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Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Apr 1, 2011

Designs on love, dreams and fun

The 20th century, with its emphasis on war and mass industrialization, favored the functionalism of modernism in architecture, design, and other areas. This saw such elements as decoration, embellishment, playfulness and humor pushed to the sidelines in design. The rise of a more consumerist economic...
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital / TECH_JAPAN
Mar 30, 2011

New TVs get socially networked while a solar-powered lamp saves energy.

At the Consumer Electronics Show 2011 in Las Vegas earlier this year, Sony previewed its new line of BRAVIA LCD televisions, and the company has now announced that they will be released at the end of April.
EDITORIALS
Mar 29, 2011

Akihabara rampage verdict

The Tokyo District Court on March 24 sentenced a 28-year-old former temporary worker to death for indiscriminately attacking and killing pedestrians in June 2008 in Akihabara, a popular shopping and tourist district in Tokyo packed with stores selling electronics goods, anime and other pop-culture products....
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 23, 2011

Minister is economical with economic truth

HONG KONG — Japan's economy supremo, 72-year-old Kaoru Yosano, clad in his regulation ministerial "Action Man" powder-blue boiler suit and heavy gumboots ready to spring into emergency mode instantly, claimed last week that the damage to the country's economy from the earthquake and tsunami would be...
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Mar 20, 2011

This awful tragedy will show Japan's true character to the world

Some people look for moral lessons in disasters, concentrating on a baby pulled out of the rubble of an earthquake days after it struck and calling it a "miracle." But a tsunami of the scale that crashed against the manmade seawalls along the Pacific Coast of the Tohoku region in northeast Japan left...
Reader Mail
Mar 20, 2011

U.S. Navy could boost power grid

Regarding Jun Hongo's March 16 article, "One certainty in the crisis: Power will be at a premium": One way Japan might increase the production of electricity is to work a deal with the U.S. government. The U.S. Navy has a ready supply of mobile nuclear power plants that can provide enough electricity...
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle
Mar 17, 2011

Kanto area works on energy conservation

On Monday evening, customers at a Starbucks cafe in Tokyo's Nakano ward sipped their lattes in the glow of a single row of lamps and a handful of small, battery-powered tea lights. Such scenes have become common in Tokyo as people across the Kanto region strive to conserve energy after Friday's devastating...
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Mar 16, 2011

Through the shaking, Japan comes together

For centuries, Japan had operated on the unvoiced logic that the only certainty in this world is disaster — specifically, tensai (天災, heavenly disaster). Four centuries ago, Edo (江戸, Old Tokyo) citizens said to each other that they had four major things to fear: jishin (地震, earthquakes),...
LIFE / Digital
Mar 16, 2011

Sorting through information after the quake

In the wake of the tragic earthquake and subsequent tsunami last Friday, people in Japan — and indeed all over the world — have been scrambling to sort through the news in search of information they can trust.
BUSINESS
Mar 16, 2011

Samsung, Ford, Boeing produce but fear parts halt

Samsung Electronics Co., Ford Motor Co. and Boeing Co. are maintaining global production while waiting for partners in quake-rattled Japan to increase one key export: information.
JAPAN
Mar 14, 2011

Helpful websites, phone numbers

Locating family and friends:
CULTURE / Books
Mar 13, 2011

Consumed by the darkness

PEOPLE WHO EAT DARKNESS: The Fate of Lucie Blackman, by Richard Lloyd Parry. Jonathan Cape, 2011, 404 pp., £17.99 (hardcover) This July 1 will mark 11 years since former British Airways stewardess Lucie Blackman agreed to accompany a customer at the Roppongi club where she had been working as a hostess...
BUSINESS
Mar 11, 2011

Sony revamp to place Hirai in crucial role

Sony Corp. said Thursday it will reorganize its main electronics businesses and promote the star of its gaming operations to lead a new consumer products division.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WORDS TO LIVE BY
Mar 10, 2011

Robocon founder Dr. Masahiro Mori

Dr. Masahiro Mori, 84, is a specialist in robotics and Emeritus President of the Robotics Society of Japan. Mori is the founder of Robocon, the robotics contest he started in 1981 when he was a professor at the Tokyo Institute of Technology. Since then, Robocon has developed into the world's most famous...
BUSINESS
Mar 9, 2011

Expedia has big Asia travel plans

Asia's Internet-based travel market, including in Japan, is growing rapidly and the world's largest online travel agency said Tuesday it wants to cultivate it further.
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Mar 6, 2011

Profiles of 'nice people'; Seicho Matsumoto thrille; CM of the week: Softbank

Teruyoshi Uchimura and Kiyotaka Nanbara, better known as the comedy duo Utchan Nanchan, have tended to work separately in recent years, but they make a rare joint appearance as the hosts of the variety special "Konna Ii Hito Mita Koto Nai" ("I've Never Seen Such a Nice Person"; Nihon TV, Fri., 7 p.m.)....
LIFE / Food & Drink / Japan Pulse
Mar 5, 2011

New-style ramen targets female noodle-lovers

Ramen shops diversify their stocks, toppings and presentations in hopes of attracting female noodle-lovers.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Mar 4, 2011

Martiniburger: Enjoy your burger shaken, not stirred

Martiniburger. It's a great name for a restaurant. Even before you arrive you can picture it in your mind: As sleek as a cocktail lounge, with subtle lighting, cool music and even cooler people tucking into prime patties of best beef. And you wouldn't be far wrong.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Feb 27, 2011

Skipping the ads gets harder as shows become infomercials

In the late 1990s, I did piece work for a public relations company, translating achievement reports into English for its non-Japanese clients. The reports outlined how and where the company had secured mentions of its clients' products in various media, and included equivalent advertising value amounts...
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Feb 25, 2011

DoCoMo adds smart phones, tablet to lineup

NTT DoCoMo Inc. unveiled two new smart phones and a tablet device Thursday as the carrier aims to penetrate more aggressively into the growing Japanese smart phone market.
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design / ON: DESIGN
Feb 24, 2011

Designing with the grain

For kids branching out to art Last year, Kana Nakanishi caught our attention with Koke-a, an unusual piece of furniture with a mosslike surface of tufted wool on which to relax — her graduate project for Finland's Alto University of Art and Design. Now she's a member of Oiseau, which has launched Mother,...
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Feb 24, 2011

NTT creating sensors for seniors

The nation's top telecom carrier is developing a simple wristwatchlike device to monitor the well-being of the elderly.

Longform

Mount Fuji is considered one of Japan's most iconic symbols and is a major draw for tourists. It's still a mountain, though, and potential hikers need to properly prepare for any climb.
What it takes to save lives on Mount Fuji