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Japan Times
BASKETBALL / HOOP SCOOP
Jan 23, 2011

Washington, Rauf bans smack of a double standard

Osaka's Lynn Washington and Kyoto's Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf, two of the league's marquee players, served one-game suspensions last Sunday for separate incidents. Talk about a double dose of bad publicity for the bj-league.
Japan Times
JAPAN / CHUBU CONNECTION
Jan 22, 2011

Frenchwoman follows pearl of destiny to Japan

A Frenchwoman who was fascinated by the shine of Japanese pearl works has come here all alone to master the skill from an artisan.
Japan Times
BASKETBALL / BJ-LEAGUE NOTEBOOK
Jan 21, 2011

Hill, Blackwell poised for All-Star Game clash

Coaches with contrasting careers will lead their respective conferences during the bj-league's 2010-11 All-Star Game on Sunday in Osaka.
JAPAN
Jan 21, 2011

Osaka Hanshin store starts annual whale sale: 3 tons of Atlantic hunt

Hankyu Hanshin Department Stores Inc. kicked off its annual whale meat sale Thursday in central Osaka.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jan 21, 2011

The Mornings reveal new depths on debut

"I was in a mosh pit at (Tokyo concert venue) Koiwa Bushbash when Shingo landed on top of me and dislocated my shoulder."
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jan 21, 2011

A shot of Ardbeg in temple grounds

There's a faint scent of incense as you crawl through a knee-high door into a pebble-filled corridor that leads into a white igloo-like space, just big enough to fit three people. "This is my meditation room," says Akiyoshi Taniguchi, the curator who is introducing Kurenboh, a tiny modern gallery located...
Japan Times
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Jan 21, 2011

National Film Center holds French film fest

For many, new year is a time for reflection. A chance to look at the past with fond, albeit critical hindsight. A film festival in Tokyo is doing just that by ringing in 2011 with a retrospective look at French cinema from the last two decades.
BUSINESS
Jan 21, 2011

Nintendo chief sees 'rocket start'

Nintendo Co.'s president predicted a "rocket start" to U.S. sales of the 3DS hand-held game machine, boosted by the device's high-definition graphics and titles showcasing its features.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art / WEEK 3
Jan 16, 2011

Calligraphy writ large takes in choreography, too

Japanese calligraphy is a challenge at the best of times. So why go to the trouble of using a piece of paper as large as the side of a bus, and a brush that's almost two meters long and weighs 50 kg?
Japan Times
JAPAN / CHUBU CONNECTION
Jan 16, 2011

Tired businesspeople pepped up with quick-fix intravenous drips

A Nagoya salon providing intravenous drips containing various vitamins and other health supplements is attracting many businesspeople as a quick way to get rid of work-induced fatigue.
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Jan 16, 2011

Love 101; lymphedema in Japan; CM of the week: Z-kai

This season's coveted Monday night, 9 p.m., Fuji TV drama slot is filled by "Taisetsu-na Koto wa Subete Kimi ga Oshiete Kureta" ("You Taught Me All the Important Things"), which stars Erika Toda as a high school English teacher.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jan 14, 2011

'Due Date'

Radio stations tend to broadcast live material with a seven- second delay on their signal, so they can have a brief window to censor people dropping "F"-bombs and the like. Comedian Zach Galifianakis isn't really worried about being offensive — see "The Hangover" — but it often feels like there's...
LIFE / Language / KANJI CLINIC
Jan 12, 2011

2010 was a sizzling-hot year for kanji

From June through August of last year, Japan experienced its highest average temperatures on record. So the overwhelming choice of 暑 (atsu-i, sho, hot weather) as Kanji of the Year for 2010 came as no surprise. Day after sweltering day, the nation collectively moaned, "Atsui, atsui!" (「暑い、暑い!」...
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital / TECH_JAPAN
Jan 12, 2011

A tiny digital camera, video memos made easy and a cat-shaped hand warmer

A tiny camera for tiny photographers. From the folks over at Green House comes a fun new toy camera. With a classic design available in three colors (black, brown and white) the new GH-TCAM30C (right) is the latest of the company's diminutive Mini Digi cameras. This could be a perfect camera for kids,...
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / BACKSTREET STORIES
Jan 9, 2011

The narrow roads of Senju

In the frantic yearend season known as shiwasu (lit. "teachers running"), when even dignified people grow harried, a friend invited me to play hooky from the madness and take a ramble together around her Tokyo neighborhood. Since the gift of time together is a great one, I hopped the next train to Senju...
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT
Jan 9, 2011

Are Japan's fish lovers eating tuna to extinction?

Pick up a newspaper in Japan these days and you'll almost always find a story in it about the state of bluefin tuna somewhere in the world.
Japan Times
JAPAN / CHUBU CONNECTION
Jan 8, 2011

Tokai firms test mettle of migrants from Brazil

On the shop floor of a factory filled with the telltale scent of welded metal, Japanese-Brazilians are working hard to produce filtering tanks for lubricating oil.
JAPAN
Jan 8, 2011

Subculture inspires young male cross-dressing trend

He's a 52-year-old medical doctor who goes by the name Ayaka Ogawa when living out his cross-dressing fantasies of being a woman in her mid-40s.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jan 7, 2011

Buzz overseas spells success at home

For Japanese music acts, success abroad has traditionally been the reserve of noise-rock bands such as Boredoms and Melt-Banana, for whom potential barriers like language or cultural disparities do little to hinder their pursuit of abstraction. More conventional Japanese indie bands have traditionally...
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / HOTELS & RESTAURANTS
Jan 7, 2011

New Year's lobster lunch course

The Hotel East 21 Tokyo is serving a New Year's Ise-ebi (Japanese spiny lobster) lunch course at its Chinese restaurant Toen through Jan. 31.
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital / TECH_JAPAN
Jan 5, 2011

The best of last year's games and looking forward to 2011

Last year was a rough one for Japan. China overtook the country as the world's second largest economy, yet another prime minister upped and resigned and the economy was stagnate as ever. Things weren't much better for the game industry.
Japan Times
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Dec 28, 2010

Kabuki going strong, 400 years on

The media frenzy over kabuki star Ichikawa Ebizo's drunken midnight brawl in Tokyo last month may be a testament to how, 400 years after its birth, the genre remains a highly popular form of entertainment integral to Japanese culture.
Japan Times
JAPAN / CHUBU CONNECTION
Dec 25, 2010

Nagoya's 'recycled veggies'

It has been three years since a project to grow vegetables using compost made of untreated garbage from local supermarkets, school lunches and restaurants was started in Nagoya.
LIFE / Travel / HOTELS & RESTAURANTS
Dec 24, 2010

New Year's Eve celebrations

On Dec. 31, the Park Hyatt Tokyo is offering a night of elegance at its New York Grill & Bar on the 52nd floor, allowing you to bring the year to a close with breathtaking views of the Tokyo skyline.
JAPAN / Media / Japan Pulse
Dec 20, 2010

Trends in Japan 2010: yama boom

2010 was the year in which young women, clad in brightly colored Gore-Tex, were drawn to mountain hikes and natural power sports.

Longform

Juzo Itami’s “Tampopo” was released Nov. 23, 1985, and though it wasn’t a hit at the time, it has gained a cult following in the years since.
Eat, slurp, love: 'Tampopo' turns 40