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Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / WILD WATCH
Nov 9, 2013

Mammals choose when to reward my quest

My thoughts were miles away as I crossed the parking lot outside my Hokkaido home. Then a nagging doubt intruded: Had there — or had there not — just been a formless blur of movement on the ground beyond my car? I had certainly not seen anything, so if there had been something, then my awareness...
Reader Mail
Nov 9, 2013

Ichihashi film categorized as mere spectacle

Regarding the Nov. 3 TimeOut feature by Jun Hongo, titled "Killer on the run": There was a sickening feeling of frustration in Tokyo's foreign community at the time of the Lindsay Ann Hawker murder investigation. Many foreign residents felt that the Chiba police were simply not too keen on catching the...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Nov 5, 2013

One Direction takes the J-pop path to success

By the group's standards, it was a low-key finale. When One Direction completed its eight-month Take Me Home Tour at the second of two Makuhari Messe shows last Sunday in Chiba, it was in front of a relatively compact audience of 12,000 Japanese fans, whose adoration seemed good-humored rather than hysterical....
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
Nov 5, 2013

SoftBank taps lucrative game market

Supercell Oy started the year trying to break into the Japanese smartphone game market. By October, it had struck a deal with the nation's second-richest man that valued the maker of "Clash of Clans" at $3 billion.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Oct 31, 2013

Festival/Tokyo pushes a return to storytelling

In 2009, when Festival/Tokyo took over from the annual Tokyo International Arts Festival, it burst forth with the slogan "Towards a New Real" and the resolve to stamp the city's name on the global arts map.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Oct 31, 2013

'Late Mizoguchi'

Director: Kenji Mizoguchi
COMMENTARY / Japan
Oct 29, 2013

The lust beneath Japan's sex drought

It's not a lack of libido but a dearth of denaro and future employment propsects that is putting young Japanese off long-term relationships, says a business columnist.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
Oct 29, 2013

Camry loses Consumer Reports nod

Consumer Reports pulled its recommendation for Toyota Motor Corp.'s Camry sedan and said post-bankruptcy General Motors Co. is among the automakers cracking Japanese brands' dominance in fielding reliable cars.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / BACKSTREET STORIES
Oct 26, 2013

Strolling old Fukagawa, where gardens and true glitterati mingle

I may be jumping the gun a bit on fall colors, but early October's glorious weather has got me craving some autumnal arboreality.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Oct 26, 2013

Manga: Gekiga capture the underbelly of ’70s Japan

'I don't know much about manga but I know what I like' could well be the title of this review. Despite the urgings of enthusiastic friends ever since the 1970s, I sedulously avoided reading works in this genre.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / HOTEL SPECIAL 2013
Oct 24, 2013

Enjoy all the flavors of fall

To coincide with the time of year when nature demonstrates its beauty in a way that symbolizes harvest, prosperity and abundance, Grand Hyatt Tokyo in Roppongi, which is marking its 10th anniversary this year, has added some special fall promotions to its hotel-wide birthday celebrations.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Oct 24, 2013

'Mimi wo Kaku Onna (The Ear Cleaner)'

Director: Hiroshi Horiuchi
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 20, 2013

Taiwan opposition leery of China trade accord

The opposition DPP generally understands the economic realities facing Taiwan, but it is apprehensive of the political perils of a closer trade and services partnership with China.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Oct 20, 2013

The face of journalism's savior?

By the time Pierre Omidyar was 31, he was, in his own words, not just regular rich but "ridiculous rich." With enough money to make an impact in pretty much any sphere he chooses, the eBay billionaire last week made a splash in an area that is increasingly attracting the attention of tech titans: news....
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Oct 19, 2013

'GTAV' aggro-risks doubt

In the last week I've been drunk in a strip club, got shot at by gangsters and driven a sports car into the ocean — where, regretfully, my partner drowned. But that's nothing compared to a friend of mine who has robbed a convenience store at gunpoint and broken into a military air base — then stolen...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Oct 17, 2013

'Jinrui Shikin (Human Trust)'

