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Japan Times
BUSINESS
Feb 27, 2009

'Temp' protests warp face of egalitarian Japan Inc.

Fired engine plant worker Kouichirou Fukudome shouts slogans with dozens of protesters outside truck maker Isuzu's towering headquarters, all demanding they get their jobs back.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / FUZZY LOGIC
Feb 27, 2009

True icon of indie

The Wedding Present's latest album, "El Rey," is one of the best records I've heard over the last few years and has also been widely lauded in the British music media. Criminally, it has not been picked up for distribution in Japan. But you'll be able to hear the new songs at the band's upcoming Japan...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Feb 27, 2009

'This is England'

The gang-movie genre tends to follow a fairly predictable arc: Impressionable youth is seduced by gang life, enjoys the wild times and camaraderie that follow, then inevitably winds up disillusioned with the lifestyle. Whether it's the mods and rockers of 1960s London in "Quadrophenia," or the favela...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink
Feb 27, 2009

One pricey bowl of soup noodles

A bowl of noodles at a typical Tokyo ramen joint is cheap — usually around ¥800 — and served in a convenient location. Fujimaki Gekijo, situated between Nakameguro and Yutenji in Meguro Ward, is neither. And the owner and chef, Shoichi Fujimaki, would have it no other way.
LIFE / Food & Drink
Feb 27, 2009

One pricey bowl of soup noodles

A bowl of noodles at a typical Tokyo ramen joint is cheap — usually around ¥800 — and served in a convenient location. Fujimaki Gekijo, situated between Nakameguro and Yutenji in Meguro Ward, is neither. And the owner and chef, Shoichi Fujimaki, would have it no other way.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink
Feb 27, 2009

Ivan Ramen, ready in an instant

The success of Ivan Ramen, a noodle shop founded in 2007 by U.S.-born chef Ivan Orkin, has been well documented in the press over the past year. Indeed, it is not unusual for the 10-seat restaurant in Minami Karasuyama, Setagaya Ward, to have dozens of people waiting outside its doors to try the handmade...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Feb 27, 2009

Linking video games to their visual history

Think of post-World War II popular culture in Japan as it relates to contemporary art, and you invariably arrive at Murakami Takashi and his Kaikai Kiki company/studio. But a new generation that draws from Japanese pop culture — and yet has no close connections to Murakami's art stable — has emerged...
JAPAN
Feb 26, 2009

Deadline nears for Filipino family

Opponents of the deportation order against an undocumented Filipino family in Warabi, Saitama Prefecture, are mounting a last-ditch effort to win a reversal.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Feb 25, 2009

Firms warming to work-sharing

Yasuo Igarashi spends a lot of time these days on the jungle gym with his daughter, after his employer joined the growing ranks of companies adopting work-sharing to ride out the global slump.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Feb 24, 2009

Women forsake frills but spare no expense for skin

When Miwako Taniuchi's income slumped 30 percent last year, out went the expensive dinners and new Gucci and Louis Vuitton handbags. One purchase that didn't get axed: a skin cream worth its weight in gold.
MORE SPORTS
Feb 23, 2009

Tiger's return may not be enough to cure golf

Welcome back, Tiger Woods. It's been way too long. Just eight months have passed since that Monday on the edge of the Pacific Ocean when neither Rocco Mediate nor a bum leg could deny you another U.S. Open trophy. Across the country on that magical day, productivity in offices dropped as workers tuned...
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Feb 22, 2009

Blood-type drama week, smoking-cessation trials and an enka singer's road to success

Supposedly, you can tell a lot about a person by his or her blood type, and there is a cottage publishing industry in Japan dedicated to the subject. Certain blood types indicate particular personality traits, and some combinations of types are more romantically compatible than others.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / BACKSTREET STORIES
Feb 22, 2009

Cruising the Sumida for sights

However hidden behind built-up banks it may be, the Sumida River is not exactly a "back street." But as it's said that one of the best places from which to view cherry blossoms in Tokyo is from a water bus plying the river, I resolved on a reconnaissance better referred to as a "back stream" story.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Feb 21, 2009

Living life like a fairy tale

It's 5:40 a.m. Dawn has yet to peek over the mountains, and the forest surrounding Shonenji temple in Takachiho-cho still waits for morning.
Japan Times
JAPAN / MIXED MATCHES
Feb 21, 2009

Working couple balances family, careers

Emi Takei-Loubaresse could not have advanced in her career without the support of her husband, Jerome Loubaresse, 43, a freelance translator who also looks after their 4-year-old daughter, Mio, and is the family's main cook.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Feb 20, 2009

Snow yaks and yetis — an ice man cometh

Fans of Pop Surrealism were no doubt tickled pink to hear of their messiah, painter Mark Ryden, making an appearance in Tokyo for the opening of "The Snow Yak Show" at the Tomio Koyama Gallery. The solo exhibition features eight new works from the masterful painter, each exquisitely detailed in his characteristic...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Feb 20, 2009

An exhibition's critical charge

"In Japan, the city consists of parts perfect in themselves, but lacking a sense of or connection to the whole," observes curator Shino Nomura while discussing the work of Swiss architectural firm Diener & Diener.
BUSINESS
Feb 19, 2009

Fiscal hawk set for three big hats

Despite being a fiscal hawk, newly appointed Finance Minister Kaoru Yosano appears positive about taking additional measures to juice the economy.
Japan Times
Reference / SO WHAT THE HECK IS THAT
Feb 19, 2009

Tome ishi

Dear Alice, Recently I toured a beautiful traditional garden in Kyoto with a Japanese friend. At a fork in the path, I was about to turn to the right when my friend stopped me and said we were not supposed to go that way. I did as she said, but couldn't understand how she knew. She'd never been there...
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 18, 2009

Nationalize insolvent banks

NEW YORK — A year ago, I predicted that the losses of U.S. financial institutions would reach at least $1 trillion and possibly go as high as $2 trillion. At that time, the consensus among economists and policymakers was that these estimates were exaggerated, because it was believed that subprime mortgage...
BUSINESS
Feb 18, 2009

Honda CEO ties slump to high yen

Honda Motor Co. expects no relief from the worst domestic economy in 35 years unless the yen weakens.
Japan Times
Events / WHERE IT'S AT
Feb 17, 2009

Correspondents, PR reps warm ties at annual 'Hacks & Flacks' dig

The relationship between a journalist and a corporate public relations representative can be a tense one. Journalists, pressured by deadlines, hound the PRs for precise and prompt information, while PRs, irritated and a bit bewildered by the incessant questioning, respond with gritted teeth.
COMMUNITY / Voices / HOTLINE TO NAGATACHO
Feb 17, 2009

Kanagawa Prefecture can be Japan's clean-air trailblazer

Dear Kanagawa Gov. Shigefumi Matsuzawa,
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball / NPB NOTEBOOK
Feb 16, 2009

Tigers, Hawks busy breaking in new skippers during spring training

With spring training under way, fans in Osaka and Fukuoka are watching closely as their teams undergo a change.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 16, 2009

Involve, don't attack, China

HONG KONG — U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on her maiden overseas trip has a golden opportunity to show that the new administration of Barack Obama understands and is prepared to make its best efforts to put America's most important bilateral relationship on a surer footing. I'm not talking...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Feb 15, 2009

Tokyo orchid extravaganza wows flower lovers

A myriad of orchids enchanted visitors at Tokyo Dome in Bunkyo Ward on Saturday, kicking off a nine-day floral event crowned with prizewinning orchid works.

Longform

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The rise of AI companionship in a lonely Japan