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April 28, 2024
 

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OTAKU

Japan Times
JAPAN
Aug 6, 2014
Manga shop threatens to post face of alleged shoplifter on Internet
A well-known “otaku” shop in Tokyo is threatening to post an alleged shoplifter's face online if he doesn't return what he stole.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Jul 26, 2014
Japan's 'Moe' obsession: the purest form of love, or creepy fetishization of young girls?
Anyone who has visited Tokyo's Akihabara district in the past decade will have run into countless images of cartoonish girls: in posters, in figurines and in the form of real women dressed up as French maids.
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital
Apr 7, 2014
A day-trip date with the virtual romantics of 'New LovePlus+'
While Japan's video-game industry no longer dominates the world, there is still one niche of digital entertainment that this country does better than any other: romantic man-machine interaction. Love with a virtual being is something plucked straight out of science-fiction.
WORLD / Politics
Mar 27, 2014
Hearts blossom for Crimea's new attorney general
A viral video of Natalia Poklonskaya's charmingly shy first press conference inspires enough otaku artists to produce a shrine of manga-style illustrations.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Feb 22, 2014
Tokyo 2020: only as old as the medalists you field
The motto of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics is 'Discover Tomorrow,' which organizers hope will help distract sport fanatics from the reality of Japan being the fastest-aging country in the world.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Dec 29, 2013
Cool Japan Fund chief says crafty marketing key to regional revivals
Japan has a wealth of undiscovered products that can be sold around the world, with a little ingenuity, the CEO of the Cool Japan Fund says.
Japan Times
CULTURE
Dec 19, 2013
Comiket, where otaku come to share the love
The Tokyo International Exhibition Center, better known as Tokyo Big Sight, boasts an area of more than 80,000 sq. meters of exhibition space. It's the country's largest convention center and will host wrestling, fencing and taekwondo during the 2020 Olympics.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle
Dec 9, 2013
Otaku culture gets under the skin
Tattoos in Japan have long moved on from the kind often romanticized by the West — that imagery of flamboyant yakuza that so many seem reluctant to relinquish. But a brief glance at the policies of Osaka Mayor Toru Hashimoto reveals a nation still unwilling to allow tattoos into mainstream society — no-matter how many end up on the bodies of the younger generations.
Japan Times
CULTURE / CULTURE SMASH
Aug 13, 2013
Otakon celebrates 20 years of anime fandom in the U.S.
The American anime convention, Otakon ("Otaku Convention"), begins with a costume parade before it officially opens. Last week I had a bird's-eye view of the spectacle from my 14th-floor hotel room in Baltimore, Maryland. An endless army of imaginary characters trudged across the elevated concourse and down adjacent sidewalks to the Baltimore Convention Center to register and obtain entry badges. Most were instantly recognizable from anime series old and new, brandishing swords or other weaponry fashioned out of homemade materials, or wearing massive multicolored wigs, capes or sewn-on tails — or very little at all.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Jun 2, 2013
Taking anime too seriously
'Why study anime?' the author of this study of anime asks himself. Good question, thinks the reader. Why indeed 'study' a pop art whose appeal is less to thought than to mass, unreflecting, spontaneous enjoyment?
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / Japan Pulse
Mar 30, 2012
Streamlined offerings from new adult anime titles
The packages get a little smaller for adult anime.
CULTURE / Japan Pulse
Feb 21, 2012
Plenty of room for passions to grow
Don't have enough space at home to pursue your hobby? That's no longer a viable excuse.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Japan Pulse
Aug 5, 2011
B-kyu boom: The magnificence of the mediocre
There's a B-kyu (class) for everything, which doesn't make it any less important.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / Japan Pulse
Jul 21, 2010
Passion for 'garage kit' models mounts at Wonder Festival
Attention to detail reaches new heights at the annual Wonder Festival showcase of amateur-made figurines.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle / Japan Pulse
Oct 29, 2009
A peek inside an otaku's inner sanctum
Imperial otaku Danny Choo invited geek homies to show off their inner sanctums and it all comes together for a worldwide room-viewing in 'Otacool.'
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 / COSPLAY CULTURE
Mar 9, 2008
School offers costume-play way to 'cool' English
Learning a foreign language is never easy, and for many it can even be a painful process.
LIFE / COSPLAY CULTURE
Mar 9, 2008
All aboard for 'world of manga'
With everyone pulling roller suitcases, it seemed appropriate that we were heading for the Harumi Passenger Terminal built on land reclaimed from Tokyo Bay in the city's central Chuo Ward.
Japan Times
LIFE / COSPLAY CULTURE
Mar 9, 2008
Fashion fantasies come to life in cosplay
Silver wig, blue contact lenses, a mock sword and a (kind of) knight's costume.
Town to block view of Mount Fuji in response to overtourism
The town government of Fujikawaguchiko, Yamanashi Prefecture, decided to set up a 2.5-meter-high screen to prevent tourists from taking pictures of Mount Fuji looming behind a convenience store.
In Japan, regional revitalization fails to halt population decline
Sakiyama elementary school in Tamba, Hyogo Prefecture, in March .Over the past decade, the government has directed efforts toward policies designed to give young people incentives to base themselves in rural areas.
Number of homeless in Japan hits record low
Homeless people sleep on the street in Tokyo's Shinjuku Ward in August 2021.
Ukraine is far from doomed
When comparing Ukraine’s military situation in 2024 to Europe’s in 1941, Russia’s defeat seems entirely possible.
Japan wants you to spend more with ‘luxury tourism’
Performers play a traditional drum unique to Wajima, Ishikawa Prefecture, in the prefectural capital of Kanazawa on March 16 to mark the extension of the Hokuriku Shinkansen line to Tsuruga Station in Fukui Prefecture.
Tokyo's Koto Ward by-election a race unlike any other
Natsumi Sakai, the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan’s candidate and one of four female candidates running in the by-election, touts her experience as a cancer survivor and midwife as having prepared her to tackle issues that women currently face.
Theaster Gates’ ambitious ‘Afro-Mingei’ brings Black Chicago to Tokyo
Theaster Gates' “A Heavenly Chord” lines up church pews before seven speakers and a Hammond B3 organ, a type of electric organ prevalent in Black American churches.
Japan wants you to spend more with ‘luxury tourism’
Performers play a traditional drum unique to Wajima, Ishikawa Prefecture, in the prefectural capital of Kanazawa on March 16 to mark the extension of the Hokuriku Shinkansen line to Tsuruga Station in Fukui Prefecture.
Casa del Cibo: A thriving jewel born from Tohoku’s harsh past
When chef Ryohei Ikemi moved to Hachinohe, Aomori Prefecture, and opened Casa del Cibo in 2011, it was the first proper Italian restaurant in the city.
Town to block view of Mount Fuji in response to overtourism
The town government of Fujikawaguchiko, Yamanashi Prefecture, decided to set up a 2.5-meter-high screen to prevent tourists from taking pictures of Mount Fuji looming behind a convenience store.

Podcast

From easily navigable train stations to the helpfulness of its municipal staff, Tokyo has earned high praise for its commitment to accessibility for disabled travelers.
[Rebroadcast] Japan is doing better on accessibility than you may think

Longform

Later this month, author Shogo Imamura will open Honmaru, a bookstore that allows other businesses to rent its shelves. It's part of a wave of ideas Japanese booksellers are trying to compete with online spaces.
The story isn't over for Japan's bookstores
By Alex K.T. Martin

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

Vol. 34: Tokyo, a vanguard city for sustainability
Vol. 34: Tokyo, a vanguard city for sustainability

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