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EDITORIALS
Jul 8, 2009

Police's security camera plan

The National Police Agency has announced a plan to set up security camera networks in 15 residential areas in 14 prefectures, with 25 cameras installed in each area. The police already have 363 security cameras in operation at busy shopping and entertainment districts across the nation.
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Jun 28, 2009

International community signs on to help keep Bobby V. in Chiba

You heard where those dedicated fans of the Chiba Lotte Marines gathered more than 110,000 signatures on a petition opposed to the team's dropping of American manager Bobby Valentine at the end of the 2009 season. The document was delivered to the team's front office earlier this month for presentation...
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Jun 28, 2009

Strong-spirited women, brain-body challenges and winter 'eco' action

The quiz show "Wafu Sohonke" ("Total Main House for Japanese Style"; TV Tokyo, Mon., 8 p.m.) tests celebrity contestants' knowledge of Japanese customs and traditions, many of which are arcane. On this week's two-hour special, they narrow the focus to customs and traditions having to do with Japanese...
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Jun 21, 2009

Tokyo spurned in the 'ultra miracle' of new film's linguistic embrace

On June 8, the evening edition of the Asahi Shimbun newspaper reported on a fascinating phenomenon — one that may be a harbinger of a broad cultural and social movement in Japan.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Jun 21, 2009

My son, I give you power over the people

Last Monday, TBS's noontime show "Hiruobi" was covering Kim Jong Un, the son of North Korean leader Kim Jong Il and presumed successor. One commentator on the show, an editor for an entertainment magazine, wondered what the citizens of North Korea really thought of this dynastic system. "In Japan right...
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Jun 21, 2009

Enoshima: Stepping back into 'old Japan'

Crossing Enoshima Benten Bridge to Enoshima Island in Sagami Bay, 80 km south of Tokyo, I was stopped in my tracks by a pair of mustard-eyed dragons slithering down gray granite lanterns. A man dismounted his bicycle and asked if I needed help. No, only his story, I replied.
Japan Times
LIFE / WEEK 3
Jun 21, 2009

Comedy with a sting in its tales

As a reporter, I don't particularly enjoy being swamped with breaking news to cover. That's when the pressure really becomes intense to get all the quotes and check all the facts in as short a time as possible.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jun 19, 2009

'The Reader'

Between Kate Winslet and the (as yet) little known David Kross, who shovel coal into the veritable steamship that is "The Reader" and keep it running, full speed ahead.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jun 19, 2009

South Korean festivals suffer a setback

In 2006, South Korean promoters I-Yescom Entertainment and Yellow9 launched the Incheon Pentaport Rock Festival to coincide with the Fuji Rock Festival in the hope of capitalizing on the amount of foreign acts touring Japan every July.
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
Jun 16, 2009

Bug-killers, jet lag and rent down payments

Tackling jet lag Newly arrived in Tokyo, Neil is going to have to fly often in his new job, and wonders how best to handle jet lag. He knows about cutting down on food and alcohol, drinking a lot of water and exercising, but wonders if there is any magic trick.
Japan Times
JAPAN / MIXED MATCHES
Jun 13, 2009

Marriage to Aussie 'otaku' found in translation

For Junko Hirose, her Australian husband, Richard Northcott, is pretty much Japanese when viewed from two aspects.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jun 12, 2009

BMO Music Fest

The BMO Music Fest is a one-night urban music extravaganza that squeezes a lot of entertainment into a limited space of time. Seven major hip-hop and R&B artists will be on hand, all of whom could fill a club or even an auditorium on their own. This year's headliner is Shaggy, who remains the biggest...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Jun 7, 2009

Apichatpong Weerasethakul: No ordinary Joe

Perhaps no Asian film director since Akira Kurosawa has received the critical attention bestowed on 39 year-old Thai filmmaker Apichatpong Weerasethakul. His "Blissfully Yours" won a major Cannes Festival prize in 2002; "Tropical Malady," took the 2004 Jury Prize and the Tokyo FilmEx first prize; and...
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media
Jun 7, 2009

It's so cool to play an oily toad

Actors who direct and star in their own films may be motivated by something other than vanity, but they usually manage to make themselves look cool — or at least cooler than they would have if someone else had been in the director's chair.
JAPAN
Jun 6, 2009

Refugees having big impact on North society

North Korea may be a hardline communist state, but it hasn't succeeded in eliminating the public's desperate urge for Hollywood entertainment.
Japan Times
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Jun 5, 2009

Toilet humor set for Tokyo theater

The title may be cheesy, but there's plenty that's memorable about the content of this politically astute musical, too.
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital
Jun 3, 2009

Creative Commons fights for new copyright

On April 17, the district court of Stockholm issued its verdict in the copyright infringement case of the torrent tracking Web site The Pirate Bay, whose managers and another associate were accused of facilitating the illegal downloading of music, movie and video-game files. The four defendants were...
Japan Times
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
May 31, 2009

Open mind key to Hillman's success

First excerpt in a two-part series of updated "You Gotta Have Wa"
Japan Times
MORE SPORTS / ANALYSIS
May 31, 2009

Canseco's MMA debut a farce

It was exactly what you'd call a chaban, or a farce.
COMMUNITY
May 30, 2009

Writer answers ceaseless call for stimulation

Mark Schreiber was the first foreign writer in Japan to cover the wildly popular phenomenon of capsule hotels.
Japan Times
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
May 26, 2009

'Manga': heart of pop culture

From "One Piece" and "Naruto" to "Doraemon" and "Sazae-san," comic books have been the heart of Japanese pop culture.
Japan Times
LIFE
May 24, 2009

The beat goes on in Japan's jazz hub

As one of Japan's longest-standing maritime gateways to the world, Yokohama has absorbed many cultures from the West over the last 150 years — not least its abiding love of jazz.
BUSINESS
May 22, 2009

Sony plans to slash suppliers in major test of CEO's mettle

Sony Corp. said Thursday it will halve the number of parts suppliers to slash costs under a turnaround plan that is testing the mettle of Chief Executive Howard Stringer.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
May 22, 2009

Hard rockers Detroit7 return with dirty tales

'In Croatia, we played in a huge club and we were the only band, but around 200 people came along to see us and went totally crazy. Everybody there loves alcohol, and so the toilets were filthy!" laughs Miyoko Yamaguchi, drummer with garage-rock band Detroit7. "The toilets around Europe were all dirty....
COMMENTARY
May 17, 2009

California dream-makers in the driver's seat

LOS ANGELES — Sometimes it's not that easy living in Los Angeles. Despite splendid weather, sprawling beaches and gorgeous mountain ranges — not to mention the well-tanned Hollywood stars — you face the unrelenting, withering scorn of smug colleagues long established in New York and Washington....

Longform

Tetsuzo Shiraishi, speaking at The Center of the Tokyo Raids and War Damage, uses a thermos to explain how he experienced the U.S. firebombing of March 1945, when he was just 7 years old.
From ashes to high-rises: A survivor’s account of Tokyo’s postwar past