Search - best-of-city-guide

 
 
Japan Times
BASKETBALL
Dec 21, 2014

Joho sparks Toyama in victory over rival Iwate

Star guard Masashi Joho's return to the Toyama Grouses lineup this weekend delivered what the team has come to expect during his tenure with the franchise: victories.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / KANPAI CULTURE
Nov 11, 2014

Japan denied a dram of its winning whisky

Of the many things that Scotland has bequeathed to the world — golf, kilts and the baffling culinary phenomenon of fried Mars bars — my favorite by far is whisky. I have an enduring fondness for peaty and powerful Scotch whiskies from Islay and the Islands (as anyone foolish enough to leave me alone...
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Nov 8, 2014

Yamadera: 1,000-step staircase to paradise

We're only a few minutes into our climb up one of Yamagata Prefecture's holy mountains, Mount Hojusan, and already our pace has slowed considerably. Our destination is Risshakuji Temple, more colloquially known as Yamadera (literally: "mountain temple"), a far-north outpost of Tendai Buddhism since 860....
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Aug 9, 2014

Sun-dazed on a distant archipelago

It didn't take long for a seasoned group of truck drivers to stake their claim to the best seats in the house or, in this case, ferry. They positioned themselves on tiny plastic seats at the rear of the open deck as the ferry left Tomari Port in Naha City, Okinawa, bound for the island of Kumejima. More...
Japan Times
BASKETBALL
May 5, 2014

Alvark storm past Brex in decisive Game 3

Once again, the Toyota Alvark encountered a fearless challenge from the Link Tochigi Brex. But the Alvark displayed better composure and the knack for winning a big game.
Japan Times
BASKETBALL
May 3, 2014

Alvark clobber Brex in teams' playoff opener

Though they dealt with some threatening moments, the Toyota Motors Alvark buckled down when it mattered most and came out on top in the end.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
Jan 25, 2014

Is altruism our hope, and growth a curse?

My day job is at Chuo University in western Tokyo, and January at Japanese universities is chaotic, what with final classes, reports and grading as our second term comes to an end and the academic year winds down toward its conclusion in March. Among the words that come to mind, "happiness" is not usually...
BASKETBALL
Oct 12, 2013

Defending champion Yokohama drops opener to Shinshu

The Yokohama B-Corsairs have a new head coach (Michael Katsuhisa) and a vastly different lineup than the one the team had when it won the bj-league title in May as a second-year franchise.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives
Jul 12, 2013

Okinawan musician, club owner keeps folk traditions going strong

The back streets of Naha were dark, making it more difficult to find Shima-Umui, a music club run by Okinawan folk singer Misako Oshiro. The torpid air and smell of papaya rinds from a nearby bin spoke of the subtropics. A small sign, barely visible from the street, directed customers to the basement...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jun 7, 2013

From Björk to Kyary, festival season has arrived

Summer means a lot of things in Japan: stifling heat and humidity, fireworks and the Bon holidays, nagashi-sōmen noodles and chilled barley tea. For music fans though, the season brings a different kind of to-do list: booking cheap train tickets in advance, stocking up on essential supplies — and...
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
May 12, 2013

On the trail of ninja in Iga's shadowy past

The bright-pink ninja-emblazoned train isn't exactly the epitome of stealth as it cuts through the forested hills and rice paddies of Mie Prefecture. Neither are visitors' pint-size offspring who race excitedly up the paths of Ueno Park in the city of Iga shrieking their excitement at the prospect of...
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Apr 14, 2013

The Oki Islands: where time seems to have stood still

Before he left Japan after several years spent in Hiroshima, the multi-award-winning English novelist David Mitchell advised me: "If you only make one trip while you are here, make sure it's to the Oki Islands." They were, he assured me (in not quite so many words), little patches of ye olde Nihon as...
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Dec 23, 2012

Journeying to the ends of the Earth ...

