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Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / WILD WATCH
Dec 17, 2008

In praise of 'Ice Birds'

The rush, chatter and babble of a stream on a summer's day is a great delight; the constantly shifting sounds make entrancing music and provide a wonderful source of entertainment for the wait-and-see naturalist.
Japan Times
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Dec 12, 2008

Marriage is no bed of roses

This is great news for all those who have despaired at the tiny portion of straightforward, high-quality, "grownup" stage entertainment that gets served up to theatergoers in Japan — as opposed to all those dollops of third-rate faux Broadway and facile star vehicles.
Japan Times
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Dec 12, 2008

Film project delivers 'live' operas from U.K.

Performances by two acclaimed U.K. opera ensembles — Glyndebourne Festival Opera and the Royal Opera House — will take place in movie theaters nationwide from Dec. 20 as the opening features of U.K. Opera @ Cinema, which is being presented by Sony Corp.
JAPAN
Dec 5, 2008

Politicians failing to engage youth

One of the oldest rules in politics the world over is that young people stay away in droves.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Dec 5, 2008

'Kill'

Mamoru Oshii is a world-class animation director, but his films, from the 1995 dystopian SF "Ghost In the Shell" to this year's air-war epic "The Sky Crawlers," are not for the masses. Instead they often explore heavyweight themes that appeal to anime otaku (ultrafans), from the dissolving boundaries...
BUSINESS
Dec 2, 2008

Paramount mulls park at failed Expoland site

Paramount Pictures may build a theme park near the city of Osaka, the prefectural government said Monday.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Nov 30, 2008

Kabuki rescued by national defeat

KABUKI'S FORGOTTEN WAR: 1931-1945, by James R. Brandon. Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press, 2008, 466 pp., with photographs, $52 (cloth) The role that Japan's "classic" drama, kabuki, played during the 15-year "Sacred War" is largely undiscussed, and even in Japan itself it is usually ignored. Indeed,...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Nov 28, 2008

Lisa Loeb

Now that it's almost December, there can be only one thing on the minds of kids around Japan: Um, summer camp?
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital / IGADGET
Nov 26, 2008

Yamaha makes a stand for television sound

Audiovisual support: It is surprising how TV-makers seem to deem sound- reproduction a secondary concern behind dressing up the features — much like makers of portable music players.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Nov 21, 2008

J-pop starlet Yuna Ito gets her groove back

"I got my heart broken for the first time," laments Yuna Ito, "at the unbelievable age of 24!"
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Nov 21, 2008

'Watashi wa Kai ni Naritai'

Based on a novel by Tetsutaro Kato, the 1958 TV drama "Watashi wa Kai ni Naritai" ("I Want to Be a Seashell") became a paradigm-shifting hit when it was broadcast on KRT Television, the predecessor to the TBS network.
BUSINESS
Nov 21, 2008

Disney parks target Chinese, others with cash

Oriental Land Co., the operator of Tokyo's Disney theme parks, is targeting wealthy Chinese and other overseas tourists to maintain growth as Japan's declining birthrate cuts its domestic market.
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Nov 18, 2008

'Enka' still strikes nostalgic nerve

A windy night, the whistle of the midnight train, and a bad breakup.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Nov 16, 2008

The billionaire bad boys' club

Takafumi Horie, the former CEO of Internet company Livedoor whose trial for insider trading continues in the courts, recently made his first TV appearance in three years on TBS's new talk show "Terebitte Yatsu wa?" ("What the Hell is TV?").
EDITORIALS
Nov 15, 2008

Problematic cash handouts

After a sinuous course, the ruling Liberal Democratic Party and Komeito have reached a decision on cash benefits to be given to households as part of the government's economic stimulus package. The decision itself contains problems. It could confuse municipalities that will distribute the money. Moreover,...
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / HOTELS & RESTAURANTS
Nov 14, 2008

A palace fit for a culinary king

You can sample the culinary delights of French chef Patrick Henriroux at the Crown Restaurant of the Palace Hotel in Tokyo on Nov. 21 and 22.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Nov 13, 2008

Tokyo's Rokku laughs it up again at film festival

The objectives of the First Old Town Taito International Comedy Film Festival, which runs Nov. 21 to 24 in the Tokyo districts of Asakusa and Ueno, sound ambitious. Noting on the festival's English-language Web site that "there are innumerable film festivals held throughout the world," the executive...
Reader Mail
Nov 9, 2008

Friendlier sports may kill sumo

Regarding the Nov. 2 article "God forbid if sumo goes the way of pro wrestling": I doubt that sumo will ever be legally listed as an entertainment, because I think it's on the up and up most of the time. As for yaocho (match-fixing) and dekiyama (predetermined...
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
Nov 3, 2008

Giants sluggers bring crowd into the action

The ushers blow whistles to call the fans' attention when batters hit into the outfield stands during the batting practice. And with the powerful Giants, the whistles are particularly heard more often when Michihiro Ogasawara and Alex Ramirez take the cages.
BUSINESS / JAPANESE PERSPECTIVES
Nov 3, 2008

Halloween in Japan: a commercial break from global nightmare

Since when was Halloween such a big thing in Japan? Admittedly, you could see it coming these past few years. But this autumn it is simply everywhere.
CULTURE / Books
Nov 2, 2008

Nothing funnier than a comedian in a kimono

RAKUGO: Performing Comedy and Cultural Heritage in Contemporary Tokyo, by Lorie Brau. Lexington Books, 2008, 274 pp., $75.00 (cloth) Of all the Japanese arts, rakugo traditional comedy is one of the most impenetrable for foreigners. The premise is simple: kimono-clad practitioners tell old funny stories...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Nov 2, 2008

God forbid if sumo goes the way of pro wrestling

In March 2007, Shukan Gendai published an article naming top-ranked sumo wrestlers who it said had been involved in match-fixing in the past. Three of the wrestlers and the Japan Sumo Association subsequently filed defamation lawsuits against the publisher, Kodansha Ltd., and several weeks ago one of...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Nov 2, 2008

Some 19th-century blood and gore

THE STRAW SANDAL OR THE SCROLL OF THE HUNDRED CRABS by Santo Kyoden, translated by Carmen Blacker, introduction by P.F. Kornicki. Global Oriental, 2008, 116 pp., 28 b/w illustrations by Utagawa Toyokuni, £35 (cloth) Santo Kyoden (pen name Iwase Samuru, 1761-1816) was among the most popular authors of...
JAPAN
Nov 1, 2008

Aso is pop star's wedding guest

Shortly after announcing the high-profile economic stimulus package worth ¥27 trillion Thursday, Prime Minister Taro Aso rushed off to attend actress Shoko Aida's wedding reception that night.
JAPAN
Oct 31, 2008

ID-less arrest thought to be drug kingpin

An Iranian man under arrest since July is believed to be the ringleader of drug dealers who sold an estimated ¥200 million worth of narcotics to 20,000 customers on the streets of the ritzy Azabu, Shirokane and Takanawa neighborhoods in Minato Ward, Tokyo, since last November.

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