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CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Mar 14, 2010

Beauty transformation, documentary on working poor; CM of the week: Kirin's Sekai no High Ball

The makeover variety show "Kasupe! Beauty Colosseum" was a weekly series up until a few years ago, and its return to Fuji TV this Tuesday at 7 p.m. is for a 2-hour " kiseki no daigekihen " (miracle super change) special.
Japan Times
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Mar 12, 2010

Family-friendly exhibit celebrates mammals

From Ueno Zoo's giant panda, Ling Ling, to a 2.5-meter-tall polar bear, around 280 stuffed specimens, fossils and skeletons of mammals will go on display at the National Museum of Nature and Science in Tokyo from March 13. Titled "Mammals: Diversity in Terrestrial Life," the exhibition examines the evolution...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Mar 12, 2010

Regional resonance

In a metropolis the size of Tokyo, it is no surprise that there are several large orchestras and a number of high-quality concert halls. But the number of orchestras performing daily can be hard to keep track of, particularly as some have very similar names: Tokyo Symphony Orchestra, Tokyo Metropolitan...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Mar 5, 2010

A rogue on high

In real life, Ishikawa Goemon was the leader of a band of burglars in Kyoto who was caught in the summer of 1594 trying to kill Toyotomi Hideyoshi, the foremost politician of his day, and was duly executed at age 36 along with many members of his family and his gang.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Mar 5, 2010

Rebel artist restored to glory

The Tokyo National Museum in Ueno isn't merely a convenient place for old folks to while away an afternoon, or a safe venue to take parties of schoolchildren to on excursions. It's also a very symbolic and ritualistic space, where the final seal is set on the nation's cultural and historical image of...
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital / IGADGET
Mar 3, 2010

Cowon puts sound before vision; Nikon camera zooms ahead

Sound choice: Korean maker Cowon is known for portable media players that have exemplary audio reproduction. Its V5HD, which is due to hit the Japanese market on March 5, follows the formula. It employs Cowon's new JetEffect 3.0 technology, which is intended to maximize the sound performance by offering...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Mar 2, 2010

Attorney glut may hit foreign firms

COLIN P. A. JONES One of the interesting things about being part of Japan's new law school system and its role in greatly increasing the number of Japanese attorneys is this: Nobody seems to have bothered asking the Japanese people if they actually need more attorneys. The original target of increasing...
COMMENTARY
Mar 1, 2010

Woods' apology whips up media incapable of behaving with class

LOS ANGELES — At times my loyalty to my chosen profession of journalism cannot be taken as a given. This is one of those times.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Feb 27, 2010

Teaching visitors traditional ways

Upon meeting Michi Ogawa, who is deftly aligning the collar of a kimono that she has tucked around her guest, a few adjectives might come to mind, like "graceful" and "soft-spoken," but "feminist" or "outspoken" probably wouldn't be among them. But speak with her about her concerns and some of your preconceptions...
BASKETBALL / BJ-LEAGUE NOTEBOOK
Feb 26, 2010

No excuse for poor results at free-throw line

Any league that doubles in size in its first five years will experience growing pains, and there's really no way to avoid this.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Feb 26, 2010

Suntory Hall closes opera series with racy tale from Mozart

"Cosi fan tutte" ("Women are like that"), composed in 1790, was regarded as an immoral tale of fiancee swapping during the 19th century. While it offended sensibilities then, today the work is considered one of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's most sophisticated operas, and it will be staged at Suntory Hall...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Feb 26, 2010

New dimensions in a chain

What makes the exhibition in two stages of Yoshio Kitayama's works at the MEM gallery in Osaka all the more surprising is that they are paintings — not the sculpture/installations for which the artist is conventionally known.
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital / IGADGET
Feb 24, 2010

