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The consumption tax increase next April will hit every household in Japan hard, with many people's financial future hanging on whether their wages rise enough to offset the impact of the hike, experts say.
Every parent is all too familiar with The Tantrum. The screaming, the flailing arms, the angry head butting — and the timing (normally in the most inconvenient public place possible).
International events undermine Japan's democracy. Shame on the International Olympic Committee for being a party to it.
Tucked away behind the main museums in Ueno, the Tokyo University Art Museum may not be on most people’s radar, but it is definitely one of the city’s top museums in terms of curatorial quality. Whenever I go there, I am always delighted by ...
Francisco Liriano showed up at PNC Park on Tuesday afternoon in a suit with his suitcase packed for a trip St. Louis. The message reverberated through the Pittsburgh Pirates clubhouse. After 21 years away from the playoffs, it was time for the best story ...
This is a tale of controllers: the Wii U GamePad and the Wii U Pro Controller. For years, Nintendo gamers have wanted a hardcore game controller like those that come with Microsoft’s Xbox 360 and Sony’s PS3 consoles — instead they have the Wii ...
Call it a twist of fate or delicious irony, but game designer Keiji Inafune, a harbinger of the Japanese gaming industry’s death, returned to Tokyo Game Show this year with one of the biggest games (as well as the biggest surprise) of the show. ...
Each year, the crowds at the Tokyo Game Show (TGS) get bigger and bigger. This year, there were 223,753 attendees over the four days (two press days and two public days), which is the largest turnout ever. Traditional video games for handheld and home ...
It’s hot. Though this summer, Japanese gamers have been piling into arcades across the country not only to take refuge from the heat, but to also check out one of the most interesting games released this year — and it may surprise you to ...
For many gamers, “Dragon Quest” is shorthand for Japanese role-playing games. The series is iconic. It’s loved by players young and old. No wonder then that the latest entry, “Dragon Quest X,” is easily this year’s most anticipated title in Japan. Released this week, ...
The United States was easy. Europe was slightly harder. But Japan has always seemed nearly impenetrable for Microsoft’s Xbox gaming platform. The U.S offered the Redmond, Washington-based Microsoft a home field advantage and it was able to use popular sci-fi shooting game “Halo” and ...
This week, the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) roars through Los Angeles. Game companies from North America, Europe and Japan flock to the Convention Center downtown to show off their latest wares. E3 is the world’s leading video-game show, populated with multimillion-dollar games, big-name game ...
When most people in the know look at Mario, Zelda and Donkey Kong, they picture them in action in the video games that made them famous. But not Jed Henry. Instead, the 28 year-old American artist imagines how these game characters would have looked ...
It’s a long running stereotype: Japanese gamers like role-playing games (RPGs), and Western gamers prefer first-person shooters (FPS). That doesn’t mean hardcore FPS players don’t exist in Japan. They do. FPS games differ greatly from RPG games. In an FPS, action is gun-based and ...
A new PlayStation. A new Xbox. A new Wii. The last one is definitely happening with the upcoming Wii U and the others are no doubt being prepped for high-profile “reveals.” But what about a future with no consoles? None at all. For movie ...
Gamers know it: Every time Hideo Kojima finishes one of his “Metal Gear” stealth video games, he attempts to wash his hands of the wildly successful franchise and says, “That’s it. I’m done.” Yet, “Metal Gear” is to the famed game-creator as the mafia ...
Late last month, Nintendo signaled that for the first time in more than 30 years it was posting an annual loss — of $845 million — something that until recently had seemed virtually impossible. For three decades, Nintendo has been the company people associate ...