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Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Feb 3, 2012

Botan: Put a little sukiyaki fire in your belly

On one side of the battered shōji screen with its panels of flimsy washi paper, the sleet and biting wind. On the other, a small old-fashioned hibachi brazier, its coals glowing softly. There's no contest: At Botan, the charcoal wins every time.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Feb 2, 2012

Tokyo Jihen "Color Bars"

Tokyo Jihen's first five albums have titles relating to types of television programming, "Sports" or "Variety" or "Adult." The Shiina-Ringo-led group's sixth album, though, is titled "Color Bars," after the rainbow lines that grace the TV screen during technical difficulties or dead-air time. It's a...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Feb 2, 2012

"Winter Exhibition of Netsuke Art by Jin Kuwabara"

Netsuke are decorative button-like toggles invented during the Edo Period (1603-1867) to fasten shut inro pill boxes and tobacco pouches that men wore hanging from their kimono sashes. They were usually made from ivory, wood, ceramics or deer antler and in the shape of animals or spiritual figures.
CULTURE / Art
Feb 2, 2012

"Winter Exhibition of Netsuke Art by Jin Kuwabara"

Netsuke are decorative button-like toggles invented during the Edo Period (1603-1867) to fasten shut inro pill boxes and tobacco pouches that men wore hanging from their kimono sashes. They were usually made from ivory, wood, ceramics or deer antler and in the shape of animals or spiritual figures.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Feb 2, 2012

DoCoMo to market Disney-themed smartphones from end of month

NTT DoCoMo Inc. and The Walt Disney Company (Japan) Ltd. on Wednesday unveiled smartphones featuring Disney brand characters and services that target women and families with small children.
COMMUNITY / Voices / HAVE YOUR SAY
Jan 31, 2012

International vs. Japanese school: Which is top of class for mixed kids?

Some readers' thoughts on the dueling Jan. 10 Zeit Gist columns by Charles Lewis ("Local Japanese school is the obvious choice if you want your child to fit in") and Lisa Jardine ("International education a triple-A investment in your child's — and Japan's — future"):
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle
Jan 31, 2012

Tsutaya's newest media center suits silver market to a T

To many Japanese, the name "Tsutaya" will bring to mind one very clear image: neon lights, blue-and-yellow signage, bestselling J-pop albums and late-night DVD rentals.
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Jan 29, 2012

In disparity-ridden Japan, don't mind the gaps — just get out of them

This is a nation of gaps.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Jan 29, 2012

Cultural treasures for all to see

There are outstanding tourist attractions throughout Tamil Nadu, and visitors to the gorgeous coastline can boost the local economy and enjoy themselves while learning a lot from locals about their post-tsunami experiences.
LIFE / Travel / Longform
Jan 29, 2012

Fukushima casts a shadow over India's industrial boom

The ongoing nuclear disaster in Fukushima has quashed once ambitious plans for the construction of new reactors in Japan. The government does, however, remain committed to promoting exports of nuclear reactors and technology as it sees huge potential in overseas markets.
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Jan 29, 2012

Unconventional thinking is the way forward for Japan

Yubari, Hokkaido, claims several distinctions, few of them enviable. It is Japan's only bankrupt city, and also its most elderly. Forty-one percent of its sagging population of 13,000 (down from 117,000 50 years ago) is aged 65 or over. That's of nationwide significance because within 40 years, Japan,...
JAPAN / CHUBU CONNECTION
Jan 28, 2012

Aichi's denizens warm to foreigners

Most Aichi residents like the idea of having many foreign residents living among them, according to a prefectural survey.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / Japan Pulse
Jan 27, 2012

Companies connect with free mobile apps

With mobile apps, both clever and practical, innovative companies glom onto fans and potential customers.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / HOTELS & RESTAURANTS
Jan 27, 2012

Conrad Tokyo offers beauty plan

Together with French luxury skin-care brand Orlane Paris, the Conrad Tokyo is offering a special accommodation plan focusing on beauty called "Beauty Hunter Conrad Meets Orlane," throughout 2012.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jan 26, 2012

Witnessing China's new cultural revolution

Chinese culture is on the long, slow rebound. Back in 1989, the Chinese government was shocked by the sudden appearance in Tiananmen Square of an icon of Western culture. This was a ten-meter-tall statue created by protesting students that was modeled on the Statue of Liberty, and called the "Goddess...
CULTURE / Art
Jan 26, 2012

Witnessing China's new cultural revolution

Chinese culture is on the long, slow rebound. Back in 1989, the Chinese government was shocked by the sudden appearance in Tiananmen Square of an icon of Western culture. This was a ten-meter-tall statue created by protesting students that was modeled on the Statue of Liberty, and called the "Goddess...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / STRANGE BOUTIQUE
Jan 26, 2012

Shibuya style with an Akihabara twist?

