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CULTURE / Music
Jun 21, 2012

Kiwa Kiwa Festival

Emerging in March of this year promising to "challenge the limits of 'independent,' " Kiwa Kiwa — a music website and promoter (and cafe, curiously) — launched in a flurry of activity including disc and live reviews as well as columns from a quartet of local Tokyo indie musicians. It was a bold move...
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 21, 2012

Discerning purpose beyond power

The rerun of the Greek parliamentary election on June 17 was only the latest symptom of the most serious crisis to plague Western democracies and open societies since the 1960s. Liberal democracies in the West today are struggling to avoid — and in doing so are exacerbating — a crisis of identity,...
CULTURE / Music
Jun 21, 2012

Hot Chip 'embrace fun' on new album

"I like Zapp, not Zappa" goes "Night and Day," the lead single from London electro-pop quintet Hot Chip, and in one small yet significant statement the five-piece's attitude to music is shouted loud and proud.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jun 21, 2012

Fan loyalty brings 2PM ups and downs

Dancing boy bands are a common feature in K-pop, but when it comes to fan loyalty, 2PM has few rivals.
JAPAN
Jun 21, 2012

Tepco lashes prime minister's office

Top politicians in the prime minister's office interfered too much in the early stages of the nuclear crisis, only deepening the chaos at the Fukushima No. 1 power plant, Tokyo Electric Power Co. claims in its final report on the disaster.
CULTURE / Music
Jun 21, 2012

Music industry wins a battle as antidownloading bill gets some teeth

A bill aimed at penalizing Internet users for downloading pirated music and video files passed the Diet on Wednesday, despite criticism from some Internet personalities and legal experts that the move is hasty and too harsh.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jun 21, 2012

Japan also has stake in universal rights, says ex-Congo child soldier

Michel Chikwanine, a university student in Canada who was once a child soldier in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, has suffered things no ordinary Japanese child will ever have to.
JAPAN
Jun 20, 2012

Okinawa governor opposes Osprey deployment

Kyodo Okinawa Gov. Hirokazu Nakaima is urging the central to stop the planned deployment of U.S. MV-22 Osprey aircraft at the Futenma air station following recent crashes abroad.
BUSINESS
Jun 20, 2012

Nikko Asset to put IPO plan on hold until 2013

Nikko Asset Management Co. may wait until next year before pursuing an initial public offering that it shelved in December, avoiding markets roiled by Europe's debt crisis, two sources said.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / VIEWS FROM THE STREET
Jun 19, 2012

Tokyo: What are your memories of the sarin attack on the Tokyo subway in 1995?

Mitsuyoshi Nakamura
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Jun 19, 2012

Mishmash jumble of systems is recipe for a do-little Diet

Given the momentous fiscal and social problems Japan was facing even before Fukushima, even foreign residents — who can't vote — may be wondering what on Earth Japan's elected officials are doing to solve the nation's many ills.
Japan Times
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Jun 19, 2012

Net shopping means unending flow of counterfeit brand-name goods

Luxury-brand bags, watches and shoes can easily be purchased on the Internet along with their cheaper counterfeit counterparts, which are illegal but nonetheless widespread.
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
Jun 19, 2012

Dealing with isolation and exclusion in Japan

Q: As mental health professionals dealing chiefly with native English-speakers in Tokyo, do you often have to deal with people who feel isolated and excluded in Japan, e.g. long-termers who have failed to "fit in" here, as in they lack Japanese friends, despite knowing the language, culture and so on?...
EDITORIALS
Jun 18, 2012

Dousing the Flame

Reports of a new computer virus, dubbed "Flame," have raised alarms about a new era of cyber threats. While countries are increasingly reliant on cyberspace for their very survival — it is now part of the social, economic and security infrastructure — it remains a largely unregulated domain; worse,...
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Jun 17, 2012

Job-hunting tips; history of Cook Islands; CM of the week: Clorets

As everyone knows, the job market is tight — even for young people just entering the workforce. This week, the NHK "real life" information program, "Otona e Tobira TV" ("The Door to Adulthood TV"; NHK-E, Thurs., 7:25 p.m.) offers advice for job seekers, who are confronted with an economic environment...
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media
Jun 17, 2012

Gotye's moment in the spotlight

When Wally De Backer first came to Japan with his rock band The Basics, his prospects didn't seem very promising.
Japan Times
BASKETBALL
Jun 17, 2012

Nakase out as Saitama coach; club brings in Williams

The Saitama Broncos have parted ways with head coach Natalie Nakase. The expected announcement was made official on Friday afternoon.
Japan Times
LIFE
Jun 17, 2012

Hunting ivory netsuke carvers is like a big game

Netsuke are the diminutive works of art that dangled from cords attaching purses or other pouches to a kimono's obi sash before Western garb ousted traditional dress after the modernizing Meiji Restoration of 1868.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / WILD WATCH
Jun 17, 2012

Rock on down to a geopark near you

To naturalists and hikers, the renown of 810-meter Mount Apoi near the southern tip of Hokkaido towers mightily above its lowly elevation.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives
Jun 16, 2012

Clowning around in Tohoku to help children

The Japanese entertainment world is supposed to be a very hard one to crack for foreigners in these lean years of economic doldrums. Once in a while a few people manage to carve out a niche for themselves through a combination of talent, perseverance and luck.
Japan Times
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Jun 15, 2012

Ballerina Ananiashvili set to play 'Swan Lake' role for last time in Japan

While she isn't ready to retire, prima ballerina Nina Ananiashvili's upcoming tour of Japan is set to be her last.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jun 15, 2012

Film fest keeps it short

Once upon a time, short films actually played in cinemas, as an opening act for the feature presentation. But as feature films got longer and cinemas tried to squeeze in ever more screenings, the shorts eventually fell by the wayside. As a result they lost their position as the traditional calling card...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jun 15, 2012

Wife writes of divorcing radiation-scared Ozawa

The wife of Democratic Party of Japan kingpin Ichiro Ozawa has divorced him, saying he fled Tokyo soon after the Fukushima nuclear crisis started last March out of fear of radiation, according to the weekly Shukan Bunshun, citing a letter it says she wrote to his supporters in November.
Japan Times
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Jun 15, 2012

Boat races to mark festival

While Okinawa is known for waves and boats yearround, these summery things never draw more attention than they do on the day of the Hare Festival.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 14, 2012

China: no answers and no justice

Ya Weilin, 73, hanged himself in a parking lot in Beijing on May 25. He was marking, as he had in one way or another for 23 years, the death of his son at the hands of the Chinese government and the People's Liberation Army on the night of June 3, 1989. After 23 years of waiting, 23 years of petitioning...
CULTURE / Music
Jun 14, 2012

Rocker Hotei hears London calling

Queen Elizabeth's Jubilee celebrations are never complete without a rock star wielding an axe to inaugurate proceedings. For the Golden Jubilee in 2002 it was Queen's Brian May atop Buckingham Palace. And for The British Embassy in Japan's Diamond Jubilee party this month, the sword fell on the broad...
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.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jun 14, 2012

To Uhnellys, anything more than two is a crowd

Uhnellys' Naoki Kaneko (who goes by the stage name "Kim") says journalists often ask him the same question in interviews: "Do you ever plan on adding more members?"

Longform

Atsuyoshi Koike, the president and CEO of Rapidus, says there is a “sense of urgency” when it comes to Japan’s efforts in manufacturing semiconductors. “We have to make sure we are successful,” he says.
Atsuyoshi Koike’s big game: Fourth down and 2 nanometers to go