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Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / KONBINI WATCH
Jun 24, 2017

Colorful Shower Pocky: Lemon cream flavor just in time for summer

Pocky has a few approaches to summer 2017. The first is a campaign where the time-honored snack comes in limited-edition wrappers featuring 27 different designs, which can also activate various augmented reality features on a special smartphone app. Sounds complicated! Glico, which makes Pocky, is urging...
Japan Times
JAPAN / Science & Health / A MATTER OF HEALTH
Jun 21, 2017

Japanese researchers collect first-person accounts of experiences with disease

When you have a health problem, there's a story that only you — not your doctor or family — can tell.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT
Jun 10, 2017

Plastic fantastic: How does Tokyo recycle its waste?

The next time you trek out to the Tokyo Regional Immigration Bureau, situated on the fringes of Shinagawa along Tokyo Bay, look around and you'll see a giant smokestack by the Konan Ohashi Bridge. The visa-dispensing center, essential for foreign nationals who want to live in Tokyo, stands right by a...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
May 25, 2017

Short Shorts Film Festival & Asia teams up with Exile's Hiro to create a contemporary fusion of vision and sound

From its debut in 1999 as the passion project of actor Tetsuya Bessho, Short Shorts Film Festival & Asia has grown into a big event on the local and regional film calendar. Size is one reason: The 19th edition, which unspools from June 1 to 25 at six venues in Tokyo and Yokohama, features nearly 250...
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Tech
May 19, 2017

'Gamified' language app Duolingo finally adds Japanese

Just as many readers are swapping paperbacks for tablets, many language learners are trading in their textbooks for apps so they can study on the go.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
May 18, 2017

Japan's filmmakers expand their idea of overseas opportunity

The Japanese film industry has long been insular, making films by and for Japanese with little input from, or concern for, the outside world.
Japan Times
JAPAN / OKINAWA BEAT
May 11, 2017

Okinawa grapples with mounting garbage, water supply dilemma amid record tourist numbers

As Okinawa continues to mark record high numbers of tourists in recent years, the prefecture is struggling to dispose of snowballing garbage and supplying sufficient amounts of water.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Apr 25, 2017

Pop music catches up to De De Mouse

Daisuke Endo made peace with EDM thanks to Mister Donut. The electronic artist, better known by his stage name De De Mouse, eats at the snack chain frequently. Recently, he says he has been enjoying the American pop music they pipe into the store.
Japan Times
JAPAN / OKINAWA BEAT
Apr 12, 2017

Naha firm to open miniature model theme park in Okinawa featuring tourist sites around the world

A company based in Naha, Okinawa Prefecture, is aiming to open a theme park in the prefecture around 2022 featuring exhibitions of famous cities around the world using miniature models.
EDITORIALS
Apr 2, 2017

Ensure labor reforms have the desired effects

The Abe administration's proposed work reforms are a step in the right direction, but much more needs to be done.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Mar 25, 2017

Hakone: a paradise for the 'onsen' aficionado

Those seeking to escape the hustle and bustle of Japan's big cities will find what they are looking for in a hot-spring paradise hidden deep in a forest.
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital / ON: GAMES
Mar 25, 2017

'Senran Kagura' makes a big splash

The "Senran Kagura" games are ridiculous. But that's the whole point. Previous installments have followed the adventures of buxom female kunoichi (female ninjas), who end up with tattered clothing while battling foes. This latest game, however, trades ninja gear for water guns.
EDITORIALS
Mar 18, 2017

A big step forward in the search for extraterrestrial life

Scientists — and most everyone else — are justifiably excited by the discovery of several planets orbiting the ultracool dwarf star Trappist-1.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
Mar 14, 2017

Toshiba's troubled Westinghouse may be strategic fit for China or South Korea

If Toshiba Corp. parts ways with its embattled U.S. nuclear unit, Westinghouse Electric Co., the likely buyer may be a regional neighbor with global ambitions.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Mar 11, 2017

Unlocking Tokyo's history one step at a time with guided walking tours

Tokyo has never had a reputation for being walkable.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Mar 11, 2017

