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JAPAN
Jun 26, 2011

Tax increase urged to pay for rebuilding

The government's reconstruction panel submitted a report Saturday to Prime Minister Naoto Kan mapping out measures needed to recover from the devastating March 11 quake and tsunami.
Japan Times
JAPAN / CHUBU CONNECTION
Jun 25, 2011

Parts makers at mercy of recovery's pace

Kokune Ltd. President Yasushi Kogune is not sure his 55-worker die-casting company will be able to survive until the slump brought on by the March 11 earthquake ends.
BASKETBALL / BJ-LEAGUE NOTEBOOK
Jun 24, 2011

Prospects look grim for HeatDevils in Oita

The Oita HeatDevils' budgetary woes aren't surprising to longtime observers of the league. But the temerity with which they begged fans for money to help them make ends meet for the 2011-12 season caught people's attention over the weekend.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jun 24, 2011

'Hesher'

What would happen if Megadeath decided to record an emo album? The answer may be something like "Hesher," which features an almost Cro-Magnon sort of misanthropic metalhead hero who likes nothing but shredding, shagging, smoking dope and smashing things, but who, it turns out, will teach his straighter...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jun 23, 2011

Bedroom ears: Japan's new D.I.Y. ethic

The dimly lit Bar Fabrica is an appropriate place to meet the four artists from Cuz Me Pain Records, who describe their music as "quite dark" and are known for being shrouded in mystery.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 20, 2011

Japan should consider the personal touch in its policy toward Middle East uprisings

Various internal and external factors have prompted Japan to keep its involvement profile in the Middle East as low as possible for the past four decades.
JAPAN / History / JAPAN TIMES GONE BY
Jun 19, 2011

The national sport; State to take over electric power firms; flooding kills 235; concerns over Chernobyl accident

100 YEARS AGOSaturday, June 19, 1911
Japan Times
JAPAN / CHUBU CONNECTION
Jun 18, 2011

Chubu Electric urges power-saving after Kepco snub

When Kansai Electric Power Co. announced it would ask its customers to cut back on electricity usage this summer, fearing supply shortages, it also dashed Chubu Electric Power Co.'s hopes of receiving electricity from the that utility.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Jun 18, 2011

American woman pours self into noh

According to Rebecca Ogamo Teele, an American instructor, performer and mask carver for noh, falling asleep is a perfectly respectable response to attending such plays.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jun 17, 2011

Tokyo and Yokohama festival celebrates the art of brevity

Short films have traditionally been seen as a director's starting block toward making their first feature. Yet with the art of filmmaking becoming ever cheaper, many have been sidestepping the short-film format, instead heading straight for a low-budget feature film. Yet short films are an art form in...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jun 16, 2011

Red Bacteria Vacuum

With a rough, raw and raucous hardcore-punk edge and a balls-out live show, Red Bacteria Vacuum have become one of Japan's most revered underground bands. Formed in Osaka in 1998, the trio — Ikumi (guitar/vocals), Kassan (bass/vocals) and Jasmine (drums), none of whom use a last name — routinely...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jun 16, 2011

Waraku Ensemble serve up some summer classics

Despite a day of torrential downpour to kick off Japan's rainy season, Junnosuke Uehara is grinning from ear to ear. He's got his shamisen with him and he says he's excited to introduce a new person to the instrument. In fact, his love for the shamisen is so strong, he clings to it as if it were his...
Japan Times
JAPAN / CHUBU CONNECTION
Jun 11, 2011

Gifu college sets up manga program for French students

Ogaki Women's College in Gifu Prefecture will in July conclude a manga study partnership agreement with Paris-based academic institution Eurasiam.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / HOTELS & RESTAURANTS
Jun 10, 2011

Anniversary specials at Royal Park

On June 1, the Royal Park Hotel in the Nihonbashi area of Tokyo marked its 22nd anniversary. Among the many celebratory offerings is a special kaiseki course at its Japanese restaurant, Genjikoh, through June 30.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jun 9, 2011

Caroline

In another time, Caroline Lufkin could easily have ended up as a chart-topping J-pop star. After graduating from Boston's Berklee School Of Music, the Okinawa-born artist moved to Tokyo, where she began working on her first album. Her management at the time wanted Lufkin (who performs simply as Caroline)...
JAPAN
Jun 8, 2011

Nuke plant was unprepared for crisis, government admits

The government on Tuesday compiled a report on the nuclear crisis at the Fukushima No. 1 plant for submission to the International Atomic Energy Agency, underlining the need to reinforce measures against earthquakes, tsunami and other calamities.
Japan Times
JAPAN / ANALYSIS
Jun 7, 2011

Probe poised to take Tepco to task

Shortly after 7 a.m. on March 12, Prime Minister Naoto Kan confronted Masao Yoshida, director of the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant, at the compound in Okuma, Fukushima Prefecture.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Jun 5, 2011

Horyuji: Buddhism's cradle in Japan

When UNESCO cast its beady, critical eye on Japan 18 years ago to assess the country's cultural and natural merits with a view — in the agency's ponderous prose — to "inscription on the World Heritage List," it settled on four places that became the nation's first entries to those ranks so adored...
Japan Times
JAPAN / CHUBU CONNECTION
Jun 4, 2011

Intern at Disney, get credits

Nagoya University of Foreign Studies in Nisshin, Aichi Prefecture, has launched an overseas program to give its students the opportunity to study in the U.S. and work at Disney World in Florida.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST
Jun 4, 2011

The home fires — burning out of control

American poet Walt Whitman once said that if anything was sacred, the human body was sacred.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jun 3, 2011

Decade of fine tuning yields gold for capsule

"I see capsule as a J-pop group, but then again, I don't think J-pop should be made into a particular genre with its own rules," says Yasutaka Nakata of electro unit capsule and producer of idol sensations Perfume. "There are professional producers who try to create 'J-pop music,' but really any pop...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jun 2, 2011

Thee Phantom's genre-blending screams 'Rap Me Amadeus!'

Many hip-hop artists spend their days scouring record bins for choice samples to rap over, but rarely do they go out and find an actual orchestra. As rapper Thee Phantom, Jeff McNeill is doing just that.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jun 2, 2011

Sumptuary laws inspired Korean artisans to innovate

The Koryo Museum of Art's recently launched exhibition, "Korean Decorative Objects and Containers," features more than 150 folk works — including ceramics, paper crafts, furniture, silverware and wooden crafts — all of which were once utensils of some kind. These stunning examples of craftsmanship...
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT
May 29, 2011

A garden pictogram lives on

Japanese gardens are often associated with temples, feudal estates or castles. Genkyu-en in Shiga Prefecture is certainly no exception, sited as it is adjoining a detached palace in the grounds of Hikone Castle, one of only a handful of the nation's feudal fortresses to have survived in its original...
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / BACKSTREET STORIES
May 29, 2011

Casting around in Tsukudajima

From Tsukishima Station on Tokyo's Oedo subway line, I launch myself northward toward Tsukudajima. A mere sandbar in the early days of the Edo Period (1603-1868), Tsukudajima long ago began to be expanded with boulders and landfill on the way to creating the area we now know.

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