Jean Snow [.net]

Category: Society

  • Jenkins Biography

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    If you live in Japan, you definitely know who Charles Jenkins is, as he’s been a constant presence on the news in recent years because of the North Korean kidnapping situation. TIME’s Tokyo bureau chief and senior editor Jim Frederick will be working with Jenkins on a book of his life, which I’m sure will…

  • The Hunt for Japanese Innovators

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    Magazine journalist Douglas McGray needs your help: I’m helping a big US-Japan institute out with some legwork on a project, which aims to identify next generation innovators in Japanese culture. They’re going to be defining culture in an appealingly broad way — contemporary artists and designers, chefs, filmmakers, authors, architects, anime directors, manga artists, philosophers,…

  • More Maid Cafe News

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    Patrick recently wrote about his visit to a maid cafe in Nakano (in the Broadway shopping center), and THE JAPAN TIMES joins in with a short article on the phenomenon. They actually start off with a description of the economic power that the “otaku” audience now commands, with a “total market size of the major…

  • Observation Bath

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    In Japan, the bath is quite sacred. One of the things I most look forward to at the end of each day is to soak in a very hot bath. We all know that Momus has taken quite a liking to it also. Now comes news that the soon-to-open Chubu International Airport in Nagoya is…

  • Christmas Madness

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    The outside wall of the Akasaka Prince Hotel in Tokyo is lit up for the Christmas season. (Japan Today) Oh god, even here, where Christmas isn’t really celebrated, Christmas stuff is up everywhere. At Seibu, the trees were up on October 30. Is there no escape? And at work, I had to start going over…

  • Mobile Life

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    A typical Japanese scene: Ken Kawakita is sitting on his living room floor, checking train schedules on the Internet, using a laptop computer running Windows over a wireless AirPort from Apple Computer. His son, Taro, 11, is downloading a game on his iBook over the same network, while daughter, Mari, 13, converses with a friend…

  • Bubble Boy

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    Robert whips out his new essay. Is it bigger than yours?

  • A Sad Time for China

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    Thousands of flag-waving, profanity-yelling Chinese soccer fans upset about their 3-1 Asia Cup loss Saturday night blocked Japanese fans from leaving Beijing’s Workers’ Stadium. Chinese fans also pelted a bus that left the stadium with bottles and garbage and prevented Japanese spectators from leaving through a special gate. Several thousand others also blocked streets surrounding…

  • Ikea's Return to Japan

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    Long article on when and how Ikea will be making its return to the Japanese market (which seems to be in 2006). It made a retreat in 1986 after completely flopping in Japan.

  • Gori-Chan

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    It used to be fairly rare for Japanese to buy pets, but in recent years even space-crammed inner city dwellers have started buying cats and dogs in droves. Now… condominium resident pet owners are discovering that dealing with their animals’ sexual cravings is a little more difficult than merely hurling a bucket of water when…