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Japan Times
LIFE / WEEK 3
Jun 17, 2007

Playing the 'hooligan'

An explosive, shrill cry flies out of nowhere, filling the entire auditorium: "Matte imashita (I've been waiting for that)!"
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Jun 17, 2007

Romantic drama-comedy, travel food show and celebrity concert music special

The strong-willed wife is an archetype in almost every culture and it gets the comedy treatment in Fuji TV's series "Oni Yome Nikki (Diary of a Demon Bride)" (Tuesday, 10 p.m.), which is based on a popular manga. Arisa Kanzuki plays the title character, Sanae, whose lazy and negligent husband, Kazuma...
Japan Times
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Jun 15, 2007

A year to remember in pictures

If a picture is worth 1,000 words, then everyone who visits the World Press Photo Contest's traveling exhibition will have plenty to digest. That's because the WPPC, which runs at the Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography from June 16-Aug. 5, features the best photojournalism of 2006 from lensmen...
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER
Jun 13, 2007

Buchi salamander

* Japanese name: Buchi-sansho-uo * Scientific name: Hynobius naevius * Description: This is a lizard-like animal growing from 8 to 15 cm long, including the tail. Also known as the blotched or spotted salamander, it is dark brown with a purple tinge, and has blotches of silver and white spots over its...
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design / ON: FASHION
Jun 12, 2007

Sobocki, Swatch, etc.

Sobocki, so good
Japan Times
LIFE
Jun 10, 2007

Here comes the sun . . .

Some may shudder at the very thought of it, but more and more people are flinging off their duvets with glee and bounding into action-packed days that start when even larks are still lounging in their nests
Japan Times
LIFE
Jun 10, 2007

In praise of morning's glory

Hima Furuta sits across the table from me in a cafe in the Marunouchi business district of central Tokyo. It's only 10 a.m., and although he looks fresh and full of life, he's almost finished his main work for the day.
LIFE
Jun 10, 2007

When and how you slumber is not as simple as it may seem

Getting up early is one of those things that people older and wiser always say is "good for you.''
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jun 9, 2007

In exile for six years, Burger King is back

To the sounds of a saxophone and keyboard fanfare, Burger King officially re-entered the Japanese market Friday with the opening of its first outlet in Tokyo's Shinjuku Ward.
Japan Times
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Jun 8, 2007

Short film festival reaches for the stars

They may run short, but to the directors of the films screening at the International Pleaides Film Festival, each is "a complete, miniature work of art," according to the festival's Web site.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jun 7, 2007

Burger King stages return under new management, realities

Six years after withdrawing from the Japanese market, American fast-food chain Burger King is back, bringing with it the concept of a premium big hamburger in hopes of winning over consumers bored with typical fare.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / WALKING THE WARDS
Jun 1, 2007

To infinity and beyond

At the southern end of Edogawa Ward, Kasai Rinkai Koen Seaside Park dips its toes in the Pacific Ocean. From there, it's possible to see Tokyo Disney Resort across the water in Urayasu.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / FUZZY LOGIC
Jun 1, 2007

On the lamb in Amsterdam

The band plays. And they rock. They've got two guitarists — that's not new. And two drummers, which is pretty cool.
CULTURE / Music
Jun 1, 2007

Amerie "Because I Love It"

Amerie's "1 Thing" was the great summer single of 2005, an infectious hiccup of abandon that took the stuttery beat of Beyonce's hit "Crazy in Love" to its logical freaked-out end. Both songs were produced and co-written by Rich Harrison, who oversaw Amerie's first two albums.
CULTURE / Film
May 31, 2007

Doing it her own way — Kawase's determined path to success

Naomi Kawase has been tagged as "Japan's leading woman director" since her first feature film, "Moe no Suzaku (Suzaku)," won the Camera d'Or prize at the 1997 Cannes Film Festival.
Japan Times
LIFE / QUEUING
May 27, 2007

