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CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Jun 6, 2010

2010 World Cup preview; Ryuichi Sakamoto on drum-and-bass; CM of the week: DoCoMo

Nobody expects the Japanese national team to go very far at the upcoming FIFA World Cup in South Africa, but that isn't going to stop television stations from dreaming. TBS will get the ball rolling, so to speak, on Thursday night with a special two-hour preview, "2010 FIFA World Cup Kaimaku Zenyasai"...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Jun 5, 2010

Niseko's real estate boom: Bigger picture in sight for local development

For some it was a flash in the pan, at best an experiment destined to fail, at worst a mini-bubble hyper-inflated by greedy "outsiders" with little interest other than the type accumulating in the bank.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jun 4, 2010

Red and black and spread all over

The avant-garde generally gravitates toward absolutes; you're either with them or against them. But how often in history has progressive art been created in service of the state's one-size-fits-all ideology? Not many, and perhaps the best-known example is the group that appeared in a brief window of...
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / Japan Pulse
Jun 1, 2010

Japanese Twitter marketing campaigns make some noise

New followers line up for the next creative Twitter campaign. Where will the tweeting flocks fly next?
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / BACKSTREET STORIES
May 30, 2010

Miso happy in Nakamurabashi

I hear somewhere near Nakamura in Nerima Ward, miso is still made in the age-old traditional way. I figure I'll just wander around the tidy little neighborhood and find it.
JAPAN
May 29, 2010

The other poppies were sold

A flower grower in Fujisawa, Kanagawa Prefecture, unknowingly grew 722 illegal opium poppies and 401 were shipped to dealers in seven prefecture by mistake, according to Kanagawa.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
May 28, 2010

'Railways'

The Japanese have a love affair with trains, especially the ones that trundle through the more picturesque parts of the country. One sure way to draw tourists to your rural prefecture is an ancient steam locomotive that chugs through a pretty middle-of-nowhere. For many visitors, it's not the destination,...
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
May 22, 2010

The Island of Heavenly Fields

I live next to a heavenly field. So do lots of other people on my island.
Japan Times
Reference / SO WHAT THE HECK IS THAT
May 20, 2010

A traditional Christian pattern?

Dear Alice,
Japan Times
CULTURE / Japan Pulse
May 18, 2010

The merch of May

Read the comic? Saw the the movie? Ready to buy some one-of-a-kind merchandise to show your loyalty?
JAPAN / MIXED MATCHES
May 18, 2010

Language no problem for gallery pair

Hitoshi Ohashi, 48, and Robert Tobin, 63, have been in a relationship for 20 years. When they first met at a bar in the Shinjuku district in Tokyo, Ohashi, a makeup artist, barely spoke English, and Tobin, an American professor in the business department at Keio University, didn't know much Japanese....
COMMENTARY / World
May 15, 2010

Don't write Labour Party off

In an ironic twist, just as the Democratic Party of Japan government is considering importing elements of the Westminster model, British politics begins turning Japanese.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / Japan Pulse
May 14, 2010

No Konbini No Life: instant maze-soba

Maze-soba is the latest ramen trend to make it to konbeni shelves. If you're desperate, it might hit the spot but there's nothing like the real thing.
COMMENTARY / World
May 13, 2010

A turning point in Thailand

BANGKOK — Massive occupations of two areas of central Bangkok the past two months show that the rise of Thailand's "red shirt" protesters is one of the most significant developments in Asia in 25 years, as it signals a new type of conflict involving entrenched elites and millions of workers who have...
BASKETBALL / NBA / NBA REPORT
May 12, 2010

Dragic a breath of fresh air in today's NBA

NEW YORK — Every so often in a game, but more likely in practice, the lefty-dealing Goran Dragic would do something freaky with the ball or reveal an unearthly move comparable to the inimitable Manu Ginobili and his Suns teammates would look at each other "Like, whoa!"
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
May 7, 2010

New Wave icons Plastics plan summer gigs

For artists in the late 1970s and early 1980s, New York was definitely where it was at and Japanese band the Plastics were among those who found themselves right at the heart of that heady scene.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
May 7, 2010

Maruni/Zaku: Here's the beef, in vintage style

Like so many casual eating/drinking spots opening in these cash-strapped times, Maruni keeps things simple and cheap. It's basically a standing bar serving yakiniku barbecue, with a brightly lit interior and retro wooden facade. What sets it apart from just about any other place of its kind is that the...
JAPAN
May 5, 2010

Secondhand market grows

When Chie Matsumoto buys anything — from a DVD player to golf goods to a telephone — she now chooses secondhand goods because brand-new items aren't necessarily what she needs.
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL: KEYES' POINT
May 5, 2010

Rusuban: The family oni is left holding the fort

"Daddy, when I grow up I wanna be a kyabajō (キャバ嬢, nightclub hostess)!"
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / VIEWS FROM THE STREET
May 4, 2010

What's your opinion of the conversation school industry in Japan?

COMMUNITY / Our Lives / CLOSE-UP
May 2, 2010

Renho: Japan's fiscal firebrand

Renho, a first-term Upper House member from the ruling Democratic Party of Japan, shot to stardom in Japan last November when, as a member of a government committee tasked with screening ministries' budget requests, she had several fierce, face-to-face battles with bureaucrats.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Apr 30, 2010

Only got 4Minutes to take the world

T he five young members of 4Minute sit dressed in tight, black leather outfits at a luxury hotel in Ebisu, Tokyo. It's one day before their Japanese debut, but they show no signs of nerves.
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design / ON: DESIGN
Apr 29, 2010

Everything is not as it seems

Nendo gains weight in Milan
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Apr 25, 2010

Book makes real those whose lives led them to become homeless

When I was living in Kyoto in the late 1960s, I would often see homeless people along the banks of the Kamo River. They generally lived under the bridges in structures made of cardboard and blue sheeting. Having seen many homeless people in my native Los Angeles, I was particularly struck by the neatness...
Japan Times
LIFE
Apr 25, 2010

Tabi-maker steps out in style

Ryo Yonehara is the 30-year-old president of Tabi-ji, a Nara-based company making and selling tabi (traditional Japanese split-toe footwear).
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 23, 2010

Thailand's political and social elite in denial?

BANGKOK — Thailand's political and social fabric is fraying. Indeed, the country's future looks as shaky as it has never been.

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