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BUSINESS
Apr 7, 2012

Nissan car entertainment systems to be powered by chips from Intel

Nissan Motor Co. vehicles will use Intel Corp. microprocessors for in-car information and entertainment systems starting next year, helping the largest chip maker lessen its reliance on sales to computer manufacturers.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / THE ZEIT GIST
Mar 27, 2012

False eyelashes, an authentic Eid, but we're not in Karachi anymore

As soon as I told any of my friends in Pakistan I was going to study for a semester in Tokyo, it was as if my facial features suddenly started turning Japanese.
CULTURE / Art
Mar 16, 2012

Take a break from reality at Roppongi Art Night

At one end of town there will be a young girl in a polka-dot dress standing some 10 meters tall. At the other, a team of large yellow mice will host a festival complete with portable shrines. Tokyo's Roppongi district is a spectacle at the best of times, but come March 24, it promises to outdo even itself....
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Mar 16, 2012

Take a break from reality at Roppongi Art Night

At one end of town there will be a young girl in a polka-dot dress standing some 10 meters tall. At the other, a team of large yellow mice will host a festival complete with portable shrines. Tokyo's Roppongi district is a spectacle at the best of times, but come March 24, it promises to outdo even itself....
BASKETBALL / HOOP SCOOP
Mar 3, 2012

Time for league to adopt 6-foul rule

There are several sensible reasons for the bj-league to adopt the NBA's six-personal foul disqualification rule. And by doing so, Japan's upstart pro circuit would be increasing the number of personal fouls it permits by one.
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital / TECH_JAPAN
Feb 22, 2012

Pick of the pixels from this year's CP+ show

One of the highlights of this month's CP+ Camera and Photo Imaging Show 2012 in Yokohama was Nikon's new D800 digital SLR camera, aimed at multimedia photographers and videographers. The 36-megapixel monster is once again spurring the debate over how many megapixels is too many megapixels.
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Jan 22, 2012

Women's investigative instincts — "Kaseifu," "Strawberry Night"; CM of the week: Ellair

Nanako Matsushima was the comeback story of 2011 with her starring role in the hit Nippon TV drama "Kaseifu no Mita" ("Mita the Housekeeper"). Fuji TV is hoping the magic lasts with its new Monday night series, "Lucky 7" (9 p.m.), which features Matsushima as a regular "special guest."
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Jan 15, 2012

Call of the powder: sublime snow in Japan

There is nothing quite like the adrenaline rush of hurtling down a steep, untracked slope of knee-deep powder. It is an uncomplicated pleasure, pure and exhilarating; carving turns into the untouched snow and sending up white plumes in your wake.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jan 12, 2012

When it comes to technique, Ozone says, 'Go West'

In 1956, pianist and band leader Toshiko Akiyoshi made the brave decision to leave Japan and enter the Berklee College of Music in Boston. As a young Asian woman embarking on a career in jazz, she was a novelty back then. She persevered and subsequently spent the majority of her career in the United...
EDITORIALS
Dec 31, 2011

The great unraveling

The last 12 months yielded another humbling year. One event after another confirmed the limits of our ability to predict and shape the future. Blame idle imaginations, selfish societies, pusillanimous politicians or blind bureaucracies. Whatever the cause, 2011 should remind us of the need to be better...
Japan Times
BASKETBALL / BJ-LEAGUE NOTEBOOK
Nov 25, 2011

Nakase becomes first female head coach in bj-league

It's official: Natalie Nakase is the first female head coach in bj-league history.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / Japan Pulse
Nov 15, 2011

Corporate brands drawn to anime's selling power

Care for some Pepsi and Cup Noodles with your anime?
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / Japan Pulse
Oct 31, 2011

AKBaby invites fans to breed with their favorite pop idols

Any AKB48 fan's wet dream: the chance to have a baby with their favorite pop idol.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / BACKSTREET STORIES
Oct 30, 2011

Yea! As I walk through the valley of Todoroki . . .

