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Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives
Dec 29, 2012

Textile scholar advocates sustainable fashion

Yoshiko Wada, textile artist and scholar, believes the word "sustainable" in foods and fashion shares the same philosophical taste. "Both are a holistic approach, about health, environment, and the community that supports it. We must recapture and rethink how we are going to sustain our Earth and society,...
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Dec 29, 2012

Silicon startup success wants to return favor

Seventeen years ago, Anis Uzzaman won an education ministry scholarship and left New York to study at Tokyo Institute of Technology. The American was excited by the chance to learn top-notch technology in Japan, where electronics giants Sony and Panasonic were leading the world.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film / BEST OF 2012
Dec 28, 2012

Comparing notes: What they thought of each other's No. 1

Who says critics are out of touch? At the time of writing, entertainment website Pia's "Satisfaction Ranking" for current films has "Intouchables" at No. 3, and "Argo" No. 2. ("Ninkyo Helper" is No. 1.) Kaori Shoji, Mark Schilling, and Giovanni Fazio got together to chew over their No. 1 picks.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / STRANGE BOUTIQUE
Dec 27, 2012

Pop embraced conservatism in 2012

The 2012 general election might not seem to have any bearing on the state of pop music in Japan, but there was an eerie similarity in the way both the electorate and the pop world turned back the clock and wrapped conservatism in a neurotic embrace.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Dec 27, 2012

Social awareness takes center stage

Japan's calamities of March 2011 — the Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami, and the start of an ongoing nuclear disaster — changed not only the social awareness of the general public who make up theater audiences, but also how dramatists approached their work. Many questioned why so many mistakes...
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 27, 2012

The rise of the attention economy

I was recently posed the following question: "The most important way in which the Internet and online social media are changing our world is [fill in the blank]."
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Dec 24, 2012

Actor Depardieu takes center stage in French tax debate

Gerard Depardieu, one of France's most beloved movie actors, has played memorable roles enshrining him as a monument of French culture: Jean Valjean in "Les Miserables," Cyrano de Bergerac in Rostand's kitsch classic and Obelix in a cartoonish spoof of wily Gauls resisting the Romans.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Dec 23, 2012

Award-winning Hakuba inn offers a warm and bespoke welcome to all

A report published this year by a national association of ryōkan (traditional inn) owners notes that one of the most common problems facing its several thousand members is a dearth of suitable successors — meaning there will be no one in line to run them when the current operators retire.
Japan Times
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Dec 23, 2012

Popular slugger Ramirez, family opening Latin-style cafe in Tokyo

Most foreigners who come to Japan to play baseball do just that — and only that. Whether a career lasts a few games or several years, the guys go back to their home country to continue playing ball, stay in the game as coaches or managers or find another job outside the game. A few, however, have stayed...
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Dec 23, 2012

"Family History"; Top athletes in unimaginable contests; CM of the week: Sato Shokuhi

The portion of resident Korean nationals in the sports and show business worlds is higher than it is in the general population. Athletics and entertainment were and still are two traditional ways for non-Japanese to escape poverty.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / YEN FOR LIVING
Dec 20, 2012

Old technology a threat to publishers' bottom lines

People who like reading books are increasingly getting over the need to own them.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Dec 16, 2012

Japan loses its cool as South Korea heats up

Last month, a nationwide survey of 3,000 people by the Cabinet office found that the percentage of Japanese who do not view South Korea on friendly terms rose to 59 percent, up by 23.7 points from 2011. The sharply negative shift appeared to reverse over a decade of warming relations between the two...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Dec 14, 2012

'Gummo Ebian! (G'mor Evian!)'

When teenagers see their parents goofing around or generally not acting their ancient age, they often react with embarrassment, scorn or the fervent wish that these so-called adults would just grow up. Then inevitably, not long later, those sophisticated 15-year-olds are goofing around themselves —...
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design / ON: FASHION
Dec 11, 2012

Fashion's Night Out hits Japan's second-largest city, with another all-star cast of names

The popular Fashion's Night Out festival — helmed by Vogue magazine and held in the top fashion cities of the world every September — is about to be replicated in Osaka, Japan's second-largest city.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Dec 11, 2012

For Santa's little stand-ins, 'tis the season for cash gigs

At a salon in Rockville, Maryland, as a beautician carefully combed bleach through his beard and eyebrows, John Parks sat with the patience of a saint — St. Nicholas, to be exact. Parks was halfway through his annual transition from black-haired information-technology specialist to white-whiskered...
Japan Times
LIFE
Dec 9, 2012

Our deepest fears fuel the booming business of doomsday scenarios

Apocalypse 2012 was born in 1996.
EDITORIALS
Dec 9, 2012

The politics of pop music

South Korean pop singers and groups will not be part of the yearend NHK music show, "Kohaku Uta Gassen," this year. When NHK announced its 50 performers for the singing extravaganza broadcast every New Year's Eve, Korean performers were conspicuously absent.
CULTURE / Books
Dec 9, 2012

Serious business of murder turned into entertainment

THE INCENSE GAME, by Laura Joh Rowland. Minotaur Books, 2012, 290 pp., $25.99 (hardcover) ONE RED BASTARD, by Ed Lin. Minotaur Books, 2012, 280 pp., $25.99 (hardcover) Since publication of her first mystery, "Shinju," 18 years ago, Laura Joh Rowland has churned out about one book a year.
Events / KANSAI: WHO & WHAT
Dec 8, 2012

Tour Suita library's foreign-language collection

A library tour will be offered for foreigners in the city of Suita, Osaka Prefecture, on Monday. The event will run from noon to 1 p.m. at Senri Library, which has the biggest selection of foreign-language books, CDs and DVDs in among the many libraries in the city.
Japan Times
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Dec 7, 2012

Geisha to perform yearly dance

It may be a bit touristy to hunt for geisha in Kyoto, but head to Fukuoka and they're there for all to see.
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital / TECH_JAPAN
Dec 5, 2012

Despite downloadable versions, packaged games in high demand

Late last month, Nintendo issued a press release, regarding its smash hit "Animal Crossing: New Leaf." The game, a simulator in which cute characters do things like collect items and decorate their houses, hit No. 1 on the game charts thanks to its dedicated following with young and seasoned players...
LIFE / Travel / TRAVEL INSIDER
Dec 5, 2012

Share a secret, win Virgin tickets; SAS winter sale; Singapore and Virgin Australia code share

Secret ticket giveaway Virgin Atlantic Airways will give away a pair of round-trip economy-class tickets between Tokyo and London to the person who submits the "best secret spot in the U.K." as a contribution to the company's "Secret U.K. Guide."
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Dec 2, 2012

Koreeda's daring TV drama stands alone

Once upon a time television was considered much less prestigious than the movies, and then cable and other forms of pay TV showed up. Producers no longer had to think mainly about sponsors and family sensitivities because they could target programs at specific demographics. Delivery delineated content,...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Japan Pulse
Nov 30, 2012

Manga inspire women to embrace 'male' hobbies

Male-dominated hobbies in Japan are being infiltrated by women who got the idea from manga.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Nov 30, 2012

The gentleman in the tux and what he did for Japan

In 1967, James Bond made his official Japan debut in "You Only Live Twice": The gentleman spy came to Tokyo and Fukuoka, saw some sumo, consorted with ninja and got intimate with two homegrown Bond girls. Directed by Lewis Gilbert, "You Only Live Twice" goes down in Japan's collective memory as the one...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Nov 30, 2012

Tokyo gubernatorial election a three-horse race

The Tokyo gubernatorial election campaign kicked off Thursday, with three main contenders vying for the post:

Longform

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