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LIFE / Travel
Apr 12, 2009

Slow train coming in Shizuoka

Standing on the platform at Kanaya Station in Shizuoka Prefecture, the enthusiastic crowd — myself included — watches with fascination as the train pulls in. Because this train is different. It's not a sleek, aerodynamic bullet train; nor is it one of the ubiquitous, striped JR jobs. Rather, the...
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Apr 12, 2009

Slow train coming in Shizuoka

Standing on the platform at Kanaya Station in Shizuoka Prefecture, the enthusiastic crowd — myself included — watches with fascination as the train pulls in. Because this train is different. It's not a sleek, aerodynamic bullet train; nor is it one of the ubiquitous, striped JR jobs. Rather, the...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Apr 10, 2009

'Who Killed Nancy? The True Story . . .'/'Stranded: I've Come from a Plane that Crashed on the Mountains'

When Nancy Spungen, groupie girlfriend of Sex Pistols bassist and punk icon Sid Vicious, was found dead in the couple's room at New York City's Chelsea Hotel on Oct. 12, 1978, few were surprised. Vicious was known for his explosive outbursts, Spungen for her grating personality, and both for their serious...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Apr 10, 2009

'Red Cliff: Part II'

Was it worth the six-month wait? The answer is a resounding affirmative. John Woo's second and final segment of the epic battle extravaganza "Red Cliff" picks up with a monstrous, 800,000-strong army led by invading warlord Cao Cao (Zhang Fengyi) about to close in on Jiangdong, the province of young...
CULTURE / Film
Apr 10, 2009

'Red Cliff: Part II'

Was it worth the six-month wait? The answer is a resounding affirmative. John Woo's second and final segment of the epic battle extravaganza "Red Cliff" picks up with a monstrous, 800,000-strong army led by invading warlord Cao Cao (Zhang Fengyi) about to close in on Jiangdong, the province of young...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Apr 8, 2009

Comedian's TB spreads disease fears

Fear is quietly spreading in the entertainment world on the heels of a report that Haruka Minowa of the popular comedian duo Harisenbon has contracted tuberculosis.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Apr 5, 2009

Deciphering 'A Page of Madness'

Teinosuke Kinugasa's "A Page of Madness" ("Kurutta Ichipeiji," 1926) was long thought lost. Only some 75 years later did the discovery of the missing negative allow the picture to be finally viewed by the present generation. At the same time there emerged a critical need to evaluate it because it seemed...
Japan Times
LIFE
Mar 29, 2009

Bodies beautiful

At 2 a.m. on a spring morning in 2002, photographer Mitsuhiro Mouri received a phone call from the most famous actress in Japan.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Mar 28, 2009

From a shady past to helping others

Kabukicho is Tokyo's infamous entertainment district and suburb of sleaze. A heavily populated square of sleepless activity northeast of Shinjuku Station, it is home to a haphazard mix of movie theaters, hostess bars, strip clubs, and seedy nightclubs. An illicit atmosphere permeates the air.
EDITORIALS
Mar 25, 2009

Protecting music copyrights

For many young people, ordinary cell-phone ring tones and alarms are monotonous and boring. So they replace those tones with chaku-uta (literally "arriving music"), or musical ring tones downloaded from the Internet. But there is a problem: A large number of these ring tones are downloaded for free from...
COMMUNITY / Voices / HOTLINE TO NAGATACHO
Mar 24, 2009

Justice Ministry turned me into Russian hottie

Dear Ministry of Justice,
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Mar 20, 2009

No constrictions on BoA's ambitions

"It has always been my dream to debut in America!" BoA announces gleefully. "Every Asian artist has that dream of Hollywood or the Billboard chart, and this is the perfect time to go to America."
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Mar 20, 2009

Okinawan flavors of entertainment

Manabu Oshiro, the chief of the Research and Training Section of the National Theater, Okinawa since 2006, attributes the creation of kumiodori, a form of drama unique to Okinawa, to the friendly relationship that the Ryukyu Kingdom maintained with China for over 400 years spanning the 15th to the 19th...
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Mar 15, 2009

Loveliest of trees, the cherry now Is hung with bloom along the bough

It's sakura (cherry blossom) time again, and I've got three special spots to recommend beneath the pale, poetic petals in Tokyo. One will present you with a single starlit beauty, another will have you rolling around in an expansive venue of varied cherries, or if the spirit moves you there's a climb...
LIFE / Travel
Mar 15, 2009

Loveliest of trees, the cherry now Is hung with bloom along the bough

It's sakura (cherry blossom) time again, and I've got three special spots to recommend beneath the pale, poetic petals in Tokyo. One will present you with a single starlit beauty, another will have you rolling around in an expansive venue of varied cherries, or if the spirit moves you there's a climb...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Mar 6, 2009

The explorers' cargo

Before the age of discovery, Europe had been separated for hundreds of years from the Indian Ocean by an impenetrable crescent of territories largely hostile to Christians. The Venetians — always more interested in commerce than proselytizing — controlled whatever trade there was with Asia through...
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital / JAPAN TIMES BLOGROLL
Mar 4, 2009

AltJapan

Author and translator Matt Alt runs AltJapan, an entertaining and informative blog launched in 2006. Calling it a "digital scratchpad," the Maryland native writes about a wide variety of Japan-related subjects, ranging from the role of Lolita girls in military simulations to the majesty of Japan's toy...
Japan Times
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Feb 27, 2009

Clowning around at Cirque du Soleil

For a limited time only, join Cirque du Soleil and its international cast for "Corteo," a magical parade of clowns, acrobats and musicians, imagined by a clown at his funeral. Conceived and directed by veteran writer and choreographer Daniele Finzi Pasca, the show is set between Heaven and Earth, with...
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Feb 27, 2009

Clowning around at Cirque du Soleil

For a limited time only, join Cirque du Soleil and its international cast for "Corteo," a magical parade of clowns, acrobats and musicians, imagined by a clown at his funeral. Conceived and directed by veteran writer and choreographer Daniele Finzi Pasca, the show is set between Heaven and Earth, with...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Feb 27, 2009

Linking video games to their visual history

Think of post-World War II popular culture in Japan as it relates to contemporary art, and you invariably arrive at Murakami Takashi and his Kaikai Kiki company/studio. But a new generation that draws from Japanese pop culture — and yet has no close connections to Murakami's art stable — has emerged...
Reader Mail
Feb 22, 2009

Innovation with what's available

Regarding the Feb. 18 editorial "Surprisingly sharp decline": I agree that innovation is the key to fighting the recession, and I would like to cite two examples. First, do the Japanese people realize that, despite this recession, companies that have done well are none other than the mobile service providers...
JAPAN
Feb 18, 2009

Myanmar refugees to try resettling

As Japan prepares to take in Myanmarese from Thai refugee camps, it is important that the communities they resettle in fully support their integration into society, experts said at a recent Tokyo symposium held by the Foreign Ministry.
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital / IGADGET
Feb 18, 2009

A bigger, better netbook — and not quite an iPod killer

Touched up: Korean innovator iriver is firing off both barrels with its latest personal media player, the P20, a model it hopes will take some market share away from Apple's iPod touch. The P20 is a chunky device with impressive hardware credentials. Released in Japan as an 80-gigabyte model, the PMP...

Longform

Dangami House is a 180-year-old former samurai residence of the Kato clan, who ruled over Ozu, Ehime Prefecture, until the Meiji Restoration.
A house, a legacy and the quiet work of restoration in rural Japan