Todoroki Valley Park, a protected green swath along Tokyo's only ravine, strikes me as an interesting and possibly quite sheltered destination on a brisk and breezy fall day.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Sep 22, 2011

Red Hot Chili Peppers

After a triumphant appearance at this year's Summer Sonic music festival, the Red Hot Chili Peppers are coming back to Japan via cinemas.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Sep 1, 2011

Me First and the Gimme Gimmes cover Japan tunes

Punk cover band Me First and the Gimme Gimmes are touring Japan to promote their new EP "Sing in Japanese" this month. Comprised of players from famed punk and rock acts NOFX, Lagwagon, Swingin' Utters, and Foo Fighters, they will play Tokyo, Nagoya and Osaka before performing at Yokohama's sold-out...
Japan Times
MULTIMEDIA
Sep 1, 2011

Artisans who lived by their swords

The samurai sword has long been a symbol of great allure in Japan. It conjures images of virility, tradition, austerity and the mystery of legends. Not only is it said that the Shinto gods possessed swords but, as part of the Imperial regalia, such blades were believed to signify the divinity and divine...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Japan Pulse
Aug 19, 2011

Hot-looking guys for free

BACS, a new free paper, ostensibly targets preening young men but it also has on a eye on the women who love them.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Japan Pulse
Aug 5, 2011

B-kyu boom: The magnificence of the mediocre

There's a B-kyu (class) for everything, which doesn't make it any less important.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jul 22, 2011

"Yuka Shimada & Julia Vuori Picture Book Art Exhibition: The World of Bam & Kero, And Sika"

Though based respectively in Canada and Finland, picture-book artists Yuka Shimada and Julia Vuori struck up a friendship after Shimada discovered Vuori's illustrations at the Bologna Children's Book Fair Illustrators Exhibition, which was held in Tokyo some 20 years ago.
Japan Times
CULTURE
Jul 15, 2011

Will heartthrob Mukai shine as the shogun?

This year's NHK Sunday evening drama has already entered the history books for one, perhaps inauspicious, reason. On March 12, a day after the Great East Japan Earthquake, NHK announced that the following day's broadcast of "Go," as the show is titled, would be canceled to make way for news coverage....
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 29, 2011

South China Sea: making sense of nonsense

After a series of aggressive incidents involving Chinese patrol boats and subsequent soothing official statements, many analysts are trying to figure out what is really going on.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jun 17, 2011

Superfly takes a heavy trip

Hang on a minute, how did this happen? Somehow hippie-loving 1960s-throwback pop songstress Superfly has got, like, totally heavy, man. While her previous studio album, 2009's "Box Emotions," featured a couple of belters, new release "Mind Travel" does away with soppy ballads almost completely, favoring...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
May 26, 2011

Gellers find a new balance with 'Guatemala'

The story behind Gellers seems like the stuff of made-for-TV movies. A bunch of kids meet one another on the outskirts of the city, and eventually form a band. They stick together and, despite a few setbacks, release an album and tour the country as adults. There are no scripts to be found here, though....
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Apr 26, 2011

English mags approach milestone, crossroads

Those members of the expat community in Japan who are addicted to their weekly or monthly fix of English-language magazines will have surely noticed all the changes going on lately. These are troubled and exciting times and, just as it has in the past, the local media world is trying to rise to the challenge...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Mar 25, 2011

It's a woman's world inside manga

Bijin-ga (pictures of beautiful women), long a staple of ukiyo-e (woodblock prints) and its erotic sub-genre shunga (spring pictures), is mostly moribund in contemporary art. A variant form, however, lives on in shojo manga, serialized comic books that are often flush with romantic narratives and target,...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Mar 23, 2011

Knightley learns about life from Ishiguro adaptation

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. — Keira Knightley, at age 26, has proven herself much more than just a pretty face. Born March 26, 1985, she requested a showbiz agent at age 3 — not all that surprising, considering that her father, Will Knightley, is an actor and her mother is the acclaimed playwright Sharman...

Longform

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