Sometimes as a reviewer of Japanese films I feel I am on the wrong side of the cultural divide, with no way to bridge the gap.
LIFE / Digital
Oct 15, 2013

As viewing habits change, Facebook, Twitter eye up a big slice of TV's future

Talk to your neighbors about their television viewing habits and you will probably find that, although the range of programmes watched is pretty narrow, the methods for receiving them vary wildly from house to house. Some people get their favorite shows via gaming consoles, some by downloading them on...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Oct 15, 2013

Perfume dances to No. 1 with hard-edged new album 'Level3'

"Level3" is No. 1 on Japan's Oricon music chart this week, but it is not a J-pop album.
Japan Times
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Oct 13, 2013

What we talk about when we talk about the Olympics

If you're lamenting the number of kōji (工事, construction works) clogging Tokyo streets and coating your lungs with toxic fumes, you can lump at least part of the blame on the Olympics, slated to happen in the summer of 2020. And take comfort in the fact that in the years leading up to the last time...
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 13, 2013

Keep the government out of the Redskins' name

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office should get out of the business of determining what is and isn't offensive. There is no hope of settling on a precise standard.
Japan Times
LIFE
Oct 12, 2013

Kanpai! Sake through the ages

'A civilization stands or falls by the degree to which drink has entered the lives of its people, and from that point of view Japan must rank very high among the civilizations of the world.'
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Oct 12, 2013

Apologies for the apologies: the 'dogeza boom' on steroids

Japanese people like to apologize; or maybe "like" isn't the right word. As in English, many Japanese terms that have the meaning of an apology are used for the sake of perfunctory politeness, so a sincere apology requires effort, and there's no more powerful apology than dogeza, the act of prostrating...
EDITORIALS
Oct 10, 2013

Don't sell out Japan in TPP talks

The Abe administration's apparent rush to complete the Trans-Pacific Partnership talks before yearend is disturbing given the lack of clarity so far on what Japan may be agreeing to.
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design
Oct 10, 2013

Fashion Week's side shows give the public a rare seat next to their runways

Next week is Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Tokyo but, chances are, you’re not invited. Before that teen trauma of being excluded sets in, don’t panic — there’s a ton of alternative events to get dolled up for.
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design
Oct 10, 2013

Etw.Vonneguet designer draws inspiration from Pina Bausch for new collection

Under the alias "Olga," the Japanese designer behind Etw.Vonneguet has long been part of the official Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Tokyo, all the while challenging the institution by opening public auditions for models and welcoming anyone to her shows. This time she will break away from the official event...
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / HOTELS & RESTAURANTS
Oct 10, 2013

Swissôtel's Nankai Osaka's 10th anniversary; autumn afternoon tea at The Strings; Rihga Royal Osaka's fall fair

Swissôtel Nankai's 10th-year specials Swissôtel Nankai Osaka has several special plans in commemoration of its 10th anniversary.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / CLOSE-UP
Oct 5, 2013

Downtown comedian Hitoshi Matsumoto leans from TV to film

The Downtown comedy duo — comprising Hitoshi Matsumoto and Masatoshi Hamada — are sitting on a train speeding towards Narita Airport outside Tokyo. It's not like they're going anywhere, or doing anything, even — they're just sitting there and waiting for something to happen. "Something" in this...
JAPAN / Media / DARK SIDE OF THE RISING SUN
Oct 5, 2013

Has business blackballed the yakuza? Don't bank on it

The Financial Services Agency (FSA) publicly spanked Mizuho Bank last month by slapping it with a "business improvement order" for letting Japan's organized crime groups use its facilities. At least $2 million in illegal transactions were cited.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Entertainment news
Oct 4, 2013

Beatlemania: 'The screamers' and other tales of fandom

The first time Scottish concert promoter Andi Lothian booked the Beatles, in the frozen January of 1963, only 15 people showed up. The next time he brought them north of the border, to Glasgow Odeon on Oct. 5, they had scored a No. 1 album and three No. 1 singles, and it was as if a hurricane had blown...

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