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Japan Times
JAPAN
Aug 20, 2008

Kawasaki's Filipinos form support base

KAWASAKI — When Rosemarie Salvio began taking care of children at the Fureai-kan public welfare facility in Kawasaki in 1997, Filipino mothers started showing up to talk with her.
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design / ON: DESIGN
Jul 22, 2008

A head-turning umbrella and other designer treats

Electric bean
LIFE / Language
Jul 22, 2008

Katakana makes Japanese trendy and accessible

Words and phrases in katakana may appear to be easily recognizable to non-native speakers of Japanese, but they are often fiendishly difficult. This generally comes as a surprise to Japanese, who naturally assume that we can understand katakana words readily, seeing as many of them originated in foreign...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jul 19, 2008

The rising middle classes want their wheels

BEIJING — W hat becomes immediately apparent on entering the 10th annual Beijing car show is the emotional intensity with which China has thrown itself into its greatest consumerist passion to date: the first throes of an affair with the car. The entire nation, it turns out, is in love with them, is...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jul 11, 2008

Americans finally getting to taste high-quality ramen

Nearly four decades after the first instant ramen factory opened in the United States, Japan's beloved comfort food finally is making inroads — even achieving cult status — in a nation where burgers and pizza still rule.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Jun 6, 2008

Maru 3-kai: Maru steps up one more floor

Location, location, location. It's the cardinal rule, the holy trinity of real estate, the prerequisite for success in many a trade — and almost an essential for any restaurant. So how come one of Tokyo's most happening little diners is in a part of town that few people would ever consider their first...
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital / IGADGET
May 28, 2008

Earthlings just can't resist the connection

Bluetooth as Big Brother: Humans are naturally gregarious, which is just as well since it seems that the intent of modern communications is to keep us all connected 24/7 — whether we want it or not.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
May 2, 2008

Sex, drugs and sitars

Blame Julian Cope.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Apr 19, 2008

Putting faces on the subculture crowd

Sitting in a watering hole in Shinjuku's Golden Gai, meeting new people, exchanging name cards, one is likely to come across a tiny square name card with color caricatures on its front and back.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / FREEWHEELIN' ACROSS JAPAN
Apr 18, 2008

Salvation sought in Sendai

Second of two parts
BUSINESS
Apr 8, 2008

See it on catwalk, buy it through cell phone

Screams erupted from 22,000 young women in flowery frills, boots, really short shorts and glittery jewelry whenever a model — dressed similarly — waltzed down the runway in a Tokyo stadium.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Apr 3, 2008

One huge fan of civilization

As long as you've at least half a sleepy eye slightly focused on popular culture, you've seen his art work, even if you never go to galleries. Up until two years ago, he'd never even shown in one, at least not the ones where you stand around sipping wine and eating imported cheeses.
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design / STYLEWISE,ON: FASHION
Mar 11, 2008

Stella McCartney, Anna Antoniades and more

Anna Antoniades in Nakameguro
Japan Times
LIFE / COSPLAY CULTURE
Mar 9, 2008

Business booms as Japanese subculture soars

The last two decades have seen kosupure ("cosplay," or "costume play") blossoming from being a local Japanese subculture to a thriving worldwide trend — and business.
Japan Times
LIFE / THE SKY'S THE LIMIT
Feb 24, 2008

Blazing a trail to the cyberfuture

Yukiko Nakagawa started toying with a personal computer when she was a 6th-grader in the early 1980s — years before Microsoft introduced its first Windows operating system, and back when most people, let alone children, had never seen a PC.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / TAKING A CHANCE
Feb 22, 2008

Tofu maker finds success through innovation, determination

Many of Japan's small and medium-size companies are feeling the pinch as they struggle to pass rising costs on to their larger corporate customers. One, however, Saitama-based tofu maker Shinozakiya Inc., succeeded in getting supermarkets to swallow a 30 percent increase in wholesale prices in November....
JAPAN / ALSO OUT THERE
Feb 1, 2008

Referee row lifts handball's appeal

Team handball, the figurative water boy of sports, is suddenly in the game and earning the roaring approval of fans in Japan.
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Jan 27, 2008

In memory of one for whom Japan was a muse

A month ago I lost a very close friend. This would not be the proper place to write about it, except for the fact that despite her not being Japanese, her profound understanding of Japan and her love for the country were the lifeblood of her artistic career.
Japan Times
MULTIMEDIA / ON: DESIGN
Jan 22, 2008

Naoto Fukusawa, the peg pencil, Gallery Le Bain and more

Naoto Fukusawa: Beech Boy
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
Jan 22, 2008

Trouble on two wheels; moving out

Gaijin on a bike! "I have been harassed by the police while riding my bicycle," writes FC. "I happened to get the bike from a friend and it turns out it actually belonged to someone else. The bicycle is very, very old and worthless, but they tracked it down and apparently it was 'stolen.'
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Jan 13, 2008

Single parenting drama, variety commonplace talents, childbirth drama

SMAP band member Shingo Katori, whose last TV drama job was playing a monkey, gets to be more than human in the new series "Bara no Nai Hanaya (A Florist Without Roses)" (Fuji, Monday, 9 p.m.). Katori plays Eiji, a young widower with an 8-year-old daughter, Shizuku. He saves his money for years to fulfill...
Japan Times
MULTIMEDIA / STYLE WISE
Jan 8, 2008

Raf Simons, Bulgari, Marc Newson and more

Candy-colored covers
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / WALKING THE WARDS
Jan 4, 2008

Where ambitions have long soared

First of two parts
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jan 3, 2008

'Fukubukuro' hunters rise early to bag their prey at nation's shops

With the new year comes the season of shopping extravaganzas.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WORDS TO LIVE BY
Dec 25, 2007

Natsuki Maeda

Shop clerk Natsuki Maeda, 19, is a charismatic fashion leader in Tokyo's world-famous Shibuya 109 building, the epicenter of cool threads for girls and for women who, regardless of their age, would like to look as young as they feel. Working in one of the 100 shops here is synonymous with celebrity status,...
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / WALKING THE WARDS
Dec 7, 2007

Winging it in Ota Ward

Ota Ward is totally fly. For starters, it hosts Haneda, the only airport actually situated in Tokyo's 23 wards. Although a plane would come in handy in navigating this southernmost and largest of the city's wards, you'd miss out on roasting wieners at Ota's weekend barbecue hot spot, Jonanjima Seaside...
COMMENTARY
Dec 3, 2007

When we let machines down

LONDON — Dinosaurs, so we are told, died out because they were too big. Or some say they were wiped out by an asteroid. No matter — all agree that their basic problem was size. They were just too large, their brains were too remote from their bodies, and their control systems could not cope.

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