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Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle
Aug 19, 2017

Gachapon: Tracing the evolution of Japan's colorful toy capsules

Where else but Japan could you buy a miniature version of Edvard Munch's "The Scream" figure crouching over a squat toilet, horror-struck? It's one of thousands of ingeniously designed trinkets you can buy for a pittance from toy machines across the nation. They're subversive, beautifully crafted and...
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Aug 18, 2017

Searching for traces of a mountain mystic in rural Aichi

Mount Horaiji was said to be home to Rishu Sennin, an ascetic from the mists of antiquity
Japan Times
BASKETBALL / B. League / B. LEAGUE NOTEBOOK
Aug 17, 2017

Journeyman Hamilton gives Bambitious boost in frontcourt

The Bambitious Nara's recent signing of Gary Hamilton signals the team's serious commitment to winning.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Aug 15, 2017

Dealing with connectivity and isolation at the Yokohama Triennale

As Akiko Miki, one of the three curators of this year's Yokohama Triennale, tries to wrap up a roundtable discussion titled "The Connecting World and the Isolating World" at the Yokohama Museum of Art, a question is shouted out from the back of the room.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Aug 14, 2017

From subculture chic to mainstream style trend: Japanese-themed T-shirts are all the rage

Designers and clothing retailers are spotting what has previously been a niche trend now gaining widespread popularity in Japan, drawing a growing number of fashion-forward customers from within the country and overseas: T-shirts.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Aug 14, 2017

Aichi's mobile supermarkets keeps seniors stocked with groceries, checks in on aging customers

Mobile supermarkets are beginning to pop up in urban areas, including Nagoya.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / DESSERT WATCH
Aug 12, 2017

Sesame seed-flavored soft cream: Designed with Instagram in mind

Harajuku has gone gaga over food designed for Instagram. Walk down Takeshita Street and you'll probably see people snapping shots of giant, rainbow-colored cotton candy and the like.
Japan Times
JAPAN / OKINAWA BEAT
Aug 11, 2017

Okinawa positions itself as hub for used rental-car exports

Okinawa plans to export more used cars, making use of vehicles retired from the prefecture's prospering car rental businesses.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Aug 8, 2017

Parkgolf and other netlabel acts are seeing more success offline

Tokyo's first netlabel parties were filled with nods to internet culture. You'd see customers ordering their drinks via Twitter, robotic hands clapping in time to DJ sets, and people live-streaming themselves from the dancefloor.
Japan Times
Figure Skating / ICE TIME
Aug 8, 2017

Kihira shines as Japan skaters sweep titles

Japanese skaters dominated at the Asian Open Trophy last week in Hong Kong in the first event of the long Olympic season.
Japan Times
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Aug 7, 2017

J-pop duo Scott & Rivers on writing Japanese lyrics

When American musician Scott Murphy first came to Japan in 2001, he could only say a few phrases in Japanese.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
Aug 7, 2017

In alliance-happy auto industry, go-it-alone Honda the odd carmaker out

Honda Motor Co.'s go-it-alone strategy looks increasingly risky as the alliance-happy auto industry scales up to cope with the soaring investment needed for self-driving vehicles, electrified powertrains, connected-car technologies and artificial intelligence.
Japan Times
JAPAN / CHUBU CONNECTION
Aug 7, 2017

Aichi police proudly displaying trumpet from 1964 Tokyo Olympics

One of the trumpets that was used to play the fanfare during the opening ceremony of the 1964 Tokyo Olympics and given to the Aichi Prefectural Police is being displayed in their headquarters in Naka Ward, Nagoya, ahead of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle
Aug 5, 2017

Is this the end of the road for vintage cars in Japan?

Few are aware that Japan is a Mecca for classic car enthusiasts worldwide. Boasting a world-class national road network of blacktop roads, bridges and tunnels, the country is the perfect place to cruise around in a 1950s Rolls-Royce limousine or a 1970s Nissan Skyline GT-R, which fans dubbed "Hakosuka"...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / KONBINI WATCH
Aug 5, 2017

Black Seafood Cup Noodle: A cosmetic change at best

Japanese netizens have noticed something strange about Nissin's latest special edition of it's venerable Cup Noodle brand.
Japan Times
JAPAN / History / JAPAN TIMES GONE BY
Aug 5, 2017

Japan Times 1967: 'Iconic Ginza streetcars are on their way out'

The streetcars that have tootled along Ginza, Tokyo's most glamorous shopping center for the past 56 years, will bow out by the end of the year.
Japan Times
CULTURE / TV & Streaming
Aug 2, 2017

Winter has finally come for Isaac Hempstead Wright

It's Monday night and the newly opened Brew La La craft beer bar in Tokyo's Shinbashi neighborhood is hopping. As the clock strikes 8 p.m., however, the 60 or so people gathered there fall silent. "Game of Thrones" is on.
Japan Times
JAPAN / CHUBU CONNECTION
Jul 31, 2017

Nagoya University team to use aircraft to gauge potency of supertyphoons

In a first for Japanese researchers, a team led by professor Kazuhisa Tsuboki from the Institute for Space-Earth Environmental Research at Nagoya University will use aircraft to observe supertyphoons directly. Supertyphoons have become a growing problem in recent years due to global warming.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jul 30, 2017

Southeast Asian art gets its biggest showing in Japan

A few years ago, at the press conference for Taiwanese artist Lee Mingwei's solo show at the Mori Art Museum (MAM), Fumio Nanjo, the museum director, talked about the direction the museum would be taking from then on; they were no longer so interested in "the West" and were aiming to focus more on Asia....
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink
Jul 29, 2017

Tokyo's hotel bars a cut above when it comes to lunch

Some bars, it turns out, have split personalities. In the evening they are a place to relax with a drink and chat with friends. But a few transform in the day, taking on new atmospheres and giving entirely different impressions.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / DESSERT WATCH
Jul 29, 2017

Pikachu Choco Banana McFlurry: Celebrating 'Pokemon Go' with a sugar infusion

This weekend marks the one-year anniversary of the arrival of "Pokemon Go" in Japan. There is no shortage of ways to celebrate this milestone, ranging from visiting one of the city's Pokemon Centers to pick up some merch to trying out the smartphone app's latest features ... assuming the network doesn't...
Japan Times
BASKETBALL / HOOP SCOOP
Jul 29, 2017

Documentary on former hoop star Neumann's life provides a cautionary tale

Hoop aficionados from Harlem to Hokkaido can appreciate the details of a good global basketball odyssey.

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