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Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Sep 26, 2008

'Be Kind Rewind'

How much cute can a straight man generate (and we're not talking about his looks here) without getting thwacked on the nose with a rolled-up newspaper? If the man happens to be French filmmaker Michel Gondry ("Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind," "The Science of Sleep") the answer is: TONS. During...
CULTURE / Music
Sep 26, 2008

YMCK — "YMCK Songbook" (Avex); YMCK & De De Mouse — "Down Town" (Avex)

As its subtitle suggests, "Songbook -Songs Before 8bit-" sees "chiptune" flag-bearers YMCK spread their Nintendoesque love all over a clutch of songs from 1971 to 1982, a time when "Mario Bros." was still a glimmer in Shigeru Miyamoto's eye — and many of them are as memorable as the heroic Italian...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Sep 26, 2008

Flying Lotus brings a deeper hip-hop beat

Even when he's speaking from the other end of a crackly long-distance phone line, Steve Ellison sounds a lot like he does on record. As Flying Lotus, the Californian producer makes records of woozy, largely instrumental hip-hop whose beguiling surfaces conceal a restless, fidgety energy. Nothing stays...
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER
Sep 24, 2008

Miyako toad

Japanese name:Miyako hikigaeru
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Sep 19, 2008

Sendai festival offers classical music for all

Sendai City in Miyagi Prefecture will be transformed into a musical amusement park for three days from Oct. 11 during the third staging of the Sendai Classical Music Festival.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Sep 19, 2008

Had enough of the bistro? Then head on to the bouchon

Kagurazaka already has a remarkable concentration of French bistros, brasseries, wine bars, and at least one authentic Breton creperie. Since last September we have been able to add to that list a full-fledged bouchon, a bistro-style restaurant specializing in the distinctive cuisine of Lyon, the region...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Sep 18, 2008

'Nobuko Watabiki'

Megumi Ogita Gallery and Gallery Shiraishi
CULTURE / Books
Sep 14, 2008

Troubled by ghosts of East Asia

EAST ASIA'S HAUNTED PRESENT: Historical Memories and the Resurgence of Nationalism, edited by Tsuyoshi Hasegawa and Kazuhiko Togo. Westport, CT., Praeger Security International, 2008, 265 pp., $75 (cloth) Arguments over the past among nations are a sure sign of anxieties about the future. East Asia's...
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design
Sep 14, 2008

Japan Fashion Week: It's tough for men

Japan Fashion Week (JFW), now in its seventh season, has never put much emphasis on menswear. This year, it appeared merely as an afterthought.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / HOTELS & RESTAURANTS
Sep 12, 2008

Royal Park Hungarian celebration

The flavors and colors of Hungary will adorn the Royal Park Hotel from Sept. 13 to Oct. 13 during its Hungarian Weeks 2008 promotion, organized with the cooperation of the Embassy of the Republic of Hungary.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER
Sep 10, 2008

Coin turtle

Japanese name: Kusagame
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Sep 7, 2008

Japan is both a model and warning for today's rising world powers

The United States of America considers itself the world's democratic social prototype. At least most Americans seem to buy into that national self-image.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / GRAND OLD HOTELS
Sep 5, 2008

The Parnassus of Surugadai

Ochanomizu, the Tokyo neighborhood stretching from Yushima, Bunkyo Ward, to Kanda, Chiyoda Ward, gives good vibes. Jazz, rock and reggae spill from music stores and guitar shops lining Meiji-dori as it drops south toward Yasukuni-dori. Mid-slope is Meiji University's Liberty Tower, where one drizzly...
Japan Times
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Sep 5, 2008

Psy-trance partygoers get set for The Gathering weekend

Now in its 11th year, The Gathering, organized by Vision Quest Tokyo, is Japan's largest open-air festival for psychedelic trance music. It's got the biggest stage. It's got the biggest lineup. But does it attract the most people?
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Sep 3, 2008

Sony to launch new, upgraded PSP

Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. said Tuesday it will launch a new PlayStation Portable hand-held game console in Japan on Oct. 16.
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital / IGADGET
Sep 3, 2008

Nikon offers first consumer DSLR with video capability

DSLR with video: Change is rarely as dramatic as it appears. In the world of camera makers, the digital onslaught has seen the rise of electronics firms such as Sony, Panasonic and Samsung, while that venerable creator of cameras Minolta has disappeared, sold to Sony.
COMMUNITY / Issues / JUST BE CAUSE
Sep 2, 2008

The 'gaijin' debate: Arudou responds

Last month's column (Aug. 5) was on the word "gaijin." I made the case that it is a racist word, one that reinforces an "us-and-them" rubric toward foreigners and their children in Japan. It generated a lot of debate. Good. Thanks for your time.
CULTURE / Books
Aug 31, 2008

All you need to know about Japan's politics

GOVERNING JAPAN: Divided Politics in a Resurgent Economy, by J.A.A. Stockwin. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing, 2008, 298 pp., £19.99 (paper) Arthur Stockwin, who was until recently Nissan Professor of Modern Japanese Studies at the University of Oxford, is the leading British expert on Japanese politics....
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Aug 28, 2008

Contemplative in Gunma

The Hara Museum ARC in Shibukawa, Gunma Prefecture, has just opened a revolutionary new space designed by world-renowned architect Arata Isozaki that interweaves motifs of Japanese traditional architecture and art with modern ones. Called the Kankai Pavilion, the exciting new exhibition space is being...
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER
Aug 27, 2008

Japanese Minnow

Japanese name: Mugitsuku
LIFE / Style & Design / ON: DESIGN
Aug 26, 2008

The Pantone Slide, TwistTogether Lamp and Sony Sountina

Tower of audio power If there's one thing you can surely trust Sony to do, it's to stoke our technolust with innovative new audio products. With the introduction of the Sountina nondirectional speaker, Sony continues that tradition. The 180-cm tower of sound, which includes a subwoofer, looks like it...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Aug 24, 2008

It's time for perfectly cute 50-year-old Japanese women

Madonna turned 50 on Aug. 16. The milestone was marked by a predictable barrage of commentary about "50 being the new 40" and how women no longer dread the half-century mark. Everybody is trying to eat better and exercise more, and cosmetic surgery isn't the big taboo it once was. But since the subject...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Aug 22, 2008

Champion 'turntablist' Kentaro gets mixed up

It's been a busy few years since DJ Kentaro won the 2002 DMC World DJ Championship and became the first Japanese to bring back the prize — a golden pair of Technics record decks (the turntable of choice in clubs around the world) — to the land where they were made.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Aug 22, 2008

Seasoned J-pop duo ELT keep it positive

"When I'm walking beside her, people tell me I'm a lucky guy," sang John Lennon on the 1964 Beatles track "Every Little Thing." Sitting comfortably next to iconic lead singer Kaori Mochida of the band of the same name, guitarist Ichiro Ito has had 12 years to get used to such a feeling. However, he admits...
Japan Times
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Aug 22, 2008

Get familiar with the 'G Mark' concept

Earlier this month, Toyota wowed technology watchers when it launched its Winglet — a one-person standup motorized transporter similar to, though more compact than, a Segway. The public will get one of their first glimpses of the machine when it features at Tokyo Big Sight this weekend at Japan's biggest...

Longform

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