AP A car bomb exploded outside a mosque Sunday, killing at least 37 people and wounding another 141 in a mostly Shiite Muslim neighborhood in the southern Pakistan city of Karachi — the third mass-casualty attack on the minority sect in the country this ...
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 ...
June 3 through 10 is Eco Week on Nippon TV, so it is airing some specials emphasizing environmental issues. One is “Chotaiken! Time Warp Ryokosha Oedo-hen” (“Super Experience! Time Warp Travel Agency Oedo Edition”; Tues., 9 p.m.). The Time Warp Travel Agency sends customers ...
As if there wasn’t enough news to cover now, NHK has started sending reporters back in time on the variety show “Time Scoop Hunter” (NHK-G, Tues., 10:55 p.m.). Journalists use “warp technology” to travel to different eras to collect information about how people really ...
The variety show “Bakuho the Friday” (TBS, Friday, 7 p.m.) expands from an occasional special to a weekly series. The title is a mashup of Bakusho Mondai, the comedy duo who act as hosts, and jōhō, which means information. The theme is in-depth information ...
She’s back, and badder than ever! Actually, before her monumental fall from grace, actress Erika Sawajiri rose to fame on her innocent image and ability to weep on cue. But after dissing her own film at a press conference she became poison. On Monday, ...
As the average age of TV viewers gets older, the networks schedule more and more programs about medicine and health. The variety show “Shujii ga Mitsukaru Shinryojo” (“The Clinic Where You Can Find Your Home Physician”; TV Tokyo, Mon., 8 p.m.), hosted by veteran ...
Last month, pop idol Jin Akanishi was punished by his agency, Johnny’s & Associates, for getting married without telling them. Another Johnny’s idol, Ryo Nishikido, of the group Kanjani 8, has his handlers’ blessing in the new series “Papa-doru” (“Papa Idol”; TBS, Thurs., 9 ...
Before a new television season begins in full, networks always air a few preview-type variety shows where cast members show up to plug their upcoming drama series. The content of such specials is usually a quiz or funny outtakes from the drama being promoted. ...
Among the newest additions to Japan’s anime menagerie is the eponymous star of “Gon” (TV Tokyo; Mon., 6 p.m.), a cute dinosaurlike critter who is totally instinctual, which, in the world he inhabits, makes him (her?) even more of a troublemaker than your average ...
Until his death last May, Kiyoshi Kodama was the host of the NHK travel show “Sekai Bikkuri Ryokosha” (“World Surprise Travel Agency”; NHK, Tues., 7:30 p.m.). Kodama was the “owner” of the titular travel firm who recommended “unique” overseas sightseeing plans from his studio ...
Goro Inagaki adds his peculiar comic touch to the role of a prosecutor’s investigator, thus muscling in on fellow SMAP member Takuya Kimura’s territory. Kimura’s most famous character is the irreverent (at least in terms of sartorial choices) prosecutor in the “Hero” series. In ...
The inter-season TV season is getting longer and longer, with more two- and three-hour specials to tide viewers over until the next batch of hastily assembled drama series start. Presenting something that gets people’s attention becomes a challenge. This week’s “Kasupe” (“Tuesday Special”; Fuji ...
A new four-part fantasy series, “O-Parts” (Fuji TV, Mon.-Thurs., 11 p.m.), based on the popular manga, will air this week. Ryuhei Maruyama plays Kakizawa, an unemployed youth who is abducted by a mysterious man in black. He awakes in an unfamiliar room with four ...
