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Japan Times
BUSINESS
Apr 23, 2018

Social media firms that ignore children's well-being may face regulation: U.K. health minister

Britain's health minister, Jeremy Hunt, threatened to impose new regulations on social media firms unless they do more to protect young people using their services.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle
Apr 14, 2018

Japan's pet detectives

Myriad spiritual and high-tech options are available to help owners find their missing animals, but human trackers are still the best bet.
LIFE / Lifestyle
Mar 31, 2018

Will Japan ever join the great Easter egg hunt?

A year ago, J-pop star Kyary Pamyu Pamyu released a song with lyrics and a promotional video that were as saccharine as a chocolate bunny. The song was titled "Easta" — a play on Easter and "a good start" in Japanese — and the video had dancing eggs, capybaras and fried-egg UFOs shooting laser beams....
Japan Times
Mar 27, 2018

TSUNEISHI SHIPBUILDING Releases “Behind The Scenes: guntû”, a Group Channel Movie Documenting the Creation of the cruise ship “guntû”

On 26 February, TSUNEISHI SHIPBUILDING Co., Ltd.(HQ: 1083 Tsuneishi, Numakuma-cho, Fukuyama, Hiroshima, Japan; President: Kenji Kawano; hereinafter, “TSUNEISHI”) released “Behind The Scenes: guntû” on its group channel, a film documenting the creation of guntû, which made its first commercial...
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital
Mar 22, 2018

It takes one to know one: How YouTuber Chris Okano built an agency to help his fellow J-vloggers

This past week, Japanese YouTube heavyweight Hikakin appeared on NHK's long-running business show "The Professionals" ("Professional: Shigoto no Ryugi") where he discussed the "new job" of being a YouTube content creator.
Japan Times
Mar 19, 2018

Tokai-Denshi Developed A.I.-Equipped Portable Odor Detector/Identifier "Aino-Pro"

Tokai-Denshi Inc. and The Shizuoka Cancer Center Research Institute jointly developed an A.I.-based Portable Odor detector/Identifier which analyzes malodorous components emitted from cancer patients.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Feb 20, 2018

Philippines' Duterte plays down Beijing's military facilities in disputed South China Sea

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has sought to allay fears about China's construction of military bases on man-made islands in the South China Sea, saying these were built to defend against America rather than confront neighboring states.
Japan Times
CULTURE / TV & Streaming
Feb 8, 2018

'Ainori' teaches lessons in love ... and soft power

Netflix Japan's reboot of the reality show "Ainori" features plenty of drama — most of it interpersonal, but some geopolitical.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Feb 8, 2018

TPAM's magic happens in front of and behind the curtain

Back in 1995, some of the movers and shakers of the domestic theater scene got together at various venues around the capital for an event called the Tokyo Performing Arts Market. The aim was simple: connect up-and-coming Japanese artists to the producers and theater buffs who might be able to support...
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / BACKSTREET STORIES
Feb 2, 2018

On the hunt for Gaien Nishi-dori's taste-makers

In Tokyo, people set up funky cafes with all kinds of sideshows — curry, cats, goats, hedgehogs and maids come to mind — so when I catch a whiff of a good cup of joe escaping from a huge glass and concrete box near Gaienmae Station on Gaien Nishi-dori avenue, I wonder what the gig is.
Japan Times
JAPAN / CHUBU CONNECTION
Jan 22, 2018

Rare prehistoric shell mound in Aichi, Japan, suggests possible mid-Jomon shell trade

An ancient heap of shells at Sakatsuji Shell Midden in the city of Toyohashi, Aichi Prefecture, most likely served as a clam processing site in the latter half of the mid-Jomon Period, approximately 4,500 years ago, an investigation conducted by the city's board of education has revealed.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Jan 20, 2018

Exploring war through woodblock prints

Sensu014d-e, literally 'war pictures,' are a particularly dramatic form of Japanese woodblock print that emerged as a style of reportage during the Satsuma Rebellion of 1877, and went on to become a widespread and popular way of disseminating patriotic imagery during the First Sino and Russo-Japanese wars. The 2017 catalog 'Flash of Light, Fog of War' features 75 of these images.
Japan Times
JAPAN / CHUBU CONNECTION
Jan 15, 2018

Nobel winner Hiroshi Amano and his team tap gallium nitride technology in bid to transmit power wirelessly from a distance

