Search - u_times

 
 
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital / JAPAN WEB WATCH
Nov 8, 2014

Smartphone app CocoPPa takes a custom approach to overseas sales

Although very few smartphone apps made in Japan have managed to take the world by storm, one that has is CocoPPa. Made by Japanese company United, Inc., the app allows users to customize the design of not only their smartphone wallpaper but also the icons for the other apps on their phone.
BASKETBALL
Nov 7, 2014

Hot-shooting Akita pounds struggling Fukuoka

Deshawn Stephens scored a team-high 24 points on 9-for-11 shooting and five teammates reached double figures as the Akita Northern Happinets rolled to a 116-86 road victory over the Rizing Fukuoka on Friday night.
BASKETBALL / BJ-LEAGUE NOTEBOOK
Nov 6, 2014

Takeno making big impact in first season with Akita

What fuels point guard Akitomo Takeno's competitive fire?
Japan Times
JAPAN
Nov 6, 2014

Renowned architect condemns Olympic stadium design

A revised design for the main Tokyo Olympic stadium is nothing more than a "white elephant" that's been stripped of its original designer's artistic talent and will forever burden the capital if built, internationally renowned architect Arata Isozaki said.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Nov 5, 2014

A more potent beauty, a more complex beast

Some people under 40 are likely to think "Beauty and the Beast" is a classic story created by Disney in 1991. But that animated movie, which has enthralled millions of little girls and boys (and many of their parents, too), was actually based on a hefty novel by France's Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / FOREIGN AGENDA
Nov 5, 2014

Let's ensure no happy returns to Japan for this vile 'dating coach'

After bragging on a YouTube video about degrading assaults on women in Tokyo, Blanc says he's coming back.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / JUST BE CAUSE
Nov 5, 2014

Does social change in Japan come from the top down or bottom up?

Should bad social habits be thrown out the second-floor window, or patiently cajoled down the stairs and out the front door? Discuss.
Japan Times
MORE SPORTS / MAN ABOUT SPORTS
Nov 4, 2014

Surprise showing by Jaguars forces change of plan

Every NFL dog has its day. Even the lowly Jacksonville Jaguars.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Nov 3, 2014

Survey shows popularity of U.K. opposition leader Miliband at record low

Opposition Labour Party leader Ed Miliband's approval rating has hit a record low, a poll showed Sunday, raising further doubts about his ability to unseat Prime Minister David Cameron in a national election in just over six months.
WORLD / Politics
Nov 3, 2014

Obama makes final campaign push, hoping to avert electoral rout

President Barack Obama made a final push on Sunday to help struggling Democrats before this week's midterm elections, making campaign stops in Connecticut and Pennsylvania to try to avert a "shellacking" at the polls like the one in 2010.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Nov 1, 2014

Fuminori writes noir, but not as we know it

Fuminori Nakamura has won many of the major literary prizes in Japan and is quickly making the same kind of impact in the English-speaking world. His third novel to be translated into English, "Last Winter, We Parted," is out now. It's a tense, layered story centered around a young writer commissioned...
Japan Times
BASKETBALL / NBL NOTEBOOK
Oct 31, 2014

Off-court distractions create additional challenges for Tsukuba Robots

Usually, the first few weeks of any sports league's season should be happy, exciting times as both the teams and fans had eagerly anticipated its arrival.
Japan Times
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
Oct 31, 2014

Hawks eliminate Tigers on bizarre game-ending double play, capture Japan Series title

It wasn't the ending anyone envisioned, but the Fukuoka Softbank Hawks aren't complaining.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World / SENTAKU MAGAZINE
Oct 28, 2014

Organizational flaws, collusive ties taking a toll on the WHO

Critics of the World Health Organization say its inability to fight Ebola thus far can be traced not only to its own organizational problems but also to its 'collusive relations' with the pharmaceutical industry.
Japan Times
JAPAN / ANALYSIS
Oct 27, 2014

Japan holds separate military drills with Russia, U.S.

