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DRIZZLE/RAIN
Farmers in the city of Tamura, Fukushima Prefecture, have begun planting rice in a district once designated a no-go zone because of radioactive fallout ejected by the disaster-hit Fukushima No. 1 power plant.
Recently I was asked to write a blurb for a new liquid plant-nutrient. As soon as I saw the name of the product, 早根早起 （Hayane Hayaoki), I smiled at this example of linguistic creativity.
Life in Japan just seems tailor-made for certain foreign residents, who slip into the fabric of this society as smoothly as a hand slides into a glove. American Curtis Patterson, a professional koto player and music teacher, is a case in point. Not only ...
Denmark’s Emmelie de Forest won this year’s Eurovision Song Contest on Saturday night with her ethno-inspired flute and drum tune “Only Teardrops,” despite tough competition from spectacular stage shows by performers from Azerbaijan and Ukraine. Juries and television viewers across Europe awarded the barefoot, ...
One team’s quest for a first title has ended. The other team’s fight will continue next season. The Yokohama B-Corsairs outplayed the Rizing Fukuoka in Sunday’s bj-league championship game, controlling the tempo for larger stretches and making enough timely baskets to fill an instructional ...
Clubbing in Japan is a kick. The country’s zeal for global pop trends and its prominent club scene draws big-name DJs and performers from the international circuit. Japan’s hodgepodge approach to urban planning means that clubs seem to blossom nearly anywhere — in the back alleys of unsung neighborhoods such ...
Tokyo Disneyland (or “TDL” as it’s known to the Japanese) turns 30 on April 15, but like George Clooney, or ...
Pre-flight shopping at Narita airport a couple of weeks ago, I passed a mannequin sporting a light-blue necktie and a ...
A Chinese drama that touches on sensitive topics including police corruption won the best picture at the Asian Film Awards Monday, while Japan’s Takeshi Kitano scooped the best director gong. “Mystery”, directed by Lou Ye, which reportedly upset Chinese censors for dealing with controversial ...
The first question after a panel I once chaired at an anime convention in the United States sounded innocent enough. “So, what do you guys think about Crunchyroll?” The response was ferocious. A veteran staff member of a top U.S. anime distributor seized the ...
The iron gates of the short passageway, a stone’s throw from the increasingly trendy Montorgueil district of Paris and a brief walk from the prostitutes of Saint Denis, are closed to the public these days. It was here, in what was Passage Saumon off ...
There aren’t many celebrities who would make good journalists, but something tells me Norika Fujiwara is one. She’s well-traveled, socially active and not constrained by the mechanisms of public-relations strategies. In the new WOWOW mini-series “Onna to Otoko no Nettai” (which is rendered in ...
The award for “Best Direction” at the 1978 Cannes Film Festival actually caps the achievement of a decade for Japan’s Nagisa Oshima. His latest film, “Ai no Borei (Empire of Passion),” a ghostly story of doomed love, saw its world premiere as Japan’s official ...
Last year, NHK’s annual New Year’s Eve song contest, “Kohaku Uta Gassen” (7:15-11:45 p.m.), enjoyed its first ratings boost in more than a decade. As the most hallowed tradition in Japanese broadcasting, the program offered some needed end-of-year holiday solace for a nation still ...
Despite being holed up in a Tokyo hotel room for a press junket, 28-year-old actress Asami Mizukawa is surprisingly upbeat. However, she gives an unusual response when asked about the new TV mini-series she is starring in. “If you’re looking for (light) entertainment, I’m ...
This Sunday is the first anniversary of the earthquake and tsunami that devastated the coastline of northeastern Japan and killed more than 15,000 people. In January, the central government announced that it would hold a memorial service on March 11 at the National Theater, ...
High-impact slams, chokeholds and daredevil feats of athleticism aren’t the usual way to celebrate a 40th birthday, but that’s how New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) will be spending its big day. The promotion company was founded by square-jawed wrestling legend Antonio Inoki in June 1972. ...
“Well, little Chrysanthème, let us part good friends; one last kiss even, if you like. I took you to amuse me; you have not perhaps succeeded very well, but after all you have done what you could: given me your little face, your little ...
If ever proof was needed of the efficacy of Tokyo Designers Week, the annual designers’ trade show currently under way at Tokyo’s Meiji Jingu Gaien park, then it is apparent at booth D14, where designer Atsuhiro Hayashi is showing his wares. In 2009, just ...
“Pole dancer! Pole dancer!! Pole dancer!!!” From the bellowing announcement thumping through the speakers, you might think we’re in a night club. We’re not. But, without doubt, the location is just as fabled as many nocturnal haunts, and the atmosphere is just as electric. ...