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BUSINESS
Oct 23, 2003

Firms unveil home stereos that can download digital music

Imagine if your stereo system were linked directly to an online music store.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Oct 19, 2003

Maverick broadcaster Kume shook 'em up

Since Oct. 10, when the House of Representatives was dissolved, bigwigs from Japan's political parties have been making the rounds of the nightly news shows, spelling out their differences and promoting their spiffy new "manifestos" in preparation for the election on Nov. 9. Though they've contained...
JAPAN
Oct 16, 2003

Bus rides to glitzy Tokyo high-rises are wooing the package tour crowd

People on package tours to Tokyo are now being treated to free bus rides to the newest attractions to rise far above old Edo -- a number of massive and gleaming redevelopment projects that have recently opened their doors for business.
LIFE / Lifestyle / MATTER OF COURSE
Oct 16, 2003

Lessons in the field yield unexpected harvests

Call me a coward, but I get nervous when surrounded by rowdy youths carrying sharp blades.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Oct 12, 2003

His finger on the pulse of life on Earth

The Philip Glass Ensemble has been performing the music to the film "Koyaanisqatsi," live with screenings of the film, since the year after the film's release in 1982. This was later complemented by the performance of music from the film's 1987 followup "Powaqqatsi." So far, these cinema concerts have...
JAPAN
Oct 9, 2003

Pesky spammers sneer at the law

The arrest of a man accused of sending millions of ads for an Internet site is raising questions about the legal boundaries of spam e-mail, which Japan's bombarded public has dubbed "nuisance mail."
LIFE / Digital / NAME OF THE GAME
Oct 9, 2003

TV icons hit the road

What do you get when you cross America's favorite dysfunctional family with the video game "Grand Theft Auto III"? You get "The Simpsons: Hit & Run," a new game from Vivendi Universal Games for Xbox.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Oct 8, 2003

Sony shows game machine-DVD recorder

CHIBA -- Sony Corp. announced Tuesday it will introduce its "crossover" game console and home entertainment unit on the domestic market for the yearend shopping season.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Sep 27, 2003

Huge games show launched in Chiba

The biggest electronic games show in Japan opened Friday for a three-day run, with online games figuring prominently, organizers said.
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
Sep 23, 2003

Science fiction or science fact and culture

J-culture In response to Simone returning home to France (Lifelines; July 22) more readers have come up with great information on English-language magazines about J-culture.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Sep 14, 2003

Uncovering lost worlds of Japanese film

RECALLING THE TREASURES OF JAPANESE CINEMA: Japanese Film History Studies, edited by Friends of Silent Film Association, supervised by Matsuda Film Productions, preface by Tadao Sato. Tokyo: Urban Connections, 2003, 200 pp., with photos, 1,800 yen (cloth). With movies so ubiquitous it is easy to forget...
COMMUNITY
Sep 13, 2003

Blue-eyed singer brings heart of Japan to world

Greg Irwin looks back to the year 2000 and can hardly believe how his life has turned around. "I was ready to quit singing doyo. I was not happy in my personal life. I was questioning living in Japan and my career seemed to have hit the glass ceiling."
Japan Times
JAPAN
Sep 11, 2003

Seniors enjoy thespian therapy

Kiyoko Goto, 86, dried her eyes several times as she watched the action unfold before her.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 9, 2003

Using the right words in Kosovo

When it comes to media access, Kosovo's population is spoiled for choices. No apartment block is complete without its symmetrical rows of white satellite dishes scanning the heavens for news and entertainment. One estimate has it that 75 percent of the population has media access. BBC and MTV are just...
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Sep 5, 2003

Sony unveils new version of Aibo

Inc. on Thursday unveiled a new version of the robot dog Aibo that is better at recognizing images and moving around.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / J-POPSICLE
Aug 31, 2003

Buffalo Daughter's deeper grooves

It's usually not a good idea to go into the recording studio without having some idea of what you're going to record. Most artists have a demo or a written score to work from; some even have full-fledged arrangements down on paper before they start recording.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Aug 24, 2003

Keeping abreast of the boob tube's favorite idols

Can we talk about breasts? Specifically, the large kind, which in the United States are affectionately (or not) called "knockers" or "hooters." In Japan, the slang is more clinical : kyonyu (giant breasts), honyu (rich breasts), and even bakunyu (explosive breasts). These words are clinical because nyu...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Aug 20, 2003

Noda gives Kabukiza a 'Mouse' that roars

A modern legend is back at the 114-year-old Kabukiza this summer in the diminutive form of Hideki Noda, one of the titans of Japanese contemporary theater.
CULTURE / Stage
Aug 17, 2003

New Okinawan theater completes missing link in performing arts

It is a dream come true for Tatsuhiro Oshiro, a native Okinawan and Akutagawa Prize-winning novelist and playwright.
SPORTS / SPORTS SCOPE
Aug 15, 2003

Kobe case sheds bad light on kids in NBA

Sometimes in life it is best to wait before passing judgment.
CULTURE / Books / THE BOOK REPORT
Aug 14, 2003

Manga culture ignites craze in media markets overseas

American boys can now read popular Japanese manga like "One Piece" in an English-language "Shonen Jump" and German girls can read girl's manga in the German-language magazine "Daisuki." Is this a passing fad or the start of a full-scale manga invasion?
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES
Aug 6, 2003

Koinu Entertainment Showcase Volume One

Japan has produced so many great hip-hop DJs, like Krush and Kensei, that it is easy to overlook the dearth of equally great MCs. No surprise then that most of the intriguing artists at this weekend's underground hip-hop confab, sponsored by hybrid metal rap group Koinu, are turntablists such as DJs...
EDITORIALS
Jul 27, 2003

Demystifying the meow

So, the geniuses at Takara Co. Ltd. who last year gave this country the "Bowlingual," the gadget that supposedly translates dogs' thoughts into human language, have now announced a November launch for "Meowlingual," which is touted as doing the same for cats. (One sign that the inventors might actually...
Events
Jul 27, 2003

KANSAI: Who & What

Council to put Takarazuka in spotlight: The British Council's Kyoto office is inviting 60 people to a showing of a documentary film on the Takarazuka Revue, the Japanese all-women revue company, from 4:30 p.m. on Friday at the Japan Foundation's Kyoto Office in Nakagyo Ward.
BUSINESS
Jul 26, 2003

Tokyo consumer prices fall yet again

The key gauge of consumer prices in Tokyo fell 0.4 percent in July from a year earlier, marking a record 46 straight months of decline since October 1999, the government said in a preliminary report Friday.
JAPAN
Jul 21, 2003

Suspected porn peddler lured girls with job offers

Police say a man who held four elementary schoolgirls captive before committing suicide had been using high school girls to recruit younger girls for part-time jobs, investigative sources said Saturday.

Longform

Visitors walk past Sou Fujimoto's Grand Ring, which has been recognized as the largest wooden structure in the world.
Can a World Expo still matter? Japan is about to find out.