Travel is an addiction for which there seems no cure. Once under its sway, it is best just to ride out the alternating fevers and chills and see where they take you.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Dec 9, 2012

There are 'snow monsters' who can help save Tohoku

Yes, it's true. Spending some money on skiing among snow monsters and soaking in hot-spring baths is a good way to help the Tohoku region of northeastern Honshu recover from the Great East Japan Earthquake of March 11, 2011, the terrible tsunami it triggered and the ongoing nuclear crisis that followed....
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Jun 2, 2012

Japan's great outdoors becomes Oregonian's office-cum-playground

Gliding through powder across Mount Hakkoda in Aomori Prefecture or scanning the surfers at Shonan Beach in Kanagawa Prefecture, Gardner Robinson's life and work merge so completely that on the clock and on the slopes are one and the same.
Japan Times
BASKETBALL
Mar 14, 2012

Evessa's Washington arrested in drug case

Osaka Evessa power forward Lynn Washington, the most famous player in bj-league history, was arrested at 10:20 a.m on Tuesday for alleged involvement in the importation of between 1 kg and 1.5 kg of marijuana, media reports stated the same day.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / KANPAI CULTURE
Feb 10, 2012

New to sake? Here's where to start

"Is it always this crowded?" I ask a happi-coat-clad clerk at the Meishu Center sake shop in Hamamatsucho, as she pours me three glasses of sake from hefty, 1.5-liter isshōbin bottles.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Jan 21, 2012

Aussie takes slippery slope to Hokkaido

Matt Dening, 44, grew up on sunshine in a small beach town south of Sydney. Like most Australian youths, Dening played "all the regular sports — swimming, cricket, rugby — but not really well."
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Dec 30, 2011

Top 5 DVDs to alleviate holiday cabin fever

The three Japan Times film critics (Mark Schilling, Giovanni Fazio and me, Kaori Shoji) are taking a much-needed and entirely fictional break in a log cabin in a remote location, with no entertainment except for five DVDs. (Personally, I would rather have camped out at a 24-hour cocktail lounge in my...
BUSINESS
Oct 22, 2011

Honda enlists Thai soldiers as floods approach

Outside a Honda Motor Co. factory on Bangkok's outskirts, Thai soldiers guide gravel bags lowered from a crane into a canal as guards stationed on the plant's plastic-lined walls monitor rising floodwaters.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jun 23, 2011

Bedroom ears: Japan's new D.I.Y. ethic

The dimly lit Bar Fabrica is an appropriate place to meet the four artists from Cuz Me Pain Records, who describe their music as "quite dark" and are known for being shrouded in mystery.
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design / ON: DESIGN
Mar 31, 2011

Design in aid of Tohoku

The design world lends its artistic hand As Japan struggles with the consequences of the Kanto-Tohoku earthquake, this month's column takes a different format to highlight some of the ways the design community has come together to provide relief and support.
BASKETBALL
Mar 7, 2011

Hopson's steady hand leads 89ers past Broncos

KASUKABE, Saitama Pref. — The best location to shoot a basketball is from the free-throw line, as smart coaches will tell you, emphasizing the word "free" and reminding you that defenders can't challenge your shot when the clock is stopped and you're at the line.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jun 18, 2010

'Paris-Kyoto': Two very different cities, one vibrant vision

Color photography, once thought of as the crass, poor cousin of the more aesthetically pleasing monochrome, is now firmly established as a valid art form. We have William Eggleston and his vivid images of rural America to thank for that.
BASKETBALL
Apr 17, 2010

Apache rout Broncos

Julius Ashby and Rasheed Sparks scored 26 points apiece to guide the Tokyo Apache to a 96-84 win over the Saitama Broncos on Friday at Sumida City Gymnasium.
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
Dec 1, 2009

Scuba, shipping and 'Tachi' base memories

Scuba source In reply to the inquiry about scuba diving (Lifelines, Oct. 6), Matt writes on behalf of Mar Scuba, the oldest foreigner-run dive operation in Tokyo ( www.marscuba.com ).
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
Oct 20, 2009

Seeking some advice, a lost father, friend

Where is my father? Yovichi (Yoichi?) Perez is "Japinoy," meaning of Filipino-Japanese ancestry. He saw a letter from a Japinoy like himself, also looking for his father, so he thought he would try his luck with us.
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Sep 22, 2009

'The last flies of summer'

Three years ago, I was lying on the beach of a package hotel, watching a pair of jet skis churn the sea to muddy silt. J-pop blared from the shore-side Tannoy, and two lifeguards were pinning down a hysterical toddler, while a third doused vinegar over a scarlet welt of jellyfish sting.

Longform

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