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Japan Times
COMMUNITY / How-tos / HOME TRUTHS
Aug 2, 2011

Once settled in, chances are you'll have to pay to stay

In 1946, Japan was in ruins. The housing shortage was severe and inflation was high, so the government issued a directive to freeze rental fees. To make up for the perceived loss of income, property owners came up with supplemental fees — renewal fees, called koshinryō, and "gift money" or reikin,...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / JUST BE CAUSE
Aug 2, 2011

The loneliness of the long-distance foreigner

A few months ago I had beers with several old Japan-hand guys (combined we have more than a century of Japan experiences), and one of them asked an interesting question:
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 1, 2011

'Venture mentors' can give as big a boost to startup companies as a capital infusion

In June, I participated in a meeting sponsored by the Clinton Global Initiative, the giant philanthropy, that focused on creating more jobs in the United States — presumably a goal shared by most countries.
Reader Mail
Jul 31, 2011

Update of released radiation due

Regarding the July 28 article "Threat to food chain grows as contamination spreads": In this article, and in a number of others, I have seen the following statement: "On June 6, the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency said the plant released about 770,000 terabecquerels of radioactive material into...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Jul 30, 2011

Gelato master in Kamakura serves it the old-fashioned way

According to Japanese popular wisdom, no matter how small your project or enterprise is, if it's really good people will eventually take notice.
Japan Times
JAPAN / CHUBU CONNECTION
Jul 30, 2011

Nagoya's short-term office rentals brisk

In the wake of the March 11 twin disasters, businesses in Tokyo, including foreign companies, fled the metropolis out of fear of radiation escaping the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant, boosting the high-end office rental business in Nagoya.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jul 29, 2011

Local galleries move to fore at Art Fair Tokyo

On the Japanese cultural calendar, visual-art events tend to take place in the more pleasant seasons of spring and autumn. Classical music and ballet have winter sewn up, with dozens of performances of Ludwig van Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 or "The Nutcracker" being held over the Christmas-New Year period,...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jul 28, 2011

Art Fair Tokyo shows off some of Japan's best talent

Welcome to the "art museum" where everything is on sale.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jul 28, 2011

Various artists Style Band Tokyo Compilation Vol. 1

Existing mainly as a live-music event since 2007, Style Band Tokyo has gone the recording route and released a CD featuring artists associated with its gigs. The compilation is a collection of great, noisy rock.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jul 28, 2011

Vaccines bring shot of rock to Fuji

Even before the March 11 Great East Japan Earthquake caused concert cancellations en masse, The Vaccines had to start pulling out of overseas tour commitments due to singer Justin Young's throat operation. Now "100 percent better," the band will show the audience at this year's Fuji Rock Festival what...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jul 28, 2011

Growing up with photography and picturing youth

You know how difficult it is to get good photos of children. They fidget. They cry. And just when you think you've got the perfect shot, they turn the other way. Now try to imagine how challenging it must have been for early photographers, who had to contend with exposure times of minutes rather than...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jul 28, 2011

"RongRong & Inri: Three Begets Ten Thousand Things"

Shiseido Gallery Closes Aug. 14
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jul 28, 2011

No sign of a summer break for The Hiatus

As the guitarist and vocalist of Japanese pop-punk band Ellegarden, Takeshi Hosomi toured throughout the country, played in the United States and South Korea, and even opened for Foo Fighters.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jul 28, 2011

Salarymen stick with laptops over iPads

When Yuta Moriya was offered Apple Inc.'s 613-gram iPad by his employer last summer, he envisioned a future free of lugging his laptop around for client visits. He was wrong.
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital / TECH_JAPAN
Jul 27, 2011

Compact new interchangable-lens camera plus a solar-powered lamp/charger

Japanese camera maker Pentax made the news earlier this month, having been acquired by Ricoh for ¥10 billion. But just prior to that, Pentax rolled out what it hailed as the world's smallest and lightest interchangeable-lens digital camera: the Pentax Q.
JAPAN
Jul 26, 2011

¥2 trillion reconstruction bill clears Diet

The Diet enacted Monday a ¥2 trillion second extra budget for fiscal 2011 to finance disaster relief and reconstruction since March 11, one of the three conditions laid down by Prime Minister Naoto Kan for his exit.
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Jul 26, 2011

TV: Analog out, digital in, with rivals Net, satellite, cable

Sunday marked a nationwide transition to digital terrestrial television broadcasting, bringing to an end over five decades of analog transmissions in Japan.
EDITORIALS
Jul 26, 2011

Ensure food safety

On July 8, radioactive cesium in excess of the provisional government limit was detected in beef from a cow shipped from Minami Soma, Fukushima Prefecture, to a Tokyo slaughterhouse. Later beef from 10 other cows from the city was found to have been contaminated with such cesium.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Jul 26, 2011

Living and loving The Alien from Nagoya

The year 1990 might not seem so long ago, but for many reasons, and in Japan especially, it was a completely different world. There was no Internet. There were no mobile telephones. There was hardly any way to get up-to-date English information on places beyond Tokyo and Osaka except by going there....
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Jul 26, 2011

Tokyo summer festivals offer taste of faraway lands without the travel

One does not have to travel to another country to get to know its people and culture. Summer festivals being organized by embassies of several nations and other groups in Tokyo in the coming weeks can offer that taste of life abroad.
EDITORIALS
Jul 24, 2011

A book for the times

This month, Mr. Jun Ikeido won the prestigious Naoki Prize for popular fiction; the Akutagawa Prize for new writers of literary fiction was not awarded as the judges found no exceptional work deemed worthy of the prize.
Japan Times
LIFE
Jul 24, 2011

Powering Japan's future

Last year, Japan produced close to one quadrillion watt-hours of electricity — that's 1 followed by 15 zeros. The vast majority of that — which translates into one billion megawatt hours (MWh) — came from coal, natural gas and nuclear power plants operated by 10 utilities that, only a few months...
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jul 23, 2011

Takeda's Actos diabetes pill needs new cancer-risk warning, Europe says

Takeda Pharmaceutical Co.'s Actos diabetes drug may be kept on the market with new warnings, the European Medicines Agency said after reviewing research showing the drug carried a slightly increased risk of bladder cancer.
Japan Times
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Jul 22, 2011

Gospel event to sing prayer for Tohoku

The bombastic and expressive vocals of gospel music are far removed from traditional Japanese culture, which may be why the genre is so popular here.
Japan Times
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Jul 22, 2011

Okinawa ropes in some fun

The Yonabaru tug-of-war on July 31 will pit the city's east side against its west in a competition that dates back some 400 years.

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