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CHANNEL SURF

CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Apr 27, 2003
Time after time, show after show
Though Cyndi Lauper is much more than a one-hit wonder, her sudden stardom in 1984 made the subsequent lack of fireworks in her career seem as if she'd put everything she had into her debut album, "She's so Unusual." It's not entirely true, but in any case that LP went platinum five times in the United...
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Apr 20, 2003
Comics on the telly
The spring lineup of drama series contains more than the usual share of comic-book adaptations, which is good news since comics tend to have more interesting story-lines than do dramas written directly for the screen.
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Apr 13, 2003
New heroines: women at work
The spring television season has arrived, and with it a new crop of dramas. Most of the leading characters are women, but whereas heroines once meant romance or family themes, this year the theme is work.
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Apr 6, 2003
The grand illusions
Since celebrity is more a matter of exploiting opportunities than exploiting talent, this week's "Friday Showtime" (NHK-G, 8 p.m.) can be seen as an object lesson in cross-disciplinary synergy. Billed as an "astonishing entertainment" program featuring "music, comedy and illusion," the show brings together...
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Mar 30, 2003
Letters from the front
Personal perspectives on the tragedy of war are bound to be rampant this week, so Sunday's installment of Nihon TV's "Document" series (Sunday, 1:25 a.m.) might feel like overkill to some people. As history, though, it offers something more interesting.
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Mar 23, 2003
Women on top
Shows about and for women will highlight the second week of Japan's pre-spring TV specials. Fuji TV will present the eighth in its occasional series of talk shows, "Ganbare! Onna Bakari no Jinsei Tatenaoshi Hitori Mi, Issho Kenmei Special" (Monday, 7 p.m.), in which a dozen or so single female celebrities...
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Mar 16, 2003
Sitting here in limbo
This week, commercial television networks enter that twilight zone between seasons where they trot out the same variety standbys: real-life police documentaries, musical impersonation contests, blooper shows, etc.
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Mar 9, 2003
Hitting close to home
In Japan, a landlord really is a lord, and though laws exist to protect renters they are easily circumvented by property owners who don't like them. The three classic no-nos of rental properties -- no pets, no pianos, no employees of the "water trade" -- have recently been augmented with "no old people."...
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Mar 2, 2003
Tours into mystery
Recently, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi announced a government plan to attract 10 million overseas tourists a year by 2010, which would be twice as many as presently visit Japan.
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Feb 23, 2003
More fun than a tube of monkeys
Recently, performing primates have made a big comeback in Japanese show business, thanks mainly to the Nikko Saru Gundan (Nikko Monkey Army), and the human/monkey comedy team Taro-Jiro. Both acts are the latest additions to the traditional Japanese performance art known as saru-tsukai, which almost died...
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Feb 16, 2003
Notes from the front
To celebrate the 35th anniversary of the establishment of Hokkaido Television, Asahi TV will present a special installment in its Human Vision series of social-historical video documentaries. "Kiri no Nikki: Aryushan kara no Dengon (Diary in the Fog: A Message from the Aleutians)" (Feb. 16 at 2 p.m.)...
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Feb 9, 2003
In search of lost worlds
Most Westerners have heard about the legend of Atlantis, but how many have heard about the lost kingdom of Nan Mador? Like Atlantis, Nan Mador was supposedly as big as a continent, and stretched from Micronesia in the South Pacific all the way to Easter Island off the coast of Chile.
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Feb 2, 2003
Effects of aging on TV, film and romance
February marks the 50th anniversary of the first public television broadcast in Japan, and NHK will celebrate the anniversary with an extensive historical survey of its archives.
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Jan 26, 2003
Cleaning up Japan is one tall order
Thanks to improved nutrition, the height of the average Japanese person has increased considerably since World War II. Nevertheless, many Japanese, especially those over a certain age, despair over what they believe is their short stature.
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Jan 19, 2003
