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CULTURE / Film
Nov 26, 2010

'The Killers (Kiss & Kill)'

Mark Bittman of the New York Times once wrote that real cooks don't need big kitchens or the latest culinary gadgetry — cooks just cook, in pretty much any circumstances, and they are mostly fueled by the will to produce something delectable.
CULTURE / Music
Nov 26, 2010

The 'weird' world of techno's Ishino

"Salarymen are fantastic," says DJ and producer Takkyu Ishino. "If there weren't so many of them doing their thing, then people like me would not be able to exist. If more people acted like me (outside the norm), then I wouldn't have had the life that I've had."
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
Nov 26, 2010

Valentine: Nishioka could be MLB shortstop

There's at least one MLB team that thought highly enough of Tsuyoshi Nishioka to put in a bid on him. If his former manager is right, it might turn out to be a worthwhile investment.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink
Nov 26, 2010

Reel in the catch of the season

The long, record-breaking hot summer hasn't been good for sanma, or Pacific saury. Catches of this normally inexpensive fixture of the fall dinner table in Japanese homes have been so poor that its prices have skyrocketed — if you can find any to buy at all. Another popular fish that is in peak season...
JAPAN
Nov 25, 2010

Man admits killing professor, claims disorder

A 29-year-old Chuo University graduate on Wednesday admitted stabbing a college professor to death last year, but his lawyers said the Tokyo District Court should take into consideration that he has a delusional disorder.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle
Nov 25, 2010

Mozart's growing influence on food

Although the claim that listening to Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's complicated scores can boost your IQ has been debunked, its effect on bananas has yet to be disputed. So in July, the Hyogo Prefecture-based fruit company Toyoka Chuo Seika shipped out its first batch of "Mozart Bananas" to supermarkets in...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Nov 24, 2010

Japanese open about being part of Sea Shepherd crew

For Kuniko Oyakawa, that cetaceans may be more intelligent than, say, cows, pigs or chickens is not why she opposes whaling — she is against eating any wild creature.
LIFE / Digital / TECH_JAPAN
Nov 24, 2010

Apple TV, iTunes movie rentals come to Japan

The second-generation Apple TV that Apple CEO Steve Jobs announced back in September has finally hit the shelves here in Japan. Despite the fact that it looks like little more than a hockey puck, the new digital-media receiver from the folks at Cupertino should satisfy users who consume most of their...
COMMENTARY
Nov 23, 2010

Let trade transform Burma

NEW DELHI — The election process in Burma has altered its political landscape, giving birth to new institutions and players, triggering a generational change in the armed forces, bringing to power the military-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP), and facilitating the release of prodemocracy...
EDITORIALS
Nov 23, 2010

Uncovering government waste

In a Nov. 5 report to Prime Minister Naoto Kan, the Board of Audit said that in fiscal 2009, ministries and agencies as well as other government entities wasted public money in 979 cases. The total reached a record ¥1.79 trillion — some 7.5 times the fiscal 2008 figure.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Nov 23, 2010

Performance art's expatriate players push the envelope

Exotic dancing. Nonsensical poetry. Harsh electronic noise. Doughnuts. These are just some of the manifold sights and sounds you'll find on the bill at Paint Your Teeth, a bimonthly performance art event in Tokyo.
LIFE / WEEK 3
Nov 21, 2010

Those at the sharp end act out plight of their small firms

An old man storms into an office, looking furious. He spots a younger man in a pale-blue worker's uniform — actually, the new president of a small auto-parts factory in Tokyo's Ota Ward — and confronts him.
LIFE / WEEK 3
Nov 21, 2010

Heading for the hills — in style

One sunny Saturday a couple of weeks ago, this writer joined five women and three men who met up at Ikusabata Station on the JR Ome Line in the mountains of western Tokyo.
LIFE / WEEK 3
Nov 21, 2010

'Evacuate' to whole new worlds

In the foyers of theaters in Tokyo's new "happening" hub of Ikebukuro — where the provocative Festival/Tokyo (F/T) drama event is running through November — odd exchanges can often be overheard.
LIFE / Travel
Nov 21, 2010

Sapporo's warm welcome

With its wide roads laid out in a neat grid, an abundance of greenery and its sleek, modern subway system, Sapporo at first feels more like somewhere in America than in Japan.
BASKETBALL / HOOP SCOOP
Nov 21, 2010

Strategy needed to boost bj-league game attendance

Whatever the bj-league is doing to promote itself across the nation, it isn't working. In fact, it's failing miserably to attract anything that resembles a decent-size fan base.
JAPAN
Nov 20, 2010

Yanagida prospects looking grimmer

Pressure mounted Friday on Justice Minister Minoru Yanagida to resign over his remarks scoffing at his Diet duties, as members of the ruling Democratic Party of Japan-led administration gradually distanced themselves from him and the opposition camp pledged to slap him with censure motions.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Nov 20, 2010

Everyone chime in . . .

Classes start early on our island — 6 a.m. every day, even on Sundays. At least that's what any teacher visiting for the first time would think. This is because there is a "chime" that sounds over the island's PA system at 6 a.m., which lets islanders know that it is time to wake up. The chime happens...
JAPAN
Nov 19, 2010

China, Haneda draw U.S. airlines

One of Peter Philipp Wingsoe's employees at a Los Angeles marketing firm recently waited five days for a business-class ticket on a United Airlines jet home from Beijing because flights were so packed.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 19, 2010

Overvalued club debate

HONG KONG — American domination of the world economy was challenged last week at the Group of 20 summit in Seoul much the same way that Barack Obama's Democrats were mauled in this month's U.S. congressional elections, which the president termed a "shellacking."
CULTURE / Music / IN THE RECORD
Nov 19, 2010

Carlos Gibbs

DJ and producer Carlos Gibbs, creator of Skinnipants and the Redbox Project, opens up his record bag for The Japan Times.
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Nov 19, 2010

New Hermes exhibition gets inspiration from 1982's 'Tron'

Te ground-breaking science-fiction movie "Tron" dazzled film-goers with its use of computer graphics and futuristic cinematography in 1982. Tapping into a widespread nostalgia for that film, the release of a sequel next month is already generating a lot of buzz.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Nov 19, 2010

Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs

When it comes to recognizing the latest trends and artists causing a stir abroad, the Japanese club scene sometimes seems to suffer from perennial jet lag.

Longform

A sinkhole in Yashio, which emerged in January, was triggered by a ruptured, aging sewer pipe. Authorities worry that similar sections of infrastructure across the country are also at risk of corrosion.
That sinking feeling: Japan’s aging sewers are an infrastructure time bomb