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Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Jun 18, 2010

Lack of funds fail to stop Tokyo's young theater brigade

As a promising playwright, director and actor, 31-year-old Junichi Hirota highlights a cruel fact running through Japan's theater world — namely that once technicians such as lighting engineers, sound people and set-builders are paid from box-office profits, there's often little or nothing left for...
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle / Japan Pulse
Jun 12, 2010

Pulse Rate: 'Free rent' pricing aims to fill up empty apartments

To fill the dead spot in the annual real estate calendar, realtors have taken to renting apartments at low, low rates.
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
May 25, 2010

Nova visas; seeking U.S. citizenship

Reader SB was working for Nova and his visa runs out next fall.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
May 21, 2010

Enjoy the company of Ryoichi Yamazaki's reluctant 'hoodies'

The typical white cube gallery is not unlike a sumo ring. Both are bare, sanctified spaces, where we can stare intently at the participants' strenous efforts to impress. While the dohyo is purified by salt, the antiseptic agents in the case of the white cube gallery are white paint, light and an attitude...
Japan Times
LIFE / WEEK 3
May 16, 2010

Globe-trotting Brit sets a new 'Guinness' record for itchy feet

If a thing is worth doing, it's worth doing under ludicrously difficult, not strictly necessary, self-imposed rules. Such was the thinking of 31-year-old Graham Hughes when, stewing on the details of a long-dreamed of plot to visit every country on Earth, he decided to add a bit of hot sauce: He would...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
May 11, 2010

Japan zines: Never mind the bloggers

Koenji is a nice, quiet place in the suburbs, but venturing along its Kitanaka Street one weekend last March, you could not have missed the commotion coming out of Shirouto no Ran No. 12. Crammed inside this small rental space, dozens of people were poring over, discussing and exchanging piles upon piles...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
May 7, 2010

Isolation brings The xx out to the world

LIVERPOOL, England — Every so often a band arrives, seemingly from nowhere, out of left field and fully-formed, with a sound, image and narrative so flawlessly off-kilter that once discovered, you wonder how you ever did without them.
LIFE / Digital / Japan Pulse
May 4, 2010

Dog's new best friend: microblogging

Fur Peace brings the canine crew into the microblogging fold.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
May 1, 2010

An artist's love affair with ceramics

Ceramic artist Swanica Ligtenberg returned from her native Holland in early January with a new sense of purpose. She no longer felt an outsider in a family of goldsmiths and silversmiths, because in speaking with her uncle — still creatively active at age 91 — she realized that the roots of his and...
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle
Apr 29, 2010

Why cook food when it is better for you raw?

Sixteen years ago, the Boutenkos were a family in crisis. Mother Victoria was overweight and depressed. Her husband, Sergei, had arthritis. Their teenage son was battling diabetes, while their daughter suffered from asthma.
LIFE / Digital
Apr 14, 2010

Tech pushes Japan's music scene; industry won't budge

The music business reinvents itself every 20 years or so — basically every time a new format comes down the pike. But the industry has never faced the kind of fundamental challenge presented by the digital file-sharing revolution.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Japan Pulse
Apr 2, 2010

Crowd-sourcing sakura viewers

For decades it was the Japan Meteorological Agency's duty to keep on eye on the nation's pink sakura front. Now it's up to everyone.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Japan Pulse
Apr 2, 2010

Tools you can trust for the perfect hanami

Cherry-blossom viewing parties don't always go as planned but new mobile apps reduce the risk of a hanami fail.
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
Mar 30, 2010

Quick questions, answers

Some quickies:
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST
Mar 20, 2010

Here comes the never-ending season

The season is here . . . again. As if it ever ended.
BUSINESS
Mar 6, 2010

Toyota secretive on 'black box' data

SOUTHLAKE, Texas — Toyota has for years blocked access to data stored in devices similar to airliner black boxes that could explain crashes blamed on sudden unintended acceleration, according to an Associated Press review of lawsuits nationwide and interviews with auto crash experts.
JAPAN / Media / Japan Pulse
Feb 12, 2010

