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Japan Times
JAPAN / Media
Mar 27, 2014

Okinawa film fest gives fans an up-close view of the stars

Why go to Okinawa for movies? For anyone familiar with the international festival circuit, especially at its higher, artier end, the Okinawa International Movie Festival may well prompt this question — and a negative answer. "It's not a real film festival!" a fellow foreign journalist exclaimed to...
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
Mar 27, 2014

Murdoch sets up sons to take top roles in media empire

Rupert Murdoch has returned eldest son Lachlan to the leadership of his media empire while promoting younger son James, paving the way for the 83-year-old tycoon to pass the reins to the family's next generation.
JAPAN
Mar 20, 2014

ASIJ admits honored teacher sexually abused students

The American School in Japan reveals that teacher Jack Moyer, a renowned marine biologist, sexually abused students while employed by the institution between 1963 and 2000.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Tech
Mar 20, 2014

$73 billion payoff for SoftBank's ventures fuels push into Japan startups

Japan's biggest companies have a case of SoftBank envy, and that's good for entrepreneurs like 23-year-old Takumi Shimizu.
BUSINESS
Mar 20, 2014

Sony pares suppliers to speed output

Sony Corp. will focus its supply chain on 250 strategic partners as it seeks to lower costs and accelerate production.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Mar 13, 2014

'Idai Naru, Shurara-bon (The Great Shurara-bon)'

Superheroes by definition have super powers. In Japan, instead of leaping tall buildings with a single bound, these heroes often shoot energy projectiles from their hands — easy and effective, save when your opponent has more wattage. This may seem childish, but it can be fun, as shown by all those...
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital
Mar 13, 2014

BitSummit reveals tantalizing homemade worlds of play

After a successful debut last year, former Q-Games producer James Mielke once again shone a light on Japan's independent gaming scene with the second edition of BitSummit, a gathering of independent developers.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Mar 12, 2014

Super Kabuki 'spells fun'

Just like the many native English-speakers who have difficulty understanding the language and classical references in the works of William Shakespeare, so Japanese people generally feel a sense of distance from kabuki, as though it were a foreign language.
Japan Times
JAPAN / NOTEBOOK
Mar 11, 2014

Globalization in depth, Complimentary Coffee

symposium
COMMENTARY
Mar 8, 2014

A student's responsibility for education

It's good that Japan is open to improving its system of education, but it may want to consider the disadvantages of the American approach that practically exempts students of responsibility for their education.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Mar 6, 2014

'12 Years a Slave'

It's hard to resist comparing "12 Years a Slave" with "The Butler."
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
Mar 6, 2014

Osaka challenges Tokyo with tallest skyscraper

Japan's tallest building will open Friday in Osaka, as Asia's third-biggest metropolitan economy aims to lure tourists and stem businesses from moving to Tokyo.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Mar 4, 2014

Crunch's debut mini-album aims for a 'sense of minority'

In a music scene where the border between underground and mainstream can be incredibly difficult to traverse, it's not surprising that many bands trapped in the indie-sphere bemoan their lot.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Mar 1, 2014

Doraemon, the robot cat, gets your tongue

An earless blue robotic cat, one pocket bulging with gadgets from the future and a lifelong fear of mice: Who is he? Japan roars the answer — but English readers may be stumped. Because, even though he's a government-appointed "cultural ambassador" and a familiar face in more than 30 countries, with...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Feb 26, 2014

Get into 'Gear' at an immersive Kyoto theater show

Art Complex 1928, a contemporary performing-arts venue in central Kyoto, used to be a regional office of the Mainichi Shimbun national newspaper.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 25, 2014

Sony ups smartphone lineup with Xperia Z2

Sony Corp., seeking to counter a slowdown in its smartphone business, introduced a top-end Xperia phone and a cheaper model in a bid to take a share in a market that has become increasingly crowded.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 24, 2014

Pope warns of hazards in browsing 'God's gift'