Japan begins exercises with the U.S. Army in Hokkaido, a day after it started naval maneuvers with Russia 800 km away off the coast of Vladivostok.
BASKETBALL
Oct 26, 2014

Kyoto bounces back with victory over Ryukyu

Shun Watanuki scored 20 points for the second day in a row, converting 8 of 10 shots from the field, and the Kyoto Hannaryz clamped down on the defending champion Ryukyu Golden Kings in the second quarter, holding them to seven points in the period.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / LEARNING CURVE
Oct 26, 2014

Japan struggles to keep up as China woos international students

Japan's efforts to increase the number of international students coming to its shores are being dwarfed by similar initiatives in neighboring China.
Japan Times
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
Oct 25, 2014

Hawks hurler Standridge 'excited' to face ex-teammates in Japan Series

Jason Standridge draped a towel around his neck, gathered his cleats under his left arm, and descended down the stairs in the dugout on the third base side on his way toward the visitor's locker room on Friday night at Koshien Stadium, the day before the Japan Series.
Japan Times
OLYMPICS / ROBERT WHITING'S 1964 OLYMPICS RETROSPECTIVE
Oct 24, 2014

Negative impact of 1964 Olympics profound

The 1964 Tokyo Olympics had a profound impact on the capital city and the nation. In the final installment of a five-part series running this month, best-selling author Robert Whiting, who lived in Japan at the time, focuses on the environmental and human impact that resulted from hosting the event....
Japan Times
JAPAN / HOTEL SPECIAL 2014
Oct 24, 2014

One-of-a-kind Pokémon Hotel Experience

For young "Pokémon Trainers" around the world, The Peninsula Tokyo is now the newest hunting field to test their skills.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Oct 20, 2014

Hosei students prepare to publish their own English-language newspaper

A joint project between The Japan Times and Hosei University in Tokyo is helping students learn reporting skills for an English-language publication.
Japan Times
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Oct 20, 2014

Subtle humor of haiku's cousin senryū is on a roll

"Therefore, since brevity is the soul of wit," philosophizes the long-winded Polonius in Shakespeare's "Hamlet." That's also a fitting description of senryū — a form of short poetry defined by the Merriam-Webster dictionary as "a three-line unrhymed Japanese poem structurally similar to haiku, but...
BASKETBALL
Oct 19, 2014

Grouses make more capital gains with sweep of Broncos

The Toyama Grouses have traveled to Kanto twice over the past eight days to face Tokyo-area teams. Maybe the expression "home sweet home" should be altered for Toyama's sake — with the current emphasis on road trips.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Oct 18, 2014

Hideaki Anno: emotional deconstructionist

With dozens of the renowned filmmaker's works scheduled to be screened at the Tokyo International Film Festival over the next two weeks, we speak to the man behind the 'Evangelion' sci-fi franchise about his apocalyptic influences and prod him on the question that is on every fan's lips
Japan Times
SOCCER
Oct 18, 2014

Refreshed Moyes ready to come back

David Moyes, who has been out of soccer since leaving Manchester United in April, says he is ready to resume his managerial career and is waiting for the right club to come along either in England or overseas.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
Oct 17, 2014

Son's $51 billion acquisition run faces speed bump

Billionaire Masayoshi Son's 300-year business plan for SoftBank Corp. sees no pause in acquisitions that saw him splurge $51 billion in five years. Higher interest rates in the U.S. and Japan may put the brakes on his debt-fueled ambitions.
BASKETBALL / BJ-LEAGUE NOTEBOOK
Oct 16, 2014

Okada making impact for unbeaten Shiga

Yu Okada has spent nearly a decade now knocking down jump shots for a paycheck.
JAPAN
Oct 16, 2014

Japan jets scrambling to counter rising Russian incursions

The number of times Japanese fighter jets scrambled to ward off Russian military aircraft more than doubled in the last six months, amid diplomatic tensions between the two countries which Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is keen to ease.
Reader Mail
Oct 15, 2014

Strange obsession with robots

Regarding the Oct. 8 article "Toshiba unveils a humanoid robot that could be a sign of the times": I find it ironic that as the human population continues to increase, we are trying our best to make robots do the work of humans, aiming to find substitutes for tour guides, companions, etc.
LIFE / Travel / TRAVEL INSIDER
Oct 14, 2014

Bonus mile opportunity; flight notifications; celebrating travel, life

Bonus mile opportunity

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