Hiroshi Amano, a professor from Nagoya University who was awarded the 2014 Nobel Prize in physics, is developing together with other researchers a remote power supply system that sends energy to distant places using electromagnetic waves.
JAPAN / FUKUSHIMA FILE
Jan 14, 2018

Fukushima dairy farmers look to large-scale 'reconstruction farms' to revive battered industry

Dairy farmers in Fukushima Prefecture plan to build what they call "reconstruction farms" by fiscal 2020 as part of efforts to boost the industry in the areas tainted by the 2011 nuclear disaster.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 9, 2018

China is ready to turn its green opportunity into a major industrial advantage

China could become a highly respected and admired leader in the fight against global climate change.
Japan Times
JAPAN / CHUBU CONNECTION
Jan 8, 2018

Village in Nagano comes up with hunk calendar to help 12 bachelors find mates

Women hoping to find Mr. Right in 2018 should check for dates on the Otoko Goyomi (Men's Calendar) published by the village of Otari in Nagano Prefecture. The calendar showcases a dozen local bachelors who are looking for wives.
Japan Times
JAPAN / AT A GLANCE
Dec 30, 2017

Bustling Haneda shines as a New Year's traveler hub

Every New Year's, the nation's airports are jammed with travelers heading to their hometowns or overseas to spend the holidays — and Tokyo's Haneda is the busiest one.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Dec 19, 2017

Japan's theater world increasingly shed its insularities in 2017

Never mind those North Korean missiles that provide politicians with heaven-sent pretexts to posture. These days, everyone's talking about a boozy party held by Mongolian sumo wrestlers that turned violent reportedly because of a generational dispute over the arcane traditions of Japan's highly regimented...
ASIA PACIFIC
Dec 18, 2017

Vietnam follows Beijing with South China Sea upgrades of its own

As China continues to transform disputed territory in the South China Sea into features capable of sustaining air and naval bases, Vietnam is also upgrading areas it occupies.
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Dec 16, 2017

Showa's not giving up without a fight

The government has decided that the 31st year of Heisei will end with the abdication of Emperor Akihito 120 days into 2019, on April 30. Then on May 1, Crown Prince Naruhito will become emperor and a new nengō (name of the period of reign) will be announced.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Dec 2, 2017

Master class: Conductor Seiji Ozawa passes on his knowledge to a new generation

An old piano sits by a window in the corner of a tiny room in Seiji Ozawa's office in Tokyo's Seijo neighborhood. The 82-year-old conductor's father apparently bought it for him more than 70 years ago.
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital / ON: GAMES
Nov 26, 2017

Getting your money's worth in the game world

The power of the Xbox One X
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Nov 1, 2017

As attention focuses on North Korea threat, Beijing quietly expanding South China Sea militarization

China has quietly undertaken more construction and reclamation in the South China Sea, recent satellite images show, and is likely to more powerfully reassert its claims over the waterway soon, regional diplomats and military officers say.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
Oct 30, 2017

Toyota ushers in new Century, Japan's challenge to Rolls-Royce as collectors covet older models

Toyota has just introduced a new Century. This is a big deal. The Toyota Century is the most exclusive car in Japan. Introduced in 1967 and named for the 100th birthday of company founder Sakichi Toyoda, the Century defines top-tier Japanese luxury, the kind reserved for heads of state, chief executive...
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Tech
Oct 30, 2017

Apple may tweak facial recognition technology to get iPhone X to market

As of early fall, it was clearer than ever that production problems meant Apple Inc. wouldn't have enough iPhone Xs in time for the holidays. The challenge was how to make the sophisticated phone — with advanced features such as facial recognition — in large enough numbers.
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital / ON: GAMES
Oct 22, 2017

Fun with zombies, kaiju and Mario in your living room

Hungry for a new PSVR experience?
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Oct 21, 2017

Magazines hold their own against TV's 'iron chefs'

Prior to Japan's switch-over to full digital TV broadcasting in 2011, a number of industry insiders were already voicing concerns about how the new technology would affect their bottom line. With expanded bandwidth and additional channels, what — aside from reruns of old programs — could the networks...
JAPAN / Media / Japan Pulse
Oct 21, 2017

Viral dance crazes highlight a generational shift

Japan is certainly no stranger to viral dance videos and one doesn't have to think too far back to recall the popularity of the koi (falling in love) dance routine that took the internet by storm last year.

Longform

Professional cleaner Hirofumi Sakurai takes a moment to appreciate some photographs in a Gotanda apartment whose occupant died alone.
The last cleanup: Life and death in a lonely Japan