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Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jan 4, 2017

'Our Meal for Tomorrow': Changing roles in romantic drama

Gender-bending comedy certainly exists in Japanese films, though it may not be mainstream. In Yosuke Fujita's "Fuku-chan of FukuFuku Flats" ("Fukufukuso no Fukuchan," 2014), popular female TV comedian Miyuki Oshima starred as a male house painter who becomes allergic to the opposite sex after being jilted...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jan 4, 2017

'Wiener-Dog': Todd Solondz is always painfully funny

Trigger warning: I am about to discuss a Todd Solondz film.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Dec 31, 2016

'Tokyo Poetry Journal': an experimental space for Japan's English-language poets

The third issue of the "Tokyo Poetry Journal" takes music as its central theme and, rather in the manner of the Nobel Committee for Literature, has chosen to blur the lines between poetry and songwriting. The first half of the new volume features song lyrics accompanied by QR codes that, once scanned,...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Entertainment news
Dec 31, 2016

Actors seek posthumous protections after big-screen resurrections

Tuesday's death of actress Carrie Fisher, who played Princess Leia in "Star Wars," set off waves of remembrance among fans — but also speculation over her character's return in yet-to-be-filmed episodes.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / DESSERT WATCH
Dec 30, 2016

A sweet treat for the Year of the Rooster

Dessert chain Cozy Corner is celebrating 2017 with a small cake resembling the Chinese Zodiac animal of the next 12 months, the chicken. It's a sweet, photogenic addition to any New Year's parties or family gatherings you might be attending in the next few days. This fowl delight (¥540) features a...
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / HOTELS & RESTAURANTS
Dec 29, 2016

Greet the new year in style

The time of welcoming the new year and forgetting the old one is approaching and the Asakusa View Hotel is offering two ways of spending these special days in an elegant manner.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Dec 28, 2016

Blood and benefits: Duterte imposes his formula on the Philippines

Rodrigo Duterte has kept his word.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Dec 28, 2016

Mount Meru: for those who like to aim high

If Mount Everest is the iconic goddess of mountains, then Meru in the Indian Himalayas is the unattainable, unknowable bad-ass rock star, beckoning to a chosen few from an impossibly remote place high in the sky. Unlike Everest, Meru isn't famed for its legendary climbs and world records. New Zealand...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Dec 28, 2016

'Rogue One': On the Dark Side of reanimation

How much do you want a new "Star Wars"? When J.J. Abrams' "The Force Awakens" opened to enormous fanfare last December, it felt like watching a beloved rock band making its comeback tour after a long hiatus. Sure, the original members couldn't quite muster the same energy and half of them seemed to have...
LIFE / Language / COMMUNICATION CUES
Dec 26, 2016

UNESCO heritage list adds 33 festivals

Thirty-three traditional Japanese festivals have been added to UNESCO's Intangible Cultural Heritage list.
Japan Times
JAPAN / CHUBU CONNECTION
Dec 26, 2016

Aichi holds dubious distinction as nation's burglar capital

Aichi Prefecture is once again ranked at the top of a dubious category, but this time it isn't related to traffic fatalities.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / STRANGE BOUTIQUE
Dec 25, 2016

The best of Japanese indie in 2016

While the J-pop mainstream seemed in 2016 to have finally and irreversibly consummated the awkward courtship of streaming technology, the year was business as usual for the basement-dwellers of the indie and underground scenes. And as usual, the result was a raft of terrific records that hardly anyone...
LIFE / Lifestyle
Dec 24, 2016

Japan's first Christmas

In a letter home to Portuguese brethren, Jesuit missionary Pedro de Alcacova writes of singing a Mass to Japanese believers in 1552: "Our voices weren't good," he recalls, "still the Christian believers rejoiced."
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / DESSERT WATCH
Dec 23, 2016

Celebrate Christmas with a rich snowman

Seven-Eleven won't be offering its limited-edition Christmas desserts for much longer. After Dec. 25, the convenience-store chain's specialty treats will be replaced, inevitably, by the next limited dessert.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Tech
Dec 22, 2016

