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Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Sep 28, 2012

Stage tribute to Jackson hits all the right notes

Like many people in the 1980s, Adrian Grant was a huge Michael Jackson fan. He was so fond of the "King of Pop" that he started a Jackson fan magazine titled "Off The Wall" in 1988. Grant says he wrote and designed the entire first issue by himself — in total, he published a scant 200 copies.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Sep 28, 2012

Food-themed festival serves up tasty films to chew on

Cinephile foodies, rejoice: The Tokyo Gohan Film Festival kicks off Oct. 6 and runs through Oct. 21. Now in its third year — and with a spinoff event in Osaka held Oct. 6-14 — it's a showcase of films all related to food. Not just one, lonesome movie such as "Dinner Rush" (though that's included...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Sep 28, 2012

'Iron Sky'

Watching "Iron Sky", it felt like the entire point of this film was to include a scene where a slack-jawed New Yorker points to the sky, eyes wide with terror, and screams: "Space Nazis!"
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Sep 27, 2012

The fabric of Okinawa design

With the typical "white box" museum, everything depends on the contents of the exhibition, but with the Mingeikan (The Japan Folk Crafts Museum), the museum itself is very much part of the experience. This is clear from the moment you slide open the entrance door and take off your shoes to shuffle around...
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 26, 2012

Hard truths about global growth

The world's high-income countries are in economic trouble, mostly related to growth and employment, and now their distress is spilling over to developing economies. What factors underlie today's problems, and how appropriate are the likely policy responses?
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 26, 2012

Transforming how India addresses its problems

Last month, I visited the Jaipur Foot clinic in New Delhi. You may have heard of the Jaipur Foot. It is both an invention — a prosthetic foot made from cheap materials costing about $45 (versus $8,000 for a similar device in the United States) — and an amazing, low-cost network of clinics around...
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
Sep 25, 2012

Gaijin cards valid until 2015 — but not at the post office

Reader AM informed us that Japan Post no longer accepts alien registration cards as valid identification.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Sep 25, 2012

Daiwa to cut up to 50 derivatives jobs in H.K.

Daiwa Securities Group Inc. said Monday it will eliminate as many as 50 derivatives jobs in Hong Kong and may shrink investment banking and equity research in the city as part of an expanded cost-cutting program.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 24, 2012

Secret of success for the top-rated universities

No country dominates any industry as much as the United States dominates higher education. According to Shanghai Jiao-Tong University's Academic Ranking of World Universities, for example, 17 of the world's 20 best universities are American, with Harvard topping the list by a substantial margin.
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Sep 24, 2012

Indecent proposals: the language of Japanese dating spam

It started with an email from a 20-year-old college student called Emi, who told me she was looking for a Showa umare no dansei (昭和生まれの男性, a man born in Showa, i.e., born before 1989). Next was Norika, a bored housewife in her early thirties asking me to spend some himajikan (ヒマ時間,...
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Sep 23, 2012

Scrutiny of Tohoku reconstruction funds needed

Last December there was a mild eruption of indignation when it was reported that some of the money earmarked for reconstruction of areas affected by the earthquake and tsunami of March 2011 would go to protect research whaling from interventionists like Sea Shepherd. Greenpeace and a few other organizations...
CULTURE / Books
Sep 23, 2012

Timely fictional war scenarios that play out in Asian waters

Tiger's Claw, by Dale Brown. William Morrow, 2012, 432 pp., $26.99 (hardcover) Red Cell, by Mark Henshaw. Touchstone, 2012, 336 pp., $24.99 (hardcover) Future war fiction — also known as alternate history or military science fiction — has been around a long time. Occasionally such books have proved...
CULTURE / Books
Sep 23, 2012

The third space: the cafe's place in forming modern Japan

COFFEE LIFE IN JAPAN, by Merry White. University of California Press, 2012, 240 pp., $24.95 (paperback) Those of us interested in coffee, life and Japan will open Merry White's "Coffee Life in Japan" with high expectations. For most readers, alas, these expectations will be only partially fulfilled....
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Sep 23, 2012

Evolution revelation sparks MAD inspiration to sucker the (U.S.) soul

Thank god for all things virtual.
Japan Times
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Sep 21, 2012

Quest to save at-risk heritage homes mixes art and real estate

Every now and again news gets around of some architecturally important building that is about to be demolished. Invariably, there arises a chorus of calls for better public preservation measures and, invariably, those calls go unheeded.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Sep 20, 2012

