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Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
May 16, 2013

Thaemlitz's mix tackles antidancing law

It's fitting that I should be meeting Terre Thaemlitz on May 1, International Workers' Day — she wryly refers to herself as a "feminist Marxist" before we begin our interview in proper.
JAPAN / Media / DARK SIDE OF THE RISING SUN
Apr 7, 2013

What's with the police purge on dance clubs?

If you're ever minded to dance the night away to trance music, or even old-fashioned rock, you may have a tough time finding a venue in Japan these days. In fact, you may end up waltzing away hours inside a police station, peeing into a cup after being rounded up in a raid. Yes, indeed, a War on Dance...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jun 14, 2012

Grassroots group forms to fight antidancing law

Around 200 people gathered on the dancefloor of Kyoto's Club World on Sunday — but they weren't dancing.
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
CULTURE / Film
Mar 2, 2012

'Hugo'

'Hugo" is in 3-D, rated PG in the United States and features two 12-year-olds traipsing around a 1930s Parisian train station. All the ingredients for a cozy Disney picture, but in actual fact this is a Martin Scorsese movie, which picked up five Oscars at last weekend's Academy Awards.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Nov 27, 2011

Viral entertainment at full throttle

REAMDE, by Neal Stephenson. William Morrow, 2011, 1042 pp., $35 (paperback). Neal Stephenson's novels can be counted upon to offer two things: a lot of information and a lot of pages.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
May 20, 2011

"Le Chat Noir: Entertainment, Art And Culture In Paris 1880-1910"

From the end of the 19th to the early 20th centuries, Paris went through two completely different periods: end-of-century decadence and the apolaustic Belle Epoque. In 1881, "Le Chat Noir" (French for "The Black Cat"), an entertainment house, opened in Montmartre, and it became a base for a group of...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Apr 12, 2009

Entertainment as a fun family soap

Last weekend, actor Shunta Nakamura was arrested for possession of hashish while sitting in a parked car in Suginami Ward, Tokyo. The suspect's father, veteran actor Masatoshi Nakamura, quickly obliged the showbiz media by performing one of those tearful apologies that everyone looks forward to under...
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Nov 21, 2004

TV Tokyo's "Monday Entertainment" and more

In Japan, many people believe that blood type affects personality and health. Though the belief is based more on fashion than science, it's started to spread. Korea is now going through a blood-type craze. Interestingly, the traits attributed to certain blood types are different in Japan than they are...
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Jun 20, 2004

Fuji's "Friday Entertainment" with Yoshimi Tendo and more

Following the killing of a sixth-grade girl in Sasebo by her classmate, some TV networks postponed the airing of mystery dramas when reports circulated that the suspect may have gotten ideas for her chosen method of killing from a mystery she'd seen on TV. Eleven-year-old girls are not the target audience...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Jan 20, 2002

Murder and mass suicide? Now that's entertainment

CHUSHINGURA AND THE FLOATING WORLD: The Representation of Kanadehon Chushingura in Ukiyo-e Prints, by David Bell. Richmond, Surrey: Japan Library, 2001. 170 pp. with 41 b/w plates, 45 British pounds (cloth) One spring day in 1701 there was an altercation in Edo Castle. Perceiving insult, a local lord...
JAPAN
Aug 29, 2001

Entertainment firm in tax evasion tangle

Entertainment production firm Rising Production Co., which counts pop stars Namie Amuro and Da Pump in its stable, was found by tax officials to have evaded taxes on income of 2 billion yen in the three years to August 1999, sources said Tuesday.
CULTURE / Film
Feb 27, 2001

Unearthly entertainment

Kiyoshi Kurosawa is God's gift to film journalists. He speaks slowly and distinctly, in a rumbling baritone, weighing each word -- and giving even the most fumble-fingered reporter time to get everything down. He is also patient with questions that, after the 20th media interview, he has heard 20 times...
JAPAN / Media
Jan 6, 2000

New Year's TV specials -- impersonating entertainment

The suicide rate goes up at the end of the year, an increase that's usually attributed to depression in the face of what is perceived as everybody else's high holiday spirits. In Japan, there's another reason for despair. That's the prospect of being stuck in the company of relatives you hate eating...
JAPAN
Jan 23, 1997

