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COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
May 8, 2011

Hisashi Inoue's great legacy is just the ticket to inspire our best efforts

A beautiful cherry-blossom tree stands right beside the sento (public bath) I religiously go to, and its top branch hangs over an opening in the roof. In early April, petals were falling from the branch down into the water, which comes out of the ground the color of strong coffee.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
May 7, 2011

Pillow for the fairy tale princess discovered

Breaking news: Pillow belonging to the princess of the tale "The Princess and the Pea" by Hans Christian Andersen has been found.
COMMENTARY
May 7, 2011

The heartland of bin Laden

The killing of Osama bin Laden by United States special forces in a helicopter assault on a sprawling luxury mansion near Islamabad recalls the capture of other al-Qaida leaders in Pakistani cities. Once again, we see that the real terrorist sanctuaries are located not along Pakistan's borders with Afghanistan...
JAPAN / Media / Japan Pulse
May 6, 2011

Merchandise boosts 'K-On!' movie sales

Fans of the popular anime 'K-On!' prove their loyalty by snapping up extra movie tickets just to get limited-edition collectibles.
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
May 1, 2011

Behind Ryu Murakami's e-book; show-biz confessions; CM of the week: Recruit

Some writers hate e-books, but not novelist Ryu Murakami, who has embraced the technology with the same enthusiasm he has for all tech developments. NHK's news focus program, "A to Z" (NHK-G, Tues., 6:10 p.m.), visits Murakami in the studio as he "produces" his latest novel in electronic form.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
May 1, 2011

Tohoku charity a minefield for Japanese celebrities

One of the worst-kept secrets on television is the location of Dash Village, a remote farm that was built by the boy band Tokio in the late 1990s. It has since been maintained by the quintet as part of a running feature on their Sunday night Nihon TV variety show "Tetsuwan Dash," and in order to discourage...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Apr 29, 2011

Wright, Cera get 1-up in 'Scott Pilgrim Vs. the World'

"Scott in the comics almost reminds me of Homer Simpson; you get to see what's going on in his head, and there's not much going on," says Hollywood indie poster-boy Michael Cera when asked about his role as the title character in the adrenaline-soaked action comedy "Scott Pilgrim Vs. the World."
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Apr 24, 2011

Decentralizing Tokyo may save the nation

The concentration of money and power in Tokyo is to a degree unthinkable in the United States. — Edward Seidensticker
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink
Apr 22, 2011

The unmistakable taste of a new season

In these days of year-round growing of vegetables in temperature-controlled conditions and air shipments of fresh produce from around the world, it's all too easy to forget the seasons. But in Japan, seasonality is still highly treasured, and there's no time like the spring to enjoy certain vegetables...
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / HOTELS & RESTAURANTS
Apr 22, 2011

Spring kaiseki with bamboo shoots

Through April 30, the Royal Park Hotel in the Nihonbashi area of Tokyo is offering a spring kaiseki course menu featuring bamboo shoots at its Japanese restaurant, Genjikoh.
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
Apr 13, 2011

Matsui, Rakuten want to be positive force this season

Kazuo Matsui saw firsthand the damage caused by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami when he and the rest of the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles visited Sendai on Friday.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / HOTELS & RESTAURANTS
Apr 8, 2011

Dining at the world's table

The Cerulean Tower Tokyu Hotel in Shibuya, Tokyo, is holding a "From the World Dining Table" dinner-course fair at the Garden Kitchen Caramelo on its main lobby floor, through April 30.
CULTURE / Japan Pulse
Mar 31, 2011

Post-quake aid on a musical note

Music industries of the world — both mainstream and indie, both domestic and overseas — find different ways to get relief money into quake-hit Japan.
EDITORIALS
Mar 28, 2011

The needs of weaker evacuees

As rescue and support operations for people hit by the March 11 magnitude-9 earthquake and subsequent tsunami go on, every effort must be made to prevent the deaths of people who have survived the disaster. Elderly survivors, especially, find themselves in difficult straits. Timely support must be given...
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Mar 27, 2011

'What are the odds?' variety; 'Stand by Me' adaptation; CM of the week: Uniqlo

The purpose behind the occasional variety special "Kekkyoku! Kakuritsu Nano da" ("At last! What's the Probability"; TV Tokyo, Tues., 7 p.m.) is to figure out the probability of certain occurrences that will supposedly interest viewers but which sound more like they concern people in show biz. Past specials...
JAPAN / Q&A
Mar 25, 2011

It's in the water, food, soil: But what are the risks?

Radioactive materials from the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant have been spreading, contaminating milk, vegetables, water and soil in Fukushima and neighboring prefectures.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Mar 24, 2011

Kitamura shows Japanese women how to be 'Top Girls'

"The play was written nearly 30 years ago, but I feel the situation for women has hardly changed at all. In fact, it hasn't fundamentally changed for 100 years, even though Japanese women got the vote around 65 years ago," said theater producer Akiko Kitamura when asked why she chose to stage the well-known...
Japan Times
LIFE
Mar 20, 2011

The Bronze Bonze

Yoshiyuki Yoneda had a problem. As chief priest of a temple in Kyoto, he ministered to the spiritual and ritual needs of his local community. But like many other clerics in Japan's ancient capital, he also wanted to attract fee-paying tourists to his temple.
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Mar 15, 2011

Kicking up a stink over ink in Kobe

You might want to avoid Suma Beach this summer if you are inked or have even a temporary sticker tattoo. The powers that be in Kobe City are considering ways to ban the display of tattoos on the beach.
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Mar 13, 2011

'Shock Illumination'; baseball played the Drucker way; CM of the week: Hebel Haus

Japan is a land of disasters both man-made and natural, and the theme of the TV Tokyo variety special,
Japan Times
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Mar 13, 2011

Study chips away further at humans' uniqueness

Time for some self-love, people: We're pretty damn cool. As animals, we're special.
Japan Times
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Mar 8, 2011

Domestic child abuse in spotlight

The Fukuoka District Court in January sentenced a 34-year-old mother to six years in prison for causing bodily injury resulting in her daughter's death, casting the spotlight anew on child abuse.
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Mar 6, 2011

Profiles of 'nice people'; Seicho Matsumoto thrille; CM of the week: Softbank

Teruyoshi Uchimura and Kiyotaka Nanbara, better known as the comedy duo Utchan Nanchan, have tended to work separately in recent years, but they make a rare joint appearance as the hosts of the variety special "Konna Ii Hito Mita Koto Nai" ("I've Never Seen Such a Nice Person"; Nihon TV, Fri., 7 p.m.)....
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 4, 2011

Justifying an intervention in Libya for justice' sake

MELBOURNE — The world has watched in horror as Libya's Colonel Moammar Gadhafi uses his military to attack protesters opposed to his rule, killing hundreds or possibly thousands of unarmed civilians.

Longform

After pandemic-era border regulations eased, Indian migrants began returning to Japan. Their population now stands at more than 50,000 across the country.
How remote work is rewriting the migrant experience in Japan