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BUSINESS
Dec 20, 2005

Softbank providing free video at Yahoo Japan site

Softbank Corp. has launched a new business to provide streaming video on the Net and will offer some 16,000 free titles on Yahoo Japan.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Nov 10, 2005

The man in the photo

"Over 4,000 pictures!" the press officer shouts with enthusiasm over the phone the day after the opening of the most comprehensive exhibition of 65-year-old Nobuyoshi Araki's photographs to date.
BUSINESS
Nov 8, 2005

Poverty fight using wristband sales finds skeptics

The "whiteband" movement in Japan to eradicate poverty in developing countries, using celebrities in a tieup with a public relations company, has had some unexpected results, with misunderstandings and allegations about how the money raised is being used.
JAPAN
Oct 15, 2005

Raid on North Korea-linked offices nets two

, the police said. According to the police, the two men allegedly sold unapproved medicines, including those supposedly for cancer and AIDS, to consumers between May 2004 and September 2005 in violation of the pharmaceutical law.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Oct 13, 2005

When revolution came to the big screen

1969 was a watershed year for American cinema, with two films in particular heralding significant changes to the movie-making industry. One was "Midnight Cowboy," the story of a hustler and a junkie on the streets of New York City, starring Jon Voight and Dustin Hoffman; this became the first X-rated...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / VIEWS FROM THE STREET
Sep 27, 2005

What do you watch on Japanese TV?

Daunt Lee Teacher, 28 I know the three guys screaming the weather in the morning. It's too intense so I don't watch it. The only things I've seen that are kind of funny are the eating competitions with huge piles of food. You don't need much language for that.
COMMENTARY
Sep 21, 2005

System's flaws help keep Koizumi on top

From the start of the recent Lower House election campaign it was predictable that Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's theatrics -- his constant references to magic "kaikaku" (reform) and the alleged benefits from postal-service privatization -- would have its inevitable mesmerizing effect on Japan's...
JAPAN
Sep 2, 2005

Groups against revisionist history text call campaign a success

Civic groups opposing a contentious revisionist history textbook on Thursday hailed the result of the publisher's recent survey, as well as their own, that less than 1 percent of the nation's junior high schools are likely to use the book from next April.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Aug 17, 2005

Innkeeper puts on her promotional face

Fumiko Motoya is one of the best-known faces of corporate Japan.
BUSINESS
Jul 19, 2005

Retired athletes learn to survive life after sport

While all workers in Japan feel pressure to perform at the top of their game, that's probably more true for professional athletes than anyone else.
COMMENTARY / WASHINGTON UPDATE
Jul 9, 2005

Brace for more bipartisan battles in wake of Supreme Court justice's retirement

WASHINGTON -- The July 1 announcement by U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor that she is retiring marks the end of a distinguished 24-year career, and the beginning of a crucial struggle by President George W. Bush to find a replacement.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Jun 12, 2005

In Japan's tabloid world, truth trumps pulp fiction

TABLOID TOKYO: 101 Tales of Sex, Crime and the Bizarre from Japan's Wild Weeklies, by Geoff Botting, Ryann Connell, Michael Hoffman and Mark Schreiber. Tokyo: Kodansha International, 2005, 255 pp., 1,400 yen (paper). Aside from the sight of middle-age Japanese businessmen happily reading comic books,...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jun 1, 2005

Rise in defamation suits threaten media: journalists

The increasing number of lawsuits being filed in response to allegedly defamatory news articles is posing a threat to media organizations and freedom of expression by discouraging aggressive reporting, several journalists said at a recent symposium in Saitama.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
May 28, 2005

Tokyo Families, Fun House maker gets fine start

Why does it come as such a surprise to find Carin Smolinsky with an Audi TT Roadster? Certainly it suits her driving personality -- the bubbling nature of her entrepreneurial spirit. For her own part, it's perfect for nipping ("sedately," she insists) through Tokyo traffic and slides into the smallest...
COMMENTARY
May 16, 2005