Sega, Bandai to merge into entertainment giant

Game machine giant Sega Enterprises Ltd. and Bandai Co., the nation's No. 1 toy company, announced Jan. 23 they will merge on Oct. 1, creating a multimedia entertainment conglomerate with consolidated sales of 600 billion yen.Merging on an equal basis, the new company will be named Sega Bandai Ltd.,...
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Apr 17, 2023

Sega offers to buy Angry Birds creator Rovio Entertainment for ¥103.6 billion

Japan’s Sega is doubling down on console and smartphone gaming for long-term growth as its traditional businesses of pachinko and arcade machines face dwindling audiences.
Many of the acts making their debut at this year's "Kohaku" song contest came out for the lineup announcement at NHK's studios in Tokyo.
CULTURE / Entertainment news
Nov 19, 2024

NHK announces Number_i, Illit and Glay for ‘Kohaku’ lineup

Acts from the former Johnny’s were frozen out for a second year as NHK opts for new names and old favorites.
An official shot for this year’s lineup for NHK’s annual “Kohaku Uta Gassen.”
PODCAST / deep dive
Nov 22, 2023

Things get warmer with Xi; Johnny’s get the cold shoulder

While Japan and China look to ease tensions, NHK makes things tense with a Johnny’s-less “Kohaku” announcement.
An image of an immersive attraction at Immersive Fort Tokyo slated to open next spring in Tokyo's Odaiba area.
BUSINESS / Companies
Oct 5, 2023

New immersive theme park to open in Tokyo’s Odaiba

The new facility, to be called Immersive Fort Tokyo, will feature 12 immersive attractions along with six shops and restaurants.
The incoming and outgoing presidents of Johnny & Associates, Noriyuki Higashiyama and Julie Keiko Fujishima, bow at a press conference on Sept. 7.
PODCAST / deep dive
Sep 14, 2023

Johnny’s talent agency has admitted to a past of abuse. What next?

Karin Kaneko joins the show to update us on how the story is unfolding.
Noriyuki Higashiyama (right) and Yoshihiko Inohara attend a news conference in Tokyo on Monday.
JAPAN / Explainer
Oct 3, 2023

Unpacking the latest Johnny & Associates news conference

The flood of information released during the agency's latest news conference may have been difficult to grasp. Here's what you need to know.
Johnny & Associates President Julie Keiko Fujishima (second from right) acknowledged that company founder Johnny Kitagawa had sexually abused agency employees for decades during a press conference in Tokyo on Sept. 7.
CULTURE / Music / Sound Off
Sep 9, 2023

What’s in a name? A lot of baggage and trauma, unfortunately.

Johnny and Associates' recognition of abuse is a step in the right direction, but more needs to be done to move forward.
Thailand has taken its first step toward legalizing casinos, as the government looks to attract high-spending tourists to support the nation's economy.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Mar 29, 2024

Thailand takes first step to legalize casinos to aid economy

Thailand is the latest nation to consider entering the global casino industry, which is estimated to have generated $263.3 billion in revenue last year.
Crunchyroll, now owned by Sony Group Corp., is setting its sights on India as a major growth market.
LIFE / Digital
Jul 15, 2023

Former piracy site Crunchyroll cashes in on anime's global appeal

Crunchyroll expects the anime industry will have more than 800 million fans globally by 2025 outside markets in China and Japan.
A monitor displays a news report about the death of Johnny Kitagawa in July 2019.
JAPAN / Society
Aug 30, 2023

Media respond to report on sexual abuse at Johnny and Associates

The committee said Japan's mainstream media chose to ignore Kitagawa’s sexual abuse in order to maintain access to Johnny & Associates' talent pool.
Singer and dancer Shizuko Kasagi's life is the basis for the new morning drama series on NHK.
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / Longform
Oct 1, 2023

When the 'Queen of Boogie' reigned in Japan

Shizuko Kasagi gave Japan a reason to rejoice again and inspired a generation of young women in the process.
A rendering of the new Junglia theme park scheduled to open in Okinawa in 2025
BUSINESS / Companies
Nov 27, 2023

Nature-focused theme park to open in Okinawa in 2025

The park aims to take advantage of the outstanding forests of northern Okinawa Prefecture, which have been designated a World Heritage site.

Longform

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