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Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER
Dec 9, 2004

Long-tailed tit

* Japanese name: Enaga * Scientific name: Aegithalos caudatus * Description:The long-tailed tit is a small, fluffy, pinkish bird; it would be the Bridget Jones of the bird world if only it were better fed. The flanks and shoulders are pink-brown; the eyes red; the wings black; and the tail, which is...
BASEBALL / MLB
Dec 9, 2004

Sasaki's deal with BayStars is the richest ever in NPB

Yokohama BayStars closer Kazuhiro Sasaki confirmed the terms of his final contract year with the Yokohama BayStars on Wednesday and revealed that he earned 650 million yen in the 2004 season, making him the highest-paid Japanese ballplayer in history.
BUSINESS
Dec 9, 2004

Vodafone Japan chief vows to catch up

Vodafone's Japanese unit is aiming to become the country's second-largest mobile phone carrier, the mobile giant's new president said Wednesday.
JAPAN
Dec 8, 2004

'Sesame Street' making waves -- in Japanese

Rena Mizushiro sits in a cramped position with other puppeteers as she works her character, Teena, to sing in a scene about Elmo's birthday in "Sesame Street."
Features
Dec 5, 2004

Revealing 'The Japanese Sensibility': Intimacy

To punish men for their sins The smoothest skin The longest black hair All that Is me
JAPAN
Dec 5, 2004

Chanel opens boutique in Ginza to long lines

Chanel launched a boutique Saturday on ritzy Chuo-dori in Tokyo's Ginza district, with 200 people lining up before the doors opened at 11 a.m.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Dec 3, 2004

Nintendo fires first shot in new console war

Nintendo Co. launched its DS portable video game console Thursday, gearing up for a yearend sales battle with Sony Computer Entertainment Inc., which plans to release its PlayStation Portable later this month.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Dec 2, 2004

Opening of new Haneda terminal heats up air war

With the Wednesday opening of a new terminal at Tokyo's Haneda airport, the nation's two main airlines have launched yet another fierce battle to woo domestic passengers with new services.
COMMENTARY
Dec 2, 2004

Risks to secular government

MANILA -- In the Cold War era, the global confrontation was basically ideological. Two radically different socio-political blueprints were pitted against each other: democracy and capitalism on one side, one-party-rule and communism on the other. The opponents, then, were two superpowers and their allies...
LIFE / Digital / NAME OF THE GAME
Dec 2, 2004

The biggest game of the year

I look at "Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas," a new urban crime role-playing game for the PlayStation 2, about the same way I might view gorgeous graffiti painted on my front door.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Dec 1, 2004

Wanting a piece of the rebel

Aoi Kuruma Rating: * * * * (out of 5) Director: Hiroshi Okuhara Running time: 90 minutes Language: Japanese Currently showing [See Japan Times movie listings] Plenty of Japanese directors are making films about the way the young live now, so many that I could probably fill this space...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art / NEW ART SEEN
Dec 1, 2004

Instruments of invention

It has been 91 years since Luigi Russolo published his manifesto "The Art of Noises," in which the Italian Futurist implored, "We must break out of this narrow circle of pure musical sounds and conquer the infinite variety of noise sounds."
Japan Times
Features
Nov 28, 2004

WATCHING THE DETECTIVES

On a rainy Saturday night in the neon-drenched streets of Shinjuku, Kenji Shimura looks like 1,000 other salarymen: off-the-rack black suit, sensible shoes and a face made for anonymous middle-management in an insurance firm.
Japan Times
Features
Nov 28, 2004

Revealing 'The Japanese Sensibility': Modernity

Who was this man who wrote, "When I die I forbid the erection of anything resembling a monument, and if erected I am vehemently opposed to any words being engraved into it, and if people must engrave words into it I absolutely despise when they gush on and on, because I'd rather that someone just rolled...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Nov 28, 2004

Kaki King: "Feet to Make Us Longer"

Guitar virtuosos often sacrifice melodic beauty for string-bending technique. Many guitar-lovers' CDs sound more like showy practice routines than musical statements. Kaki King's sophomore release, "Feet to Make Us Longer," like her debut, "Everybody Loves You," avoids this pitfall. Her stunning guitar...
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Nov 26, 2004