Retro-looking dongle ups the sound; Sony slims down new Vaio

Back to the past: The word "retro" is inadequate to describe the appearance of the X-Tube AS301DTS. The USB dongle looks like a refugee from a museum. The gadget is intended to provide a decent impression of DTS surround sound on laptop computers. Using a VIA VT1610 chip set, the dongle plugs into a...
CULTURE / Film
Feb 19, 2010

'Coraline'

One of the things everyone seems to enjoy about "Avatar" — both the people who love the film, and those who are lukewarm about it — is that sense of really being able to sink into that glistening, glowing world of Pandora. James Cameron's film is perhaps the first to so exploit 3-D's potential for...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Feb 19, 2010

Visions of art in an alternative key

In its own quiet way, Yebisu International Festival for Art & Alternative Visions was one of the standout art events of 2009.
BUSINESS
Feb 18, 2010

Toyota boss: Throttle unit is not faulty

Toyota Motor Corp. President Akio Toyoda said Wednesday the automaker has confirmed its electronic throttle-control system is not defective, in a bid to ease mounting concerns in the United States that the system may have caused sudden acceleration incidents.
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital / IGADGET
Feb 17, 2010

3-D TV provides solo viewing fun; Canon camera hits at Nikon

Gotta wear shades: As 3-D entertainment conjures up images of goofy glasses from the 1950s, Panasonic hopes to remedy the style with its 3-D TV sets. It is touting its upcoming Viera VT2 series as the world's first full high-definition sets with 3-D ability. The series is expected to consist of a set...
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design / Japan Pulse
Feb 16, 2010

Cell-phone magazine comes out of the closet

Playing to lovers of Tokyo Girls Collection, Model Closet launches a mobile cell-phone magazine promising to provide 'non fiction, real trend.'
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Feb 14, 2010

Traditional Tokyo explored in mystery and quiz show; CM of the week: Docomo-Fujitsu

Traditional Tokyo gets the two-hour mystery treatment in "Yorozuya Chobei no Sumidagawa Jiken Fairu Sono Ni" (Chobei Yorozuya's Sumidagawa Incident File No. 2; TBS, Mon., 9 p.m.). The hero, Chobei Yorozuya (Kotaro Satomi), is a pawn shop owner in Tokyo's Asakusa district who has quit the police force...
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media
Feb 14, 2010

An 'eroduction' to Japan's saucy cinema

The Nikkatsu studio is the Japanese film industry's oldest — it will celebrate its 100th anniversary in 2012. In the 1950s and early 1960s it was also a box-office leader, turning out hit after hit with Japan's biggest postwar star, Yujiro Ishihara. By the 1970s, however, Nikkatsu and the rest of the...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Feb 12, 2010

'Broken Embraces'

Feminists like to gripe about the "male gaze," the way in which male-created art tends to objectify women, and y'know, every time I see some leering Michael Bay shot of Megan Fox's butt, I'll admit they have a point. But, on the other hand, where would cinema be without films like "In The Mood For Love,"...
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / HOTELS & RESTAURANTS
Feb 12, 2010

Four Seasons Chinzan-so maiko show

Four Seasons Hotel Tokyo at Chinzan-so's Japanese restaurant Miyuki will offer a Kyoto-themed meal and entertainment event on Feb. 28, inviting maiko from the ancient capital.
JAPAN / Media / Japan Pulse
Feb 9, 2010

Hay fever ad campaign nothing to sneeze at

An ad campaign cleverly promoting a hay-fever medicine gets a free ride on social media.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Feb 5, 2010

'Surveillance'/'Paranormal Activity'

You've got to hand it to Jennifer Chambers Lynch: The daughter of cinematic visionary David Lynch is nothing if not persistent.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Feb 5, 2010

Kamikozawa-tei: Shabu-shabu in modernist mode

There's no finer way to eat on a chilly winter evening than sitting around a bubbling nabe hot pot. No matter what the ingredients — meat, fish, tofu or vegetables — just cooking and eating from the same communal casserole is nourishment for both body and soul.

Longform

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