Search - information

 
 
BUSINESS / Tech
Oct 12, 2013

Google plans to put users' photos, comments in online ads

Google has made a fortune selling ads. Now it is trying to put its hundreds of millions of users to work as company pitchmen, using the profiles, pictures and recommendations of ordinary people to endorse products and services across the Web.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives
Oct 11, 2013

Strays become woman's calling

It's a typical evening in the Mercer-Tojo household. Susan Mercer, 37, has just settled down their 2-year-old for the night, tucking him in as he cuddles with five or six cats. Several dogs prowl restlessly, eager for a pat or a kind word. Scooping a kitten off the floor, Mercer settles down to wait...
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Oct 11, 2013

A really long name — as long as the Mississippi

Small islands in the Seto Inland Sea such as mine are visited periodically by health care boats with doctors, nurses and medical equipment on board to offer health exams for islanders. The boat makes the rounds of all the small islands that belong to Okayama Prefecture, making it possible for even the...
Japan Times
WORLD / Science & Health / FOCUS
Oct 11, 2013

Africa becomes GMO battleground

When the bell rang at midday, students fetched tin bowls and lined up under trees in the schoolyard for scoops of corn and bean porridge. Not one of them was fussy about the food.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Oct 10, 2013

TIFF is your chance to catch up with Japanese film

The Tokyo International Film Festival, now in its 26th edition, has had its share of detractors, dissing it for everything from competition lineups of major festival castoffs (no longer true since TIFF stopped insisting on world premieres) to a Special Screening section that is essentially a PR showcase...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink
Oct 10, 2013

Farmers bring a slice of country life to Tokyo

With Tokyo Tower as a backdrop and being home to some of Tokyo's most famous nightclubs, several foreign embassies and upscale clothing stores, Roppongi has all the flash and glamor missing from slow-paced, rustic country life. Fields and farms have no place in the steel-and-concrete labyrinth of Roppongi...
Japan Times
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Oct 10, 2013

Giant duck to make its return

A giant rubber duck will make a triumphant return to Osaka after having survived serious hardships including drowning and being stabbed during its global tour.
Japan Times
Events / Events In Tokyo
Oct 10, 2013

Shakuhachi player finds the Zen in deer sounds

The shakuhachi reportedly came to Japan from ancient Egypt, and the instrument's pure tones have been used by Zen monks in meditation.
Japan Times
Events / Events In Tokyo
Oct 10, 2013

Flamenco fest marks relations with Spain

In October 1613, a small delegation of the Date domain left a Miyagi Prefecture port and traveled for more than a year across the Pacific and the Atlantic. They reached their destination, Spain, in December 1614, and the endeavor became the foundation of a bilateral friendship that has lasted for around...
Japan Times
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Oct 10, 2013

Shiga foodies to look for a few good men

This weekend, diners in Otsu, Shiga Prefecture, will get the chance to vote for their favorite ikemen. Although this term is used to describe an attractive man, the most important men (noodles) at this year's Ikemen Battle will be those steaming in hot broth. The contest's title is a pun, with the "men"...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Oct 9, 2013

BBQ Chickens keep new album 'Broken Bubbles' short and sweet

When making music, Tokyo punk/metal hybrid act BBQ Chickens like to keep things short. The quartet have yet to craft a song that lasts two minutes. A handful of their cuts don't even break the 10-second mark.
CULTURE / Music / JAZZ NOTES
Oct 9, 2013

Hakuei Kim heads to the border for Yokohama Jazz Promenade

When you think about a so-called jazz capital of Japan, there are a couple of contenders. Kobe makes a claim to history, the first Japanese jazz band Laughing Stars started up there around 90 years ago. Tokyo has the overseas stars, being the actual capital gets you that kind of clout. Yokohama also...
Reader Mail
Oct 9, 2013

Abe waiting for right moment

Regarding the Oct. 7 Kyodo article "Documents detail how Imperial military forced Dutch females to be 'comfort women’": To be made to wait seven decades for this fragment of truth to emerge about the sexual slavery of European women is a new war crime in itself, but the government's ongoing attempts...
JAPAN / BULLETIN BOARD
Oct 9, 2013

Special concert to remember deceased loved ones

A requiem concert will be held Nov. 4 in Tokorozawa Shimin Bunka Center Muse in Saitama Prefecture to offer audience members a special opportunity to remember their loved ones who have died — with the names of the deceased printed in the program.
JAPAN
Oct 9, 2013

Metro government to extend hours of arts, sports facilities

The Tokyo Metropolitan Government will move up or extend business hours at its arts and sports facilities this fall and winter to accommodate more diverse lifestyles.
MORE SPORTS / MAN ABOUT SPORTS
Oct 8, 2013

Football landscape shifts with new rule changes

If Hank Williams, Jr. was still performing in the open for Monday Night Football, he might be asking you this: Are you ready for some kinder, gentler football?
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
Oct 7, 2013

Getting a dodgy divorce is easy; annulling the decision is anything but

Annulling a divorce in Japan achieved through forgery can mean court mediation and possibly litigation, making it much more difficult than getting a divorce fraudulently in the first place.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 7, 2013

Navigating the risks of investing in Asia's future

Markets and economies need to work now to brace themselves for a period of higher borrowing costs, some market volatility and slower economic expansion in Asia.
BUSINESS / Markets
Oct 6, 2013

World's biggest pension fund readies powder for new Japan growth stock index

Japan's Government Pension Investment Fund plans to boost investment in growth stocks to increase returns and may eventually allocate several trillion yen to such equities, the Nikkei newspaper said.
WORLD / Science & Health
Oct 6, 2013

Making someone look you in eyes hurts persuasion

"Look at me when I'm talking to you!" If you have ever used that line during a disagreement, you might want to think again. Forcing eye contact when trying to change someone's mind may actually cause listeners to become more stubborn, a new study shows.
JAPAN / Media / DARK SIDE OF THE RISING SUN
Oct 5, 2013

Has business blackballed the yakuza? Don't bank on it

The Financial Services Agency (FSA) publicly spanked Mizuho Bank last month by slapping it with a "business improvement order" for letting Japan's organized crime groups use its facilities. At least $2 million in illegal transactions were cited.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Oct 4, 2013

Foreigners to get info on 'sento' etiquette

Tokyo's "sento" public bathhouses are making an effort to become foreigner-friendly by printing multilingual brochures and posters to explain Japan's communal bathing etiquette ahead of the Tokyo Olympics in 2020.
Events / KANSAI: WHO & WHAT
Oct 4, 2013

Antlers of Nara's sacred deer to be cut off

The antlers of sacred deer in Nara will be cut during a ceremony between Oct. 12 and 14.

Longform

Dangami House is a 180-year-old former samurai residence of the Kato clan, who ruled over Ozu, Ehime Prefecture, until the Meiji Restoration.
A house, a legacy and the quiet work of restoration in rural Japan