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Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Jul 13, 2010

One more time — with Charisma

Hide the booze and lock up your daughters: Charisma Man is back. The lovable loser who was constantly broke, dateless and swilling rotgut at home is back in Japan, with a pocket full of folding money, a girl on each arm and a chilled glass of first-class sake in his hand.
CULTURE / Books
Jul 11, 2010

Everything you always wanted to know about Japanese schoolgirls (but were afraid to ask)

Don't be put off by the overly busy — and, yes, overly kawaii — cover of "Japanese Schoolgirl Confidential."
LIFE / Digital / IGADGET
May 26, 2010

Casio cell phones in the frame; Panasonic pushing Blu-ray angle for TVs

Mobile snaps: Casio's latest cell phone, the CA005, just released by KDD's mobile phone service "au by KDDI," offers two products in one. A typical glossy clamshell mobile phone, the CA005 also packs a 13-megapixel camera into its sharply rectangular form. The phone's camera features smile detection...
LIFE / Digital / IGADGET
May 19, 2010

Sony makes the NEX move, Pioneer's iPod docks double as home theaters

Fashionably late: Sony has finally released its alternative to the already popular Olympus EP-2 and Lumix DMC-GF1 micro four-thirds, interchangeable lens cameras. Using the same technology that Olympus and Panasonic pioneered, the Alpha NEX-3 and NEX-5 are effectively compact DSLR cameras, light enough...
BASKETBALL / NBA / NBA REPORT
Apr 14, 2010

Award winners from both East, West needed

NEW YORK — My postseason award winners job would be so much easier if the NBA allowed voters to do it right; my way, in other words. Actually, Major League Baseball originated how to get maximum bang for the buck when announcing individual honors.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / BY THE GLASS
Dec 11, 2009

Make merry with top festive wines

In case you haven't noticed, it's the season to be jolly. If you aren't yet decking the halls with sprigs of holly here's just the thing to get you in the spirit: a Christmas wine guide, which will take you from pre-Christmas party to post-Christmas stupor in four easy stages.
Reader Mail
Dec 6, 2009

Minding your 'X' at Christmas

Every year, even before Halloween on Oct. 31, Christmas worms its way into stores and shops everywhere like a spastic reflex. With the dawn of December, merchants and customers are in a fervor about Christmas. I often hear people spell "Christmas" as "X-mas" and talk about "X-mas" this and "X-mas" that....
CULTURE / Film
Dec 4, 2009

Delivering a touch of Miyazaki, shot of 'Oz'

Bob Petersen, like so many of Pixar's talents, comes across like everyone's favorite uncle.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Aug 21, 2009

Battery-boosted bikes a hit with moms, firms

Tokyo housewife Chie Igawa, 38, is part of a trend that's transforming the streets, zipping her kids around on a battery-boosted bicycle without breaking a sweat or having to worry about traffic rules.
SUMO / SUMO SCRIBBLINGS
May 26, 2009

The dawning of a new era for sumo?

In statistics alone, Asashoryu Akinori may go down as one of the greatest yokozuna of sumo in the modern era, but at the close of the Summer 2009 Grand Sumo Tournament, much of the talk was about when he would retire.
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
Mar 10, 2009

Antiwar groups, Almond and Michi Aoyama

Nuts! Where's Almond? Julie was with friends on a bus passing through Roppongi and saw from the window that the famed Almond coffee shop on the crossing was no more.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Oct 8, 2008

Motorcycle makers battle it out in Vietnam

HANOI — Red roses, field flowers, baskets of vegetables, slaughtered hogs. In Vietnam, farmers bring anything that can be loaded onto a motorcycle to market in the morning. In early evenings, bikers jam the streets as they return home.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / LIQUID CULTURE
Sep 26, 2008

Red Carpet treatment

Like Da Vinci or Mozart, every bartender wants to make something that lives on after they die," says Takahiro Watanabe of the Keio Plaza Hotel's Polestar bar. "A bartender's dream is to make a cocktail that appears on every bar's menu."
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Sep 12, 2008

Sonomi

Tell your average Tokyo hipster that there's a subarashi (cool) dance and hip-hop festival taking place in a beach paradise on the far-flung southern coast of Kochi in Shikoku and, before their jaw drops in excitement, you might be met by head-scratching confusion as they try to remember where exactly...
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital / IGADGET
Aug 13, 2008

