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Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Sep 3, 2010

The Market SE1: Artisan ice cream on the Shonan coast

We surely haven't been the only ones thirsting for ice cream throughout this long, sultry summer. Those cravings have been assuaged by regular doses of the superb gelati made by Grom. As of last month, there are now three outlets in Tokyo for these outstanding (and pricey) Italian ices, which many people...
Japan Times
LIFE
Aug 29, 2010

Anyone for tennis?

If you've ever had a tennis lesson, your coach likely told you to block, rather than swing at your volleys. That knowledge makes it all the more thrilling to watch someone like the athletic 16-year-old Sanae Ota rush in from the back of the court, leap up to a high, floating ball — before it bounces...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Aug 27, 2010

In the absence of information comes greater imagination

The 1990s saw the rise of what at the time seemed an important generation of Japanese female photographers. This included Junko Takahashi, HIROMIX, Rika Noguchi, Mika Ninagawa and Tomoko Sawada. While much of this new wave — most notably the narcissistic soft-porn of HIROMIX and the cosplay outings...
JAPAN
Aug 25, 2010

Prada countersues plaintiff claiming harassment

A countersuit by the Japan unit of Italian fashion house Prada got under way in the Tokyo District Court on Tuesday against a former senior retail manager, demanding she pay ¥33 million for harming the firm's image by falsely claiming to the media that the firm engaged in sexual harassment.
LIFE / Digital
Aug 25, 2010

Twitter delivers creative way for ad agencies to play

While Twitter itself is still struggling to find a profitable business plan, Japanese ad agencies have quickly embraced the micro-blogging service to create innovative campaigns.
LIFE / Language
Aug 25, 2010

'Ii' is a perfectly good way to say, 'No, thank you'

When I was in elementary school, a certain comma was the bane of my existence. No, not the serial comma. I learned (and later unlearned) that one relatively easily. It wasn't the comma before "too," either. Nor was it the one between multiple adjectives modifying a single noun. No, it was the comma in...
CULTURE / Books
Aug 22, 2010

Indonesia intrigue, Tokyo high-tech high jinx

While such enduring bad guys as Nazis, KGB agents, Cosa Nostra gangsters, sinister Asiatics and the occasional vampire still receive top billing in U.S. popular fiction and cinema, the events of 9/11 have not surprisingly inspired a stream of works featuring villains of Middle Eastern and/or jihadist...
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Aug 22, 2010

Sarufutsu: As far north as you can go in Japan

If you're trying to get to Sarufutsu in a hurry, the best way is to fly into Wakkanai, a blustery little fishing town on the extreme northern tip of Japan's northern island of Hokkaido, then rent a car or take the bus east. From Tokyo the whole trip takes just over three hours.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Aug 20, 2010

Japan's first film nude still radiant decades after getting skirty

Arranging an interview with Michiko Maeda took nearly a month — she has long been media-shy — but when she finally agreed to meet film writer Yoshiaki Suzuki and me at a Tokyo beer hall, she epitomized kimonoed grace and charm, while saying this would be her final interview.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Aug 20, 2010

Kanagawa taverns with brews of note

When we find ourselves thirsty in Yokohama, we know exactly where to head. Our latest favorite watering hole in the city is Pivoya, a small pub that specializes exclusively in beer from the Czech Republic. It's in a quiet, out-of-the-way locale but definitely worth tracking down.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Aug 20, 2010

August Beer Club: Beers that taste great in August

In this punishing heat, a lot of people complain they have lost all appetite for food. We say: Change your definition of the word "food." At this time of year, we gain a significant proportion of our nourishment from that most essential of food groups: beer.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Aug 15, 2010

Taking a tea break in Shizuoka

It's no secret what the cash crop of Shizuoka Prefecture is: tea.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Aug 6, 2010

'Kinako — Minarai Keisatsuken no Monogatari (Kinako — The Story of an Apprentice Police Dog)'

Animal movies are a thriving genre of Japanese films that foreign critics, scholars and viewers by and large cordially detest. It's similar to the typical gaijin reaction to natto (fermented soy beans) — i.e., disgust at a humble, but beloved, made-in-Japan specialty.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Japan Pulse
Aug 5, 2010

Costume changes made easy in Harajuku

Harajuku girls can now avail themselves to spaces that cater to quick costume changes.
EDITORIALS
Aug 5, 2010

Roiling the South China Sea

The ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF), Asia's only regional security mechanism, is often derided as a mere "talk shop," where diplomats gather to discuss security concerns but never actually do anything about them. At this year's annual foreign ministers' meeting, which convened late last month in Hanoi, words...
COMMENTARY
Aug 1, 2010

Probable catalyst for violence

PARIS — Just before Kosovo's unilateral declaration of independence from Serbia in 2008, Vuk Jeremic, the Serbian foreign minister, warned that in Africa alone "there are about fifty Kosovos waiting to happen." The 50 African wannabes can take heart, as the International Court of Justice has just ruled...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / Japan Pulse
Jul 31, 2010

Another heaping tablespoon of taberu rayu, please

Japan's appetite for taberu rayu, a spicy red oil, shows no signs of abating.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Jul 31, 2010

Long journey to safe harbor in an unpredictable world

Knowing Japanese troops had caused the deaths of her father's parents and siblings in World War II, Japan was about the last place Ha Thi Thanh Nga expected to end up. Today — some 30 years after arriving here as a refugee — Nga, 49, is helping other compatriots make lives for themselves here.
LIFE / Food & Drink / Japan Pulse
Jul 30, 2010

Japan by the numbers (07.29.10)

Somen and gyuunyuu purin win the popular vote in Japan this summer. Thumbs down for bad breath and strong AC.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / Japan Pulse
Jul 29, 2010

Pulse Rate: ikyu.com

Japan isn't exactly the land of discounts, but the Web is at least helping consumers pinpoint the price drops in certain sectors.
JAPAN
Jul 29, 2010

Pair hanged; Chiba attends as witness

Two inmates were hanged Wednesday in the first executions since the Democratic Party of Japan took power 10 months ago.
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Jul 25, 2010

The 'secret lives' of tomatoes; cooking with Japan rock's don; CM of the week: Mobagei Town

Everything you've always wanted to know about the tomato but were afraid to ask is explained on the long-running variety show, "Sekai Marumie Terebi" (The World Fully Exposed on TV; Nihon TV, Mon., 7:56 p.m.), hosted by comedians Beat Takeshi and Joji Tokoro.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jul 23, 2010

'Seraphine'

When a woman values her art over personal happiness, the result can yield sheer, mesmerizing beauty. Tolstoy wrote that women prevail because of their "ingrained talent" to achieve happiness, but at the same time this talent becomes their downfall in achieving true greatness. Indeed, had Frida Kahlo,...

Longform

Once smoky, male-dominated spaces, today's net cafes, like Kaikatsu Club, are working to make their operations more attractive to women customers.
The second life of Japan's net cafes