Transport authorities launched a full-fledged investigation Sunday into the derailment of a bullet train on the Akita Shinkansen Line in Daisen, Akita Prefecture, on Saturday afternoon.
It's a dangerous, unpredictable world. Twice in January Chinese warships in the East China Sea challenged Japan's Maritime Self Defense Forces patrols in a manner deemed threatening. And on Feb. 12 came North Korea's nuclear test.
Here's an open secret: Japanese men have a bad international reputation on the romance front.
SELLING WOMEN: Prostitution, Markets and the Household in Early Modern Japan, by Amy Stanley. University of California Press, 2012, 282 pp., $49.95 (hardcover) In the vast cultural landscape, Japan fascinates the mainstream with manga and anime, the martial arts, Zen and kimono. Of course, ...
Kenta Maeda shook off worries about his form with five shutout innings as Japan beat China 5-2 in first-round Pool A of the World Baseball Classic on Sunday at Fukuoka Dome. Japan improved to 2-0 following a tough win over Brazil in Saturday evening’s ...
Northern hangers Started in 2003, the CREER line of furniture has always been produced at acclaimed craftsman Yukio Yoshida’s Hokureikohsho atelier in Hokkaido. With the line’s recently announced summer collection, it now joins to.mo.mi, a brand specializing in wooden products. Designed by Noriyuki Ebina, ...
Tower of audio power If there’s one thing you can surely trust Sony to do, it’s to stoke our technolust with innovative new audio products. With the introduction of the Sountina nondirectional speaker, Sony continues that tradition. The 180-cm tower of sound, which includes ...
Electric bean There are plenty of unusual or practical takes on the extension cord out there, but Takumi’s BeansQtap is a standout. Maybe it’s the colors — it comes in white, pale yellow, pink or green. Or it could be because of the beanlike ...
Label of love With pretty much anything now just a quick printout away, is there really still a place in the office or at home for the humble label writer? Looking at the Tepra Pro label writer from King Jim — a company mostly ...
A toothy light Released last year (after first being shown at the 2007 edition of the Milano Salone design show), the TU-BE pendant lamp is a collaboration between German lighting master Ingo Maurer and famed international designer, Ron Arad. Arad came up with the ...
When architect Keiji Ashizawa decided to move his Tokyo studio into a new space last year, he wanted to do something with it before settling in. So he arranged an exhibition last December in which a group of Tokyo-based designers presented all manner of ...
Hanging vanity Bye, bye “Mirror, mirror on the wall” — with the Hang mirror from designer Moritoyoshi for Lemnos, you no longer need a wall to seek the truth from magical reflections. Hang’s convenient hook, which elegantly blends into the rest of the mirror, ...
Naoto Fukusawa: Beech Boy What better way for a company to mark its 80th anniversary — which is what Hiroshima-based Maruni Wood Industry celebrates this year — than by launching a new collection designed by a man who has over the past few years ...
MoMA Design steps in There are many reasons to check out the recently opened GYRE shopping complex designed by famed Dutch architectural firm MVRDV in Omotesando: great cafes plus a couple of gallery spaces and some luxurious shopping destinations. But most importantly, the building ...
Tokyo Design Week, the 2007 edition, has come and gone, and now we have to deal with the fallout: what we saw, experienced, and enjoyed throughout the weeklong design showcase. Although it truly is an international event, here are a few highlights from some ...
