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CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Mar 20, 2011

Earthquake news dominates the channels; CM of the week: Advertising Council Japan

Japan's commercial television broadcasters and NHK have slowly been returning to regular programming during the last week, but schedules are still dominated by in-depth and up-to-the-minute reports on matters related to the earthquake and tsunami relief effort, as well as to the situation at the Fukushima...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Mar 18, 2011

Japan's musicians show their hearts

A mid a flurry of cancellations of festivals and other concerts around the nation since the March 11 earthquake and tsunami disaster, there has been a growing number of domestic artists, labels and event organizers — both big and small — who are making use of their music to do what they can to aid...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Mar 15, 2011

Kicking up a stink over ink in Kobe

You might want to avoid Suma Beach this summer if you are inked or have even a temporary sticker tattoo. The powers that be in Kobe City are considering ways to ban the display of tattoos on the beach.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Mar 4, 2011

Kuriyama trades her blades for a song

She's died on screen almost as many times as she's killed. Western movie fans will know her as Gogo Yubari, the spiked-ball-and-chain-wielding schoolgirl who disembowels men for fun before crying tears of blood in Quentin Tarantino's "Kill Bill: Vol. 1." In Japan, she's been an actress since the age...
LIFE / Digital / TECH_JAPAN
Mar 2, 2011

The Nintendo 3DS faces stiff competition, and not just from other game consoles

In 2004, Nintendo released the Nintendo DS, a dual-screen gaming handheld that was revised several times over the next few years as the DS Lite, DSi and DSi XL (LL in Japan) and went on to become one of the most popular consoles ever. The Kyoto-based gamemaker is obviously hoping to repeat that success...
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media
Feb 27, 2011

Japanese TV funnymen target U.S.

In the popular U.S. TV series "Heroes," Japan-born actor Masi Oka played the role of Hiro Nakamura, who could travel through space and time. The series has now finished, of course, but Oka is still breaking down barriers that were once thought insurmountable — this time, however, he's doing it as a...
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Feb 24, 2011

NTT creating sensors for seniors

The nation's top telecom carrier is developing a simple wristwatchlike device to monitor the well-being of the elderly.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Feb 22, 2011

Monster in Blackman case still an enigma

Richard Lloyd Parry spoke about his new book, "People Who Eat Darkness: The Fate of Lucie Blackman," with Jeff Kingston. The following draws on this interview and his book.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 22, 2011

Red Devils and moneyed 'untouchables' of soccer

HONG KONG — The front cover of the report by the respected audit and consulting concern Deloitte is dramatic and eye-catching: It consists of just a picture of a fedora hat reminiscent of the 1930s and, above it, a stark headline, "The Untouchables."
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Feb 20, 2011

Secret envoy docudrama; flash mob challenge; CM of the Week: Food Action Nippon

After decades of official denials from the Foreign Ministry, last year it was revealed that the Japanese government made a secret pact with the United States to allow the American military to bring nuclear weapons into Okinawa after the islands were returned to Japan in 1972.
CULTURE / Books
Feb 20, 2011

Recollections of an intrepid Meiji traveler

NEW CHRONICLES OF YANAGIBASHI AND DIARY OF A JOURNEY TO THE WEST, by Ryuhoku Narushima. Translated and with a critical introduction and afterword by Matthew Fraleigh. Cornell University East Asia Program, 2010, 392 pp., $49 (paper) The most interesting thing about Ryuhoku Narushima (1837-1884), author...
Japan Times
BUSINESS / YEN FOR LIVING
Feb 19, 2011

Annals of cheap: Only Free Paper

Print publishers find success in the formula of 'make it free, and they will come.'
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Feb 15, 2011

Japan, be confident!

On the day of his departure from Hokkaido on April 16, 1877, at the end of his tenure as the first president of what later became Hokkaido University, William Smith Clark left his charges, and Japan, with a parting message: "Boys, be ambitious." For the next century plus, Japan was ambitious, creating...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / VIEWS FROM THE STREET
Feb 15, 2011

Osaka: What are your thoughts on the decision to cancel the Osaka sumo tournament due to the match-fixing scandal?

Atsuko Fujimoto
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Feb 13, 2011

K-pop takes on the world while J-pop stays home

Last week, the Fuji TV newsmagazine "Mr. Sunday" looked at Korean pop's success in Japan from two angles. Taking a street-level perspective, the show's host, Seiji Miyane, hung out in Tokyo's Okubo district, which has become "the new Harajuku" because young Japanese women flock there to rub up against...
Japan Times
JAPAN / History
Feb 13, 2011

Japan's first pop culture

Pop culture. Japan's today is thriving, vibrant, spreading, turning people the world over into manga/anime freaks and costume players.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Feb 11, 2011

Medvedev trip wins over Kunashiri locals

YUZHNO-SAKHALINSK, Russia (Kyodo) Just over three months ago, President Dmitry Medvedev paid a brief visit to Kunashiri Island, becoming the first Kremlin leader to visit one of four isles off Hokkaido controlled by Moscow and long claimed by Japan.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / CLOSE-UP
Feb 6, 2011

Yang Sok Gil: Writing about wrongs at home and abroad

Yang Sok Gil is renowned for his novels describing, with remarkable humanity and humor, people's wanton desires and the problems they cause, often from the viewpoint of minorities in Japan or elsewhere.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Feb 4, 2011

'The King's Speech'

The Prime Minister (ours) is on Twitter. That's basically a so-what situation given the present digital (and alas, political) climate, but a mere five or so decades ago, people in public office were much more selective about their methods of exposure. In fact, some of them had a definite aversion to...
BUSINESS
Feb 4, 2011

Sony profit falls 8.6% on strong yen

Sony Corp.'s quarterly profit dropped 8.6 percent as a strong yen and falling TV prices erased the boost the electronics and entertainment company got from its hit movie "The Social Network."
Japan Times
JAPAN
Feb 2, 2011

Kyoto plan to boost visitors with aquarium irks locals

KYOTO — The ancient capital of Kyoto, already a major tourist destination, is moving forward with plans to further boost the number of domestic and international visitors.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jan 28, 2011

Sony unveils NGP portable game console

Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. on Thursday took the wraps off its new hand-held game device, which has features never before seen on portables, including dual analog joysticks and front and rear touch pads.
COMMUNITY / Voices / HOTLINE TO NAGATACHO
Jan 25, 2011

So you want Japan to be a true Asian business hub?

Dear Economy, Trade and Industry Minister Banri Kaieda: Last month your ministry published "Current Policies to Make Japan Asia's Center for Business."
Japan Times
BASKETBALL / BJ-LEAGUE NOTEBOOK
Jan 24, 2011

Ishizaki impresses bj-league peers

OSAKA — Shimane Susanoo Magic point guard Takumi Ishizaki has made a terrific impression in his short time in the bj-league.
JAPAN
Jan 22, 2011

Host-nation deal inked, not 'sympathy budget'

Japan and the United States signed an agreement Friday that keeps Tokyo's annual bill for hosting U.S. military facilities at ¥188.1 billion over the next five years and allows it to relocate unwanted war exercises — for a price.

Longform

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