Search - entertainment

 
 
SOCCER / PREMIER REPORT
May 17, 2006

Barcelona-Arsenal final puts two great stars on a grand stage

PARIS -- There are signs around the Nou Camp reminding everyone that Barcelona is "more than a club." There should also be signs in Catalonia to say that Ronaldinho is "more than a player."
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
May 14, 2006

Bewitching tales of when a foreign woman takes a Japanese man

Though it boasts one of the highest living standards in the world and a crime rate that is low compared to other developed countries, many of its citizens believe that Japan is a very difficult place to live for non-Japanese. The most commonly held reason for this belief is that the language and social...
JAPAN
May 8, 2006

Mahjong banking on an infusion of new blood

shows banker Liam Hearns which tile to discard during a mahjong lesson in Shinjuku Ward, Tokyo.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Apr 30, 2006

Harking back to the past in order to secure the immediate future

Thanks to continuing malfeasance on the part of some of its employees, NHK remains in the dog house, so it's tempting to view recent programming decisions with an eye for how they might boost the public broadcaster's standing among subscribers. For example, why has NHK revived not one, not two, but four...
Japan Times
LIFE
Apr 30, 2006

On the road to . . .

"Whan that Aprill with his shoures soote The droghte of March hath perced to the roote, . . . Thanne longen folk to goon on pilgrimages . . . ''
EDITORIALS
Apr 28, 2006

An unprecedented payment

Japan and the United States have reached an agreement on how they will share the cost of relocating 8,000 U.S. Marines plus some 9,000 dependents from Okinawa to Guam. Japan will shoulder 59 percent or $6.09 billion (710 billion yen) of the total $10.27 billion (1.2 trillion yen) cost.
BUSINESS
Apr 25, 2006

Sweden's IKEA back in Japan after 20-year hiatus

Furniture giant IKEA marked its return to Japan with the opening of a store Monday in Funabashi, Chiba Prefecture, but some domestic rivals question whether the Swedish firm has learned enough about Japanese consumers to please them.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Apr 23, 2006

Has pachinko got the balls to survive if casinos are legalized?

In February, the Liberal Democratic Party formed a team to study the possibility of lifting the ban on casino gambling in Japan. About half of Japan's prefectures, as well as Tokyo Gov. Shintaro Ishihara, have said they want to build casino resorts to attract foreign tourists.
BUSINESS
Apr 22, 2006

Service index off 1.5% in February

Japan's service industry activity index fell 1.5 percent in February from the previous month for the first decline in five months, due partly to lackluster wholesale and retail sales of clothing, the government said Friday.
SOCCER / J. League
Apr 16, 2006

Gamba pulls one out

YOKOHAMA -- Super sub Masafumi Maeda punished a shocking defensive mix-up to fire in the winner as Gamba Osaka edged Yokohama F. Marinos in a seven-goal thriller on Saturday night.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Apr 16, 2006

Critical concerns about cinema

ASIAN CINEMAS: A READER & GUIDE, edited by Dimitris Eleftheriotis and Gary Needham. Edinburgh University Press, 2006, 474 pp., £19.99 (paper). CONTEMPORARY ASIAN CINEMA: Popular Culture in a Global Frame, edited by Anne Tereska Ciecko. Oxford: Berg Publishers, 2006, 250 pp., £16.99 (paper). Critical...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / PERSONALITY PROFILE
Apr 15, 2006

Maureen Tan

When Mutsuko Miki, widow of former Prime Minister Takeo Miki, set up the Asian Ladies Friendship Society in 1968, she could not have projected how the society would rate in 2006. To her gratification, ALFS today, expanded to the Asia-Pacific Ladies Friendship Society, has 24 member countries and a general...
JAPAN
Apr 14, 2006

Obituary: Frank Gibney

1953, was among the first to depict humanely the wartime enemy through portraits of a journalist, a naval officer, a steelworker, a farmer and Emperor Hirohito, posthumously called Emperor Showa.
JAPAN
Apr 7, 2006

Foreign students' goal of career proves elusive

In line with the government's campaign launched in 1983 to boost the number of foreign students in Japan to the 100,000 mark, the figure came to some 117,000 in 2004.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Apr 6, 2006

Your greatest fears become reality

Awee figure of a man, dressed in a cuddly gray Dangermouse jumpsuit, enters a wrestling ring screeching, "Dangermouse saves the day!" Three menacing-looking Japanese pro-wrestlers proceed to chase him around the ring, smashing fluorescent light bulbs on his head as he tries to fend them off with his...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Apr 6, 2006

Tokyo Shock Boys have no fear, but they do have limits

Part of Dirty Sanchez's six days in Japan was spent with their spiritual forefathers, The Tokyo Shock Boys, known in Japan as Dengeki Network. The boys, who are now in the their late 30s, have been on the comedy circuit since 1990, entertaining audiences with don't-try-this-at-home-kids stunts, things...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / VIEWS FROM THE STREET
Apr 4, 2006

What is your impression of Japan?

David Hung Clothing importer, 26 I give props to Japan because after losing WWII they could build themselves back up and become one of the top technological countries.
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Mar 31, 2006

Majestic entertainment

Subtitled "Adult Frustration!?" Yebisu Cultural Festival returns for its fifth installment to Tokyo nightspot Milk on April 1. As usual, it boasts a diverse lineup of live bands, DJs and special performances.
BUSINESS
Mar 28, 2006

Big firms' confidence off

Major companies became less confident about business conditions in the January-March quarter as manufacturers were hit by high oil prices, pushing the key confidence index down for the first time in four quarters, a government survey showed Monday.
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Mar 26, 2006

One nation's icon carries a torch of conscience for all

On March 6, the Polish film and theater director Andrzej Wajda celebrated his 80th birthday. In fact, all of Poland celebrated it with him. I was in the country that week, and I have never before seen such total media interest in a cultural figure. Wajda is certainly Poland's "living national treasure."...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Mar 23, 2006

A grand splash

Just before Japan's economy took a downturn, the Tokyu railroad conglomerate celebrated good times with the construction of the splendidly designed Bunkamura arts complex just behind its flagship department store in Tokyo's Shibuya district.
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Mar 19, 2006

Popular TV hosts weep in TBS's "Tokumitsu & Azumi's Moving Reunions" and more

Some TV presenters are famous for their voices, others for their piquant opinions or sense of humor. Veteran Kazuo Tokumitsu and relative newcomer Shinichiro Azumi are vastly different in terms of vocal timbre and personality, but they share one unusual trait: they can weep at the drop of a hat.
JAPAN
Mar 16, 2006

NHK to take on global broadcast giants?

Can NHK become an internationally known broadcaster like the BBC or CNN?
JAPAN
Mar 14, 2006

Obituary: Toko Adachi

Flower arrangement grand master Toko Adachi died of acute liver failure at a Tokyo hospital Friday, her family said Monday. She was 69.
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Mar 12, 2006

California dreamin' and the way the world's wheels could now be

Earlier this year it was widely reported that Toyota is soon likely to overtake General Motors as the world's largest car manufacturer.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Mar 11, 2006

Good Day to hear all about Ranald MacDonald

Never heard the name Ranald MacDonald? (Not easily forgotten, for sure.) This is about to change, thanks to the book "Native American in the Land of the Shogun: Ranald MacDonald and the Opening of Japan" by American author Frederik Schodt.

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