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CULTURE / Music
Mar 24, 2006

Asian Kung-Fu Generation "Fanclub"

Asian Kung-Fu Generation are a phenomenon in Japanese alternative rock. With their regular, well-received festival appearances and skyrocketing record sales (2004's "Solfa" shifted over half a million) they are a role model for any indie rock band looking for life beyond the Tokyo "toilet circuit." ...
JAPAN
Mar 24, 2006

New yen loans to China are put on hold for now

Amid continued strained bilateral ties, the government has put on hold its decision to provide fresh yen loans to China for fiscal 2005, Foreign Ministry officials said Thursday.
Japan Times
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Mar 24, 2006

Bedtime stories

When the small-scale production "Philippine Bedtime Stories," an omnibus of three short plays by Filipino writers about male-female relationships, played in Tokyo in November 2004, word-of-mouth spread quickly, especially to audiences younger than the usual theater crowd in tune with its controversial...
CULTURE / Music
Mar 24, 2006

Isobel Campbell & Mark Lanegan "Ballad of the Broken Seas"

Isobel Campbell, formerly of the twee neofolk Glaswegian group Belle & Sebastian, has teamed up with Mark Lanegan, former lead singer of American grunge rockers Screaming Trees, for this unlikely collaboration. The appeal of the pairing lies in the contrast in vocal styles of the two singers -- Campbell...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / THE SECOND ROOM
Mar 24, 2006

Psychedelic radar 03.24

Friday, March 24
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Mar 24, 2006

Tokyo music festival to celebrate Mozart

Whether you are a classical music beginner, a hardcore addict or just a trend-follower, head's up! La Folle Journee au Japon Music Festival is coming to Tokyo during the Golden Week holidays and will be held from Saturday, April 29 to May 6.
BUSINESS
Mar 24, 2006

Trade balance swung back into black in February

Japan posted a customs-cleared trade surplus of 955.7 billion yen for February, swinging back into the black from a 351 billion yen deficit in January, the Finance Ministry said Thursday.
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Mar 24, 2006

Culture as soft power: grad school holds forum

The National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies (GRIPS), a graduate school and research institute established in Tokyo in October 1997, will hold a forum titled "Culture as 'Soft Power': International Cultural Exchange of Government-Citizen Cooperation" on March 25. "Soft power" is a term used in...
JAPAN
Mar 24, 2006

Police search Chongryun affiliate over '80 abduction

Police raided six locations Thursday, including an Osaka business group affiliated with the pro-Pyongyang General Association of Korean Residents in Japan (Chongryun), over North Korea's abduction of Tadaaki Hara in 1980, they said.
CULTURE / Music
Mar 24, 2006

Nightmares on Wax "In a Space Outta Sound"

Hip-hop has made an art out of delving into the past to render something relevant for the present. It's a tradition George Evelyn of Nightmares On Wax is well versed in, but on his latest album, the sampler vies for action alongside more live instrumentation. As on previous outings, dub, jazz and funk...
BUSINESS
Mar 24, 2006

Usen chief considering Livedoor integration

Usen Corp. President Yasuhide Uno said Thursday he is ready to consider integrating his firm's management with Livedoor Co., 12.74 percent of whose shares he bought from Fuji Television Network Inc.
Japan Times
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Mar 24, 2006

Lovin' tribute to jug band legend Fritz

"If you believe in magic, don't bother to choose / If it's jug band music, or rhythm and blues / Just go and listen, it'll start with a smile / It won't wipe off your face no matter how hard you try," sang John Sebastian in the mid-'60s hit "Do You Believe in Magic," a song he performed with his folk-pop...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / BEST BAR NONE
Mar 24, 2006

Chic 'n' sweet and right on the bull's eye

For many commuters, Yoyogi-Uehara is simply the name of a station at which they change for an express train home. It is also the kind of upmarket address which, if you live there, means you have arrived.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Mar 24, 2006

The Ornette Coleman Quartet

One of the most controversial and innovative musicians in jazz, Ornette Coleman virtually defined the avant-garde, along with Cecil Taylor and John Coltrane. Their work in the 1960s found ways forward when jazz started to languish and left little musical territory unexplored. Among the many jazz radicals...
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
Mar 23, 2006

Lee goes 2-for-3 for Yomiuri in return from WBC

Lee Seung Yeop went 2-for-3 and drove in two runs Wednesday in his first exhibition appearance for the Yomiuri Giants since his heroic hitting efforts for South Korea at the World Baseball Classic.
SOCCER / J. League
Mar 23, 2006

Smart bet is on J. League games

The J. League matches paid out 200 million yen in top prize money, a record return in the five-year history of Japan's soccer pools, for Tuesday's games, the Japan Sports Advancement Lottery said.
SOCCER / World cup
Mar 23, 2006

Zico stands behind out-of-favor captain Miyamoto

Japan coach Zico on Wednesday played down concerns over captain Tsuneyasu Miyamoto's lack of playing time at J-League club Gamba Osaka and insists he is still the man to lead the Asian champions.
JAPAN
Mar 23, 2006

Bills target shoddy builders, designers

A Liberal Democratic Party panel endorsed a package of bills Wednesday drafted by the infrastructure ministry that feature a provision to toughen the penalty for architects and builders who construct faulty buildings.
JAPAN
Mar 23, 2006

Man with cancer can't sell policy for cash

Man with cancer can't sell policy for cash
Japan Times
JAPAN
Mar 23, 2006

Government to honor baseball champs

As the nation basked in the triumph of Japan's victory in the inaugural World Baseball Classic the previous day, the government added to the euphoria Wednesday by saying it is considering bestowing awards on the entire team.

Longform

Sumadori Bar on Shibuya Ward's main Center Gai street targets young customers who prefer low-alcohol drinks or abstain altogether.
Rethinking that second drink: Japan’s Gen Z gets ‘sober curious’