Regaining control isn't always easy
SMAP's golden boy, Takuya Kimura, may have lost some of his sexual luster since becoming a husband and a father, but he's still a viewer magnet when it comes to trendy dramas. Having been shoehorned into a number of unlikely professions in past series (architect, classical pianist, thief, prosecutor),...
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Jan 12, 2003
Living on the edge and acting the part
There's an article in the current issue of Shukan Bunshun lambasting the "foolishness of no-talent celebrities" on all those overblown New Year's TV specials. But what's more annoying than the specials themselves is that they pre-empted the few shows that were worth watching, like "The Tetsuwan Dash!"...
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Jan 5, 2003
Staging stellar shows at bargain prices
As the commercial networks wind up their holiday offerings of low-budget blooper specials and celebrity-heavy quiz shows, regular programming slowly returns. However, things don't really get back to "normal" until next week.
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Dec 22, 2002
Looks at stolen lives, loot and . . . bases
As Japan's Major League Baseball broadcaster by default, NHK will certainly have its hands full next year when Hideki Matsui makes his MLB debut. It may be a logistic nightmare airing all Ichiro Suzuki and Matsui games, but it pays off in the end with lots of viewers.
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Dec 15, 2002
From jobs to robots it's all about chance
It's that time of year again, when hundreds of people can be seen lining up in front of the shopping arcades in Ginza and Shinjuku. No, we're not talking about Christmas. We're talking about the big Yearend Lottery.
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Dec 8, 2002
Soaring lineup to peak your curiosity as well as appetite
On Monday at 8 p.m., TV Asahi presents the fourth special in its ongoing documentary series about the history of human endeavor with "The Legend of Human Flight."
Japan to revise consumption tax exemption for overseas tourists
Tourists walk through Nakamise shopping street near Sensoji Temple in Tokyo in April
Japan's tourism industry hit by cancellations after megaquake alert
A beach closed due to a megaquake alert in Hiratsuka, Kanagawa Prefecture, from Friday to Thursday.
Focus shifts to incoming typhoon as Tropical Storm Maria dissipates
Newly formed Tropical Storm Ampil, which is forecast to approach eastern Japan this weekend, is seen on the left side of this satellite image.
Kishida to step down in September in bid to show ‘LDP has changed’
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida speaks during a news conference Wednesday at the Prime Minister's Office in Tokyo.
Publisher finds surprise audience after translating history textbooks
Yamakawa Shuppansha president Takeshi Nozawa holds the publisher's textbook on Japanese history — used in high schools across Japan — alongside the new English version in Tokyo on May 23.
Economic security is about strengthening and sustaining growth, former minister says
Former economic security minister Takayuki Kobayashi says changes in the international balance of power, along with deepening economic interdependence, have led some countries to attempt to use their economic power to impose their will on others.
Ice bandanas, convenience store breaks: Running under Japan’s summer sun
Blistering heat is becoming a fixture of summer in Japan, but a few tweaks to your routine can make your outdoor runs bearable — if not enjoyable — until cooler temperatures return.
Japan issued its first-ever megaquake alert. What does that mean?
Naoshi Hirata (center), chairman of a committee tasked with evaluating the risk of a Nankai Trough earthquake, speaks at a news conference in Tokyo on Friday.
France brings down the curtain on its Olympic party with Tom Cruise and Leon Marchand
Fireworks are set off during the closing ceremony of the 2024 Paris Olympics at Stade de France in Saint-Denis on Sunday.
Japan fuels U.S. LNG boom even as climate targets and impacts loom
Flaring at the Cameron LNG export terminal in Hackberry, Louisiana. Flaring, a common sight at LNG plants, is a controlled burning of gas for reasons ranging from depressurizing equipment to disposing of gas that can’t be used. The practice is a "waste of money" and negatively impacts climate change and human health, says the International Energy Agency.

Podcast

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.
Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Longform

Sociologist Gracia Liu-Farrer argues that even though immigration doesn't figure into Japan's autobiography, it is more of a self-perception than a reality.
In search of the ‘Japanese dream’
By Thu-Huong Ha

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

Azabudai Hills, Tokyo’s green new downtown ‘village’
Azabudai Hills, Tokyo’s green new downtown ‘village’

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