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Japan Times
LIFE / WEEK 3
Dec 18, 2011

Hip-hop star gives designer a leg-up to fame

As a child growing up in mountainous Yamanashi Prefecture in the 1970s, artist Shojono Tomo had an irrational fear of using the brakes on her bicycle — though none whatsoever about riding just as fast as she could.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Dec 18, 2011

Cultures mingle amid Atami's hot springs

She was on a train from Tokyo to Atami in the summer of 1959 when the English travel writer Ethel Mannin "saw what I had read about and been told about but felt unable to accept until I had seen it for myself."
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media
Dec 18, 2011

How The Japan Times saved a foundering battleship, twice

Mikasa! The name of the mighty Japanese battleship will be as familiar to the world's naval historians as it is now to viewers of NHK's Sunday evening drama "Saka no Ue no Kumo" ("Clouds Over the slope"). It was the Mikasa that all but decided the fate of the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-05, when it led...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Dec 16, 2011

'Mission: Impossible — Ghost Protocol'

Cocky, sexy, brilliant and incredibly fit young men don't stay that way forever, right? Gets especially difficult past the age of 40, wouldn't you say? But in the case of Ethan Hunt — the main man of the "Mission: Impossible" franchise and one of Tom Cruise's most successful performances - the impossible...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Dec 16, 2011

"Communication: Visualizing the Human Connection in the Age of Vermeer"

During the 17th-century, Dutch painter Johannes Vermeer became renowned for his outstanding compositional and lighting skills. Under the theme of "letters," this exhibition features the work of Vermeer alongside that of other contemporaneous painters.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Dec 16, 2011

"Hideo Yoshihara: A Retrospective"

Hideo Yoshihara (1931-2007), a Hiroshima native, joined the Gutai group of experimental artists when it was founded in 1954. by Jiro Yoshihara, a distant relative of his. However, Hideo left the group the following year and joined the Demokrato Artist Association, where he was inspired to take up lithography...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Dec 11, 2011

Mr. Momoe Yamaguchi finally decides to speak

Last week a new movie called "Railways" opened in Tokyo. It's about a driver on a small rural electric train line who retires after 40 years and is sort of a sequel to a film with the exact same title released in 2010. That movie centered on a Tokyo executive who loses his job and decides to pursue his...
EDITORIALS
Dec 11, 2011

Is a girl or boyfriend worth it?

This year's Christmas date night might have plenty of vacant slots if a recent survey on Japanese relationships is correct. Fewer young people than ever before say they have a girlfriend or boyfriend.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Dec 11, 2011

It takes a supersize brain to drive a London taxi

Visitors to Japan often comment on the way taxi doors open as you approach — at the touch of a button by the driver; and that those drivers generally wear smart white gloves. I apologize for the competitive tone, but there is something far more remarkable about London taxis: their drivers.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Dec 9, 2011

"A Road Traveled by Feudal Lords and Pet Dogs: Hiroshige's Fifty-three Stations of the Tokaido, Primarily from the Hoeido and Reisho Editions"

A popular subject of literature and art during the Edo Period (1603-1867) was the journey along the Tokaido highway between Edo (present-day Tokyo) and Kyoto, the most famous depictions of which come from ukiyo-e (woodblock print) artist Utagawa Hiroshige (1797-1858). Hiroshige produced more than 20...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Dec 9, 2011

"Ito Kiyonaga: A Retrospective"

To celebrate the centenary of Kiyonaga Ito's birth, Hyogo Prefectural Museum of Art is holding a retrospective of the well-known painter's work. Born to a family who ran a Zen temple in Hyogo Prefecture, Ito (1911-2001) was expected to enter the priesthood. Instead, he chose to became a Western-style...
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle / Japan Pulse
Dec 8, 2011

New era for New Year's cards

It'll be nengajo time soon, and clever entrepreneurs have got you covered.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 7, 2011

Political earthquake in Osaka

Toru Hashimoto's huge victory in the Osaka mayoral election was undoubtedly a political earthquake. The question now is how sweeping and powerful will be the tsunami that follows. My worry is that Tokyo, and particularly the political and bureaucratic establishment, does not comprehend the tectonic forces...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / MIXED MATCHES
Dec 6, 2011

