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Japan Times
JAPAN / Media
Jul 17, 2011

Tezuka on iPad represents shift in manga biz

Manga is an integral part of the entertainment industry in Japan, and has been for decades. There are numerous weekly and monthly manga anthologies. Series carried in those magazines often become bestsellers in paperback form and are adapted into anime, live-action TV shows and films. However, with fewer...
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Jul 17, 2011

Beat the heat in the green hills of Izu

Nobody likes Japan's cities in the summertime — at least not those south of Hokkaido. With heat rising off the tarmac and radiating from the concrete, and humidity that clings like a wet towel, thoughts of escape come readily to mind — and there's no better tonic than getting up into the hills and...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jul 15, 2011

'Under the Hawthorn Tree'

One of my girlfriends in high school had super-strict parents. Not only was she required to be home by the ungodly hour of 8 p.m. every night, she was allowed no boys in her life, and her dad even forbade her to smile and say "thank you" to the delivery guy. On the other hand, this girl recognized the...
Japan Times
CULTURE
Jul 15, 2011

Will heartthrob Mukai shine as the shogun?

This year's NHK Sunday evening drama has already entered the history books for one, perhaps inauspicious, reason. On March 12, a day after the Great East Japan Earthquake, NHK announced that the following day's broadcast of "Go," as the show is titled, would be canceled to make way for news coverage....
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 14, 2011

Technology and the growing income gap

Until now, the relentless march of technology and globalization has played out hugely in favor of high-skilled labor, helping to fuel record-high levels of income and wealth inequality around the world. Will the endgame be renewed class warfare, with populist governments coming to power, stretching the...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jul 14, 2011

Website Nico Nico Douga goes live ... house

Online video-sharing website Nico Nico Douga has become a popular place for young Japanese to check out new music. Now imagine stepping inside the site to experience those tunes live.
Japan Times
CULTURE
Jul 8, 2011

Live from Tokyo, it's Saturday Night!

Ladies and gentlemen, it's Saturday Night Live Japan!
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jul 8, 2011

Asia's gay film scene opens Tokyo up to brave new experiences

Now in its fourth year, the Asian Queer Film Festival is an eye-opener for anyone who has thought that "queers" have a bad time in their quest for love and freedom in Asia.
Japan Times
BASKETBALL
Jul 4, 2011

B-Corsairs prepare to make maiden voyage in bj-league

The Yokohama B-Corsairs had arguably the most successful draft in the bj-league last month, selecting a pair of standouts in guard Kenji Yamada and Senegalese center Pape Mour Faye.
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design / ON: DESIGN
Jun 28, 2011

Some new old favorites

Ready for the summer buzz There's one summer discomfort that has yet to kick in: the dreaded mosquito attacks. To help us win the battle over insects, household goods brand Vitantonio has teamed up with Kincho, an insect-repellent manufacturer, to create the Mosquito Buster.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST
Jun 25, 2011

When every card's a joker

Once — a dozen years or so ago — I yawned my way past a politician giving a "stump" speech to the early morning commuters at my station. In fact, I had to side-step him on the narrow walkway.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jun 23, 2011

A marriage of East and West: something old, something borrowed and something blue

The Museum fur Kunst und Gewerbe in Hamburg is showing its collection of Japanese prints for the first time on these shores as part of diplomatic celebrations around the 150th anniversary of Japan-German relations. It is a catholic exhibition that showcases ukiyo-e in its wide array of manifestations,...
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design / STYLE WISE
Jun 14, 2011

A season for accolades, milestones and new frontiers

Florence and Kyoto unite to celebrate Gucci's 90 years Revered luxury brand Gucci is celebrating its 90th anniversary this year with a special traveling exhibition in Japan that highlights its prowess in craftsmanship. Starting at the famed Kinkaku-ji Golden Temple in Kyoto, "Gucci: 90 years" showcases...
Japan Times
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Jun 12, 2011

Ireton, Guam schools, MLB Japan team up to help rebuild baseball in Tohoku

Earthquake and tsunami disaster relief efforts continue in the Tohoku region, and two schools in the area whose buildings and playing grounds were washed away have been able to re-establish their baseball and other sports programs thanks to the generosity of friends in Guam and Tokyo and also Major League...
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Jun 12, 2011

Enjoy art with alpine views

Back in the 1960s, a New York postal worker named Herbert Vogel and his librarian wife, Dorothy, began buying paintings. Using Herb's modest salary, and living off Dorothy's, they picked out affordable pieces that took their fancy — most of them by artists unknown at the time. By the early '90s, their...
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Jun 4, 2011

Navigating your way around Japan

Ever since I moved to Japan I've heard the Japanese say, "Nihon wa chiisai kuni desu" (Japan is a small country), with the underlying meaning that this fact is responsible for many of Japan's weaknesses. Foreigners are quick to point out that England is also a small country, yet has historically been...
BUSINESS
Jun 3, 2011

PlayStation Network up in U.S.

Sony Corp. fully resumed its PlayStation Network service Thursday in the U.S. and Europe after a hacker attack six weeks ago led operations to be suspended.
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
May 31, 2011

English magazines run gamut from poetry to prose, Kanto to Chubu

We received several additional English-magazine suggestions in response to our May 17 column, "Print is suffering, but English readers have never had it so good."
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle
May 31, 2011

The edified and TEDified in Japan

On May 21, Tokyo's third annual TEDx event was held at Miraikan (the National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation) in Odaiba. Though officially closed until June 11 due to the Great Eastern Japan Earthquake, Miraikan hosted 300 guests to this year's event: TEDxTokyo 2011: Enter the Unknown.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT
May 29, 2011

A garden pictogram lives on

Japanese gardens are often associated with temples, feudal estates or castles. Genkyu-en in Shiga Prefecture is certainly no exception, sited as it is adjoining a detached palace in the grounds of Hikone Castle, one of only a handful of the nation's feudal fortresses to have survived in its original...
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
May 22, 2011

Recalling fond memories of Killebrew

It is always sad to hear about the death of a ballplayer who, as a youth, you admired.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
May 20, 2011

Depp adds more gold to his treasure chest

Johnny Depp is wrestling with a monster. No, it's not one of the numerous sea monsters from "Pirates of the Caribbean" — it's the franchise itself.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
May 19, 2011

Edo disaster images strike grim chords

How will the experience of the recent natural disasters impact on the work of Japan's artists? It's a question that is playing on the minds of many observers of the art world here these days, and it's a question that is somewhat answered — at least by way of historical parallel — in a show currently...
CULTURE / Books
May 15, 2011

Nintendo's Wiining ways

PLAYING TO WIIN: Nintendo and the Video Game Industry, by Daniel Sloan. Wiley, 2011, 256 pp., $24.95 (hardcover) Ten years ago, tough times had hit Nintendo with shrinking sales and profits, increasing demand for new products and growing pressure from competitors. What hope was there for a comeback from...
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
May 15, 2011

Recalling a generation, and more, sold out by the U.S. masters of war

Next month there will be a celebration in Los Angeles that I very much regret having to miss. It is a reunion of my high school graduating class of 1961.
Japan Times
LIFE / WEEK 3
May 15, 2011

Japan's renegade hero gives Saipan new hope

Graciano Lisua doesn't look like someone who would get too worked up about ghosts. Yet superstition, says the broad-shouldered, barrel-chested Chomorron as he leans on his machete, is of great import for the inhabitants of the Mariana Islands.

Longform

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