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LIFE / Digital / TANGLED WEBS
Mar 13, 2003

Poorly laid plans go astray

Let's admit it -- we made a mistake. It seemed like a good idea at the time, but we screwed up. It's time to make things right and repeal the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Feb 28, 2003

Celebrated geisha's tell-all a hot item

The mystery of the geisha, with their painted faces and elaborate kimono, has long been a source of fascination for people worldwide. But it has also led to fantasies and misunderstandings about their true roles.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Jan 12, 2003

A price on their heads

Help wanted: Able-bodied, handsome men required to wine and dine as many women as their schedules permit; some extracurricular cosseting may be called for. Educational requirements: None. Salary: Enough to make a salaryman gag.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Aug 21, 2002

Universal comedy without errors

Hold on to your seats: We're going back to the essence of theater -- entertainment. "The Kyogen of Errors," directed by and starring 36-year-old Mansai Nomura, is a fitting way to celebrate his five-year appointment as artistic director of the Setagaya Public Theater (SEPT), which was announced two weeks...
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital / NAME OF THE GAME
Aug 15, 2002

Don't mess with the Maori

You may not know it, but Sony Computer Entertainment has an American game arm -- aptly known as Sony Computer Entertainment America.
LIFE / Digital / NAME OF THE GAME
Jul 18, 2002

'Wrestlemania X8': stone-cold fun

In America, every demographic has its own form of entertainment. For cultured people, there is opera and polo. For the teaming masses, there is World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), an entire league of behemoth men and scantily clad women brawling on a nightly basis to thrill and titillate the beer-and-pork...
LIFE / Digital / NAME OF THE GAME
Jun 6, 2002

Lessons learned from E3 gathering

Few people could have been happier to see the end to this year's Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) than Douglas Lowenstein, president of the Interactive Digital Software Association (IDSA).
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Apr 7, 2002

The trickle-down effect

It's late in Tokyo's Yurakucho district, and the pachinko parlors clustered here have shut off their garish neon signs. The consoles through which the game's trademark metal balls are sent cascading have gone quiet, and the hard-core players who hang on until closing time are scurrying out onto the pavement...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / J-POPSICLE
Apr 3, 2002

Still chasing their dream

And then there were two . . . Dreams Come True keyboard player Takahiro Nishikawa's announcement on March 24 that he had left the pop trio wasn't all that surprising. For a long time Nishikawa had been very much the odd man out in the DCT lineup, especially after his involvement in a car accident a few...
CULTURE / Stage
Mar 13, 2002

Forsooth, 'tis surely no great Shakes

"Shakespeare shakes you. The spear of his imagination shakes you, and the story shakes you," said Mark Rylance, artistic director of Shakespeare's Globe Theatre in London, in an interview for The Japan Times last October.
LIFE / Digital / NAME OF THE GAME
Feb 14, 2002

Utah host to more than Olympics

With the 2002 Winter Olympics happening in Salt Lake City, the world will recognize that Utah is America's greatest mecca for skiing. But Utah is also an exporter of video games.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Jan 13, 2002

Skeptics searching for super powers

The laziest attributes of Japanese TV come to the fore during the New Year break, namely, the over-reliance on repetitive talk-show formats, the use of quizzes to liven things up, and lots of amateur videos and old news footage.
BUSINESS
Jan 5, 2002

Yoshimoto hopes to give Chinese TV comic relief

OSAKA -- Yoshimoto Kogyo Co., a major Osaka-based entertainment company, plans to enter the comedy entertainment business in China, the president of the company said Friday.
BUSINESS
Dec 29, 2001

Household spending up 3.6%

Spending by wage-earning households rose an inflation-adjusted 3.6 percent in November from a year earlier, up for the second straight month, with a notable rise in spending on entertainment amid a decline in overseas travel, the government said Friday.
CULTURE / Music / JAZZNICITY
Dec 9, 2001

A rough guide to buried local treasures

Even though many jazz players in Japan do get a chance to record, it can sometimes be a challenge to find their CDs -- even in the biggest stores. With limited pressings and uneven distribution, last month's release from a popular live performer in Tokyo can be harder to find than an obscure 1950s hard...
JAPAN
Oct 30, 2001

Two people die, five hurt in Kabukicho massage parlor fire

Two people were killed and five others, including a firefighter, were injured in a Monday morning blaze in the Kabukicho entertainment district of Shinjuku Ward, Tokyo, the Tokyo Fire Department said.
CULTURE / Film
Oct 24, 2001

TIFF take 14

Japan has one of the largest film markets in the world. Accordingly, every year the Tokyo International Film Festival serves up world cinema on a grand scale, screening more than 140 films over the course of a week.
CULTURE / Music
Oct 10, 2001

I once was lost, but now I'm found

Radiohead's ascent to superstardom presents an interesting paradox. The English quintet's talent for creating infectiously melancholy pop was undermined by a clear ambivalence toward the value of such a talent. "This is our new song," singer-lyricist Thom Yorke sang in 1995, "Just like the last one/A...
JAPAN
Sep 2, 2001

Severity of injuries left doctors powerless

Most of the victims of a powerful gas explosion and fire in Tokyo's Kabukicho entertainment district early Saturday morning were dead before they reached hospitals in the metropolitan region, leaving doctors with no chance of saving them.
JAPAN
Aug 2, 2001

Koizumi's son to enter show business

The eldest son of Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi intends to debut in show business, joining an entertainment production company, industry sources said Wednesday.
COMMUNITY
Jul 22, 2001

When we had heroes

They were voices in the silence, stars in the night they showed the way and they showed what was right
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Jul 22, 2001

It's not always easy to see yourself as others do

On the face of it, the current controversy over Japanese history textbooks is just one more example of Japan not facing up to its militaristic past. On a deeper level, however, Korea's decision to forgo further liberalization of Japanese cultural imports until the offending texts are revised underscores...
LIFE / Digital
Apr 19, 2001

Has the Japanese market for video games peaked?

Sega closed several Japanese arcades last year, including a few of its flagship Joypolis entertainment centers. And according to Sega Enterprises President Hideki Sato, Sega's two biggest competitors in the arcade market, Taito and Namco, are about to close many of their arcades as well.
JAPAN
Mar 27, 2001

Ticket agencies join the digital age

Kyodo News The Internet set the scene, cellular phones followed, and now convenience stores have jumped on the bandwagon, drastically changing the way people in Japan buy tickets for concerts, plays and sports events.
JAPAN
Jan 27, 2001

Police announce date club crackdown

In an effort to crack down on telephone dating clubs that enable users to engage in sex with minors and child prostitution, the National Police Agency is planning to submit a bill to revise a law controlling the adult entertainment business, NPA officials said.
BUSINESS
Jan 3, 2001

Let Aibo tell you about brand image

Ku-Ku the kitten was top cat in the battle of the robo-pets in 2000, but guess which bionic beast got to snuggle up to Janet Jackson?
JAPAN
Dec 31, 2000

Guesthouse making enemies of tenants and neighbors

Advertisements for Apple House Co., a chain of low-budget guesthouses, tout it as the "biggest guesthouse in Japan" and play up its "no curfew, no key money and no guarantor required" policy.

Longform

The byzantine process for converting a foreign driver’s license into a Japanese one entails mountains of paperwork and significant stamina — unless you're a lucky license holder from a country or region where these requirements are waived.
Driving in Japan isn’t hard. Getting the license is.