Pair's engagement blossomed in China

Kazunobu Seto and his wife, Robin, met in his hometown of Kanazawa, Ishikawa Prefecture, in 2004.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Dec 2, 2011

"Zohiko Urushi Art from the Mitsui Memorial Museum Collection"

By the late Edo Period (1603-1867), the Mitsui family had become one of the most powerful mercantile powers in Japan. After the Meiji Restoration of 1868, their business became Mitsui Zaibatsu, a successful financial business conglomerate until its dissolution after World War II.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Dec 2, 2011

"Flourishing Japanese Painting World in the Taisho Era"

During the Taisho Era (1912-26), the weak health of the Emperor led to a shift in power to the Diet of Japan and the nation's democratic parties. It became an era known as the Taisho democracy, when democratic and liberal movements became stronger and people placed more emphasis on individuality. These...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Dec 2, 2011

"Toshinose Kourei! Chushingura Ten: 'Kawaridane' Chushingura"

On Dec. 14, 1702, 47 samurai from Ako, in present-day Hyogo Prefecture, avenged the death of their master by attacking the mansion of the high official held responsible and killing him. "Chushingura," a historical tale of loyalty and the samurai code of ethics, is a popular story that is often dramatized...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Dec 1, 2011

Issues that covered up Japan's nudes

In his popular anecdotal encyclopedia of Japan, "Things Japanese," the 19th-century British Japanologist, Basil Hall Chamberlain, included the comment that "the nude is seen in Japan but not looked at." This reflected a reality in 1890, when the book was published: Nudity was not a big deal, at least...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Dec 1, 2011

'Ryoko Suzuki: "I am ..."'

Zeit Foto Salone Closes Dec. 17
CULTURE / Art
Dec 1, 2011

'Koko Ouou'

Satoshi Koyama GalleryCloses Dec. 24
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Nov 27, 2011

Publishers' ties to distribution a barrier for e-books

On Nov. 13, publisher Takarajima took out newspaper advertisements for its magazine-like book "Denshi Shoseki no Shotai" ("The Real Shape of e-Books"), describing it as a polemic "against electronic books." It includes input from Naoki Award winning novelist Miyuki Miyabe, who explains why she isn't...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Nov 27, 2011

Viral entertainment at full throttle

REAMDE, by Neal Stephenson. William Morrow, 2011, 1042 pp., $35 (paperback). Neal Stephenson's novels can be counted upon to offer two things: a lot of information and a lot of pages.
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Nov 27, 2011

Back home with Kotoshogiku; dramatized Minato novel 'Kyogu'; CM of the week: Toyota

The premise of the new variety series "Japan 47 Channels Super" (TBS, Wed., 9 p.m.) is to show viewers how great Japan is. The numeral in the title refers to the 47 prefectures, which means the themes are regional ones.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Nov 26, 2011

Keeping abreast of the bra trends in Japan

Oh fun, time for an annual breast examination. Not that there is any pain involved with the examination. It's finding time to go to the hospital that's tough.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Nov 26, 2011

Row, pedal or paddle, Briton bent on circling her way back to London

There are people for whom traveling means reading a guidebook on the couch in their home, or lounging by a swimming pool in a posh sea resort. Then there are those who, like Sarah Outen, can't wait to go out there and see the world, challenging themselves in the process.
BUSINESS / YEN FOR LIVING
Nov 25, 2011

Are digital newspaper subscriptions worth it?

Japanese newspapers still have cold feet when it comes to embracing their digital editions.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Nov 25, 2011

Friendly Fires to indulge pop pleasures on tour

Friendly Fires are happy to finally be back on home turf. It's no wonder, the year has been predominantly spent living out the tale of their song "Hawaiian Air," the highlight of second album "Pala" that typifies the trio's dance-pop vision while bemoaning the monotony of tour travel. Consequently, drummer...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Nov 25, 2011

'Les Amants du Flore'

Boy meets girl. They fall in love and decide to hook up — for the rest of their lives. But how can they make sure that the flame never dies? Twentieth-century philosopher couple Jean-Paul Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir dug into the problem and came up with a few codes of behavior. 1.) Never get married....

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