Into Nagoya and onto Inuyama

As a destination, Nagoya is not the biggest tourist magnet, yet there is reason enough for dawdling here instead of just whisking through on the Shinkansen.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / BEST BAR NONE
Nov 26, 2004

Where creative juices flow in Tokyo

Time Magazine recently proclaimed SuperDeluxe, a gallery and lounge space near Roppongi, as one of the best 100 spots in Asia. When it comes to Tokyo venues, I'd put it in my top three. But SuperDeluxe is no overnight sensation. It is a rare flower that has been skillfully nurtured since its seeds were...
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Nov 25, 2004

Newswomen to push digital terrestrial TV

The Internal Affairs and Communications Ministry named six female newscasters Wednesday as "ambassadors" to promote digital terrestrial broadcasting, which will mark its first anniversary Dec. 1.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER
Nov 25, 2004

Spoonbill

* Japanese name: Herasagi * Scientific name: Platalea leucorodia * Description: Spoonbills are tall white birds with long legs, similar to egrets, but fatter. The legs vary from pink-gray to black. They have a defining characteristic: a long black bill that forms a spoon shape at the end. The body...
Japan Times
Features / WEEK 3
Nov 21, 2004

Walking back to happiness

Ever since the 1970s, when "jazzercise" and jogging became a national craze, America has trotted out a long list of health gurus, with Richard "Sweatin' to the Oldies" Simmons, Jane Fonda, Cindy Crawford and Paula Abdul among those going gold with their exercise videos.
Japan Times
Features / WEEK 3
Nov 21, 2004

Stepping off the money-go-round

Being part of a worldwide grassroots "festivity" later this week comes at a price, of course -- but the price is no price at all, because Nov. 27 is "Buy Nothing Day," and all you have to do is spend no money.
Features / WEEK 3
Nov 21, 2004

Lolitas' bard is sitting pretty

The morgue-like, air-conditioned lobby of Tokyo's Keio Plaza Hotel is the haunt of businessmen in crisp black suits who sip $10 coffees and nod along to conversations that never rise above a murmur. But the studied cool is broken when Novala Takemoto swishes in, drawing faces in his direction like sunflowers...
Features / WEEK 3
Nov 21, 2004

Discordant notes...

Bacteriologist Hideyo Noguchi (1876-1928), who became a star researcher with the Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research in New York, was a great man. He was so great that he is now the face on the new 1,000 yen bill issued Nov. 1.
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design / COUNTER CULTURE
Nov 19, 2004

Ginza bites the Big Apple

American fashion institution Barneys New York has finally found a place to call home in Tokyo. Opened last month in Ginza, this is the first flagship store in Japan for the prestigious Big Apple retailer. Operated by Isetan, Barneys has been in Japan for over a decade, but fans in Tokyo have had to settle...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Nov 14, 2004

LDP crew want credit where credit isn't due

It's easy to believe that once a person becomes a politician, he tends to lose touch with everyday reality as it's lived by the majority of citizens since he's usually too busy looking after his own interests. Nevertheless, a recent remark by Tsutomu Takebe, the secretary general of the Liberal Democratic...
Japan Times
Features
Nov 14, 2004

A snapper's-eye view

Fashion is all about image, so it is no surprise that the men and women driving the looks from behind the camera often become some of the most powerful and in-demand people in the business.
Japan Times
Features
Nov 14, 2004

'Supercasual' Tokyo at odds with fashion elite

The Spring/Summer 2005 Tokyo Collections -- the autumnal tranche of the biannual extravaganza of fashion shows presented by the Council of Fashion Designers, Tokyo, along with their vernal offering in April -- has just wound up giving the press and buyers a preview of what more than 30 Tokyo-based designers...
Japan Times
Features
Nov 14, 2004

Suit yourself Savile Row-style at a price to match

If there is one garment that is ubiquitous throughout the land, it is the business suit. And, if there is one spot on this big, friendly planet that can be referred to as its home -- in its unadulterated form -- it is London's Savile Row.
Japan Times
Features
Nov 14, 2004

A marathon of motley collections

After Paris, London, New York and the rest of the fashion world has heaved a sigh of relief and headed home to ruminate on another season's offerings, Japan's style-setters tardily gird their loins to endure the farcically fragmented nonevent that is Tokyo Fashion Week.

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