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Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / HOTELS & RESTAURANTS
Oct 1, 2010

Four-star dinner from three regions

The Mandarin Oriental, Tokyo's Michelin-rated one-star restaurant Signature will be offering a Michelin Star Trilogy dinner, combining the gastronomy of Tokyo with the French cities of Lyon and Nice from Oct. 6 to 10.
Japan Times
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Oct 1, 2010

Arabic calligraphy: Let ink make you think

Calligraphy has always been popular in Japan, but some people here are now attracted to an imported, yet equally profound, form of the traditional art: Arabic calligraphy.
Japan Times
JAPAN / CHUBU CONNECTION
Sep 25, 2010

Public taking hands-on interest in archaeology

When it comes to promoting archaeological excavations, it isn't just the resulting artifacts that are being featured — institutions are increasingly highlighting the sites and the research process itself.
JAPAN / LIVING IN LUXURY
Sep 24, 2010

A taste of Spain in Shinjuku Ward

Just outside Wakamatsu-Kawada Station on the Oedo subway line in Shinjuku Ward, Tokyo, stands an elegant building with cream-colored exterior walls and an entrance with a modern canopy decorated with a motif of grapes.
BASKETBALL / BJ-LEAGUE NOTEBOOK
Sep 24, 2010

Hill's Apache unveiled in victory over Saitama

HANNO, Saitama Pref. — Every season must begin with a game. But few games can create as much intrigue as the one that took place on Monday in this small city beautified by lush green mountains.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Sep 24, 2010

Band A to headline Fukuoka club crawl

Fukuoka recently ranked 14th in U.K. magazine Monocle's annual "Most Livable Cities Index." Alt-rock duo Band A are unsurprised their city fared so well.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Sep 24, 2010

Hard-knock life leads to magic music

In 2004, Renaud Barret and Florent de la Tullaye ditched their respectable jobs in France and headed to Kinshasa. In the ruined capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo, a country just emerging from one of postcolonial Africa's worst conflicts, they felt strangely at home. "We were like mad dogs in...
LIFE / Style & Design / Japan Pulse
Sep 21, 2010

First-class train designs

Japan takes pride in its trains and Eiji Mitooka certainly goes the extra mile in his designs for the new N700-7000 series of Sakura shinkansen.
Japan Times
JAPAN / CHUBU CONNECTION
Sep 19, 2010

English school Web series debuts

A group of foreign filmmakers in Aichi Prefecture has been working on a Web series, which are still unusual in Japan, by joining forces with 10 students at the Nagoya University of Foreign Studies.
CULTURE / Books
Sep 19, 2010

Dastardly doctor with a mean scalpel and a heart of gold

It is probably not excessive to say that every Japanese male between the ages of 15 and 40 knows Black Jack, the outlaw surgeon who features in the series of comics that Osamu Tezuka created in the 1970s and early 1980s — comics that remain (thanks in part to movies and TV) popular today.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Sep 17, 2010

'Kimi ga Odoru, Natsu (The Summer You Danced)'

Melodramas have been a staple of Japanese film for decades, proving over and over the observation that Japanese audiences, more than anything else, love a good cry. I've gone to screenings where the women sitting around me take out their handkerchiefs even before the lights go down. The men start blubbing...
Japan Times
BASKETBALL / HOOP SCOOP
Sep 17, 2010

Apache facing tough start with extended road trip

The bj-league's sixth season begins on Oct. 16, but the Tokyo Apache's first home game isn't until Jan. 6 at Yoyogi National Gymnasium No. 2.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Sep 17, 2010

Maison Bretonne: All for the love of Breton galettes

Isn't it about time that galettes — those skinny, savory, nut-brown buckwheat pancakes born in Brittany but now ubiquitous in French cuisine — took this country by storm?
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Sep 17, 2010

New exhibition anticipates a design museum for Japan

In March, with the opening of the Design Museum Holon, Israel added its name to a long list of countries that have at least one full-fledged museum dedicated to design. Japan, despite its reputation as a design powerhouse — hard-earned during the 20th century by innovative work such as Sony's Walkman,...
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital / TECH_JAPAN
Sep 15, 2010

