Search - entertainment

 
 
Japan Times
BASKETBALL / B. League / B. LEAGUE NOTEBOOK
May 3, 2018

Tough defense makes difference for Tochigi

All teams were in action on Wednesday, providing Golden Week entertainment for fans across the nation. A one-day spectacle that deviates from the back-to-back days of regular-season action, the tactical adjustments that take place between games and the physical and mental exhaustion that teams cope with....
Japan Times
BUSINESS
May 1, 2018

Panasonic unit agrees to pay $280 million to settle U.S. federal corruption probe

A unit of Panasonic Corp. has agreed to pay about $280 million (¥30.5 billion) in a deal with the U.S. government to resolve criminal and civil charges that the company falsified its financial records to conceal payments to sales agents in China and other parts of Asia.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
Apr 27, 2018

Nintendo hands over Switch to 46-year-old president who grew up playing the Famicom

Shuntaro Furukawa grew up playing the Family Computer, eventually realizing every teenager's dream of joining the company that made the genre-defining console. Now, as the next president of Nintendo Co., he has the chance to build a new franchise atop a hit product — the Switch.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Apr 26, 2018

Back to square one in war on dancing

It has been nearly two years since Japan revised an archaic law banning late-night dancing, but don't expect any celebrations to mark the occasion. Over the past few months, the Metropolitan Police Department has quietly renewed its campaign against unauthorized boogying, because Lord knows there's nothing...
Japan Times
LIFE / EVENTS AND INFORMATION
Apr 26, 2018

Major brands, entertainers to attend Ad Week

Advertising Week Asia 2018 will be held at Tokyo Midtown, in the Roppongi district of Tokyo's Minato Ward, from May 14 to 17. The event will feature prominent speakers, including global business leaders and celebrities, as well as performances by world-renowned artists.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Apr 24, 2018

Ready Player Win: Morisaki represents Japan in his first Hollywood gig

As far as Hollywood debuts go, it doesn't get much bigger than stepping into a Steven Spielberg blockbuster. For Win Morisaki, it's a giant leap toward his goal of becoming an international actor.
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital / ON: GAMES
Apr 22, 2018

Classic ways to boost new games

Nintendo goes analog, 'Dark Souls' remains relentless and 'Gods of War' finds new mythology
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Tech
Apr 20, 2018

Nintendo's $30 billion rally now depends on $70 cardboard pianos

Nintendo Co. got its start in 1889 as a successful manufacturer of hanafuda (playing cards made out of stiff paper). Now the game-maker is embracing the same materials for its next trick.
Japan Times
SOCCER / PREMIER REPORT
Apr 20, 2018

Man United faithful restless with Mourinho

Manchester United could probably have had Pep Guardiola, but in January 2013 the Catalan had agreed to take over at Bayern Munich. Instead, four months later, United appointed David Moyes as Alex Ferguson's successor.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Apr 19, 2018

Shizuoka stage festival aims to engage its audiences the old-fashioned way

This hasn't been a great year for social media. Internet addiction has been a hot topic, as have privacy issues, and there has even been a movement to #DeleteFacebook.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Apr 17, 2018

Having lost the smartphone battle, Japan now lags on connected cars

In the race to build cars with digitally connected services — such as the ability to order coffee via a dashboard display — Toyota Motor Corp. and Nissan Motor Co. risk being held back by their home market.
JAPAN
Apr 16, 2018

Finance Ministry's top official Junichi Fukuda to sue Japanese weekly over report accusing him of sexually harassing journalists

The ministry says it will ask an independent lawyer to continue investigating the bureaucrat's denials and the allegations made by Shukan Shincho magazine.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Regional voices: Chubu
Apr 16, 2018

Nagoya's Shachihoko Boys look to make global splash

Men wearing gold, full-body suits and costume hats, themed as taiyaki (a waffle-like cake shaped like a fish, typically filled with red bean paste), have started to appear in central Nagoya, attracting the attention of pedestrians. The men call themselves the Shachihoko Boys — a reference to a golden...
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle / CHILD'S PLAY
Apr 15, 2018

