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CULTURE / Music
Dec 8, 2006

Tom Waits "Orphans: Brawlers, Bawlers & Bastards"

Although his trademark raspy growl and love for schizophrenic concoctions of sound aren't for everyone, visitors to the whacked-out, downtrodden world of Tom Waits are rightfully mesmerized by its beauty and brilliance. With a persona that's equal parts grizzled farmhand, ringmaster and mad scientist,...
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design / COUNTER CULTURE
Dec 8, 2006

Sitting on the dock of the bay

Occupying a space comparable to that of Tokyo Dome, the newly opened Urban Dock LaLaport Toyosu is officially Tokyo's largest shopping mall.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art / CERAMIC SCENE
Dec 7, 2006

New forms of old traditions at the Japan Society

Over the past several years there have been quite a few exhibitions of Japanese ceramics overseas, but "Contemporary Clay/Japanese Ceramics for the New Century," which is now at the Japan Society Gallery in New York, is the most brilliant by far.
BUSINESS
Dec 6, 2006

Group asks YouTube to make copyright detector

A Japanese entertainment group has asked the popular video-sharing site YouTube Inc. to come up with a system that will prevent users from uploading videos that would infringe on copyrights, a group spokesman said Tuesday.
Japan Times
LIFE
Dec 3, 2006

Deep and meaningful dance

Dutch artists Monique van Kerkhof and Rob Oudendijk have performed in many unusual places -- a synagogue and a company office in New York, and in a huge dried-up reservoir and an art gallery in Japan. But until Nov. 18, they and fellow dancers they brought together had never before entertained an audience...
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM NEW YORK
Nov 27, 2006

U.S. democracy isn't a suitable export

NEW YORK -- The cover of The New Yorker the week after the Nov. 7 midterm elections showed a giant elephant statue being toppled, with people in the lawn way below jubilant and the White House beyond with the U.S. flag atop it at half mast.
Japan Times
LIFE
Nov 26, 2006

7 pearls of wisdom

YUUKI A time of change
Japan Times
LIFE
Nov 26, 2006

The Trip of a Lifetime

How much trouble can two errant JT columnists, seven female undergraduates from a Tokyo university, an ex-bush fighter and motley others get into during 10 days exploring the wilds of Namibia? Join Stephen Hesse, Hugh Paxton and their intrepid entourage for a lively, humorous and often touching adventure...
Japan Times
LIFE
Nov 26, 2006

The host with the most ... broken ribs

Take six Japanese, one Chinese, all young, female and studying law at Chuo University in Tokyo.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Nov 24, 2006

Netted by the charms of fishy Kochi

Arched around the underbelly of Shikoku and following the great indentation of Tosa Bay carved into that island by the Pacific, Kochi Prefecture is one of those places over which a sense of isolation has long seemed to hang.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art / NEW ART SEEN
Nov 23, 2006

Suspended in abstraction

'Maybe there are too many things in Tokyo," says Katsuhiro Saiki, "because for me, New York City is the only place where I can relax -- although I think it could be said that there are too many artists in New York City."
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER
Nov 22, 2006

Three-spined stickleback

* Japanese name: Hario * Scientific name: Gasterosteus aculeatus leiurus * Description: Small, perky fish, as adults sticklebacks are typically between 6- and 10-cm long. They have 30 to 40 lateral armor plates along their sides, and also three long dorsal spines that can be raised. * Where to find...
LIFE / Language
Nov 21, 2006

Net resources make light work of Japanese study

'When the tunnel where the border is long is passed through there was snow country."
Japan Times
LIFE / WEEK 3
Nov 19, 2006

Scourge of skinnies stands firm on fleshiness

A third of the models who appeared in Madrid's civic-sponsored Cibeles collections last year were banned from the same fashion event this September. The move -- which triggered debate in and beyond fashion circles around the world -- came after city officials declared that the women's extremely underweight...
Japan Times
LIFE / WEEK 3
Nov 19, 2006

Russian dolls warble in concert

On a recent Saturday evening in Tokyo's Shibuya district, I had the privilege of being the audience at a concert by 12 students from Tokyu Seminar BE school of continuing education.
Japan Times
LIFE / WEEK 3
Nov 19, 2006

Athletes extol sensation of 'iron calm' at the limit

People have been enjoying a wide variety of sports since at least the time of Ancient Greece. In the Athens 2004 Olympic Games alone, athletes competed in about 300 categories of 28 sports -- and the list seems to get longer every time.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Nov 18, 2006

Nintendo hopes for console comeback with wand-wielding Wii

Nintendo brought the world the mustachioed plumber Super Mario and has sold nearly 200 million Game Boy hand-held machines over the years. It's also been coaxing the elderly and other video-game novices to try out puzzles and virtual pets on its DS portables instead of the standard shoot-em-up and sports...
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design
Nov 14, 2006

Van Cleef & Arpels' 'Treasures,' Kate Moss in Tokyo, Oakley on Cat Street . . .

Sleeping beauties When Estelle Arpels and Alfred Van Cleef opened their first boutique on Paris' hallowed Place Vendome in 1906, one of France's most revered jewelry maisons was born.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Nov 12, 2006

Cameron Diaz presses all the right buttons for SoftBank

For some insight into the ruckus that SoftBank kicked up when it relaunched its mobile phone service with a zero-yen-per-call plan, check out its new ads and compare them with the competition's. NTT DoCoMo's ads showcase no less than seven famous personalities (eight if you count female comedy duo Othello...
Japan Times
LIFE
Nov 12, 2006

SF hero conjures memories old and new across the generations

A few months ago, Hiromasa Kaneko noticed that his son Hibiki had started pretending he was characters from "Ultraman Mebius" that he said the other children at his nursery in Tokyo's Meguro Ward were all into. But rather than just let his 4-year-old son copy his friends, Kaneko figured it would be better...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Nov 12, 2006

Ultraman . . . forever

The "Ultraman" live-action science-fiction series has been a rite of passage for Japanese boys (and a few girls) and their families for four decades now, since the first show was aired in 1966.
Japan Times
LIFE
Nov 12, 2006

Serious toys for serious fans

Ultraman is often cited as an example of just how different the Japanese outlook is from that of Westerners. While the bug-like eyes and clingy bodysuit of the hero himself may strike the uninitiated as ridiculous, it is the outlandish aspect of the monsters from whose wrath Ultraman is perpetually saving...
Japan Times
LIFE
Nov 12, 2006

Alien star flies off the shelves

Children's books typically feature anything from frogs or cats or pigs to dinosaurs and sometimes even people. Those authored by Tatsuya Miyanishi have all those -- but he's also written several books featuring Ultraman.
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design / COUNTER CULTURE
Nov 10, 2006

Gucci hits Ginza

Gucci's new home in Tokyo is the first store built specifically to house the Italian superbrand. Last week, Gucci opened the doors of an eight-story glass-and-steel flagship store in Ginza.

Longform

A small shrine perched atop rocks braves the waves hitting the shoreline during a storm in Shimoda, Shizuoka Prefecture. The area is under threat of a possible 31-meter-high tsunami if an earthquake strikes the nearby Nankai Trough.
If the 'Big One' hits, this city could face a 31-meter-high tsunami