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Ryan Nakashima
For Ryan Nakashima's latest contributions to The Japan Times, see below:
Japan Times
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Mar 3, 2002
Gone fishing
Fly-fishing is like pachinko. You know how some people get a rush from watching things go into little holes? Well, replace the smoke, noise and flashing lights with tumbling brooks, mountains and fresh air and you've got fly-fishing.
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Mar 3, 2002
Fish-friendly angling may not be the answer
Since Japan's first catch-and-release area opened on Yamagata Prefecture's Sagae River in July 1997, the number of such areas has grown to more than 30 across the country. In these areas, anglers generally report bigger, more satisfying catches, as by releasing the fish they are being allowed to live longer, grow bigger and breed. But fishing experts say merely creating more catch-and-release areas will not save Japan's ailing inland fisheries.
JAPAN
Jun 21, 2001
Campaign ads on TV hit as fluff
Could Japanese politics finally be getting interesting or are things just getting out of hand?
JAPAN / EMBASSY ROW
May 15, 2001
Unaware Japan digging into Canadian produce
Want a taste of Canada while in Japan? According to Ambassador Leonard Edwards, all you have to do is dig into a plate of pasta, bite into a sandwich or use canola oil in your cooking.
BUSINESS
May 5, 2001
DoCoMo's 3G service delay raises more questions
Last week's decision by NTT DoCoMo Inc. to scale back the introduction of third generation (3G) mobile phone services confirmed the skepticism of many observers about its launch date. But it proved the company was willing to cut prices to allow more consumers to access its richer, higher-speed content.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Mar 25, 2001
Hot rod 'tribes' roar into the night
It's 2:30 a.m. on a Friday night outside the Shibaura parking area, a thin strip of concrete and pavement stuck to a pillar under the belly of Tokyo's Rainbow Bridge. There's a flash of red taillights as vehicles speed in. New arrivals are greeted by leather-clad bikers revving their engines, spitting out exhaust from their oversize mufflers.
LIFE / Travel
Oct 18, 2000
Yonezawa's tourist industry rises from the ashes
YONEZAWA, Yamagata Pref. -- When he received a phone call saying that a fire was blazing through the hotel where his grandfather was once a carpenter, local shop owner Masahiro Ohta rushed to help.
JAPAN
Oct 6, 2000
Sansei make busy visit for the sake of relations
Most of them can't speak Japanese, or can't speak it very well. Some have only been to Japan a few times.
JAPAN
Sep 26, 2000
U.S. teacher provides lesson for combating class collapse
William was an impatient junior high student in Karol DeFalco's Connecticut classroom, constantly bringing questions to her while she was in the middle of helping other students.
BUSINESS
Aug 31, 2000
Tsutaya eyes ads on cellphone Web sites
A graphic small enough to be hidden under your thumb is expected to bring in millions of yen in revenues for Japan's biggest rental video chain, Tsutaya.
JAPAN
Aug 2, 2000
Train conductors left behind as Toei Subway becomes automated
In another verse from the machine-replaces-man songbook, Toei Subway is replacing the conductor on half of its Tokyo lines with a bevy of machines, including a safety wall that has been making its way through Toei Mita Line stations across Tokyo this summer.
CULTURE / Books
Jul 18, 2000
Personal relationships are everything
STAKEHOLDING: The Japanese Bottom Line, by Robert J. Ballon and Keikichi Honda. Tokyo: The Japan Times, 2000, 240 pp., 38 tables, 6 figures. 3,000 yen (cloth). One year, an acquaintance recalls, her family started getting an unusually large number of "oseibo" (yearend presents) and "ochuugen" (midyear gifts).
BUSINESS
Jun 8, 2000
Japan's faith rising in Indian software
Isamu Nitta, a former Japanese diplomat in Sri Lanka and the United States, clearly enjoys setting out a map of the world and pointing out where Japanese strategic interests lie.
CULTURE / Books
May 23, 2000
The new China, from hamburgers to lonely hearts
THE CONSUMER REVOLUTION IN URBAN CHINA, edited by Deborah S. Davis. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2000, 379 pp., 35 b/w photos, 21 tables, $22 (paper). McDonald's is the great equalizer. Wherever you go in the world it tastes exactly the same. The same beef, the same cheese, the same shredded lettuce and the same gooey sauce that leaks out the side.
JAPAN
May 2, 2000
'Manga' role-playing draws date-seeking 'otaku' together
The model who goes by the alias Ai O-totsu, or Bumpy Love, is dressed in the crimson high school uniform of her video game personality today, but instead of acting out pubescent fantasies on the computer screen like her electronic double, she's posing for pictures, smiling bashfully and giving out name cards.
CULTURE / Books
Mar 15, 2000
The marketing that made Japan
ASSEMBLED IN JAPAN: Electrical Goods and the Making of the Japanese Consumer, by Simon Partner. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2000, 317 pp., $19.95/12.50 British pounds (paper). I was standing on the corner by the Hachiko exit of Shibuya Station, looking at two giant television screens hawking the latest gadgets, trends and fashions, while thousands of light bulbs seared into my retinas the benefits of zillions of products. But having read this book, I felt I finally understood, even as the cell-phone toting masses stormed numbingly by, the technological revolution Japan has unleashed on itself.
CULTURE / Books
Feb 16, 2000
Don't give up hope for China's democrats
CHINA'S TRANSITION, by Andrew Nathan. New York: Columbia University Press, 1999, 313 pp., $19.50, 13.50 British pounds (paper). China is like Chernobyl, Andrew Nathan writes. The more you learn about it, the worse it gets.
CULTURE / Books
Nov 24, 1999
British bulldogs in a China shop
BRITAIN IN CHINA: Community, Culture and Colonialism 1900-1949, by Robert Bickers. Manchester and New York: Manchester University Press, 1999; 276 pp., 45 pounds (hardcover), 15.99 pounds (paper). When Lord Macartney opened his British Embassy in China in 1792, he was told to ask for bit of land or, perhaps an island, to serve as a kind of warehouse for British trade.

Longform

A statue of "Dragon Ball" character Goku stands outside the offices of Bandai Namco in Tokyo. The figure is now as recognizable as such characters as Mickey Mouse and Spider-Man.
Akira Toriyama's gift to the world