Extremities festival brings together experimental artists from Australia and Japan

Support from government bodies and nonprofit organizations helps develop and promote artists and musicians internationally. Japan sees various events such as Nordic Music Night, Finland Fest and British Anthems thanks to financial assistance from the embassies of the countries involved. Australian support...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Sep 20, 2012

Code and function in a world of altered reality

Hideki Nakazawa originally studied medicine graduating from the Medical School of Chiba University to work as an ophthalmologist until, in 1990, he decided to work with computer graphics as an illustrator. His experience of art during university and his shift to illustration saw him explore representation...
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media
Sep 16, 2012

'The government could still save lives'

In the immediate aftermath of last year's Fukushima triple meltdown, Japan's government and pronuclear experts scrambled to dampen public concern. Experts waved away fears about radiation, cabinet ministers scoffed at comparisons to Chernobyl, and the word "meltdown" itself was effectively scoured from...
Japan Times
LIFE / WEEK 3
Sep 16, 2012

'Cheating' robot poses tech and ethical issues

Like a child eagerly trying to win some trading cards during a playground huddle, I scrunch up my fingers behind my back before unleashing my hand in time-honored fashion with the Japanese phrase: "Saisho wa gu, janken ... pon!"
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / WILD WATCH
Sep 16, 2012

Living the botanical high life

Japan, though it has a very different image, is on the same latitude as southern Europe and North Africa, while my nearest city, Sapporo, is oddly enough on the same east-west parallel as France's boisterously cosmopolitan second city of Marseille on the Mediterranean.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / KANPAI CULTURE
Sep 14, 2012

Sake brewers turn their hand to beer

Taro Ishikawa, president of Ishikawa Shuzo in Fussa City, Tokyo, knows a thing or two about brewing beer. This comes as no surprise: In addition to producing Tamajiman sake, his company has been making Japanese jibīru (craft beer) for 14 years. The Ishikawa family's history of beer brewing, however,...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink
Sep 14, 2012

Recipes and more from the farmer's kitchen

BUSINESS
Sep 14, 2012

Itochu in talks to buy Dole units

Trading company Itochu Corp. is in talks to buy the packaged-foods business and a unit in Asia from Dole Food Co., the U.S.-based producer and distributor of fruits and vegetables.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Sep 13, 2012

Scissor Sisters

If you're looking for a midweek party to tide you over until the weekend, a pair of Scissor Sisters gigs might be just what you're looking for.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Sep 13, 2012

Kansai Music Conference to bring new sounds to Osaka

Music fans in Osaka can catch a variety of overseas acts this weekend at the Kansai Music Conference (KMC).
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Sep 13, 2012

Nintendo recovery may hinge on Wii U sales

Nintendo Co. President Satoru Iwata is convinced the future of gaming still centers on handheld and TV-based machines. He'll get his answer by Christmas, in the number of new Wii U consoles that get bought.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 12, 2012

Volatile risks accompany North Korea's reforms

Reports of unusual activity have been emerging from North Korea. Farmers were told in early July that, going forward, the state would take not their entire harvest but only 70 percent, and they would be allowed to keep the rest. The military's economic role was partially curtailed last month when some...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Sep 12, 2012

Syria war reporting risky, and a hard story to sell in Japan

When photojournalist Shin Yahiro heard compatriot video reporter Mika Yamamoto was killed in late August in Aleppo, he was not surprised, because he too has come under fire while covering the civil war raging in Syria.
COMMENTARY / World / SENTAKU MAGAZINE
Sep 11, 2012

Troubled waters, bad bridge

A South Korean journalist in Seoul warns that Japan should not make light of the recent series of tough actions taken by Seoul against Tokyo because they represent the beginning of a sharp turn in South Korea's policy toward Japan.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Sep 11, 2012

Reformed Myanmar ready for foreign investment

The rapid political developments in Myanmar since last year, including the April by-elections that saw democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi elected to parliament, have resulted in the easing of economic sanctions by Western nations, with businesses rushing to plan new investments to explore opportunities...

Longform

A small shrine perched atop rocks braves the waves hitting the shoreline during a storm in Shimoda, Shizuoka Prefecture. The area is under threat of a possible 31-meter-high tsunami if an earthquake strikes the nearby Nankai Trough.
If the 'Big One' hits, this city could face a 31-meter-high tsunami