Honda in talks with Google's Waymo on self-drive tech

Honda Motor Co. said Wednesday it is talking to Waymo, the autonomous driving unit of Google parent Alphabet Inc., to try to strike a deal that would put its self-driving technology into some of the Japanese automaker's cars.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Tech
Dec 22, 2016

Apple quest for OLED screens for next-generation iPhones hinges on sole supplier Canon Tokki

Apple Inc.'s quest to adopt advanced displays for its next-generation iPhone hinges on a single supplier in the Japanese countryside.
EDITORIALS
Dec 20, 2016

China tests the United States

When it comes to the South China Sea, the world cannot afford to let Beijing make light of international law and its own promises of restraint.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / ANALYSIS
Dec 20, 2016

Undersea arms race: Seizure of U.S. drone shines spotlight on China's nuclear submarine strategy

With its controversial seizure and return of a U.S. underwater drone, Beijing may have inadvertently thrust into the spotlight one of the main motivations behind its ramped-up moves in the South China Sea: the quest to create a safe-haven for its sea-based nuclear deterrent.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 19, 2016

U.S. may be losing East Asia to China

Emerging rifts between a number of East Asian states and the U.S. will likely grow worse with Donald Trump in power.
Japan Times
JAPAN / CHUBU CONNECTION
Dec 19, 2016

Aichi volunteers carve wooden tribute to first Toyota Corolla

A group of volunteers in Aichi Prefecture has made a life-sized replica of the first-generation Toyota Corolla using thinned wood sourced from Toyota Motor Corp.'s namesake city.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
Dec 19, 2016

Yahoo seen cutting cost corners with security tech discredited long before massive hack

In the summer of 2013, Yahoo Inc. launched a project to better secure the passwords of its customers, abandoning the use of a discredited technology for encrypting data known as MD5.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Dec 18, 2016

China says it will return seized U.S. undersea drone but accuses Washington of hyping incident

China will return a U.S. drone that was scooped up by its navy in the disputed South China Sea, both countries confirmed Saturday as the row drew in U.S. President-elect Donald Trump.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Dec 17, 2016

Beijing throws down the gauntlet, seizes U.S. undersea drone in South China Sea

China's navy has seized a U.S. underwater survey drone in international waters in the South China Sea, prompting a formal diplomatic protest and a demand for its return Friday, in a confrontation likely to exacerbate already rising tensions.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Dec 16, 2016

China's Liaoning aircraft carrier conducts first ever live-fire drill as Beijing shows off military might

China's first and only aircraft carrier battle group has carried out its first-ever live-fire drills — a show of force amid ongoing tensions in the region — the Defense Ministry announced late Thursday.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Dec 15, 2016

Bank of Japan tries financial education where a mound of money failed

Having spent more than three years and trillions of dollars in a losing battle against deflation, the Bank of Japan is hoping that a little financial education will convince a nation of inveterate savers to put their cash to better use.
BUSINESS / Companies
Dec 15, 2016

Nintendo jumps on app bandwagon with release of 'Super Mario Run' for iPhone

After almost two years of waiting, the big day is finally here for Nintendo Co. and its first game for smartphones, "Super Mario Run."
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / LEARNING CURVE
Dec 14, 2016

The woman who brought the joys of kindergarten to Japan

German who blazed trails in preschool and music education is also believed to be the first to have registered a mixed marriage here.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Society
Dec 13, 2016

Japan's bosozoku bikers: a vanishing rebel breed

Shotaro Nagasawa knows about living on the edge.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Dec 13, 2016

Young artists to keep your eye on

In Kurt Vonnegut's 1982 novel "Deadeye Dick," a Japanese man walks into an all-night drugstore and gestures for the protagonist, Rudy Waltz, to follow him outdoors. There they gaze at the decapitated cupola of Rudy's childhood home, glistening white in the moonlight. It reminds the homesick man of Mount...

Longform

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