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Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Aug 22, 2008

Seasoned J-pop duo ELT keep it positive

"When I'm walking beside her, people tell me I'm a lucky guy," sang John Lennon on the 1964 Beatles track "Every Little Thing." Sitting comfortably next to iconic lead singer Kaori Mochida of the band of the same name, guitarist Ichiro Ito has had 12 years to get used to such a feeling. However, he admits...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Aug 15, 2008

Another scorching Summer Sonic

Held simultaneously in Tokyo (well, Chiba's Makuhari Messe and Marine Stadium) and Osaka, Summer Sonic pulled a combined 190,000 music fans for a weekend of polite debauchery under a scorching sun on Aug. 9-10.
JAPAN
Aug 3, 2008

'Cosplay' contest draws hundreds

NAGOYA — Hundreds of people from across the world converged on Nagoya, Aichi Prefecture, on Saturday to march as characters from animated movies in the Osu Cosplay Parade.
COMMUNITY
Jul 26, 2008

Psychic travels world to save lives

Professor Jucelino Nobrega da Luz was 9 years old when he had a dream that scared him half to death.
Japan Times
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Jul 22, 2008

Nation opens its eyes to audiobooks

Seen as a good way for busy people to catch up on their "reading" during commutes or on-the-job breaks, audiobooks are quickly becoming a fixture among time-pressed Japanese.
Japan Times
LIFE / WEEK 3
Jul 20, 2008

Fly fanboys in the living room

Parents the world over would surely prefer their children not to throw things about. It's just plain bad manners, among other things. But Atsushi Kikuchi, a serious-looking father of two boys, positively encourages it. And, he evenmaintains, his sons' ballistic behavior has produced considerable benefits...
JAPAN
Jul 19, 2008

Where to see fireworks displays this summer

It's that time of year again when fireworks color the sky on sultry summer nights.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jul 18, 2008

'Starship Troopers 3: Marauder'

The "Starship Troopers" franchise keeps scrabbling on, less due to public acclaim than the immutable logic that any science-fiction movie worth doing once is worth doing three times. There's something about trilogies — from Asimov or Tolkien perhaps — that just makes nerds feel complete. Fortunately...
Japan Times
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Jul 15, 2008

Famed electronics hub still sparks the curious, bizarre

Tokyo's Akihabara district draws throngs not only with its hundreds of electronics shops but also because it is the mecca for "otaku" computer geeks, and fans of "manga" and "anime" pop culture.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jul 15, 2008

Japanese-type game show a hit in U.S.

A new Japanese export is luring U.S. consumers: television game shows that inflict pain, suffering and humiliation for a laugh.
Japan Times
Features
Jul 13, 2008

Japan's culture policy lingers in limbo

It's a fact that has long puzzled devotees and plain old tourists alike. Japan's manga and anime arts have been wowing the world for more than a decade, and yet the national government still hasn't got around to setting up a proper museum for their enjoyment, preservation and study.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jul 11, 2008

'Gake no Ue no Ponyo'

Hayao Mizayaki is the reigning giant of Japanese animation — and the Japanese box office. Since "Majo no Takkyubin (Kiki's Delivery Service)" in 1989, every Miyazaki film has been a smash hit, drawing the widest possible audience. In 2001, his coming-of-age fantasy "Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi (Spirited...
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Jul 4, 2008

Plunging into the abyss

I'm hanging from a rope, high above the churning froth of an ice-blue river. My friends are waving and shouting out to me, but the roar of the waterfall muffles their voices. I pull myself off a wooden seat and lower my legs. Now there's nothing between me and the water below but crisp mountain air....
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jul 3, 2008

'Speed Racer': drawing on an anime legend

Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jul 3, 2008

Boston museum's ukiyo-e celebrates Japanese merchants' taste

Until recent years, ukiyo-e were regarded as somewhat declasse by Japanese art connoisseurs — and they are still sniffed at by many whose taste is informed by Zen and the tea-ceremony. But these colorful paintings and prints of what was then a truly exotic world did catch the eyes of foreigners who...
COMMUNITY / Our Lives
Jun 29, 2008

Foreigners flourish in the realm of Japanese arts

Japan has come a long way since the era of Lafcadio Hearn (1850-1904), arguably the world's most famous and certainly the first Western Japanophile. Before Hearn, a Greek-Irishman who married the daughter of a local samurai in remote and rural Shimane Prefecture, and also took on Japanese citizenship,...
BUSINESS
Jun 27, 2008

Sony midterm plan focuses on core businesses, networking

In its three-year business plan unveiled Thursday, Sony Corp. said it aims to see annual sales in three additional business categories top ¥1 trillion, joining the four already above that target: LCD television sets, digital cameras and camcorders, games and mobile phones.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jun 27, 2008

'In the Valley of Elah'

Iraq War movies are dying at the box office one after another. It doesn't matter if they're brutal expose ("Redacted"), touching family story ("Grace Is Gone"), or high-firepower entertainment ("The Kingdom") — nobody's buying.
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital
Jun 25, 2008

Japanese Facebook takes Model T approach

Late last month, as part of a rare work-vacation trip to Asia, Mark Zuckerberg made a quick stop in Tokyo to announce the launch of Facebook Japan.
BUSINESS
Jun 20, 2008

Toy show offers plenty for the kid in all of us

Why should kids have all the fun? That's an attitude on display at International Tokyo Toy Show 2008, which kicked off Thursday at Tokyo Big Sight, where people of any age are bound to find something fun to play with.
Japan Times
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Jun 20, 2008

International Tokyo Toy Show

Where else could the Pocket Monsters, Tomica Hero Rescue Force, Miffy and Yattermen all share the same stage?
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Jun 14, 2008

CON-CAN launches movie competition

If you are making short films, or aspire to making them, the Web site www.con-can.com has everything in the world to offer: advice, support, the opportunity to get your work seen and critiqued and, the chance to win $10,000 in the online CON-CAN Movie Festival.
Japan Times
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Jun 13, 2008

Lady virtuoso 'sings' like a bird

Her music is as lovely as a song sung by a pretty bird. Of course, birds don't actually "sing," and neither does Kimiko Wakiyama. Like a bird, she whistles. In fact she's a champion whistler, who won the women's crown at the 2007 International Whistlers Convention (IWC 2007) in North Carolina.

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