Search - features

 
 
JAPAN / CHUBU CONNECTION
Mar 10, 2012

Chubu reactor safety improvements mixed bag

The Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant crisis prompted the government to ask untilities nationwide to draw up mid- and long-term countermeasures against future earthquakes and tsunami.
BASKETBALL / BJ-LEAGUE NOTEBOOK
Mar 9, 2012

With playoff spot already locked up, powerhouse Kings take on Albirex

With 14 games remaining, the Ryukyu Golden Kings have already clinched a playoff spot.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / KANPAI CULTURE
Mar 9, 2012

Tohoku's sake breweries one year on

The narrow, winding road that leads to Senkin Shuzo, a small sake brewery in the tiny town of Iwaizumi, Iwate Prefecture, is icy and treacherous. The train lines that used to connect Iwaizumi to Morioka, the nearest major city, were closed after landslides dislodged the tracks last summer. Yuri Yaegashi,...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Mar 8, 2012

Moja "Super Ultra Gold 79"

Since its 2006 formation, Tokyo two-piece Moja has strived to make its mark globally by showcasing a bass-and-drums-driven brand of rock 'n' roll at music festivals and club gigs in the United States, Canada, England, Italy and Hong Kong. The band's 2009 eponymous debut was recorded in Virginia, and...
Japan Times
JAPAN / CHUBU CONNECTION
Mar 3, 2012

Ice phenomenon warms up hearts in the Lake Suwa region

To the delight of local residents this winter, an elevated line of cracked ice appeared on the frozen surface of Lake Suwa in Nagano Prefecture for the first time in four years.
Japan Times
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Mar 2, 2012

Boat show stresses awareness

If you're looking forward to a summer of marine sports or fishing, this might be the place to start. The Japan International Boat Show 2012 is currently underway in Yokohama and will continue through Sunday.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Mar 2, 2012

'Hugo'

'Hugo" is in 3-D, rated PG in the United States and features two 12-year-olds traipsing around a 1930s Parisian train station. All the ingredients for a cozy Disney picture, but in actual fact this is a Martin Scorsese movie, which picked up five Oscars at last weekend's Academy Awards.
CULTURE / Art
Mar 1, 2012

The varied colors of artistic process

There is a misconception about the avant-garde artist. It is routinely assumed by the general public that they are fountains of creativity, bristling with ideas and inspiration. A couple of major retrospectives at Tokyo's Museum of Contemporary Art, however, challenge this view.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Mar 1, 2012

The varied colors of artistic process

There is a misconception about the avant-garde artist. It is routinely assumed by the general public that they are fountains of creativity, bristling with ideas and inspiration. A couple of major retrospectives at Tokyo's Museum of Contemporary Art, however, challenge this view.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media
Feb 26, 2012

AV stars out to play despite hard times

Since her steamy debut in late 2008, adult-video (AV) actress Kokomi Naruse has starred in hundreds of features, many of which find her playing a young girl desired by older men.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / BACKSTREET STORIES
Feb 26, 2012

Venturing into the zone on Showajima

In his "Meditation XVII," the English Metaphysical poet John Donne wrote in 1623 that "no man is an island, entire of itself." Well, yes — but some islands are entirely more manly than others.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Feb 25, 2012

Multilingual ex-professor pours all his energy into translation, writing

Curled up in his German grandfather's library, the young Charles De Wolf looked up from the pages of Goethe to dream of the cobblestoned streets of Europe.
JAPAN / CHUBU CONNECTION
Feb 25, 2012

Centrair gearing up for a busy summer of travel

Starting in late March, the number of international flights at Central Japan International Airport, also known as Centrair, will return to what they were before the Lehman Brothers collapse in September 2008, reaching 294 per week when airlines switch to their summer timetables.
BASKETBALL / BJ-LEAGUE NOTEBOOK
Feb 24, 2012

Knight still wonders why no team would give him shot

As the playoff chase picks up steam in the coming weeks, several bj-league general managers could be shaking their heads and asking themselves, "Why didn't I sign Billy Knight?"
Reader Mail
Feb 23, 2012

Don't make light of 'center exam'

In the Feb. 3 opinion article "Exam forces students to cram irrelevant facts," was the writer, professor Julian Dierkes of Canada, looking at the same national university exam that I took?
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Feb 23, 2012

té "Oto no Naka no 'Keiren Teki' na Bi wa, Kannen wo Koe Nikutai ni Otozureru Yasei no Senritsu"

Since debuting with its 2005 full-length album, "Naraba, Imi kara Kaiho Sareta Hibiki wa 'Oto' Sekai no Shinen wo Kataru," Tokyo-based instrumental-rock group té has given its subsequent records (and track titles) similarly lengthy names. Former bassist Masahiro Watanabe was the man behind the gimmick,...
BASKETBALL / NBA / NBA REPORT
Feb 22, 2012

Smith's track record cause for concern

On a one-week assignment with the Nuggets last season in full anticipation of Carmelo Anthony exclusively spilling his guts to me about every aspect of his life and forthcoming destination, I accompanied the team on its charter to Phoenix.
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Feb 21, 2012

Tokyo Skytree opener looms large

Tokyo Skytree, the world's tallest free-standing tower, is already a Sumida Ward landmark and will become even more so when it opens in May.
COMMENTARY
Feb 20, 2012

New leads emerge in battle against Alzheimer's

Dementia is a general term that describes the decline in mental activity severe enough to interfere with daily activities. Of several types of dementia, Alzheimer's disease is the most common type, accounting for an estimated 60 to 80 percent of cases.
Japan Times
LIFE / WEEK 3
Feb 19, 2012

Surfing the silent waves

As a young documentary filmmaker, Ayako Imamura had been wrestling with feelings of emptiness. Deaf since birth, the 32-year-old Nagoya native has shot about 30 short films documenting the lives of deaf people in Japan since 2000. But at one point in her career, she realized that her creative energy...
Japan Times
BASKETBALL / ONE-ON-ONE WITH ...
Feb 19, 2012

Setoyama says team play has Kyoto on pace for Final Four

The Japan Times features periodic interviews with players in the bj-league. Kyosuke Setoyama of the Kyoto Hannaryz is the subject of this week's profile.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / WILD WATCH
Feb 19, 2012

An ode to Japan's magnificent Sika Deer

Deep powdery snow is to a Sika Deer what a stage covered with fluffy feather pillows would be to a top-ranking ballerina. Both lead to loss of grace and floundering, for slim-footed deer and ballerina alike.
Japan Times
JAPAN / CHUBU CONNECTION
Feb 18, 2012

Nagoya aid for tsunami-hit city starts to pay off

A shiitake grower farmer in disaster-hit Rikuzentakata, Iwate Prefecture, is working to cultivate a sales channel in the Chubu region, while a Nagoya-based civil engineering company launches an office near the Tohoku city.
Japan Times
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Feb 17, 2012

Okinawa summit gets animated

For anime-aficionados across the nation, a little weekend getaway to Okinawa may be the perfect way to spend this coming Sunday.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / HOTELS & RESTAURANTS
Feb 17, 2012

Wake refreshed at the Pan Pacific

The cold, dry winter can be utterly exhausting, so the Pan Pacific Yokohama Bay Hotel Tokyu is offering special accommodation packages for women to have a relaxing time, through March 15.

Longform

A small shrine perched atop rocks braves the waves hitting the shoreline during a storm in Shimoda, Shizuoka Prefecture. The area is under threat of a possible 31-meter-high tsunami if an earthquake strikes the nearby Nankai Trough.
If the 'Big One' hits, this city could face a 31-meter-high tsunami