Patience pays off for firms on standby to queue for you

With queuing playing such an important role in Japanese life — just watch any breathlessly excitable TV magazine program fearlessly reporting any day of the week on long lines outside noodle shops or dog groomers — there are even those who cash in on the phenomenon directly.
Japan Times
LIFE / QUEUING
May 27, 2007

All together now: Let's form a line

It is 11:15 on a sunny Sunday morning across the road from Shinjuku Station in central Tokyo. The Southern Terrace there is already thronged with shoppers like all the city's other retail districts. And then, as you walk past fashion stores and coffee shops, a long line of men and women of all ages materializes...
Japan Times
LIFE / QUEUING
May 27, 2007

Disney bids to make the waiting fun

If you are looking for some long, hot lines, Tokyo Disney Resort, comprising the Disneyland and DisneySea theme parks, surely beats all others as your destination of choice.
CULTURE / Books
May 27, 2007

Ethnic cop caught between cultures

CHINATOWN BEAT by Henry Chang. New York: SOHO Press, 2006, 214 pages, $22 (cloth) Well before Sax Rohmer created his sinister villain Dr. Fu-Manchu in 1911, Chinatowns figured prominently in British and American popular fiction. These are chronicled by such scholarly works as William Wu's "The Yellow...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film / SHORT TAKES
May 25, 2007

The Passing Show: The Life and Music of Ronnie Lane

Director: Rupert Williams and James Mackie Language: English
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / BEST BAR NONE
May 25, 2007

Sangenjaya's warm afterglow

Astrophysicists may bicker over whether the universe is exploding or imploding, but it doesn't take a rocket scientist to realize that in the microcosmic world of Tokyo, expansion is the overriding force at work. Proof of this would be clearly visible from space — especially at night — as one after...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
May 24, 2007

Tale of treason

In 1582, Toyotomi Hideyoshi (1536-98), a man of humble origins, became Japan's taiko (prime minister) after the death of the warlord Oda Nobunaga. But the taiko in "Ehon Taikoki (Records of the Taiko)," a bunraku (traditional Japanese puppet) play written by Chikamatsu Yanagi and collaborators in 1799,...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
May 24, 2007

Marilyn Manson

Feared in America as the Satan-worshipper who inspired the Columbine massacre, but widely regarded elsewhere as a camp standard-bearer for goth culture, Marilyn Manson talks about marriage breakups, murder and makeup
COMMENTARY / World
May 23, 2007

How Japan fuels financial instability

NEW YORK — Over the past several years, much attention has focused on the role of China's trade surplus in creating today's global financial imbalances. But too little attention has been paid to the role of Japan's policy of near-zero interest rates in contributing to these imbalances. As global financial...
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER
May 23, 2007

Mitten crab

* Japanese name: Mokuzu gani * Scientific name: Eriocheir japonica * Description: A curious-looking crustacean, colored light brown or olive green, the mitten crab does indeed appear to be wearing a furry pair of gloves, with dense tufts growing on the claws, which have white tips. Adults and large...
Japan Times
BUSINESS
May 22, 2007

Toyota engineers reflect as Prius approaches 10th birthday

TOYOTA, Aichi Pref. — In January 1994, engineers at Toyota Motor Corp. gathered at the head office in Aichi Prefecture to brainstorm the car of the future.
Japan Times
LIFE / WEEK 3
May 20, 2007

Caring team helps retie life's loose ends

We have all had one or two unforgettably heartfelt encounters in our lives, whether long-lost first loves or more distant crushes whose intensity it is still possible, years later, to reconjure with ease.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
May 17, 2007

Wong's mood a delicious match for Jones' melancholy

You can be sure organizers of the Cannes Film Festival had knotted stomachs ahead of Wednesday night's scheduled screening of Wong Kar-wai's "My Blueberry Nights." WKW films are always born in chaos, and he's delivered a few wet prints to Cannes in the past: "In The Mood For Love," which won two prizes...

Longform

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