Search - special

 
 
BUSINESS
Oct 7, 2006

Forex reserves again hit record

Kyodo News
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / VIEWS FROM THE STREET
Oct 3, 2006

What's the most useful thing you've ever bought abroad?

Japan Times
JAPAN
Sep 27, 2006

Hawkishness is watchword for Abe team

The Cabinet and special advisers named Tuesday by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe share one dominant trait: conservatism.
JAPAN
Sep 27, 2006

New lineup a good indicator where policy emphasis will be

The new Cabinet lineup announced Tuesday shows where Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is placing his emphasis, such as the North Korean abductions, education and various reforms, and he wants his closest allies working in those areas.
EDITORIALS
Sep 27, 2006

Aum leader's trial finally ends

The long trial of Aum Shinrikyo founder Shoko Asahara ended Sept. 15 when the Supreme Court rejected a special appeal by lawyers for Asahara. The top court's decision affirmed the February 2004 ruling of the Tokyo District Court, which found the cult leader guilty of 13 criminal counts, the most serious...
JAPAN
Sep 26, 2006

Abe to keep bureaucrat out of key post

In a bid to beef up the power of politicians, Shinzo Abe will not appoint an active bureaucrat to a key position in the prime minister's office that has been considered the top bureaucratic position in the entire country, a close aide to Abe said Monday night.
COMMENTARY
Sep 25, 2006

Sticky bureaucratic fingers

It used to be said that Japanese bureaucrats were first rate while politicians were third rate. That's no longer true, as evidenced by an appalling spate of scandals involving slush funds in the central and local governments.
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Sep 24, 2006

NHK's "Ongaku Idenshi," Nihon TV's "Diet Combat" and more

One of the most common questions asked of pop musicians is, Who are your influences? This question is the premise behind a new series on NHK, "Ongaku Idenshi" (NHK-G, Mon., 11 p.m.), which literally means "The Genes of Music." According to the show's producers, a musician's particular sensibility is...
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 13, 2006

If 9/11 hadn't happened, where would the world be?

LONDON -- Five years since 9/11, and we are still being told that the world has changed forever. But the attack on the United States on Sept. 11, 2001, was a low-probability event that could just as easily not have happened. The often careless and sometimes incompetent hijackers might have been caught...
JAPAN
Sep 12, 2006

Trouble looms as foreign labor floods in

OSAKA -- It's 2030, and Japan is facing an unprecedented social problem. For the past quarter-century, ever since the population began declining, the government has encouraged the hiring of foreign laborers. But measures to control immigration have failed, and in some towns and villages foreigners now...
EDITORIALS
Sep 6, 2006

Kurds put the fear in Turkey

Kurdish militants have launched a campaign to "turn Turkey into hell." A series of bombings by the Kurdistan Freedom Falcons (KFF) is part of a larger campaign to secure more autonomy from the Turkish government and the eventual creation of an independent Kurdish state. That ambition is not only opposed...
CULTURE / Music
Sep 1, 2006

Walter Trout and Friends "Full Circle"

Inviting special guests onto albums is almost obligatory these days, but on his new one, "Full Circle," bluesman Walter Trout wants sizzling guitar duels rather than promo plugs. With string bending friends like John Mayall and Joe Bonamassa, the gutbucket blues explodes with dazzling licks and impassioned...
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Sep 1, 2006

Bongout Noh: A sutando where standards are high

The boom in tachi-nomi (drinking while standing) bars continues unabated. At the traditional end of the spectrum are the rough-and-ready sake and shochu pubs. At the other extreme are more genteel establishments that prefer to call themselves sutando bars. The principles are the same -- no chairs; pay...
COMMENTARY
Aug 28, 2006

Slighting the air-raid victims

This summer I saw three Japanese movies -- two documentaries and a feature -- depicting the plight of World War II victims.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER
Aug 23, 2006

Forest green tree frog

* Japanese name: Moriao-gaeru * Scientific name: Rhacophorus arboreus * Description: A cute little, beautiful green frog; males are 4-6 cm long, females are 6-8 cm long. The backs can be mottled with brown speckles, and the number of these speckles varies according to where in the country they live....
Japan Times
JAPAN
Aug 19, 2006

For guitar-loving Japanese, it's gotta be American and it better be Gibson

The hand-aged Gibson Les Paul Special is a replica of the 1960 original, but an American master craftsman made it exactly the way the guitar would look today, complete with aging, cracked paint and dents from scuffs and scratches.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / CLOSE-UP
Aug 6, 2006

Shu Uemura: A life in pursuit of beauty

Hailing from a conservative family of businessmen and bankers, as a young man in occupied Japan, Shu Uemura dreamed of becoming an actor. But, fearing that his weak constitution would hamper his chances of success, he instead enrolled at Tokyo Beauty Academy -- the only man in a class of 130.
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Aug 6, 2006

Superstar spituralist in Fuji's "SMAP X SMAP" and more

Superstar spiritualist Hiroyuki Ehara is the special guest this week on "SMAP X SMAP" (Fuji, Monday, 10 p.m.). The boy band will host him in the SMAP Bistro, where he orders "spiritual potato cuisine," saying that the lowly spud is "spiritual food" since it "boils up human energy," whatever that means....
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Aug 4, 2006

South of the border in 'Nakame'

Naka-Meguro's days as a hip, artsy enclave have long been numbered. The area isgentrifying fast, especially down by the river and uptoward Daikanyama. But venture along the slow-moving, old-school shopping street that forms the spiritual axis of 'Nakame' (as the locals like to call it) and you can still...
BUSINESS
Aug 3, 2006

Obituary: Masao Nishimura

Former Industrial Bank of Japan President Masao Nishimura, one of the architects of the Mizuho megabank group, died of heart failure Tuesday at a Tokyo hospital, his family has announced. He was 73.
JAPAN
Aug 1, 2006

Ministry drafts measures to prevent building scandals

The infrastructure ministry proposed measures Monday to prevent the falsification of building data, including certifying architects with expertise in key areas and requiring builders to use those certified architects when constructing large buildings.
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Jul 30, 2006

TBS rejoins the fighting family in "Triple Kitchen" and more

One of the enduring conflicts in Japanese TV dramas is the one that exists between a bride and her mother-in-law. This theme hit its peak 13 years ago in the series "Double Kitchen," which followed the daily boxing match between Kiriko and her husband's mother, who, as played by Yoko Nogiwa, was the...
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST
Jul 29, 2006

When Crete meets NEET

An unholy union with an unholy result -- a monster!
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / THE SECOND ROOM
Jul 27, 2006

Psychedelic radar 07.27

TPE Open Air Summer Festival: July 28-30
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Jul 23, 2006

36th year of "Mito Komon" starts at TBS and more

Japan's longest-running TV drama series, 'Mito Komon' (TBS), will begin its 36th year Monday night at 8 p.m.
BUSINESS
Jul 20, 2006

No mention of deflation in July economic report

The government signaled Wednesday the economy is definitely moving forward, dropping the word "deflation" from its monthly economic report for the first time in five years.

Longform

Totopa in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward was picked by consultants TTNE as the best sauna of the year.
Japan’s sauna movement: Relax, refresh, repeat