Search - things-to-do

 
 
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Jan 14, 2006

Houses with faux fur lining

It's that time of year for me to give "gaijin" instructions on how to survive the subzero temperatures in Japan. Those inside your house, that is.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WORDS TO LIVE BY
Jan 10, 2006

Kazuhiko Hachiya

Artist Kazuhiko Hachiya, 39, is president of PetWORKs, a small company with nine employees. According to him, they "do big things in a funny and cute way." His company is behind the popular mail software PostPet, in which animated characters deliver the mail; the hit doll Momoko; and it is now venturing...
EDITORIALS
Jan 8, 2006

A bear who's aging well

Eighty years ago this year, a stuffed bear was brought downstairs by a small English boy named Christopher Robin -- "bump, bump, bump, on the back of his head" -- to be introduced to the world in the first of two books starring the amiable, slow-witted creature. The world got one look at Winnie-the-Pooh...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / CLOSE-UP
Jan 8, 2006

Shigeaki Hinohara: Doctor of reforms

Even at the age of 94, Shigeaki Hinohara's mind and memory are so clear as to put some of his medical students to shame. And even despite being Japan's best-known and most highly acclaimed physician -- and chairman of the board of trustees of prestigious St. Luke's International Hospital in Tokyo --...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Jan 7, 2006

Buddhist-Christian feminist to speak out at retreat

The Amago Sanso Retreat from Jan. 27 to 29 on the Izu Peninsula may see sparks fly! It will be the 49th annual celebratory gathering of Christian women from all over Japan and other parts of Asia, the same age -- synchronistically -- as its controversial keynote speaker, Hyun Kyung Chung.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / PERSONALITY PROFILE
Jan 7, 2006

Pamela Weinsaft

A young lawyer on her own in Tokyo, Pamela Weinsaft feels securely independent and completely at home here. She first came to Japan in 1995 to study for a semester at Temple University Law School in Tokyo. She said: "Perhaps 10 years ago, Japan seemed more 'exotic,' but I think one of the things that...
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Jan 3, 2006

Lawsuit-free land a myth

Japan is not renowned for its courtroom dramas. But occasionally a landmark ruling does make the front pages.
EDITORIALS
Jan 1, 2006

The certainty of more unknowns

In a Zen-like moment, U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld produced the following pearl of wisdom: "There are known knowns; there are things we know we know. There are known unknowns; that is to say, we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns -- the ones we...
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 28, 2005

INEPT LEADERSHIP CONTINUES

HONG KONG -- A controversial plan to extend democracy in Hong Kong died Dec. 21 when the legislature failed to pass it by a big enough majority. Hopes of true democracy in the special region of China have thus been put into deep freeze, with recriminations reverberating from Hong Kong to Beijing and...
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Dec 27, 2005

Finding a job after Japan

Rachel spent 3 1/2 years in Tokyo working for one of the big five conversation schools, before returning to the U.S. and working for the same company as a recruiter up and down the West Coast of the U.S.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WORDS TO LIVE BY
Dec 27, 2005

Donald Keene

One of the greatest scholars of Japanese literature, 83-year-old Donald Keene has spent the past 52 years in Japan, with the exception of his time spent teaching at Columbia University in New York, where, in 1986, The Donald Keene Center of Japanese Culture was established in his honor. So far he has...
Features
Dec 25, 2005

Haruki Kadokawa: Spirits of the Yamato

Haruki Kadokawa is the closest Japanese equivalent to fabled Hollywood moguls like Sam Goldwyn or Howard Hughes in their glory days as master promoters and unrepentant egotists.
SOCCER / PREMIER REPORT
Dec 24, 2005

Mourinho alienating everyone but his players, Chelsea fans

LONDON -- Jose Mourinho seems to have found the 30-hour day.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Dec 18, 2005

What did you read about Asia this year?

