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Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle
Nov 1, 2014

Hello Kitty: still fabulous at 40

Who is only five apples high and has no mouth — yet is one of the country's biggest cultural ambassadors?
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / HOTELS & RESTAURANTS
Oct 30, 2014

Christmas cake to ring in the holidays

It is getting chilly, cities are turning on colorful holiday lights and now is the time to start getting ready for the holiday season.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / BACKSTREET STORIES
Oct 25, 2014

Dead reckoning in the haunts of Honancho

Halloween in Tokyo rarely gets scarier than the price of imported pumpkins, but I've heard that Honancho — a terminal station on the Marunouchi subway line — hosts an uber-spooky obakeyashiki (ghost house). Navigating the station's dank, barely-lit stairwell at Exit 2, I'm already apprehensive.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Oct 4, 2014

Hong Kong's luxury retailers lose sales as protests mar 'Golden Week' holiday

Pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong have disrupted business and hit share prices of luxury goods companies, ruining what is normally one of the busiest shopping weeks of the year.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Oct 1, 2014

Divided Chinese eye Hong Kong protests with admiration, anger

For some mainland Chinese in Hong Kong, the sight of thousands of people on the streets protesting for greater democracy is an alien one that has prompted comparisons with the relative lack of political freedom back home.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink
Sep 9, 2014

Granola boom caters to the health and time conscious

Granola has come a long way in Japan, from a relatively unknown breakfast cereal five years ago to — along with pancakes and popcorn — a full-on fad food.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
Sep 8, 2014

Rakuten falls most in four months on talks to acquire Ebates

Rakuten share prices fell further Monday than they had in four months after the owner of Japan's largest online mall said it is in talks to buy U.S. website operator Ebates Shopping.com Inc.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 2, 2014

Crossing paths with James Foley in Syria's war

A former independent reporter in Syria recalls the last times he saw freelance journalist James Foley — whom the Islamic State beheaded last month — and a helpful middle-aged tailor fighting for the Free Syrian Army.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Aug 6, 2014

Canadian couple held in China caught in political battle, son says

The son of a Canadian couple detained in China over spying allegations said Tuesday his parents did not attempt to obtain military secrets and have been caught instead by the increasingly tense relations between Ottawa and Beijing.
CULTURE / Music
Jul 29, 2014

Jungle: 'When you write a song certain people want to hear ... that's when you start making crap music'

As Jungle, Josh Lloyd-Watson and Tom McFarland — who go by 'J' and 'T' — produce classic soul and funk with an unmistakably modern feel to it. The duo has also been racking up fans and YouTube hits alike with a series of strikingly idiosyncratic, dance-oriented music videos. Jungle recently launched...
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / BACKSTREET STORIES
Jul 26, 2014

Much about nothing in Akabane Iwabuchi

The nexus between Tokyo's rainy season and the heat of summer brings beastly humidity. I choose to explore Akabane Iwabuchi, an area in Tokyo's Kita Ward, for the possibility of cool breezes coming off the nearby Arakawa River. But that idea is toast the second I exit the subway; sunlight pulses off...
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / HOTELS & RESTAURANTS
Jun 26, 2014

Cool and delicious summer treats; fireworks and festival fun in Osaka; chilled pastries perfect for summer

Cool and delicious summer treats
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Jun 14, 2014

Ghostly footprints of the 'modern girl' along Kamakura's coastline

There's a scene in Junichiro Tanizaki's serialized novel "Naomi" (originally titled "A Fool's Love") from 1924 where the besotted protagonist, Joji, watches his wife, Naomi — part Lolita, part Madame Bovary, all trouble — through the pine trees. Having just emerged from a seaside villa, she is sashaying...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jun 5, 2014

'Sad Tea'

Ensemble dramas about the ups and downs of love, and its various substitutes, are popular now — at least with indie filmmakers. (A contrast to Japan's commercial romantic dramas, which still focus on star-crossed couples, one of whom is usually dead by the closing credits.)
Japan Times
WORLD
Jun 2, 2014

Freed from captivity, Bergdahl's ordeal continues

In 2008, when he joined the army, he was a bookish athlete from rugged Idaho with a passion for fencing. A year later, he was a captive of the Afghan Taliban. Today, he is on the way home, a free man at last.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / FOREIGN AGENDA
May 28, 2014

Japan: a haven for the psychologically troubled

For the troubled Western expat in Japan, the reality of being on another continent can collide with normalized Japanese antisocialism to form a cocktail effective in tuning out a lot of the 'just be a normal adult' voices.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
May 26, 2014

Set to rule a polarized Egypt, el-Sissi faces his biggest challenge

Along a busy Cairo roundabout, a poster portrays presidential front-runner Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi as a teacher, engineer, doctor and judge, reassuring supporters who see him as Egypt's savior.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
May 3, 2014

Ako: trailing the ghosts of Japan's greatest vendetta

By noon of March 14, 1701, Edo was abuzz with rumors about what had happened earlier, in the "Great Pine Corridor" of the shogun's castle. Officials posted wooden signs around the city stating that Asano Naganori, lord of Ako Domain, had attacked and wounded his former tutor, Kira Yoshihisa.
Japan Times
JAPAN / History / JAPAN TIMES GONE BY
May 3, 2014

Empress-Dowager Shoken laid to rest; crackdown in Shanghai's foreign quarters; Olympic preparations; Lebanese businessman Japan's top tax-payer

One of the notable landmarks in the modern history of Japan was the funeral ceremony held Saturday night for Her Majesty, the late Empress-Dowager (Shoken, empress consort of Emperor Meiji), who passed away on April 9.
Japan Times
JAPAN / CHUBU CONNECTION
May 2, 2014

Matsusaka, Hida cows now shine in shoe biz

Leather shoes made out of high-quality hides from such cows as Hida and Matsusaka are becoming increasingly popular in Japan.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / CULINARY TOOLBOX
Apr 29, 2014

How to sharpen your homemade sushi skills

"Why don't you come around to the other side of the counter?" sushi chef Junichi Onuki chirped from behind the bar. He laid down the sharp yanagi-ba knife he'd been using to slice fillets of sea bream and beckoned in a gesture of welcome.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Apr 26, 2014

'Patriot wives' put country before gender

In a 1989 essay, "Coming Down Again: After the Age of Excess," from a newly edited collection of her writings, the late American critic Ellen Willis discussed a dilemma the women's movement faced in the '70s. With the advent of the '60s counterculture came so-called free love, a throwing-off of social...
Reader Mail
Apr 23, 2014

Tax hike hits hospitals hard

Unlike many countries that do not tax essentials such as food and medicine, Japan's consumption tax hike from 5 percent to 8 percent applies to both, and will negatively affect hospitals and clinics. While grocers can increase prices 3 percent to cope with the increase and pass it on to the consumer,...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Apr 19, 2014

Can a solo career help a mascot stand out?

Several weeks ago Fuji TV's morning news show sent a reporter to the Gunma Prefecture "antenna shop" located across the street from the Kabukiza theater in Tokyo's Ginza district. The store, which sells products made in Gunma, pays ¥64 million a year in rent for the small two-floor space, and an independent...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Apr 15, 2014

Record Store Day finds its groove in Japan

It won't be business as usual at Big Love Records this Saturday, April 19. The store, one of the best places to shop for records in Tokyo's trendy Harajuku neighborhood, will be selling limited-edition music from various artists, including film director David Lynch. Meanwhile, shadowy beatmaker Sapphire...

Longform

Once smoky, male-dominated spaces, today's net cafes, like Kaikatsu Club, are working to make their operations more attractive to women customers.
The second life of Japan's net cafes