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Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / WALKING THE WARDS
Jan 4, 2008

Where ambitions have long soared

First of two parts
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Jan 4, 2008

Sake Bistro W: New Year's cheers

A toast is called for, to greet this brave new murine Year of the Rat as it scuttles out of the wainscoting and into the dining room. Nihonshu, Trappist ales, Prosecco, whatever — we're not fussy, as long as the setting is right and there is quality food to go with the liquid refreshments. Here are...
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / HOTELS & RESTAURANTS
Jan 4, 2008

Urban night cruise; special buffet at New Otani; and dinner for two

Urban night cruise The Conrad Tokyo has put together an exclusive accommodation and nighttime cruise package for small groups.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / WALKING THE WARDS
Dec 7, 2007

Winging it in Ota Ward

Ota Ward is totally fly. For starters, it hosts Haneda, the only airport actually situated in Tokyo's 23 wards. Although a plane would come in handy in navigating this southernmost and largest of the city's wards, you'd miss out on roasting wieners at Ota's weekend barbecue hot spot, Jonanjima Seaside...
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design
Dec 4, 2007

A cute and kind of sexy guide to Japan

Manga has conquered America. Or so declares the November issue of the U.S. tech magazine Wired, which carries a 10-page manga story describing how manga is reshaping American pop culture. Booming manga sales — which, according to the magazine, account for almost two-thirds of the $330-million graphic...
Japan Times
LIFE
Nov 25, 2007

Jobs journal reflects social change

Back in 1980 when the weekly job-seekers' magazine Travail was launched, it was a social phenomenon that gave women the information they needed to independently switch jobs and build their careers. People even adopted the magazine's title (which means "work" in French, and is written in hiragana as torabayu)...
Japan Times
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Nov 23, 2007

Dance DJs hit the park

Stuck for something to do on the national holiday this Friday — and enjoy a bit of a boogie? If so, then you may like to head to Yoyogi Park and the Tokyo Dance Music Festival 2007 being staged there at the live space between Yoyogi Park and the NHK building.
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital
Nov 14, 2007

Online music store helps Japanese music go global

You've heard the stories: The music industry is in crisis, CD sales are dropping year on year, iTunes is taking over the world, the future is digital, the revolution is here. While a lot of this may be true, music fans could be forgiven for some cynicism when all about them the music industry seeks to...
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle
Oct 2, 2007

When women wield the DS

Imagine your typical video gamer. Male, aged 18-35, right?
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Sep 21, 2007

Motor show to ease way for visitors

As automakers struggle with a shrinking domestic market, participants in the 40th Tokyo Motor Show this fall hope to remind people just how much fun it is to get behind the wheel.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Sep 13, 2007

Look inside the puppet's head

"One aspiring to become a puppet operator would have to spend 10 years to master the handling of the puppet's feet and another 10 years to be able to operate its left hand," says Yoshida Bunjaku, 79, one of two omozukai (principal puppeteers) awarded the title of Living National Treasure. "While he is...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Sep 12, 2007

Japan enters orbit of nations exploring the moon

The moon has languished in the shadows of space exploration since the heyday of manned missions in the 1960s and 1970s, eclipsed by projects focused on Mars, Jupiter and Saturn, not to mention the U.S. space shuttle and the International Space Station.
CULTURE / Music
Aug 31, 2007

Marcus Miller "Free"

Brooklyn-born Marcus Miller kicks off his latest album playing the sitar, lending "Blast" an Indian groove before adopting a hip-hop beat in the chorus. It's an early indication of Miller's diverse musical tastes: "Free" features the noted bass guitarist playing 14 different instruments.
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design / WEEK 3
Aug 19, 2007

Beauty beheld in brutalism

No matter how wild or wacky their hobbies or obsessions, in the age of the Internet no one need feel isolated any more, and by casting all inhibitions aside almost anyone is assured of finding like-minded others out there in cyberspace — if not just around the corner from home.
Japan Times
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Aug 10, 2007

Festival theater heats up Shibuya

Matsuri (festivals) in Japan are not only about fireworks, as the monthlong "Summer Summit 2007" drama event attests.
Japan Times
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Jul 20, 2007

Capoeira connects Japan, Brazil

Experience martial arts with a twist — but probably neither a shimmy nor a waltz — at the two-day Axe Brasil Bahia festival, taking place in Tokyo's Asakusa on July 21-22.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jul 5, 2007

