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Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Feb 17, 2013

Warm memories of an Aizu winterlude

It starts to snow soon after the train leaves Koriyama, and further inland at Aizu Wakamatsu the snow is knee deep. My hosts, Nobuyuki and Mikiko, are waiting at the station. I'm relieved to see they've brought boots for me.
Japan Times
JAPAN / CHUBU CONNECTION
Feb 16, 2013

Exhibition to honor '01 school massacre dead

Twelve years ago, Ami Kifushi was a sixth-grader at Ikeda Elementary School in Osaka Prefecture when a knife-wielding intruder entered the premises, killed eight students and wounded several others.
Japan Times
WORLD / Science & Health
Feb 16, 2013

Will new 'golden rice' revolutionize the world?

Scientists say they have seen the future of genetically modified foods and have concluded that it is orange or, more precisely, golden.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Feb 15, 2013

Teuchisoba Narutomi: Soba and tempura make for a classic combination

Tempura and soba: Separately, they're two essential elements of traditional Japanese food culture. Put them together side by side on the table and they add up to one of the all-time classic dishes.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Feb 14, 2013

Breathing life into the forgotten and neglected

Painter Daisuke Fukunaga (b.1981) states: "If the world is the stage of a theater, I want to paint the bustle of the things waiting behind the blackout curtain rather than the heroine." His motifs are of things forgotten and neglected, but unlike his earlier works of 2007, which realistically depicted...
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital / TECH_JAPAN
Feb 13, 2013

Three gadgets from CES that you can take on the road.

Among the many products released at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas each year there are often some that stand out for being particularly innovative, and this year's CES was no disappointment.
Japan Times
TENNIS
Feb 11, 2013

Strong field assembles for Qatar Total Open

Australian Open champion Victoria Azarenka, Maria Sharapova and Serena Williams headline a strong field for the WTA's Qatar Total Open that features 17 of the top 18 players in the world beginning here on Monday.
Japan Times
MULTIMEDIA / CHUBU CONNECTION
Feb 8, 2013

Nagano city takes roundabout tack

In what is being touted as a local first, a new roundabout is in operation in the Towa district of Iida, Nagano Prefecture, in a bid to ease congestion and eliminate the need for traffic lights.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Tech
Feb 8, 2013

Android 'fragmentation' leaves smartphones vulnerable

In late October, researchers at North Carolina State University alerted Google to a security flaw that could let scam artists send phony text messages to Android phones — a practice called "smishing" that can ensnare consumers in fraud.
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital / TECH_JAPAN
Feb 5, 2013

Expat game developers have an unfair advantage in Japan

There is an option for budding game-developers, however — a less expensive one that allows for more freedom and, if they're lucky, more exposure than they could ever imagine.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Feb 4, 2013

Russians cast wary eye on volunteerism

A country doctor, a tiny, dilapidated village hospital, an indifferent health bureaucracy — and now, coming to the rescue, volunteers from distant Moscow, bringing furniture, equipment, money and, maybe most important, good cheer.
BASKETBALL
Feb 3, 2013

Osaka coach Cartwright puts focus on fundamentals

Osaka Evessa bench boss Bill Cartwright reveals what he thinks are important traits for the team leader after landing his first head coaching job since guiding the Chicago Bulls from 2001-03.
Japan Times
JAPAN / CHUBU CONNECTION
Feb 2, 2013

'Cosplay' students promote Nagoya's highlights

Running away with a win against a Memphis team in disarray after trading away top scorer Rudy Gay, the Oklahoma City Thunder found a way to come unhinged, too.
Japan Times
WORLD / Crime & Legal
Feb 1, 2013

Antigun advocates tackle law shielding arms makers

A legal shield written by Congress to benefit the firearms industry is posing unexpected hurdles for parents in Newtown, Connecticut, and victims of other mass shootings who want to use the courts to hold gun makers accountable and push them to adopt stricter safety standards.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / HOTELS & RESTAURANTS
Feb 1, 2013

Wagner-Verdi bicentennial celebration in Tokyo; Hakone for Valentine's, White Day; strawberry buffet in Osaka

Wagner-Verdi 200th birthday event
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jan 31, 2013

Seeing the wood for Enku's Buddhas

While a golden age for secular arts, Japan's Edo Period (1603-1867) is broadly dismissed by art historians as a period of stagnation for Buddhist sculpture.
Japan Times
Events
Jan 29, 2013

Preparing the foreign community for Japan's next big natural disaster

For newcomers to Japan, especially those who come from countries that don't experience frequent earthquakes, preparing for natural disasters like the megaquake and tsunami that hit the Tohoku region on March 11, 2011, may not come so easily.
Japan Times
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Jan 28, 2013

What's in a Japanese name? More than you might expect

Last year I went to Yumenoshima Park in Tokyo's Koto Ward to see a museum housing the 第五福竜丸 (Dai-go Fukuryu Maru, aka No. 5 Lucky Dragon), the ill-fated fishing boat that inadvertently sailed too close to a 水爆実験 (suibaku jikken, thermonuclear test) at Bikini Atoll in the Marshall Islands...
Japan Times
PRESS / Corporate Trends
Jan 26, 2013

JT Online: Into the future of new media

Japan Times
JAPAN / CHUBU CONNECTION
Jan 25, 2013

Aichi NPO helps the homeless land work and get off welfare

A program run by a nonprofit organization in Ichinomiya, Aichi Prefecture, to hire homeless people and help them get back on their feet is bearing fruit a year and a half after its inception.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Jan 25, 2013

A howler for Tokyo's bid for the 2020 Summer Olympic Games

On Jan. 7, Tokyo put in its bid to host the 2020 summer Olympic Games. So did Madrid and Istanbul. Who wins the coveted bid will not be known until September. But consider some of the barriers to Tokyo winning. First, Tokyo needs to garner more public support, meaning they'll need to get the population...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jan 23, 2013

“Mr. Children 2005-2010

My Japan Times colleague Ian Martin nailed the state of Japanese pop music when he wrote that it was "clinging on to the hoary old remains of the past." The Oricon Chart's top albums of 2012 list was dominated by "Best Of" compilations, with the top two spots going to a pair released by rock band Mr....
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jan 23, 2013

"What We See"

Today, advances in technology and globalization have left few artistic boundaries uncrossed, including that between reality and the imagination. Digital-imaging software and computer-generated graphics, for example, now allow artists to realize their visions for others to see.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
Jan 23, 2013

DoCoMo pins hopes on a glitzy spring lineup

NTT DoCoMo Inc. on Tuesday unveiled its new products for the spring, vowing to catch up with rival carriers by releasing high-spec gadgets and promoting its shopping and content-related services.
BUSINESS / TRAVEL INSIDER
Jan 23, 2013

Singapore Air voucher offer; American Airlines upgrades; Korean Air flies Honolulu

Singapore vouchers
Japan Times
JAPAN / CHUBU CONNECTION
Jan 19, 2013

Theater's collection of historical documents endangered

The Misonoza theater, long a fixture in Naka Ward, Nagoya, will be closed down at the end of March. Highly regarded as a symbol of the art world in Nagoya, its basement houses the only library for live theater in the Chubu region.
WORLD / Society
Jan 19, 2013

Google ditches face-morphing app after irking Asians in U.S.

Washington AFP-JIJI

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