Facebook is sidelined in Japan as social network battle heats up

In July, the number of active users on social networking site Facebook worldwide surpassed 500 million. More than 60 percent of Internet users in the United States have signed up with the site, and its presence has reached into almost every country on Earth. You might think that Facebook is taking over...
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Sep 15, 2010

196 more reasons to explore Heisig's imagination

Last spring, the bar was raised for kanji learners aiming to attain literacy in Japanese through mastery of the general-use (jōyō) kanji, when the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology announced the addition of 196 characters to the original list of 1,945 official jōyō kanji...
JAPAN
Sep 14, 2010

U.S. airlines squeezed as Haneda goes international

Haneda airport will open up to international flights next month as Japan works to maintain Tokyo's status as an Asian travel hub. But it comes with a big catch for U.S. airlines that have been squeezed into the least convenient time slots.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Sep 14, 2010

Web series taps comedy, drama of eikaiwa

Teaching English is hilarious! At least, it is now: A new Web TV show starting Thursday will attempt to show the lighter side of eikaiwa, as Japan newbie Tom Kellerman (Jonathan Sherr) finds his feet in the world of "English Teachers."
Japan Times
JAPAN / CHUBU CONNECTION
Sep 11, 2010

Farmers see salvation in hunting

In many parts of the country, wild animals are being targeted for food as well as to protect farmers' crops.
JAPAN / LIVING IN LUXURY
Sep 10, 2010

Royal trappings grace Akasaka Guest House

People who visited the Grand Prince Hotel Akasaka in Chiyoda Ward, Tokyo, may have stepped into the old two-story Guest House, which stands behind the 40-story main hotel.
Japan Times
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Sep 10, 2010

Fukuoka festival features top Asian films

Fukuoka turns the camera on Asia this month during the "Focus on Asia — Fukuoka International Film Festival 2010."
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art / ART BRIEF
Sep 10, 2010

'What's Going on in Your Head When You're Dancing'

Laforet Museum Harajuku
JAPAN / Media / Japan Pulse
Sep 9, 2010

Japan's depilation revolution: Smooth skin is in for men

A variety of hair-removal products sprout up for men wanting smooth skin.
LIFE / Digital / TECH_JAPAN
Sep 8, 2010

Shinkansen chopsticks add dash of otaku goodness to lunch

One of the more popular items to come out of Japan last year was Kotobukiya's "Star Wars" Light Saber Chopsticks, which made the rounds on popular tech blogs such as Gizmodo, Wired and TechCrunch's CrunchGear. And while they might not have "the force" (nor the brand power) of any "Star Wars" product,...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Sep 7, 2010

U.S. Navy 'Friendship Festival' draws line at the French

Could it be that the Friendship Day festivals held at the U.S. Navy Negishi Housing Base are not as friendly as the name suggests?
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 5, 2010

Enemies of mosque tread a dangerous road

WASHINGTON — Opposition to the plans to build a mosque near ground zero, the spot where the World Trade Center's twin towers fell on Sept. 11, 2001, comes in various shades. To their credit, many of the project's opponents have avoided the crass bigotry that is becoming a standard trait of rightwing...
Japan Times
JAPAN / CHUBU CONNECTION
Sep 4, 2010

Long-distance bus carriers' rivalry heats up in Nagoya

Competition in the highway express bus industry is heating up as more and more people look for ways to cut domestic travel costs.
Japan Times
BASKETBALL / BJ-LEAGUE NOTEBOOK
Sep 3, 2010

Hill, Apache set to open training camp in Texas

Before a single shot is taken in the season's first game, every team knows the following:
EDITORIALS
Sep 2, 2010

JAL revival plan takes flight

Japan Airlines Corp. and its bankruptcy administrator, the state-backed Enterprise Turnaround Initiative Corp. of Japan, submitted a rehabilitation plan to the Tokyo District Court on Tuesday. This marks the start of JAL's full-scale efforts to reconstruct itself.

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