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Japan Times
JAPAN
Jan 6, 2012

Omron smartphone app comes close to instantaneous text translations

Omron Software Co. has developed a smartphone application that translates short English, Korean and Chinese written phrases into Japanese in less than a second.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / YEN FOR LIVING
Jan 5, 2012

Mahjong parlors go deeper underground to stay in business

Police get wise and crack down on some of the mahjong industry's more creative ideas.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Dec 31, 2011

Firm pools three giants' prowess in small panels

The rapidly growing smartphone and tablet computer market is changing the face of the Tokyo commute: Many now can be seen flicking their fingers across touch-screen panels while riding public transportation.
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Dec 19, 2011

Drinking the blues away and how to do it properly

It's that time of year when opportunities to reach for a glass, tumbler or ochoko (おちょこ, sake cup) increase by the evening, while days continue to be crammed with duties, professional and otherwise.
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Dec 18, 2011

Their spirit seems willing but young Japanese are hesitant to get hitched

Back in the days of "there's gold in them thar hills," one of the prospectors' doleful refrains boasted the title "My Girlfriend's a Mule and a Mine." Across the Pacific and some 150 years on, I wouldn't be surprised if an echo of that plaintive air were not about to catch on among young Japanese males...
Japan Times
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Dec 11, 2011

It takes a supersize brain to drive a London taxi

Visitors to Japan often comment on the way taxi doors open as you approach — at the touch of a button by the driver; and that those drivers generally wear smart white gloves. I apologize for the competitive tone, but there is something far more remarkable about London taxis: their drivers.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Dec 1, 2011

Green is the big thing at this year's Tokyo Motor Show

Japanese carmakers highlighted their latest green technology concept cars during Wednesday's media preview at the Tokyo Motor Show as they bid to lead the global trend toward energy efficiency and reignite interest among young people in automobiles.
COMMENTARY
Nov 22, 2011

Beijing girds for universal suffrage elections

In 1994, the last British Governor of Hong Kong, Chris Patten, quoted a former colonial official as saying: "The Chinese style is not to rig elections, but they do like to know the result before they're held."
BUSINESS
Nov 22, 2011

DoCoMo to spend on networks

NTT DoCoMo Inc., the nation's biggest mobile-phone carrier by subscribers, aims to keep boosting operating profit by curbing overall spending as two smaller rivals add more customers by offering Apple Inc.'s iPhone.
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Nov 16, 2011

Smartphones new security battlefield

Smartphones have become a global phenomenon and in Japan in particular people are rapidly replacing their old cellphones with new handsets that are more like small computers with ever-increasing applications.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Nov 10, 2011

Kaela Kimura "8Eight8"

Spiders are excellent. How many legs have you got? A spider has four times more. Ha! And four times more eyes too! You and I will never be as cool as a spider — that's just the way it goes.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Nov 2, 2011

Sony regroups ailing TV business

Sony Corp., struggling to rebound from seven consecutive annual losses in television manufacturing, has reorganized the business into three groups.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Oct 30, 2011

Cyclists piste at Tokyo police crackdown

Last month, comedian Mitsunori Fukuda was stopped and cited for riding a fixed-gear racing bike on a public street in Tokyo's Setagaya Ward. These bicycles, also known as "piste bikes," have become popular in the past few years, not so much as a conveyance but more as a fashion statement. They usually...
BUSINESS
Oct 29, 2011

Nintendo predicts first annual loss on yen woes, 3DS disappointment

Nintendo Co., the world's largest maker of video game machines, forecast its first annual loss on record amid the yen's surge to a new postwar high and weaker than expected sales of the new 3DS console.
Japan Times
MULTIMEDIA
Oct 27, 2011

Playful imagery born out of Berlin's ruins

Berlin is a place that artists want to be. It attracts them from all over the globe — Poland, Korea, Albania and Singapore, to name but a few of the countries represented in this exhibition. They go there to seek connections, collaborations, networks, education, mentoring — and cheap rent.
BUSINESS
Oct 22, 2011

Capcom expects phone games to generate 30% of profit

Capcom Co. expects the proportion of its profit generated by "Smurfs' Village" and other games played on mobile phones to rise to 30 percent as users of Apple Inc.'s iPhone and Google Inc.'s Android system download the titles.
LIFE / Digital / TECH_JAPAN
Oct 19, 2011

Android privacy concerns rise over apps crossing the line

Tokyo-based IT company Milog is known for providing Android-based smartphone apps that let users share information about the apps installed on their phones and rank them by popularity. This small startup, established in 2009, has been supported by notable companies, including receiving a ¥310 million...
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 18, 2011

The EU's clean-air turbulence

Passengers flying to and from Europe face higher fares from next year, and anyone flying to Japan or Asia will pay sharply more than those staying within Europe or going to the Middle East, thanks to new rules from the European Union in pursuit of an oxymoron, making air travel environmentally friendly....
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Oct 17, 2011

Desperately seeking the lost art of nanpa

One of my cousins spent four weeks in a hinanjo (避難所, evacuation shelter) after the Tohoku disaster, and during that time she experienced the moteki (モテキ, a time when one is gloriously attractive to the opposite sex) of her life.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Oct 15, 2011

Rivals Softbank, KDDI roll out latest iPhone model

Apple Inc.'s latest iPhone model debuted Friday in the domestic market, and for the first time it is being sold by two rival carriers, a move expected to heat up the cellphone competition.

Longform

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