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LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Nov 18, 2009

Let's kensaku — searching the Web in Japanese

Has this ever happened to you? A friend in another country e-mails a plea for help in finding information in Japanese due to their encountering any one of several obstacles. For instance, the operating system or software on the computer they are using might not be able to input Japanese or read it. Or...
CULTURE / Music
Nov 13, 2009

Coldrain "Final Destination"

Formed in 2007 in Nagoya, emo- rockers Coldrain have a commodity that is rare among Japanese bands: English-language lyrics that don't suck. That's mainly down to vocalist Masato being part American. Yet while their lyrics are written in English, the band's presence online is entirely in Japanese. Coldrain...
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital / IGADGET
Nov 11, 2009

Sony-Ericsson phone ups its appeal; Bluedot treats the ladies

Going mobile: Sony, in the guise of its partnership with Swedish maker Ericsson, is combining the much-touted Android phone platform from Google with its traditional feature-rich offerings in the form of the Xperia X10. Sporting a larger than normal 4-inch, TFT-capacitive touch screen, the candybar-style...
BUSINESS / YEN FOR LIVING
Nov 9, 2009

Can aliens buy music more cheaply?

While many industry types are convinced the Web is bad for the music business, they're actually are people who want to PAY for their songs.
EDITORIALS
Nov 7, 2009

Tough pension task for DPJ

When the Democratic Party of Japan was in the opposition, party member Mr. Akira Nagatsuma was known for research into the problem of hard-to- identify pension-premium payment records and his sharp questions on the matter in the Diet. Now as health, labor and welfare minister, he finds himself struggling...
COMMENTARY
Nov 4, 2009

Pollution fears don't dent coal's popularity

Asia's rebound from the global economic slump is cheering the world with its promise of more growth, jobs and trade. But the revival is bad news for the environment because it is largely driven by a production and transport system addicted to fossil fuels, especially coal and oil. This helps explain...
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital / IGADGET
Nov 4, 2009

Dynario helps gadget-users on the move; Kyocera makes phone for kids

Charging ahead: The promise of fuel-cell technology has conjured visions of cars powered by hydrogen. This promise also offers the ability to "recharge" batteries in your gadgets without a power point. Toshiba is bringing this part of the dream to life with its new Dynario, a methanol fuel-cell recharger...
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Nov 1, 2009

Japan's sea change should signal a new course for the media, too

The relationship between the government and the press in Japan has, during the past 50 years, been a volatile one of give and take: The government gives the press what it wants it to know, and the press gladly takes it. But this has not always been the case.
BUSINESS
Oct 30, 2009

Softbank profit doubles as its mobile business expands

Softbank Corp., which runs the only Japanese mobile operator to offer the iPhone, said profit doubled in the latest quarter as its cellular business continued to expand.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Oct 30, 2009

Rockers turn it up to 11

Metallica. Slayer. Anthrax. The Scorpions. Even a casual fan of rock music knows that these names make up the pantheon of modern heavy metal, the bands that rose to the top and never looked back when metal swept away all before it in the 1980s.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Oct 30, 2009

Sweden's SideChild takes center stage

"There was this one guy whose name meant something like 'flat' in English, but Google translated it into Swedish as 'lesbian', which caused me a bit of confusion at first."
Japan Times
JAPAN
Oct 30, 2009

Halloween treats retailers' new trick

Retailers and sweets makers are cashing in on the rising enthusiasm among Japanese for Halloween, a Western tradition that has become popular here only in the past decade.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Oct 30, 2009

Bringing SecondLife into the real art world

Born in Guangzhou in 1978 and now based in Beijing, Cao Fei is one of China's most prominent young artists, known for photographs and videos that combine elements of fantasy and documentary to reflect on cultural shifts since the country's economic opening at the start of the 1980s.
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design / ON: DESIGN
Oct 29, 2009

Now's the time to celebrate design

Don't miss Design Week This year, Tokyo Designers Week conveniently kicks off on a Friday — previous years have always seen a Wednesday start — ensuring visitors can make the most of the weekend and the national holiday on Tuesday.
Reader Mail
Oct 25, 2009

Kudos for the 'educational' page

I recently began reading The Japan Times online and find it fascinating, especially the educational section. The Oct. 14 (bilingual page) article "Plant-eating guys just waiting to get chomped on" is quite humorous. It shows how the common civilian feels in today's society with gender roles in flux...
JAPAN / Q&A
Oct 23, 2009

Lowdown on H1N1 vaccinations

With swine flu inoculations now under way for medical workers, other people may be anxious about when it will be their turn. As cooler weather sets in, and with it higher risks of contracting the new H1N1 virus, the government is administering vaccinations on a priority basis, with healthy working-age...
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 23, 2009

A day to act in the name of planetary justice

PRINCETON, N.J. — What we are doing to our planet, to our children and grandchildren, and to the poor, by our heedless production of greenhouse gases, is one of the great moral wrongs of our age. This Saturday is a day to stand up against this injustice.
SUMO / SUMO SCRIBBLINGS
Oct 23, 2009

Sumo Association bypasses Europe again in its trip to Vegas

The Nihon Sumo Kyokai — the Japanese Sumo Association — recently announced it is once again considering an overseas jaunt. Destination this time? Sin City — Las Vegas, Nevada. Again!
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WORDS TO LIVE BY
Oct 22, 2009

Tokyo Girls Collection producer Ayako Nagaya

Ayako Nagaya, 37, is the president of F1 Media Inc. and the chief producer of Tokyo Girls Collection (TGC), a semiannual entertainment extravaganza showcasing Japanese street fashion, music and a myriad of products, from instant noodles to cars. Staged in Tokyo's Yoyogi Stadium, this one-day fashion...
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / Japan Pulse
Oct 21, 2009

The right platform for selling to women on the go

Miss Metro Manners might be asking women to 'Please do it at home,' but the stationmasters are clearly saying, 'Please shop here.'
COMMUNITY
Oct 20, 2009

Foreign parents face travel curbs?

I think it is safe to say that the countdown has begun — the countdown to it becoming more difficult for you to leave Japan with your children. Difficult, that is, if you are non-Japanese and traveling without their other parent (or his or her written consent).
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
Oct 20, 2009

Seeking some advice, a lost father, friend

Where is my father? Yovichi (Yoichi?) Perez is "Japinoy," meaning of Filipino-Japanese ancestry. He saw a letter from a Japinoy like himself, also looking for his father, so he thought he would try his luck with us.
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
Oct 17, 2009

Eagles rout Hawks in opener

SENDAI — It took two pitches for Yosuke Takasu to get the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles' message across.
EDITORIALS
Oct 11, 2009

Campaign against groping

Every year in Japan, some 1,800 men are arrested for groping women on trains. In a 2004 NHK survey of Tokyo women in their 20s and 30s, 64 percent said they had been groped on a train. Only 2 percent reported it to police. In 2008, the police in Tokyo, Kanagawa, Chiba and Saitama recognized 2,416 cases...

Longform

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The rise of AI companionship in a lonely Japan