happy if their children worked for it. Its tarento...
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
May 20, 2001

Ten weddings and a quiz show

'Timeshock" was one of the original Japanese quiz shows, an uncomplicated but tense trivia contest that kept viewers glued to their screens in the '60s and made its voluble host, the late Jiro Tamiya, a superstar. The heart of the show was the intense one-minute barrage of questions that the contestants...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Apr 22, 2001

All together now: Let's all shill for Universal!

Before Universal Studios Japan opened on March 31, media commentators were asking why the new Hollywood theme park wasn't called Universal Studios Osaka. After all, Tokyo Disneyland isn't called Japan Disneyland. Here's the punch line: If they called it Universal Studios Osaka, the acronym would be USO,...
LIFE / Digital
Dec 20, 2000

Government, industry reassess potential harm of video games

SEATTLE -- Can games desensitize children and teach them how to kill? Video and computer game violence is such a hot topic in the United States that the U.S. Senate has held two sets of hearings on the matter, and several senior senators each year host a conference in which they discuss problems with...
BUSINESS
Dec 4, 2000

World's tallest building planned in South Korea

South Korea's Lotte Group is to construct the tallest building in the world -- nearly one-third as tall again as the highest building in Japan, the Landmark Tower in Yokohama -- at a cost of some 1.2 trillion won, over $1 billion.
BUSINESS
Mar 31, 2000

Sony headquarters gets new moniker; call it eHQ

In a move to demonstrate its renewed focus on network business, Sony Corp. will rename its group headquarters "eHQ" -- short for e-headquarters -- effective Saturday, President Nobuyuki Idei announced Thursday.
EDITORIALS
Oct 31, 1999

The end of a movie era

In this multimedia age, when new electronic entertainment devices for use in the privacy of one's home -- or anywhere -- proliferate endlessly, it can seem hopelessly old-fashioned to trendsetters to sit in a darkened movie theater watching stars emote in heart-tugging dramas, daredevil adventure stories...

Longform

Construction takes place on the Takanawa Gateway Convention Center in Tokyo, slated to open in 2025.
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