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EDITORIALS
Dec 5, 2012

Disaster raises safety concerns

The Sunday collapse of a portion of the ceiling of the Sasago Tunnel on the Chuo Expressway in Yamanashi Prefecture, crushing three vehicles and killing at least nine people, has raised serious and widespread concern about the safety of road tunnels throughout Japan. This accident clearly was caused...
Japan Times
JAPAN / CHUBU CONNECTION
Dec 1, 2012

Transit firms offering themselves up as movie, TV locations

Public transit firms in the Chubu region are getting stars in their eyes as they turn to a new strategy to attract customers.
BUSINESS / YEN FOR LIVING
Nov 30, 2012

For teachers, the business of education has become even more of a business

Private high schools are relying more and more on part-time teachers.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Nov 30, 2012

'Karasu no Oyayubi (Crow's Thumb)'

Genres come with expectations, often advertised right on the poster. The one for Tadafumi Ito's "Karasu no Oyayubi (Crow's Thumb)" shows star Hiroshi Abe and his supporting cast looking well dressed and mostly wised-up, which makes good genre sense since they are playing con artists plotting to cheat...
CULTURE / Music
Nov 29, 2012

2.5D wants to change how you see Japan

A crowd much smaller than solo-guitarist Miyavi is accustomed to has gathered to hear an intimate set at the 2.5D studio in Shibuya's Parco Part 1 building. About a third of the 80 or so people have gathered around the stage so close that they can almost touch the artist. They don't try, of course,...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHO'S WHO
Nov 27, 2012

Expert laments Japan's limits on craft beer culture

Ry Beville's love of craft beer has developed into an occupation in which he publishes Japan's only bilingual craft beer magazine.
CULTURE / Books
Nov 25, 2012

Introducing the irreverent, unconventional Ryokan

SKY ABOVE, GREAT WIND: The Life and Poetry of Zen Master Ryokan, by Kazuaki Tanahashi. Shambhala, 2012, 224 pp., $17.95 (paperback) It is fitting that the first poem in this book features Ryokan's nod to the most famous of Japanese poets:
Japan Times
JAPAN / CHUBU CONNECTION
Nov 24, 2012

'Temple Yoga' class drawing in young women

Inhale. Exhale.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / EVERYMAN EATS
Nov 23, 2012

Japan's white-collar feeding grounds

Forget izakaya, soba restaurants and divey Chinese eateries — if you really want to see salarymen in mass munching mode, catch them in their natural habitat at the office shokudō (cafeteria), where colleagues rub shoulders daily over a tray of freshly made rations. Besides delivering sustenance to...
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / HOTELS & RESTAURANTS
Nov 23, 2012

Christmas drinks in Yokohama; 'One Piece' promotion at Le Daiba; Mandarin Oriental sake sommelier awarded

Holiday-theme drinks in Yokohama The lobby lounge Seawind on the second floor of the Yokohama Bay Sheraton Hotel and Towers is celebrating the holiday season by offering special drinks through Dec. 31.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Nov 19, 2012

Following delays and tight supplies, Nintendo launches new Wii U home console in U.S. market

Nintendo Co. began selling its Wii U home console in the United States on Sunday amid tight supplies and delays in implementing a new TV-viewing service, aiming to prove it can still succeed by marrying its hardware to exclusive software.
JAPAN / CHUBU CONNECTION
Nov 17, 2012

Medical interpreters in growing need

As Filipino Anamaria Ogahara can testify, going to a hospital in a country whose language you don't speak fluently can be a highly challenging and unnerving experience.
Events / KANSAI: WHO & WHAT
Nov 17, 2012

Free kimono fitting by professionals in Toyonaka

Offering a slice of traditional Japanese culture, professional fitters will help non-Japanese dress in kimono Nov. 25 in Toyonaka, Osaka Prefecture.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Nov 16, 2012

'Woody Allen: A Documentary'

Given that Woody Allen pours so much of himself into his films — despite his protests to the contrary — can we really expect to learn more from a documentary? Director Robert B. Weide ("How to Lose Friends & Alienate People") attempts to dig deeper in "Woody Allen: A Documentary," an over-arching...
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital / TECH_JAPAN
Nov 14, 2012

The return of Furby; Minnie sleeps over

Takara-Tomy has a habit of producing or distributing weird and wacky toys that incorporate interesting uses of technology, and two of its most recent releases are no exception.
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design / ON: FASHION
Nov 13, 2012

Designer Cynthia Rowley hits the double digits

New York-based designer Cynthia Rowley celebrated her brand's 10th year in Japan with a special talk show and cocktail dinner for VIP guests during Tokyo Fashion Week. The Barrington, Illinois, native's name has long been on the lips of American sportswear fans with her bright and feminine takes on casual-to-cocktail-style...
Japan Times
JAPAN / CHUBU CONNECTION
Nov 10, 2012

Cooking oil's second life: biodiesel

Japan has seen an increase in efforts to recycle used cooking oil — a byproduct of supermarkets and cafeterias — as biodiesel to use as a substitute for light diesel oil fuel for vehicles.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Japan Pulse
Nov 9, 2012

Today's J-blip: Otoshidama Kit Kat

Money's yummy, but how about a otoshidama Kit Kat?
Japan Times
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Nov 9, 2012

Grandson of famed noh actor to debut

Many young artists experience a make-or-break moment in their careers. For 24-year-old noh actor Motoi Imai, his debut as the shite (lead) character in the production of "Tsunemasa" could be that moment.
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Nov 9, 2012

Cultural institute hosts symposium, concert on postquake art scene

On Nov. 16, the Goethe-Institut Tokyo will host an event titled "Die Niemandsklänge" ("The Sounds of Nobody"), which will feature a symposium and a concert focusing on artistic expression in Japan following the Great East Japan Earthquake of March 11, 2011, and the ensuing nuclear disaster.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Nov 9, 2012

'Poulet aux Prunes'

Iranian expat author/artist Marjane Satrapi had a breakthrough hit with "Persepolis," her graphic novel about growing up in revolutionary Iran, and she teamed up with director Vincent Paronnaud to bring her story to the big screen in 2007. It worked fantastically well, fully retaining the unique black-and-white...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Nov 7, 2012

Overseas Japanese museums' representatives share ideas in Yokohama

Museums dedicated to the history of Japanese emigrants are increasingly becoming important for their descendants to understand the history of their ancestors as they become integrated in the societies they live in, according to participants of a recent symposium in Yokohama.
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital
Nov 7, 2012

This year's must-have gadget is a 7-inch tablet, but which one?

With the recent closely-timed releases of new tablet devices by Apple, Google and Amazon, the battle for control of the 7-inch tablet market has turned into an all out war. And with Japanese cellphone carriers wading into the fray by releasing tablets in the local market, it's easy to get shell-shocked...

Longform

Tetsuzo Shiraishi, speaking at The Center of the Tokyo Raids and War Damage, uses a thermos to explain how he experienced the U.S. firebombing of March 1945, when he was just 7 years old.
From ashes to high-rises: A survivor’s account of Tokyo’s postwar past