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Japan Times
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Nov 11, 2008

It's fall, when kids in kimono fete 7-5-3 rituals

From October to November, Japanese parents take their young offspring to shrines as part of the traditional "shichigosan" (7-5-3) ceremony of presenting the children to Ujigami, the Shinto guardian god of good health.
BUSINESS
Nov 7, 2008

BOJ may be unable to halt yen's rising tide: traders

The Bank of Japan may be powerless to prevent the yen from rising to a 13-year high, according to the world's biggest foreign-exchange traders.
BASKETBALL
Nov 5, 2008

Humphrey earns weekly accolade

John "Helicopter" Humphrey, the Tokyo Apache's high-scoring guard, is the Circle K Sunkus Player of the Week, the bj-league announced on Tuesday.
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Nov 4, 2008

Nikkyoso: A 'cancer' of teachers?

Nariaki Nakayama of the Liberal Democratic Party resigned because of gaffes he made in front of the press only five days after being appointed transport minister in the Cabinet Prime Minister Taro Aso formed in late September.
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Oct 28, 2008

A peep at video parlors

In the predawn hours of Oct. 1, a fire broke out at an Osaka video parlor, killing 15 people and injuring nearly a dozen others, including one who died later. Kazuhiro Ogawa, a 46-year-old unemployed man who had been in the parlor, was arrested on suspicion of arson and murder.
BUSINESS / GERMAN JOURNALIST SYMPOSIUM
Oct 27, 2008

Growth depends on companies' ability to adapt

Germany and Japan face some common challenges as they try to maintain growth amid the global financial crisis, veteran journalists from German media organizations told a recent symposium in Tokyo.
BASKETBALL
Oct 22, 2008

Kinjo earns weekly accolade

Ryukyu Golden Kings guard Shigeyuki Kinjo is the first Circle K Sunkus Player of the Week for the 2008-09 season, the bj-league announced on Tuesday. The award is for games from Oct. 11-19.
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Oct 21, 2008

Japan's spies: What cloak, dagger?

How ill is Kim Jong Il?
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Oct 19, 2008

Beat Takeshi helps turn news into farce

For the past week or so commercial networks have been launching their new fall shows, and the ones attracting the most attention are on TBS, which seems to be cornering the market on what it calls "nonfiction" programming. There are at least four new shows that have been promoted using this English term,...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Oct 17, 2008

'Makiguri no Ana'

Japanese horror once struck a lot of fans in the West as fresh because it was less about fantastical creatures — say, flesh-eating zombies — than everyday dread. Instead of popping up out of nowhere, fear crept up like sinister fog from apparently mundane places and things — a moldy apartment,...
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Oct 15, 2008

LDP — a party defined by factions

Apart from one brief interval, the Liberal Democratic Party has been in power since it was formed in 1955, and every time it picks a new leader internal factions vie for power.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / WILD WATCH
Oct 15, 2008

Let them eat whales!

Whales once fueled the industrialized world. First there was wood, then coal fired its steam engines alongside seal oil and whale oil that powered and lit the age of "dark satanic mills."
JAPAN / ALSO OUT THERE
Oct 8, 2008

Kimutaku — enduring heartthrob

Of Japanese male celebrities, actors Ken Watanabe of "The Last Samurai" and Masi Oka of "Heroes" are among the better-known overseas. But domestically, no one beats Takuya Kimura.
Japan Times
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Oct 7, 2008

Survival now arcades' most pressing game

Once viewed as dens of delinquency, game center arcades are diversifying their entertainment fare, and in the process, attracting not only youths but families, high school girls, couples and video game fans.
JAPAN
Sep 30, 2008

Gagloev says he threw sumo bouts

Former sumo wrestler Soslan Aleksandrovich Gagloev, who was fired by the Japan Sumo Association for possessing marijuana in August, said he was forced to take bribes to throw matches during competition.
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Sep 30, 2008

Is Hayao Miyazaki Japan's greatest film director?

How great is Hayao Miyazaki? Domestically, three of his movies are among the top five money-earners: His "Spirited Away" from 2001 outstrips even "Titanic" and "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone." Globally, his movies are the darlings of international film festivals. "Spirited Away" took the Golden...
Japan Times
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Sep 23, 2008

Anything, any time, anywhere

Unlike most other countries, Japan is dotted with thousands of vending machines that allow consumers to buy a wide range of products at any time of the day or night, eliminating the need for inconvenient trips to the store.
COMMENTARY
Sep 22, 2008

The road to Yasukuni's survival

On Aug. 15, Japanese newspapers carried the obituary of an American citizen by the name of William Kenneth Bunce, who died in Chestertown, Md., at the age of 100.
Japan Times
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Sep 17, 2008

Supreme Court place of last judicial resort

In 1889, Japan took its first step toward forming a modern constitutional state by promulgating the Meiji Constitution, dividing power among the legislature, or Diet, the executive branch, or Cabinet, and the judiciary, with the Supreme Court at the top.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Sep 13, 2008

WWE's U.S.-style rassling brings pay-per-view mat dramas here

Posing proudly for a snapshot with a glittery championship belt, Seigi Nishiyama was among some 600 wrestling fans packed into a Tokyo theater who can't get enough of World Wrestling Entertainment.
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Sep 9, 2008

Waistline scrutiny a midlife bugbear

The term metabolic syndrome has become a hot topic with middle-aged workers now that the government has made it mandatory for companies and local governments to check for it during annual employee health examinations.
JAPAN
Sep 5, 2008

Yosano, Ishihara eye run for LDP's helm

Two more names surfaced Thursday as candidates for the Liberal Democratic Party presidential election as economy minister Kaoru Yosano and former LDP policy chief Nobuteru Ishihara both indicated they were willing to run.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Sep 2, 2008

Urawaza — quirky, everyday Japanese tips — head West

Two years ago, a mysterious 20-second video clip triggered some unexpected buzz on the Web site YouTube. In the segment, an ordinary-looking housewife draws an invisible line across the chest of a shirt with her finger. Then she pinches the shirt under the armpit and at the shoulder, does a quick flipping...
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Sep 2, 2008

Against high odds, masses chase luck

What would you do if you won ¥400 million? Would you buy a convertible, a new house, start a business? All of the above?
Japan Times
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Aug 26, 2008

Brisk output belies crisis facing publishing industry

More than 200 new books are published daily in Japan, and the total market of books and magazines surpasses ¥2 trillion. But experts say the publishing industry is facing a historic crisis.

Longform

Japan's growing ranks of centenarians are redefining what it means to live in a super-aging society.
What comes after 100?