Shibuya-kei was one of the defining features of the music and fashion scenes of the 1990s, and it helped spawn the idea of "Cool Japan."
CULTURE / Art
Jan 26, 2012

Japan's role in the 19th-century modernization of Chinese art

Last year was an excellent one for engaging Chinese art in western Japan. A series of exhibitions got underway with the airing of the Ueno Collection at the Kyoto National Museum in January, the superlative holdings of the Osaka Municipal Museum of Art and the Sumitomo Collection housed at Sen-oku Hakuko-kan...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jan 26, 2012

Japan's role in the 19th-century modernization of Chinese art

Last year was an excellent one for engaging Chinese art in western Japan. A series of exhibitions got underway with the airing of the Ueno Collection at the Kyoto National Museum in January, the superlative holdings of the Osaka Municipal Museum of Art and the Sumitomo Collection housed at Sen-oku Hakuko-kan...
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital / TECH_JAPAN
Jan 25, 2012

Sony and Fujitsu take Japan into the battle for global smartphone dominance

Last year was the year that finally saw Android phones achieve booming growth all over the world, including here in Japan. But thus far, Japanese manufacturers have yet to crack the top tier of smartphone makers, as South Korea's Samsung and the Taiwanese HTC have led the charge thus far. But at the...
Japan Times
LIFE
Jan 22, 2012

What to call baby?

While clearing closets at my parents' house in Nara in December following my mother's death the month before, I came across a large square card in a pile of old documents. A snapshot of a baby looking at a birthday cake was glued in the center of the card, and I recognized that it was me at the time...
Japan Times
JAPAN / CHUBU CONNECTION
Jan 21, 2012

Three prefectures' trash flowing down to isle

Discarded trash and other debris is being carried by rivers running through Aichi, Gifu and Mie prefectures and washing ashore on Toshi Island in Ise Bay, an Environment Ministry study found.
Japan Times
JAPAN / CHUBU CONNECTION
Jan 14, 2012

Aichi hospital to launch training center for robot-assisted surgery

Robots are increasingly being used in cancer surgeries nationwide.
BUSINESS
Jan 14, 2012

Builders tap postdisaster rush for quake-resistant homes

Ken Saishoji, a Tokyo real-estate agent, used to answer questions from potential apartment buyers about the proximity to train stations and prices, but that changed after the March disasters.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / HOTELS & RESTAURANTS
Jan 13, 2012

Cooking lessons for kids in Osaka

The Ramada Osaka has started offering cooking classes for children ages 12 and under at the hotel's Neuf Neuf cafe, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jan 13, 2012

"Beauty in Miniature: Modelers of Classic Cars and Motorcycles"

This exhibition features scale models of classic cars and motorcycles that have been built from scratch, a technique known as "scratch building." Since no model kits are used, this technique involves thoroughly researching real vehicles, sourcing suitable materials and making all the parts. Creating...
CULTURE / Art
Jan 13, 2012

"Beauty in Miniature: Modelers of Classic Cars and Motorcycles"

This exhibition features scale models of classic cars and motorcycles that have been built from scratch, a technique known as "scratch building." Since no model kits are used, this technique involves thoroughly researching real vehicles, sourcing suitable materials and making all the parts. Creating...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink
Jan 13, 2012

Kansai eateries offer new flavors for 2012

Businesses in cities around Japan seem to open and close at an alarming rate — and a new year inevitably means new restaurants. Here's a guide to some dragonly new and recent arrivals in the Kansai strongholds of Kyoto and Osaka.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jan 13, 2012

Bearing witness to brutality in 'Devil's Double'

"Should I ask him whether it's true or not?" That's the question I had for my editor regarding my interview with Latif Yahia, the Iraqi exile whose story about being the lookalike body-double for Saddam Hussein's psychotic son Uday has been parlayed into a best-selling book and a movie. "Probably," said...

Longform

After pandemic-era border regulations eased, Indian migrants began returning to Japan. Their population now stands at more than 50,000 across the country.
How remote work is rewriting the migrant experience in Japan