Donald Richie THE COLUMBIA ANTHOLOGY OF MODERN JAPANESE LITERATURE, edited by J. Thomas Rimer and Van C. Gessel (Columbia University Press) This new take on Japanese modern classics -- old standbys and lots of recent writing as well -- is big (864 pages and it's only the first volume). It includes examples...
Japan Times
Features
Dec 18, 2005

New chief puts paradise on map

Many dream of traveling the world and setting themselves up in a tropical paradise, but very few people make it happen. Even fewer get themselves appointed village chief of a remote Melanesian island in the process. But that's exactly what has happened to entrepreneur and art collector Ofer Shagan.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Dec 17, 2005

Japanese metal craft rings up to look like wood

Mary Fidler is pondering, wondering whether her logo as a designer, "mfide," rolls with sufficient ease off the tongue. It does, I assure her -- as long you know it sounds out phonetically as m-f-ide, and not m-fide.
COMMENTARY
Dec 15, 2005

Time for a Yasukuni deal

HONOLULU -- Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi remains in denial over the negative impact his continued visits to the controversial Yasukuni Shrine are having on Japanese and U.S. national security interests.
Japan Times
Features
Dec 11, 2005

Japan's new Wave

Japan and South Korea are like an old, bickering couple: Though they may want to part ways at times, their shared history and interdependency compel them to work things out. That, and they've got no place else to go.
BASKETBALL / NBA / NBA REPORT
Dec 7, 2005

Webber frustrated with role for 76ers

NEW YORK -- Philadelphia's Chris Webber didn't even try to hide his fury when replaced for defensive purposes down the stretch against the Knicks late last month. Everyone within earshot heard him berate assistant John Kuester, who's apparently responsible for such substitutions.
Japan Times
SOCCER / J. League
Dec 4, 2005

Fantastic finish

TODOROKI, Kanagawa Pref. -- Gamba Osaka clinched its first-ever J. League championship on a dramatic final day of the season Saturday, beating Kawasaki Frontale 4-2 as Cerezo Osaka conceded a last-gasp equalizer to FC Tokyo that denied it the title.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Dec 1, 2005

The reign of Vivienne

From being prosecuted under Britain's obscenity laws for her risque punk fashions to twirling pantyless after receiving an honor from the Queen whose image she once defaced with safety pins, Vivienne Westwood has always had a habit of causing controversy.
COMMENTARY
Nov 28, 2005

A ray of hope for Chinese progressives

HONG KONG -- The recent political rehabilitation of former party chief Hu Yaobang, whose death in April 1989 triggered massive student demonstrations in Tiananmen Square, is encouraging to the progressive wing of the Chinese Communist Party, even though there is little indication that the current leadership...
BASEBALL / MLB
Nov 10, 2005

Korean 'treasure' returns for Konami

For winning an unprecedented three MVP awards, Sun Dong Yol was called "South Korea's national treasure" when he was an active player. And even after his retirement, he still is respected by everyone.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Nov 10, 2005

The man in the photo

"Over 4,000 pictures!" the press officer shouts with enthusiasm over the phone the day after the opening of the most comprehensive exhibition of 65-year-old Nobuyoshi Araki's photographs to date.
EDITORIALS
Nov 8, 2005

Ending the zero-rate policy

In March 2001, the Bank of Japan set short-term interest rates at near zero, declaring that the nation's economy had entered a period of deflation. That extra-loose monetary policy, which is said to have had few parallels in the world, is likely to change next spring, because an upturn in consumer prices...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Nov 3, 2005

Pushkin delivers the goods

It's no secret what the mainstream art public really like -- soft, flowery Impressionism and cute, colorful Post-impressionism, with, possibly, a smattering of Picassos and Matisses thrown in to add grit. Hold a show with this kind of art, and you'll have to hang the paintings high so that people can...
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
Oct 28, 2005

Seibu shuns Matsuzaka's request

Seibu Lions ace right-hander Daisuke Matsuzaka made a fresh request to his team Thursday to let him pursue a career in the major leagues next year, but the answer was "no" again.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Oct 27, 2005

An early look at Tokyo Design Week

Fall in Tokyo signals the arrival of festival season, and none has gained as much international praise as the annual gathering of all things contemporary and stylish known as Tokyo Design Week (Nov. 2-6). With four concurrent events -- Tokyo Designer's Week, Swedish Style, and new comers 100% Design...

Longform

A sinkhole in Yashio, which emerged in January, was triggered by a ruptured, aging sewer pipe. Authorities worry that similar sections of infrastructure across the country are also at risk of corrosion.
That sinking feeling: Japan’s aging sewers are an infrastructure time bomb