Pope Francis rightly warns that although the variety of opinions being aired over the Web can be seen as helpful, it also enables people to barricade themselves behind sources of information that only confirm their own ideas.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle / CHILD'S PLAY
Feb 20, 2014

Family flashbacks to a psychedelic day with Kitty

In this column, it has been my sworn duty to share Tokyo's bounty of kid-friendly activities with interested parents like you. I hope earlier columns indicate that I take this responsibility seriously, striving to showcase only places that add much-needed components of fun, culture and education to the...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Feb 19, 2014

ABT brings 'magical moments' to Japan

Last August, with summer sweltering the city, I met Yuriko Kajiya and Jared Matthews, two soloists from the New York-based American Ballet Theatre, one of the word's top-four classical companies along with the Royal Ballet in London, Paris Opera Ballet and the Bolshoi in Moscow.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Feb 15, 2014

Miyuki Miyabe's latest puts the history in Japanese horror

Better known for her crime and fantasy writing abroad, precious few of the prolific Miyuki Miyabe's tales of terror have actually made it into the English language. Haikasoru's publication of "Apparitions: Ghosts of Old Edo" addresses this oversight. Capably translated by Daniel Huddleston, this collection...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books / ESSENTIAL READING FOR JAPANOPHILES
Feb 15, 2014

The Pornographers

Akiyuki Nosaka's "Grave of the Fireflies," a harrowing, semi-autobiographical tale of two young siblings fending for survival in the aftermath of World War II, helped him win the prestigious Naoki Prize for literature in 1967.
Japan Times
CULTURE
Feb 13, 2014

Japan gets in the mood for love this Valentine's Day

Love is all around at this time of year, but on Valentine's Day in Japan it isn't so evenly distributed. The festival of romance has long suffered from a gender imbalance here: Feb. 14 is traditionally a day for women to give presents to men — not just their partners, but also often fellow students,...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Feb 13, 2014

'The Butler'

Back in 1997, when Steven Spielberg released "Amistad," it was a pretty huge deal for a big-name Hollywood filmmaker to tackle slavery. Now the deal is a lot bigger for Lee Daniels, the second African-American filmmaker in United States history to be nominated for an Oscar (for "Precious" in 2009), who...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / LABOR PAINS
Feb 12, 2014

ANA caricature speaks volumes about Japan's outdated mind-set

My personal opinion is that the ad is a disappointing anachronism, and a reminder of the parochial outlook of large Japanese corporations. The ad appeals to the facile formula that 'foreigner = white = blonde and big-nosed = English-speaking = globalization.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Feb 12, 2014

Kushida's 'Flapper' comes roaring back

"Young people these days won't be too familiar with the term the Roaring Twenties, but the 1920s still hold interest as a period. It was a time of changing values, not only in the United States, but in Europe: Dadaism, Cubism, Expressionism and other non-mainstream arts were blossoming. All over the...
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 7, 2014

Sony revision spurs credibility crisis for Hirai

Kazuo Hirai, who took the helm at Sony Corp. two years ago to revive the Japanese icon, is losing credibility with investors who think he's not up to the job.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Feb 6, 2014

'Mogura no Uta: Sennyu Sosakan Reiji (The Mole Song: Undercover Agent Reiji)'

Directors in a profitable rut often feel the urge to try something new, even though the box office tells them to keep making the same old. Sometimes a change of genre can work wonders. After grinding out 48 episodes of the "Tora-san" dramedy series, Yoji Yamada ventured into the feudal past for the first...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Feb 6, 2014

'Killers'

Japanese-Indonesian co-production "Killers" starts off all too predictably for a torture-porn film. We get about a minute's worth of a nude young woman shagging an unseen male, then once she's been sufficiently eroticized, we see her tied to a chair, suffocating inside a plastic bag as a masked sadist...
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle / CHILD'S PLAY
Feb 6, 2014

Exploring a land designed with children in mind

There are pros and cons to raising a child in the heart of one of the most densely populated places on the planet.

Longform

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