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Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jan 24, 2015

Quirky in-flight magazine files for bankruptcy

AP —Apparently, airline passengers aren't buying enough garden gnomes, superhero pajamas and heated cat shelters. SkyMall has filed for bankruptcy.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jan 23, 2015

Tourists tempted by paid, free Wi-Fi access campaigns

As tourists visit Japan in increasing numbers, mobile phone operators are moving to tap the market by providing better Wi-Fi services.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Jan 10, 2015

Dull and authentic beats out polished TV

Another New Year's break, another two-week onslaught of inconsequential television programs based on the variety show model of comedians talking about themselves, watching videos of other people doing supposedly interesting things and playing games whose main entertainment function is humiliation. The...
EDITORIALS
Nov 6, 2014

Space, the final frontier

Given the many, irreducible uncertainties of space flight tourism in the future — brought home last week by the crash of Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo vehicle — the guiding principle for customers is likely to be 'informed consent.'
WORLD / Science & Health
Oct 6, 2014

Experts see high risk Ebola will reach U.K. and France soon

Scientists have used Ebola disease spread patterns and airline traffic data to predict a 75 percent chance the virus could be imported to France by Oct. 24, and a 50 percent chance it could hit Britain by that date.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 26, 2014

Putting off environmental sacrifice

Are environmentalists who want society to divest itself of fossil fuels hypocrites if they don't adopt a radically reduced carbon lifestyle themselves?
EDITORIALS
Sep 20, 2014

Half century on the shinkansen

Oct. 1 will be the 50th anniversary of the inauguration of the Shinkansen super-express trains. Their effects on Japan's GDP and the environment have been enormous.
BUSINESS
Sep 3, 2014

Since MH370 vanished, Thai coup erupted, Chinese tourists steering clear of Southeast Asia

China's biggest online travel agency is offering a 30 percent discount on trips to Southeast Asia's beaches and malls. The Chinese aren't buying it.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 22, 2014

Cooperation key to curbing Ebola

The raging epidemic of Ebola virus disease in West Africa underscores the urgent need for international cooperation in dealing with emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases.
BUSINESS
Jul 24, 2014

Foreign tourists shatter first-half record

A record 6.26 million people visited Japan in the first half thanks to the yen's weakness and a jump in international flights to Tokyo's Haneda airport, a government estimate says.
Japan Times
JAPAN / CHUBU CONNECTION
Jun 13, 2014

Okazaki's grapes, Ieyasu legacy reel in tourists

The city of Okazaki in Aichi Prefecture this year is doubling efforts to attract visitors from its neighbors in East Asia, especially China and Taiwan.
EDITORIALS
Jun 23, 2013

All aboard the luxury train

With Japan's train system the envy of the world, three railway companies will offer luxury trains to cruise Japan in a style reminiscent of the Gilded Age.
Japan Times
CULTURE / CULTURE SMASH
Apr 10, 2013

Pop tourism gains traction

Pre-flight shopping at Narita airport a couple of weeks ago, I passed a mannequin sporting a light-blue necktie and a turquoise wig with pig tails dangling down to its mini skirt. The vision spoke volumes: It was Hatsune Miku, of course, Japan's holographic, animated virtual pop star, beloved fashion...
JAPAN
Mar 15, 2013

New connection expedites Saitama-Yokohama route

Tokyo's bustling Shibuya Station is going through yet another change: Starting Saturday, the Tokyu Toyoko Line and the Tokyo Metro Fukutoshin Line will be directly connected, enabling passengers to travel between Saitama and Yokohama without changing trains.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jan 11, 2013

Gordon-Levitt, Willis take film fans for a loop

Film director Rian Johnson and actor Joseph Gordon-Levitt are neighbors in the Silver Lake area of Los Angeles. They're also pretty close, since Gordon-Levitt says they hang out at each other's house and he also praises Johnson's cooking.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Oct 11, 2012

Taking a nostalgic train of thought

Train travel inspires nostalgia. There's no escaping it. It conjures up memories of childhood — playing beside the rail track at the bottom of the garden or with a miniature railway at home. However, politics and societal change have influenced and produced more controversial images of rail travel...
Japan Times
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Jun 10, 2012

Is sci-fi becoming sci-fact in Japan, too?

Where is Japan's equivalent of Elon Musk? Where's the young entrepreneur with a huge bank balance and dreams to match? Where is that someone raised in these isles on sci-fi manga and space movies who wants to make human travel in space a reality?
BUSINESS / YEN FOR LIVING
Jun 4, 2012

Play money: Forgotten fate of foreign currency

Where is all that foreign currency Japanese tourists neglect to spend?
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle
Jan 31, 2012

Tsutaya's newest media center suits silver market to a T

To many Japanese, the name "Tsutaya" will bring to mind one very clear image: neon lights, blue-and-yellow signage, bestselling J-pop albums and late-night DVD rentals.
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Sep 27, 2011

A compact guide to guidebooks on Japan

Despite the Internet revolution and resultant websites and blogs offering information about every conceivable aspect of any country you'd care to name, many people make sure a copy of their favorite guidebook is in their $500 suitcase or $5 backpack before boarding a plane.
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
May 17, 2011

Print is suffering, but English readers have never had it so good

Returning to Osaka after several years, James wonders what became of Kansai Time Out, the magazine that served the English-speaking community in that region and beyond:
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WORDS TO LIVE BY
May 10, 2011

Japan Tourism Agency Commissioner Hiroshi Mizohata

Hiroshi Mizohata, 50, is the Commissioner of the Japan Tourism Agency. A native of Kyoto and a graduate of the University of Tokyo, Mizohata entered the ranks of the prestigious kanryō, the career bureaucrats who control Japan's top-tier government offices. He worked in various ministries in Tokyo and...
Reader Mail
Apr 7, 2011

Uncertain future of Japan tourism

Regarding Amy Chavez's April 2 column, "This earthquake still felt all over Japan": As a Frenchman married to a Japanese and as a one-year resident of Japan, I usually read Chavez's articles with great pleasure and enjoy the wit in her writing. This article is no exception as it gives us the usual insight...
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Feb 19, 2011

The new pair seat surcharge

My neighbor Kazu-chan recently booked a trip to Bali with her friend on Garuda Indonesia. She said the travel agency she booked through charged her ¥3,000 to sit next to her friend. And her friend also had to pay ¥3,000 to sit next to Kazu-chan. This was called a pair seat.
JAPAN
Nov 10, 2010

Hotels find profit in catering to families

One autumn afternoon in Kobuchizawa, Yamanashi Prefecture, a group of children and their parents were driving to a field to pick fresh vegetables for pizzas they planned to make there.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Nov 9, 2010

Muslims in shock over police 'terror' leak

This time last month, Mohamed Salmi says he was just another anonymous foreigner living and working in Japan. Today he fears his life here may be over, and receives phone calls from reporters asking him if he is an al-Qaida "terrorist."
JAPAN
Sep 24, 2010

APEC told isle feud may hurt tourism

NARA — A Chinese delegate to the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum meeting on tourism warned Thursday that tourist travel between Japan and China could be further damaged over escalating tensions between Tokyo and Beijing over Japan's arrest of a Chinese trawler captain near the disputed Senkaku...

Longform

Wealthier women in the prewar era had been the targets of various media-related health campaigns that mistakenly encouraged them to avoid everything from riding bicycles to reading novels when their monthly cycles came around.
Menstruation in Japan: Breaking the silence, slowly