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CULTURE / Entertainment news
Dec 23, 2015

'Star Wars' fan is arrested over threat to student who revealed plot

A Montana man has been arrested on suspicion of threatening to shoot a student for divulging a plot line from the newly released "Star Wars" epic, court documents showed on Tuesday.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Dec 20, 2015

Young music fans found their voices in 2015

The music industry in Japan has long been seen as lagging behind the times. Once every six months there is an article that marvels at the supremacy of CDs, and new albums from acts that were big in the 1990s tend to dominate charts alongside idol-pop groups that few would label "musically progressive."...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film / Wide Angle
Dec 16, 2015

Moviegoers suffering from motion sickness not enamored with CGI effects

Once upon a time, cinemas screening "The Exorcist" handed out barf bags to their patrons as a cheap gimmick. (The movie was so "sick" it would make you sick.)
COMMENTARY / Japan
Dec 14, 2015

Textbook publishers must be above reproach

Recent scandals highlight the fine line between legitimate business practices and shady dealings in the textbook industry.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle / CHILD'S PLAY
Dec 12, 2015

Crafty ways to have fun without mess

For some parents (or maybe it's just me), there is one particular festive word that causes instant anxiety: "craft."
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Dec 9, 2015

Domestic film industry focuses inwards at its own peril

The Japanese film industry released 615 films last year, according to the Motion Picture Producers Association of Japan. That figure may include glorified student productions and dressed-up pornography, but is still substantial by any measure. Relatively few of those films, however, are sold abroad....
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Dec 6, 2015

Soichi Terada arrives fashionably late to the global house-music scene

Good things come to those who wait. For 50-year-old producer Soichi Terada it's a wait that has lasted more than 20 years, but now he's one of the most in-demand artists in the house music scene, and has just returned from a tour of Europe that saw him perform in front of capacity crowds in some of the...
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT
Dec 5, 2015

Alien invasion: Vexatious foreign species are increasingly taking up residence in Japan

Shibuya has a rat problem.
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Dec 5, 2015

Hunter and hunted: Where are they now?

The mutilations are frightful — dog, cat, rabbit and pigeon corpses missing heads, tails, limbs, ears. Weekly Playboy magazine reports nearly 40 sightings in the past four months in the Kanto region alone. Who's out there doing these things? With what thoughts in mind?
CULTURE / Entertainment news
Dec 4, 2015

Ex-girlfriend sues Charlie Sheen in first known lawsuit over HIV status

A former girlfriend of Charlie Sheen on Thursday sued the actor for assault, negligence and emotional distress, saying they had sex at least five times before he revealed he was HIV-positive.
Japan Times
JAPAN / AT A GLANCE
Dec 1, 2015

Little Myanmar thrives in Tokyo as more residents arrive

In the hustle and bustle of Tokyo's Takadanobaba district there exists what might be termed Little Yangon, with a number of restaurants and shops catering to the growing community of residents from Myanmar.
SOCCER / PREMIER REPORT
Nov 27, 2015

Leicester, Man Utd are improbable top-of-table foes

Top of the league in Spain: Barcelona. In Germany: Bayern Munich. In France: PSG. In England: Leicester City. An unlikely foursome.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Nov 27, 2015

South Korea trains young hackers, plays catch-up years after North's elite unit proved abilities

In a darkened "war room" dozens of South Korea's brightest college students are practicing hacking each other as part of a government program to train them to battle some of the world's best — the shadowy techno-soldiers of Kim Jong Un's regime.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Nov 25, 2015

Amazon yank Nazi-, Imperial Japan-themed TV ads from N.Y. subway

Amazon.com Inc. on Monday agreed to pull advertisements for a new television show featuring Nazi-inspired imagery from New York City's subway system, a transit official said, hours after Mayor Bill de Blasio called on the company to do so.
BUSINESS / TRAVEL INSIDER
Nov 24, 2015

SAS debuts new cabins; all-female Ethiopian crew; KLM redesigns interiors

SAS debuts new cabins
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 23, 2015

Islamic State is an existential threat to the West

Western leaders are wrong: Islamic State does pose an existential threat.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Entertainment news
Nov 22, 2015

Following uproar, Germany withdraws '16 Eurovision contest pick Naidoo

Germany on Saturday withdrew its contender for next year's Eurovision song contest following a backlash from critics who accuse the R&B artist of using anti-Semitic and homophobic slurs in his songs.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books / ESSENTIAL READING FOR JAPANOPHILES
Nov 21, 2015

'The Power of Okinawa' is the most authoritative study of Ryukyu folk music

Of all the varieties of folk-music in Japan, Okinawa's is arguably the most vibrant and self-evolving. Astute listeners soon realize that each island group in the region has its own distinct microculture and musical traditions.
BUSINESS / Tech
Nov 15, 2015

Google seeks to influence AI research by giving software away

Google wants to set the standard on artificial intelligence.
Japan Times
WORLD
Nov 14, 2015

California rock band was slated to play at attacked Paris venue

The California-based rock band Eagles of Death Metal was in the midst of a European tour following its fourth album release when the musicians found themselves caught up in a terrorist attack at the Paris concert hall where they were due to perform Friday.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Economy
Nov 11, 2015

Japan's lost decade has lesson for those dreading China slowdown

When Japan's economy downshifted dramatically in the 1990s, the rest of the world managed to do just fine. Now, as China suffers a sustained slowdown, there's a group of economists who say the same may well happen again.
Japan Times
WORLD / Science & Health
Nov 10, 2015

SeaWorld will phase out San Diego orca show

SeaWorld said on Monday it plans to replace its signature "Shamu" killer whale shows in San Diego with displays focused on "conservation," after grappling with sagging attendance and years of criticism over treatment of the captive marine mammals.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Entertainment news
Nov 9, 2015

Kind of dead as Trump hosts Saturday Night Live

There's a certain look a cast member gets that longtime viewers of comedy show "Saturday Night Live" can instantly recognize. In many ways, it's this look, and the performer's mastery of it, that separates the truly great "SNL" performers from your run-of-the-mill hacks. You know this look: It's the...
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
Nov 8, 2015

After adding Seven & I to portfolio, Loeb swaps negative comments for compliments

Activist investor Daniel Loeb, famously branded a carpet-bagger by actor George Clooney, has turned from bruiser to charmer in Japan, where he has added diversified retailer Seven & I Holdings to his portfolio.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle / CHILD'S PLAY
Nov 7, 2015

Get kids' education down to a science

If you've read my earlier Child's Play columns, then you probably know that my family and I will visit just about any place that deals with science and technology. Lucky for me, Tokyo is full of these places, but it certainly isn't the only city in Japan with learning opportunities like this.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Nov 6, 2015

Hebocon a venue for low-tech, crude robots that personify their makers

A new robot revolution is threatening to take over the world — as long as the glue and tape hold together long enough.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film / Wide Angle
Nov 4, 2015

'Unbroken' finally gets a break in Japan

For the better part of a year, "Unbroken" has been unwatchable in Japanese theaters.
Japan Times
SOCCER / PREMIER REPORT
Oct 30, 2015

Mourinho's antics damaging once-revered reputation

The self-styled Special One goes head-to-head with the Sensible One on Saturday.
LIFE / Digital / Japan Pulse
Oct 29, 2015

Finding laughs in translations that have lost the plot

The Orikaeshi Honyaku Dictionary site, which boasts the catchphrase “from Japanese to Japanese,” roughly translates as 'Chinese whispers.'

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