QR code breaking out of the box

Companies and municipalities are still finding new ways to unlock the potential of QR codes in Japan.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Jan 24, 2010

Eschewing the cheerlessness of modern-market memoirs

Those who have read Donald Keene's 1996 memoir "On Familiar Terms" may wonder whether it was necessary for him to bring out another that covers much the same ground. One suspects that Keene published "Chronicles of My Life" simply because he had been asked to write a series of columns about his life...
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / HOTELS & RESTAURANTS
Jan 22, 2010

Royal Park stay with flavor of old Edo

The Royal Park Hotel in Nihonbashi, Tokyo, is offering a plan that combines a one-night stay in an executive floor room and dinner in one of the area's long-established Japanese restaurants, through March 31.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jan 15, 2010

'The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo'

A French critic in Cannes once remarked that European horror movies are different from Hollywood products in that "they are properly horrific." And that certainly fits the bill for Swedish movie "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo" (released in Japan as "Millennium") — a brave undertaking by director...
BASKETBALL / NBA / NBA REPORT
Dec 16, 2009

Donaghy's claims don't stand up to scrutiny

NEW YORK — Originally, Tim Donaghy says he bet on 13 NBA games he refereed. Presently, the contention is 47, all but 10 resulting in wins by the point spread, or by picking the over-under.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST
Dec 12, 2009

The most annoying Japanese word

Several weeks ago a poll from the Marist Institute of Public Opinion — one that was slingshot quickly across the Internet — listed "whatever" as the most annoying of all English words.
CULTURE / Japan Pulse
Dec 4, 2009

The Complaints Choir: Denounce to the Music

Mad as hell and not going to take it any more? Let a choir lift your complaint to the heavens.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / BACKSTREET STORIES
Nov 29, 2009

Kichijoji captivations

Kichijoji has shopping covered, literally and figuratively. The roofed malls at this popular stop on the Chuo Line 15 minutes west of Shinjuku sport prices markedly lower than those of central Tokyo, and the lure of its bargains is easily as strong as its famed live jazz and blues scene.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / ON: DESIGN
Nov 26, 2009

Designer standouts perfect for holiday gifts

With another Tokyo Designers Week now behind us, this month we take a look at a few of our favorite items from the event, some of which might just make the perfect Christmas gift.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / VIEWS FROM THE STREET
Nov 24, 2009

How can the government encourage more tourists to visit Japan?

Midori Tsunekawa, 59 Housewife (Japanese)Tourist organizations in every prefecture should offer free or low-cost English-speaking guides. They could show visitors around and help them experience Japan, while teaching them about our culture and customs.
Reader Mail
Nov 22, 2009

Blog posts can be so much noise

Although I found the Nov. 18 article "Lets kensaku — searching the Web in Japanese" interesting, it didn't tell me anything I was not already aware of. I was hoping it would address the biggest problem I have when doing Japanese-language searches online: search results primarily comprising people's...
BASKETBALL
Nov 18, 2009

Rising Suns set for team tryouts

The Rising Suns are looking for men's basketball players for the 2010 Quai 54 International Streetball Championship in France. Sponsored by Air Jordan, it is billed as the largest annual streetball tournament in the world.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Nov 13, 2009

Warp Records hits the big 2-0

Sheffield has come on a long way over the past 20 years. England's one-time "City of Steel" was, in the dying days of Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher's era, a pretty grim place to be, its factories shuttered and its high streets desolate. Today, it presents a cleaner, more affluent — and, some might...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Japan Pulse
Oct 30, 2009

An artsy Octoberfest weekend in Tokyo

This may be Tokyo Design Week, but there are a number of interesting art events worth your time as well.

Longform

Ichiro Suzuki, one of the most iconic players in NPB and MLB history, was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame with 99.7% of the vote.
With Hall of Fame induction, Ichiro makes himself heard loud and clear