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Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Oct 22, 2014

Vision of anime's future at Tokyo International Film Festival

The Tokyo International Film Festival, running through Oct. 31, is no longer Asia's biggest or most important festival — that honor is now claimed by the recently held rival Busan film festival. But its 27th edition — the first to reflect the full influence of TIFF's current director-general, Yasushi...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Oct 22, 2014

TIFF Critic's Picks: Films from countries famed for unrest and oppression

According to TIFF's visual programming director Yoshihiko Yatabe, the semiofficial theme for this year's festival is "People on the Edge." They may be pursued, stuck in a rut, in dire trouble or just plain confused, but their stories are some of the most compelling at this years festival. These films...
JAPAN
Oct 22, 2014

Mount Fuji hiking fees to be spent partly on safety and conservation projects, prefecture says

An official in Shizuoka says the prefectural government there will spend funds from last year's Mount Fuji hikers' fees on six safety and conservation projects.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / BLACK EYE
Oct 22, 2014

Another island nation, idolized and imitated: Jamaica and I

Only in my 30s did I learn that I, too, had roots, or at least branches aside from my mother's, which only extended to some cotton plantation south of the Mason-Dixon line.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Oct 22, 2014

Japan's 'unknown' record-breakers eye high-tech horizons on stage and off

Siro-A is going where no Japanese performing artists have gone before, as the all-action troupe this month launched into not its first, or second — but its third three-month West End run since its "Technodelic Visual Show" in 2013.
BUSINESS / Companies
Oct 22, 2014

Third Point sells Sony, takes new stakes in eBay, Alibaba

Third Point LLC, the hedge fund firm run by Daniel Loeb, sold its investment in Sony Corp. and bought stakes in eBay Inc. and Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. in the third quarter.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Oct 21, 2014

EMAF packs a lot onto its musical menu

In its first week, the Red Bull Music Academy Tokyo has treated local audiences to a wide gamut of sounds, from hip-hop to deep house to noise, while keeping the capital's billboards comprehensively smothered in advertising. The two-day EMAF Tokyo (Electronic Music of Art Festival), held under the auspices...
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 20, 2014

Big Pharma, world leaders not cut out for Ebola battle

Scientists at leading universities, rather than Big Pharma, are fighting the battle against Ebola and other tricky diseases, while the response of Western leaders has been to try to keep Ebola out of their backyards.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 20, 2014

U.S. can cope with the next China slowdown

The U.S. economic boom in the 1990s even after the Japanese economy slowed dramatically suggests that the U.S. will cope with the next slowdown in China.
Japan Times
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Oct 20, 2014

Subtle humor of haiku's cousin senryū is on a roll

"Therefore, since brevity is the soul of wit," philosophizes the long-winded Polonius in Shakespeare's "Hamlet." That's also a fitting description of senryū — a form of short poetry defined by the Merriam-Webster dictionary as "a three-line unrhymed Japanese poem structurally similar to haiku, but...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Oct 19, 2014

Takata air bag defects far more severe than revealed

Manufacturing problems with Takata Corp. air bags go beyond what the Tokyo-based company has disclosed to U.S. safety regulators about why the devices are at risk of exploding with dangerous force, according to internal company documents reviewed by Reuters.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media
Oct 17, 2014

BIFF 2014 plays down unavoidable controversies

The biggest event of the year for South Korea's film industry is the opening night of the Busan International Film Festival (BIFF), which marked its 19th year Oct. 2 to 11. Whether or not they have films screening at the festival, almost all the major Korean movie stars show up and strut the red carpet...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Oct 17, 2014

No biohazard facilities in Japan can handle Ebola

Despite government assurances that Japan can handle an Ebola outbreak, there are no biosafety facilities rated to handle the deadly virus and 400 SDF troops are stationed near Congo.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Tech
Oct 16, 2014

At Japan Robot Week, mechanical barista treats visitors to coffee

If people visit Kawada Industries Inc.'s booth at the Japan Robot Week exhibition, the firm will serve them a cup of coffee — not from a human barista, but from a robot.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 16, 2014

U.S.-China skirmishes beg for guidelines on 'spying'

What do the dangerous encounters at sea and in the air between Chinese and American ships and aircraft have in common, and how can they be prevented or managed?
CULTURE / Music
Oct 16, 2014

Music showcase brings out anison acts, J-rock heavyweights for three days of gigs

With the Tokyo International Film Festival (TIFF) set to shine a light on movies in the capital, other art forms see an opportunity to siphon off some of the media glare.
BUSINESS / Tech
Oct 16, 2014

U2's Bono says 'oops' for iTunes album download

U2 lead singer Bono apologized Wednesday to iTunes users who objected to receiving an automatic download of the Irish rock group's latest album in September in conjunction with the launch of new Apple iPhones.
BUSINESS / Tech
Oct 15, 2014

Visitors get served by next-generation barista at Japan Robot Week

If people visit Kawada Industries Inc.'s booth at Japan Robot Week, which kicked off Wednesday, the firm will serve them a cup of coffee — not from a human barista but from a robot.
JAPAN / Politics
Oct 15, 2014

China's ambassador urges Japan to overcome 'political hurdles' for warmer ties

China's ambassador to Japan on Wednesday urged Tokyo to resolve historical and territorial issues to improve bilateral ties, while declining to comment on the possibility of a much-anticipated summit on the sidelines of an international conference in Beijing in November.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / LAW OF THE LAND
Oct 15, 2014

Is it time to bid bye-bye to 'haro'?

When was the last time someone Japanese used your presence as an excuse to say 'haro' whilst furtively glancing sideways at their companions to confirm they just made the funniest joke ever?
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 14, 2014

Ebola threatens Africa's development

The World Health Organization's dramatic warning that the Ebola epidemic threatens the 'very survival' of societies has a public health consultant wondering where all the millions of dollars in aid to African countries to improve their health systems have gone.
Japan Times
Figure Skating
Oct 14, 2014

Takahashi decides to hang up skates

Daisuke Takahashi, the first Japanese man to earn an Olympic figure skating medal, said on Tuesday he is retiring from the sport after 20 years on the ice.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Oct 14, 2014

Getting a glimpse of Tokyo's metal underbelly

Loud Park will go down this weekend at Saitama Super Arena, drawing fans excited to see mainstream metal acts such as Manowar, Dream Theater and veteran Japanese group Loudness, who was the first heavy metal band from this country signed to an American label and is halfway through its third decade of...

Longform

Tetsuzo Shiraishi, speaking at The Center of the Tokyo Raids and War Damage, uses a thermos to explain how he experienced the U.S. firebombing of March 1945, when he was just 7 years old.
From ashes to high-rises: A survivor’s account of Tokyo’s postwar past