Relax, breathe, leave the smokers alone

WASHINGTON -- One of the most persecuted minorities in America, and increasingly in other countries, is smokers. U.S. cities and states have imposed ever more Draconian restrictions on lighting up a cigarette, and a bipartisan coalition of paternalistic legislators on Capitol Hill now is pushing for...
Japan Times
Features / WEEK 3
Apr 17, 2005

Jackpot jottings

While Japan's auto industry is forever being feted, the country's far-bigger pachinko business -- which takes a staggering 30 trillion yen a year in bets -- is almost entirely overlooked by society and the wider world.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / CLOSE-UP
Apr 3, 2005

Ryu Murakami: Straight-talking wordsmith wields his pen like a sword

For nearly three decades since his seismic debut with "Almost Transparent Blue," which delved into the sex- and drug-fueled lives of Japanese youths in a town hosting a huge U.S. military base, author Ryu Murakami has often used his trademark explicit, offensive and guiltlessly cheerful language to dig...
JAPAN
Apr 1, 2005

Asahi censors ad critical of its sponsored 'news'

The Asahi Shimbun published a partially blacked-out advertisement Thursday that had been placed by the weekly magazine Shukan Bunshun to plug an article accusing the newspaper of engaging in "checkbook journalism."
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Mar 27, 2005

Ten years of tero in Japan: Notes on usage

Japanese language purists carp about the surfeit of katakana, but as with all cultural manifestations, from bossa nova to breakfast cereals, the Japanese manage to make these linguistic borrowings their own in an unmistakable way, the most obvious being abbreviation.
BUSINESS
Mar 9, 2005

NBS clients threaten to pull ads

Nippon Broadcasting System Inc. said Tuesday that many advertisers have threatened to withdraw sponsorship of baseball and soccer game broadcasts if Internet company Livedoor Co. takes over its management.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Feb 20, 2005

Japanese sperm to hit the Big Apple

"You all have to pump this rhythm into your body," Daisuke Koshikawa shouted. "If you think this rhythm is not part of your body, you have to acquire it at any cost."
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art / NEW ART SEEN
Feb 9, 2005

Feminist life actually: singing in the pain of Japan

The word "feminist" has been stripped of the luster it had back in the 1970s, and few Japanese women are more aware of this than Michiko Kasahara. Widely regarded as one of Japan's leading feminist curators, Kasahara was responsible for groundbreaking exhibitions such as "Gender: Beyond Memory" at the...
BUSINESS
Feb 3, 2005

FSA mulling life insurance deregulation

The Financial Services Agency might partially deregulate the life insurance sector in fiscal 2005, including expanding the range of insurance products with discounted premiums, according to agency sources.
JAPAN
Jan 12, 2005

North Korea boycott sees some impact

. "I think our campaign has put pressure on North Korea." Has the boycott worked?
JAPAN
Dec 31, 2004

Zoos grope to captivate visitors

Gone are the days when a new panda or elephant guaranteed a boost in zoo visitors.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Dec 29, 2004

Buy local produce

Japanese films had a good 2004, even if eight of the 10 top box-office slots went to Hollywood. The Japanese exhibition business is coming to resemble the American one, with more multiplex screens and wider openings. This structure favors major Hollywood product -- the latest "Harry Potter" or "Lord...
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
Dec 28, 2004

Boating, studying and moving to Japan

The last column of the year! Where did the weeks go?
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design / COUNTER CULTURE
Nov 19, 2004

Ginza bites the Big Apple

American fashion institution Barneys New York has finally found a place to call home in Tokyo. Opened last month in Ginza, this is the first flagship store in Japan for the prestigious Big Apple retailer. Operated by Isetan, Barneys has been in Japan for over a decade, but fans in Tokyo have had to settle...
COMMENTARY / WASHINGTON UPDATE
Nov 18, 2004

Bush-Kerry presidential contest was one for the textbooks

WASHINGTON -- President George W. Bush's re-election victory was a masterpiece of political strategy and execution by the Bush campaign team. There has been a feeling of relief throughout the nation that:

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