Search - information

 
 
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital / IGADGET
Nov 28, 2007

Online goes HD, palm PCs go green

Hail HD: Sony is out to worship at the altar of high-definition. Its eyeVio video-sharing site has started up an HD TV service, which will allow users to put their offerings on public display in the super-resolution of 1280x720 pixels from spring 2008. Sony is also marketing its new BRX-NT1 network set-top...
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design
Nov 27, 2007

Feeling designs

'Design is not just about making something, it is about designing the feelings of the person who uses it," says Tokujin Yoshioka, sitting in his Daikanyama studio among magazine-laden shelves and prototypes in various stages of development.
COMMENTARY
Nov 26, 2007

U.K. liberties versus security

LONDON — The director general of the British Security Services (MI5) has been telling the world that there are at least 2,000 people inside Britain who are involved in terrorism-related activities, and there may be many more. Or to put it crudely, there are at least 2,000 individuals bent on killing...
COMMUNITY
Nov 24, 2007

Textiles — whispering soul of India

Walking into the main exhibition hall on the second floor of the Nihon Mingeikan (Japan Folkcrafts Museum) in Tokyo's Komaba, re-creates the startling impression Hiroko Iwatate received when she first went to India 37 years ago.
COMMENTARY
Nov 24, 2007

Evidence on Iran doesn't seem to matter

LONDON — Shaul Mofaz, the Israeli defense minister, is not a fan of Mohammed ElBaradei, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency. In fact, he wants him fired. "The policies followed by ElBaradei endanger world peace. His irresponsible attitude of sticking his head in the sand over Iran's...
Japan Times
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Nov 23, 2007

A whale of a Christmas season

This Christmas season, Kanto residents can give their children a special aquatic treat at Kamogawa Sea World. To put visitors in the festive mood, the front square there has been adorned since the beginning of November with aquatic-themed illuminations using around 25,000 light bulbs — and two more...
Japan Times
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Nov 23, 2007

Dance DJs hit the park

Stuck for something to do on the national holiday this Friday — and enjoy a bit of a boogie? If so, then you may like to head to Yoyogi Park and the Tokyo Dance Music Festival 2007 being staged there at the live space between Yoyogi Park and the NHK building.
Japan Times
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Nov 23, 2007

Plight of Tibetan orphans

"Open Your Heart," a charity exhibition that includes photos from Tibet, France and Japan, will take place in Kamakura from Dec. 1 to 9 to aid the plight of Tibetan orphans. The exhibition opens with a musical event featuring Tibetan dancers, a biwa (Japanese lute) performer and a chanson singer. Profits...
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Nov 23, 2007

Guided through Japan's deep north by the holy spirit of Basho

Tohoku is Japan's "deep north," through which the famous Zen monk and haiku poet Matsuo Basho walked in 1689, writing one of the most famous travelogues in world literature, "Oku no Hosomichi (The Narrow Road to the Deep North)."
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Nov 22, 2007

A taste for blood, arts and culture

One haunting image that lingers in the mind after seeing the exhibition "Legacy of the Tokugawa — The Glories and Treasures of the Last Samurai Dynasty" at the Tokyo National Museum is a carved-wood statue of Ieyasu (1543-1616), the first of the Tokugawa shoguns, now the deity of the Shiba Tosho-gu...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Nov 22, 2007

Festival swaps mobsters for something 'safe'

In days past, a film festival held within rough-and-tumble Kabukicho might be assumed to feature a sampling of the work from gangster-flick director Seijun Suzuki ("Tokyo Drifter," "Branded to Kill"), or perhaps "Yojimbo," the Akira Kurosawa classic where a samurai arrives in a village run by two groups...
Reader Mail
Nov 22, 2007

Half-baked antiterror measure

Regarding Hideo Kaito's Nov. 20 letter, "Common protection and control": While Kaito's comment seems sensible, it is in fact completely mistaken and filled with false truths.
ENVIRONMENT / WILD WATCH
Nov 21, 2007

Biodiversity to take your breath away

I promised that I would write more about my recent visit to South America, and as the first snows are now regularly dusting the mountains on view from my window here in Hokkaido — and even coating my balcony — it's hard not to reflect on times spent in warmer climes.
LIFE / Digital
Nov 21, 2007

iPod DJs gear up and face off at music event in Tokyo

Everyone knows the iconic image of the DJ — the permanently worn headphones, satchel full of vinyl, twin Technics 1200 turntables — but that could all be about to change with iPod Battle Tokyo: The Clash this Friday, where nine DJ teams will fight it out using nothing but a pair of slimline, portable...
JAPAN
Nov 20, 2007

Hiramatsu's win in Osaka mayoral race boosts DPJ

OSAKA — Kunio Hiramatsu, who beat incumbent Junichi Seki in Sunday's mayoral poll in what is seen as a stunning defeat for the ruling coalition, vowed to reform the city government but offered no specific steps to remedy the city's ballooning debts.
LIFE / Language
Nov 20, 2007

Dial up a good impression with denwa echiketto

"Moshi-moshi. Kochira wa Japan Taimuzu no Shuraibaa to moshimasu. Itsumo wo sewa ni natte orimasu" ("Hello, this is Schreiber of the Japan Times. Thanks as always for your kind support.")
COMMENTARY
Nov 20, 2007

Robbed of childhood, bereft of a future

NEW YORK — Looking at photographs of Iraqi children maimed by the war makes the conflict unforgettable. Reflecting on the causes that led to that war makes it unforgivable. New information is steadily coming out on the effects of the war on children, and how it has affected not only their health but...
LIFE / Lifestyle / WEEK 3
Nov 18, 2007

Cup-and-ball master turns his 'toy' into an art form

Do you play kendama? Probably not, on an everyday basis at least, though you may well have tried it a few times if you live in Japan.
Reader Mail
Nov 18, 2007

Magic feeling of being exempt

Both Susan Menadue-Chun's letter, "SPRs have suffered enough," and William Wetherall's letter, "Exemptions not based on nationality," on Nov. 15 provided thought-provoking information and context to the Ministry of Justice's biometric data-collection program directed at "terrorists" trying to enter...
COMMUNITY
Nov 17, 2007

Lend the children an ear

LONDON — Samuel L. Jackson, Natalie Portman and other Hollywood celebrities have joined a global campaign to raise $1 billion over 10 years in support of disadvantaged children around the world.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Nov 17, 2007

Hopi activist brings two messages to Japan

Playing drum and chanting an eagle song, Ruben Saufkie Sr. — a Hopi messenger and silversmith — brings East and West into balance at the leading shrine in Zushi, Kanagawa Prefecture.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / MAKING A DIFFERENCE
Nov 17, 2007

No holds barred in fight for dolphins

Within minutes of meeting Allison Lance, one might start to wonder if she was a dolphin in a past life. Her enthusiasm and passion in her drive to protect her animal friends is so strong that it touches just about every area of her life.

Longform

Mount Fuji is considered one of Japan's most iconic symbols and is a major draw for tourists. It's still a mountain, though, and potential hikers need to properly prepare for any climb.
What it takes to save lives on Mount Fuji