The sweet smell of an incense workshop success

Incense workshops can be a sweet-smelling way to teach kids about a traditional craft of Japan
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Apr 14, 2018

Japan struggles to fashion casino guidelines that satisfy the public

On April 3, the ruling coalition adopted a plan for integrated resorts featuring casino gambling that it will submit for Diet approval during the current session, although some media organizations think that won't happen. The public still isn't comfortable with the idea of casinos and the coalition's...
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 13, 2018

The Orwellian danger of Facebook

Is Mark Zuckerberg really in control of Facebook? Or is he a sorcerer's apprentice that cannot handle the invention?
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
Apr 13, 2018

Japanese engineer builds giant robot to realize Gundam dream

Engineer Masaaki Nagumo had always dreamed of suiting up as a robot from "Mobile Suit Gundam," his favorite animation series growing up. Now he has made it a reality by creating a giant humanoid inspired by the science fiction franchise.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Tech
Apr 13, 2018

Nintendo teams up with venture fund to find new tech for Switch

Nintendo Co. is teaming up with San Francisco-based Scrum Ventures to scout startups working on new ways to play or use the company's hit gaming console, the Switch.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Apr 7, 2018

'Patient X' by David Peace: An intensely profound portrait of a writer's life and death

There is an astounding authenticity permeating Peace's writing on Japan, as if he is painstakingly recreating the biography of an entire nation and age.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / Japan
Apr 6, 2018

Why global speculators love the yen

The yen's extremely high sensitivity to global events is a serious problem for Japan.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / ANALYSIS
Apr 2, 2018

Kim Jong Un: statesman and all-around normal guy? Not quite

Kim Jong Un: statesman and all-around normal guy?
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / FOCUS
Apr 1, 2018

K-pop stars turn diplomatic envoys with concert dates in North Korea

They won over buttoned-up investors at a banking conference with their jingles about teenage love, but the K-pop girl band Red Velvet is about to face what may be its toughest audience yet: North Korea.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Mar 29, 2018

Kiyoshi Koyama: A life lived with jazz

"I have lived a life alongside jazz," says Kiyoshi Koyama, jazz critic, journalist and radio host. This is apparent on a recent visit to his home in Chiba Prefecture, where he and his wife live surrounded by walls of neatly organized records, CDs, books and other archives — a lifetime of research and...
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Mar 28, 2018

SoftBank Vision Fund and Saudi Arabia to create world's largest solar power firm

SoftBank Group Corp.'s Vision Fund will invest in a solar-power generation company in Saudi Arabia, creating the world's biggest solar producer, as it steps up its involvement in the kingdom, its chief executive said Tuesday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Society
Mar 26, 2018

Beijing festival pulls Oscar-winning gay film

A Chinese film festival has pulled the award-winning gay romance "Call Me By Your Name" from its program, the movie's distributor said Monday, reflecting China's inconsistent relationship with gay themes in the creative arts.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 25, 2018

Controlling the web a dream and nightmare

Authoritarian governments regulate what their citizens can see online. The U.S. lets tech companies make similar decisions.
CULTURE / Books / ESSENTIAL READING FOR JAPANOPHILES
Mar 24, 2018

'Quicksand': A racy transition from old Tanizaki to new

A young lady from Osaka begins to attend an art class and, while painting a picture of the Kannon (the goddess of mercy), substitutes the head for that of a beguiling student. Soon, she is drawn into a complex web of lesbian passion, pitted against the social norms of marriage in a deadly game that will...
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics
Mar 23, 2018

LDP and Komeito at odds over casino resort rules, dashing deadline hopes

The two members of Japan's ruling coalition can't agree on how many gambling resorts to build, how much to charge and whether to prioritize profit over addiction prevention.

Longform

A small shrine perched atop rocks braves the waves hitting the shoreline during a storm in Shimoda, Shizuoka Prefecture. The area is under threat of a possible 31-meter-high tsunami if an earthquake strikes the nearby Nankai Trough.
If the 'Big One' hits, this city could face a 31-meter-high tsunami