Exposing our tacky selves

Walking through an exhibition of Martin Parr's photography is an emotional experience. The Englishman's works make you laugh, snicker, cringe; they prompt self- and societal reflection; but most of all they make you marvel at the dry wit and superior eye that Parr has for things simultaneously insipid...
Japan Times
LIFE / WEEK 3
Jun 17, 2007

Japan's master of an ancient Muslim art

For Kouichi Honda, writing a beautiful line is what life is about. Getting every detail right — the subtle curves, the varying thicknesses and the density of the ink — matters to him as much as life itself.
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
May 30, 2007

Sex, morals and DNA

It wouldn't be surprising to see a message along the following lines on an Internet dating site: "SJF, 26, wants to meet kind, generous, romantic, honest man."
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle
May 1, 2007

Blasting off for Golden Week

Tired of sitting in front of computers all day long? Sick of sucking up exhaust as you walk down the street? Have you been pondering life's meaning and, above all, our meager existence in this world?
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design / ON: DESIGN
Apr 24, 2007

Conof, One Percent and Panasonic's new mini-speakers

Shredding mystery When I first laid eyes on the Conof by n.o.l., I had no idea what it was but immediately developed a unprovoked yearning for it. So when I eventually figured out that it was a paper shredder, there was a moment of disappointment -- secrecy and sensitive documents play no part in my...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Mar 29, 2007

Third point of Roppongi

With the opening of Tokyo Midtown on Friday, the Art Triangle Roppongi concept is now complete. Comprised of the Mori Art Museum, the new National Art Center (NAC) and the elegant new Suntory Museum of Art -- part of the Midtown project -- the idea of a new precinct for art in Tokyo is ready to be tested....
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design / ON: DESIGN
Mar 27, 2007

KOKUYO, MUJI, PILOT and MONO for spring

Spring is in the air, and that means two things: a city draped in the pink of cherry blossoms -- hey, pink is the new black, so get with it; and the start of a new school year. So I'll concentrate this month's picks on a few items that will make you more productive with a touch of a style.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Mar 3, 2007

Kansai Time Out: 30 years without a breather

KOBE -- On the cover of the December 1979 issue of Kansai Time Out magazine, an Osaka-based foreign aikido instructor, sporting an Afro, is seen executing a throw that puts his Japanese opponent on the floor.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art / NEW ART SEEN
Feb 22, 2007

Breaking into an insider's tea-drinking club

The term "gaijin artist" can be something of an insult to those who make Japan their home. It is, after all, parochial and old-fashioned to differentiate artists strictly on the basis of what passport they carry.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / PERSONALITY PROFILE
Feb 10, 2007

Tim Hornyak

Freelance writer Tim Hornyak is the author of 'Loving the Machine: The Art and Science of Japanese Robots.' He anticipates that the family robot will become a reality in Japan
LIFE / Travel / WALKING THE WARDS
Feb 2, 2007

Cabbages and kings

Those who live and work in Itabashi are hesitant when it comes to tallying up the highlights of this northwestern Tokyo ward. "There's really nothing remarkable here," says ballerina and homemaker Chieko Muraoka, 37. "It's quiet and small-scale, but we like it that way."
CULTURE / Music
Feb 2, 2007

Banda Caliente Grande

Tokyo is home to the largest concentration of big bands of any city in the world. Every night of the year, student, amateur and pro bands are digging into music charts someplace in the city.
Reader Mail
Jan 28, 2007

What passes for attractiveness

Recent moves by Spain to rein in eating disorders in the high-fashion industry by sanctioning a healthy body mass index and thereby curbing excessive skinniness among supermodels have spread to Italy and show signs of spreading to other countries as well. This is a good thing and only partly...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Jan 7, 2007

Through the Terayama looking glass

THE EXPERIMENTAL IMAGE WORLD OF SHUJI TERAYAMA, DVD four-volume box set. Tokyo: Daguerreo Press, Inc./Image Forum Video, 2006, color/monochrome, English subtitles, bilingual menu, audio commentaries (Japanese only) by Nobuhiro Kawanaka, Tatsuo Suzuki, Sakumi Hagiwara and Henriku Morisaki, 346 min., 18,900...

Longform

Professional cleaner Hirofumi Sakurai takes a moment to appreciate some photographs in a Gotanda apartment whose occupant died alone.
The last cleanup: Life and death in a lonely Japan