Gamers can tap into their neural impulses

Head games: A magician's hand may be faster than your eye, but is your eye faster than hands on a keyboard? PC gamers now have the chance to find out with the new Neural Impulse Actuator (NIA) from OCZ Technology.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
May 2, 2008

Asia

When AOR supergroup Asia came to Japan in March last year, all seven dates of their tour sold out. The excitement was, perhaps, forgivable: It had taken the band's original lineup more than 25 years to get here.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Apr 1, 2008

'Half-alien' group foresees disaster, Japan UFO landing

In December, Chief Cabinet Secretary Nobutaka Machimura caused quite a stir with his bold statement that "UFOs definitely exist." In subsequent clarifications, the government claimed that there have been no confirmed sightings, but if a UFO was to appear, "fighter jets would be scrambled to attempt...
BASKETBALL
Mar 27, 2008

Sea Horses capture JBL title

The Aisin Sea Horses captured the JBL Finals title on Wednesday, topping the defending champion Toyota Motors Alvark 93-79 in the decisive Game 5 at Yoyogi National Gymnasium Annex. J.R. Sakuragi scored a team-high 25 points and grabbed 18 rebounds for Aisin, which controlled the glass by outrebounding...
BASKETBALL
Mar 26, 2008

Sea Horses even series with Alvark

The Aisin Sea Horses forced a decisive fifth game in the JBL Finals, defeating the defending champion Toyota Motors 88-69 on Tuesday at Yoyogi National Gymnasium Annex. Aisin outscored Toyota 30-15 in the fourth quarter, evening the series at two games apiece. J.R. Sakuragi led the Sea Horses with 25...
BASKETBALL
Mar 23, 2008

O'Bannon, Alvark tie series

Forward Charles O'Bannon single-handedly carried his Alvark team to a victory in Game 2 of the JBL Finals on Saturday, scoring 37 points and 13 rebounds as Toyota Motors beat the Aisin Sea Horses 82-76 to even the series at one game apiece. The ex-UCLA player O'Bannon, who was 3-for-5 from the 3-point...
BASKETBALL
Mar 20, 2008

Perennial powers square off for JBL title

The Toyota Motors Alvark and Aisin Sea Horses are perennial powerhouses in the JBL, and as most people anticipated, the familiar names are the last teams standing.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 20, 2008

Last chance for millions of Zimbabweans

PRAGUE — As the world rooted for former United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan in his recent efforts to end the violence in Kenya, many also found themselves wondering whether a weary Annan, or some other global leader, will be battling another fire by the end of this month: this time in Zimbabwe....
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital
Feb 6, 2008

Tokyo's 'video people' come together

On Jan. 27, a new keyword climbed to the top of the rankings in Japan to steal first place on the blog search engine Technorati. Dougajin — literally "Video People" — was the name coined by organizers of Japan's first video-blogging event, held one day earlier, to describe the country's latest category...
BASKETBALL
Jan 15, 2008

Sakuragi muscles Aisin past Toyota in final

Aisin Sea Horses center J.R. Sakuragi attempted 24 field-goals in the All-Japan Basketball Championship title game.
BASKETBALL
Dec 27, 2007

West wins JBL All-Star Game

The West defeated the East 122-112 in the JBL All-Star Game on Christmas Day at Tsukisamu Alpha Court Dome in Sapporo, but sharpshooter Takehiko Orimo of the East squad stole the spotlight. Orimo, a veteran of the Japan National Team, scored a game-high 39 points, wooing the crowd with an electrifying...
BASKETBALL
Oct 12, 2007

Sea Horses beat Sunrockers in JBL opener

In a sense, it was a typical fashion of basketball. One team build a huge lead early, but the other came back with lots of determination.
Reader Mail
Sep 26, 2007

Losses from forced retirement

The Sept. 13 Opinion page headline "Here's to the rise of the alpha geezer" caught my eye because I now occupy that age bracket. I don't mind the term "senior" because it allows me to see movies for ¥1,000 yen instead of ¥1,800. Geezers in rocking chairs are as out of date as rotary phones.

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