'Japandemonium Illustrated: The Yokai Encyclopedias of Toriyama Sekien': Excavating Edo's ancient memes with the power of 'yokai'

Beginning with 2008's "Yokai Attack!," translators Hiroko Yoda and Matt Alt have been on a quest to bring an aspect of Japanese culture that has lurked in the shadows to the world at large.
Japan Times
BASKETBALL / B. League / B. LEAGUE NOTEBOOK
Mar 9, 2017

Rebounding skills a vital part of Joji Takeuchi's game

Joji Takeuchi consistently provides solid numbers for the Alvark Tokyo.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / HOTELS & RESTAURANTS
Mar 9, 2017

Fresh fruit to celebrate the season

The Rihga Royal Hotel Kyoto celebrates the approaching spring with a selection of strawberry-themed desserts, featuring amao brand strawberries, through March 31 at the hotel's lounge inside the Kaza restaurant on the first floor.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film / Wide Angle
Mar 1, 2017

Binge on the best of the Italian neorealists

Even a casual film buff knows that "Bicycle Thieves," the 1948 black-and-white film by Vittorio De Sica, is regarded as one of The Great Films of All Time. It's the best-known film by far of Italian cinema's postwar neorealist movement, but those who wish to delve deeper into that rich vein can binge...
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle
Feb 11, 2017

Akitas in Japan give a dog a good name

The breed is a fiercely loyal animal that has attracted growing interest from dog lovers in recent years
Japan Times
JAPAN
Feb 7, 2017

Iwate Prefecture introduces quirky signs and other initiatives to lure foreign visitors

Struggling to attract foreign visitors, Iwate Prefecture has embarked on a charm offensive using quirky signs and other techniques to endear tourists to the far-flung region.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 23, 2017

As Trump takes office, U.S. China bashers have a field day

Statements being made by American officials overestimate U.S. power and resolve, and underestimate those of China. That is how wars start.
Japan Times
CULTURE / CULTURE SMASH
Jan 21, 2017

Japanese folklore meets anime in Kyoto

The colors were jarring. Beneath the vermillion torii gates of Kyoto's Shimogamo Shrine and surrounded by the olive broadleaves of Tadasu Forest was a pool of furry, bright yellow ponchos, decorated with the brown facial features, rounded ears and bulbous oblong tails of the tanuki, or Japanese raccoon...
Japan Times
BUSINESS / DAVOS SPECIAL 2017
Jan 17, 2017

Ancient seat of Japan's warrior culture

The origin of Japan's ruling class extends into the mists of ancient history, far before the country was unified after a period of civil wars and well into the first millennium A.D.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle
Jan 7, 2017

Heavy metal in Japan: Love of craft runs deep

Although 2017 is the Year of the Fire Rooster, fire is not the only element destined to influence the next 12 months. Each of the 12 Chinese zodiac years is governed by one of five elements: wood, fire, earth, water and metal, resulting in 2017 taking the element of fire. According to the Five Elements...
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Jan 7, 2017

Tokyo hotels luring guests with traditional approach

When Tokyo first hosted the summer Olympic Games in 1964, many Western-style hotels opened one after another to accommodate the increasing number of foreign visitors. Now that the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo is in sight, hoteliers have started to offer Japanese-style accommodation and hospitality for those...
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Jan 3, 2017

Startups using birds of prey, anti-drone guns to take out straying unmanned aerial vehicles

A boom in consumer drone sales has spawned a counter-industry of startups aiming to stop drones flying where they shouldn't, by disabling them or knocking them out of the sky.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Dec 18, 2016

Japan's pop music scene saw a power struggle in 2016

Media, both domestic and overseas, spent a lot of time focused on the streaming services arriving in Japan in 2016. Months of "Can these platforms thrive in CD-loving Japan?" speculation reached a climax in September, when global market leader Spotify finally debuted here. There was a big press conference,...

Longform

Construction takes place on the Takanawa Gateway Convention Center in Tokyo, slated to open in 2025.
A boom for business tourism in Japan?