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JAPAN
Apr 18, 2008

To survive, companies need a conscience

It's time for Japanese companies to review their profit-driven culture and think about the meaning of being truly accepted by consumers and society, according to a public policy expert and former vice governor of Tokyo.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Apr 18, 2008

How Cheap Trick put the Budokan on the map

The first pop group to ever play Nippon Budokan Hall in Tokyo was The Beatles in 1966, a concert that caused quite a scandal because of the auditoriums' semisacred status as Japan's premier martial-arts venue. Rightwingers protested the show but in the end the prerogatives of capitalism prevailed.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / FREEWHEELIN' ACROSS JAPAN
Apr 11, 2008

Dreams of the 'One-Eyed Dragon'

As usual, I check into the Sendai City Hotel on Bansui Dori, one of the best deals in town: It sits on the edge of the Kokubuncho entertainment district, has a Christian church opposite for easy penance if things get out of hand, and newly-refurbished single rooms start from a comfortable ¥3,500. The...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink
Apr 11, 2008

A manga drunk on French wine

Hearing a 2001 Mont-Perat described as "just like a rock concert by Queen" is enough to make any self-respecting Frenchman expel a snort of derision from his finely-tuned nostrils.
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design / ON: FASHION
Apr 8, 2008

Tokujin meets Swarovksi and other Japan style news

Planting the crystal flag
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Mar 30, 2008

Ireland: From the quintessence of reaction — to what?

Second of two parts
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Mar 30, 2008

The big mysteries behind small things

THE ART OF SMALL THINGS by John Mack. London: British Museum Press, 2007, 224 pp., with 200 color illustrations, £19.99 (cloth) Here is a splendid catalog of the world made small — miniature works in the collection of the British Museum: Elizabethan rings, Benin masks, Netherlandish rosary beads,...
CULTURE / Music
Mar 28, 2008

Vampire Weekend "Vampire Weekend"

Blogs and underground music rags began raving about Vampire Weekend's supposedly innovative fusion of African pop, chamber pop and postrock last fall. Although their use of congas, organ and shakers does add a slight ethnic edge, their Paul Simon-influenced eponymous debut is unsurprisingly not as...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Mar 27, 2008

Tokyo's tidal wave of art

L ike a tsunami moving through deep water, the boom in Japan's contemporary art world has been approaching, little detected, for several years. Now, as it readies to peak in a proliferation of events next week — many of them brand new — we can see for the first time just how big it was, and who was...
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital / IGADGET
Mar 26, 2008

Phone imitates MP3 imitates phone

Lighter than Air: Anorexic models might no longer be PC on the catwalks, but laptop computer makers believe that consumers just can't keep their hands off them. As usual, Apple is seen as the trendsetter, thanks to its ultrathin MacBook Air model, which is trumpeted as the thinnest laptop of them all...
Japan Times
LIFE
Mar 23, 2008

What the world has to say . . .

"In Japan's short history of contact with Western fashion, we have lacked a 'bourgeois vs. high society' tension to portray in this showmanship world of fashion. Instead, most of the grandeur has come from the street." — Naoko Hasegawa, VP of Chang Co., Ltd. Apparel Company
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / MY PLAYLIST
Mar 21, 2008

MY PLAYLIST: Cornelius

Keigo Oyamada stopped writing hits a long time ago. Not playing the pop star suits him just fine. It gives Oyamada — formerly of Flipper's Guitar but better known since 1993 as avant-pop boffin Cornelius — more time to indulge his multimedia fantasies to the full, as captured on two new DVDs released...
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital
Mar 19, 2008

Gaming contest adds Dutch style to Japanese knowhow

UTRECHT, Netherlands From March 8 to 9 I was lucky enough to be involved as a jury member in a fresh initiative called the Japan GameJam. This new concept brings Dutch game designers into the exciting world of Japanese mobile gaming with a two day intensive game design session.
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital / IGADGET
Mar 19, 2008

Burst into song anytime with pocket karaoke

Diving directors: Everything about jumping out of an aircraft is a memorable experience, so filming the experience is a must. Skydivers have new opportunities to express their creativity thanks to Elmo Japan and its new SUV-Cam Professional, out March 26. The unit consists of a distinctly small camcorder...
Reader Mail
Mar 16, 2008

Homogeneity no excuse for profiling

Emerging with arrivals at Narita Airport earlier this month for a welcome breath of fresh air, I was approached by a police officer (riot police was his description) and asked to show my passport or alien card. He was exceedingly polite and looked quite sweet wearing a surgical mask and a Band-Aid on...
CULTURE / Music
Mar 14, 2008

Perfume "Fan Service ~ Prima Box"

Formed in Hiroshima in 2001, moving to Tokyo in 2003 and hitting the big time in 2006, Perfume are an idol-pop phenomenon, notable for how their music combines elements of house and electro with a futuristic, Akihabara-friendly image.
Japan Times
BASKETBALL / ONE-ON-ONE WITH ...
Mar 2, 2008

Evessa's 3-point ace Nakamura fulfills dream as pro player

The Japan Times will be featuring periodic interviews with players in the bj-league — Japan's first professional basketball circuit — which is in its third season. Naoto Nakamura of the Osaka Evessa is the subject of this week's profile.
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design / ON: DESIGN
Feb 26, 2008

METAPHYS' LADD mag rack, Lemnos' new mirror and H Concept's PhotoHanger

Hanging vanity
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Feb 22, 2008

'Evening'

Lest we forget what it is to be a woman, there's always the chick flick to remind us exactly what this may imply. In the case of "Evening," the implying rather has the effect of a tidal wave. There they are, all the usual suspects: love (unrequited and otherwise), weddings, marriages, careers, motherhood,...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / LIQUID CULTURE
Feb 22, 2008

Finding Tokyo's top theme bars

Sure, "best theme bar" is faint praise, but here are four Tokyo joints that are more fun than the Hard Rock Cafe. They were selected through the following criteria:
JAPAN
Feb 9, 2008

Ex-banker pleads not guilty to defrauding Chongryon

An ex-bank official associated with former public security agency chief Shigetake Ogata pleaded not guilty Friday to fraud, denying that he took part in an investment scam to swindle the pro-Pyongyang group Chongryon out of the ownership of its Tokyo headquarters building.
JAPAN
Feb 8, 2008

JAL to pay ¥48 million in employee-data suit

Japan Airlines Corp. agreed Thursday to pay ¥48 million in compensation to 194 former and current flight attendants who alleged that JAL, its largest labor union and five of the union's executives illegally collected and managed private information on them.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Feb 7, 2008

The gobbiest girl in London, innit?

Adele cringes: "I can't believe I did a peace sign on TV — like Ringo Starr!"

Longform

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