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Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER
Mar 8, 2006

Japanese huchen

* Japanese name: Itou * Scientific name: Hucho perryi * Description: A huge fish, a member of the salmon family, the Japanese huchen grows up to 1 meter long. Also known as the Sakhalin taimen, it is Japan's largest freshwater fish. Its size alone is distinctive enough (folk stories tell of huchens...
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle
Mar 7, 2006

'One size fits all' -- if only it were true

Picture and pity this: A woman holds up a sweet pair of the latest jeans in a shop mirror . . . only to see the reflection of her own thighs bulging out from behind.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / THE SECOND ROOM
Mar 3, 2006

Psychedelic radar 03.03

Saturday, March 4
LIFE / Language
Feb 28, 2006

To learn the Japanese language, get pod-agogical

With Internet blogs beginning to challenge traditional print media, it was only a matter of time before a new medium broke radio's traditional choke hold on free audio programming. Enter podcasts, the downloadable MP3 audio files that feature mixes of music and chatter created by amateurs worldwide....
Japan Times
Features
Feb 26, 2006

Tales of two cities

The seeds of political tension in Xinjiang are not hard to find.
Japan Times
Features
Feb 26, 2006

Dateline: Xinjiang

Our plane looked new and well maintained, but as we headed off into the void on the atlas far, far to the northwest of Shanghai, I still wondered if I had made a mistake by not buying some of the "Air Unexpected Insurance" on offer at the airport.
JAPAN
Feb 24, 2006

OhmyNews to hit Japan through Softbank tieup

Softbank Corp. has announced it will contribute 693 million yen to form a joint venture with South Korea's OhmyNews Co. in Tokyo in March to publish a Japanese edition of the online news service.
BUSINESS
Feb 24, 2006

Honda hopes Zest helps spice up its minicar lineup

Honda Motor Co. unveiled the Zest minivehicle Thursday, aiming to survive in the increasingly competitive domestic minicar market.
CULTURE / Music
Feb 24, 2006

Likkle Mai "Roots Candy"

As a member of Dry & Heavy, one of Japan's best-known dub-reggae outfits, Likkle Mai shared stages with the likes of Lee "Scratch" Perry and Horace Andy and wowed crowds at festivals such as Britain's WOMAD festival and Fuji Rock. "Roots Candy" -- the Japanese singer's first solo outing -- sees Mai creating...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art / NEW ART SEEN
Feb 23, 2006

Kiyosumi galleries: Optimistic in Tokyo's east

Painting, photography and installations from emerging and experienced artists have made for a strong start to the Kiyosumi galleries' first spring season.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER
Feb 22, 2006

Signal crayfish

* Japanese name: Uchida zarigani * Scientific name: Pacifastacus leniusculus * Description: Crayfish look like small lobsters. Despite their name, they are not fish, but freshwater crustaceans. They have a segmented body, up to 20-cm long, with 10 legs and a hard exoskeleton that they must molt as they...
Japan Times
Features
Feb 19, 2006

Wolf in sheep's clothing

With more power than an F1 Ferrari, Honda or McLaren, souped-up Nissan Skyline saloons have been the Japanese street racer's weapon of choice for decades. More recently, the sedate-looking Skyline's street cred has gone global, with Australia and Britain in particular reverberating to the roar of Japan's...
Japan Times
Features
Feb 19, 2006

One man's drive to clean up the Earth

Every foreigner in Japan learns one thing pretty quickly: This being the land of harmony, courtesy trumps candor. Hanging back works best, everywhere and every time.
Japan Times
Features
Feb 19, 2006

An innocent abroad brings his twisted genius to Japan

I first heard about Momus, the alter-ego of the Scottish musical maverick Nick Currie, in 2002, when a writer friend directed me to an article that Currie had written on the coolness of Tokyo's up-and-coming Nakameguro district.
BUSINESS
Feb 17, 2006

Corporate character goods harness power of 'cute'

A traditional seasoning flies off store shelves after the bottles begin sporting a cartoon panda. A droplet-shaped character turns a little-known manufacturer into a household name.
JAPAN
Feb 16, 2006

Ogasawara forest reserve to expand

The Forestry Agency said Wednesday the Ogasawara Islands' forest ecosystem reserve will be expanded, a move meant to have the island chain registered as a natural World Heritage site, officials said.
Japan Times
Features
Feb 12, 2006

Refuge of Last Resort

It is 9 o'clock on a freezing winter's morning in Sanya, eastern Tokyo, a blighted downtown district that was once famed as a day laborers' mecca. Now, it is home to thousands of aging men on welfare.
JAPAN
Feb 8, 2006

Rise in elderly offenders graying prisons

There are still plenty of metal bars and handcuffs. But prisons these days have some new features -- like wheelchair-friendly stair ramps, handrails in the bathrooms and nurses trained to spoon-feed inmates.
BUSINESS
Feb 8, 2006

Toshiba touts fastest, densest chip

Toshiba Corp. said Tuesday it has developed a new chip that features the world's fastest operating speed and highest density.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER
Feb 8, 2006

Mud shrimp

* Japanese name: Ana-jako * Scientific name: Upogebia major * Description: Mud shrimps are 10-cm-long decapod crustaceans, which means they have 10 legs and a hard outer shell. They also have two pairs of antennae, of which one pair is very long. The animal is whitish in color, with large dark-brown...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Feb 5, 2006

When building bridges becomes a fruitless endeavor

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi prides himself on his plain-spoken approach to politics. His popularity guarantees that people listen to everything he says, and because what he says tends to be simple it has the power of a pronouncement, regardless of whether or not it makes any sense.
BUSINESS
Feb 3, 2006

New games bring more people to video consoles

There may be no monsters to slay or racing cars to spin, but new video games that claim to stimulate the brain or translate languages are being snapped up by a new crowd of gamers.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / WALKING THE WARDS
Feb 3, 2006

Counting Nakano among the best

There's no better word than "counter" to encapsulate Nakano, a ward in Western Tokyo. It's an area of counterculture, counterintelligence, casino-card counters and, of course, lunch counters; perhaps even a place where you might find your counterpart in life.
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Feb 3, 2006

Tableware,pottery fest

A variety of tableware will be displayed at the Tableware Festival 2006, to be held at Tokyo Dome Feb. 4-12.
BUSINESS
Feb 2, 2006

Nissan issues all-new Moco in bid to tap minicar shift

Nissan Motor Co. launched a fully remodeled version of the Moco minivehicle Wednesday that is being supplied by Suzuki Motor Corp. on an original equipment manufacturing basis.
EDITORIALS
Jan 29, 2006

Much ado about an old Chinese map

A little squall ruffled the staid world of historical scholarship earlier this month after a Beijing lawyer and amateur collector produced a tattered, bamboo-paper map that at first glance appeared to undermine an axiom of Western history. The map, which Mr. Liu Gang said he bought in a Shanghai bookshop...

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