THE JAPAN NEWS
 
With karate added to the Olympic program for the 2020 Tokyo Games, world champion Kiyo Shimizu watched the Rio de Janeiro Olympics with a different perspective than usual.
“As I was watching, I was asking myself what would I be feeling if I were on the Olympic stage. I thought, d...

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JAPAN TIMES
 
Richie Hawtin needs no introduction to anyone familiar with electronic music. For 25 years, this Berlin-based, English-Canadian DJ has been at the forefront of techno and he continues to play at major music and art events around the planet.
Less well known is his passion for premium...

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ROCKET NEWS
 
The underground train operator has commissioned several real-time translation megaphones to facilitate communication with foreign customers.
If globally lauded Japanese customer service has one major weakness, it might just be the lack of communication skills in languages other than...

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JAPAN TODAY
 
BRISBANE — A rusty Kei Nishikori survived a scare from qualifier Jared Donaldson to move into the quarterfinals of the Brisbane International on Wednesday.
The third seeded Japanese lost the first set to the American, ranked 105, but recovered to take the match 4-6, 6-4, 6-3 in two ...

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JAPAN TRENDS
 
If you thought Piko Taro’s “Pen Pineapple Apple Pen” (PPAP) couldn’t get any more “Japanese”, think again.
Adding to the countless numbers of adaptations and parodies already out there clogging up YouTube, veteran musician Masashi Sada has now produced this slick and entertaining “...

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JAPAN TODAY
 
TOKYO — Japan is finally starting to seriously seek ways to curb excessive work hours, with the overwork-related suicide of a young employee spotlighting a long-standing issue that has always been in question but never quite addressed.
The traditional corporate culture in Japan of p...

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THE JAPAN NEWS
 
Narita Airport is crowded on Thursday as travelers head overseas on their year-end and New Year vacations. A seasonal peak of about 50,000 outbound vacationers were expected to depart from the airport on the day.
The flow of returning travelers is expected to peak on Jan. 3. Toky...

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JAPAN TODAY
 
Japanese Defense Minister Tomomi Inada’s visit to Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo on Thursday drew prompt criticism from Japan’s two closest neighbors, with South Korea condemning it as “deplorable” and summoning a Japanese diplomat to lodge its protest.
The South Korean Foreign Ministry c...

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JAPAN TRENDS
 
The actor, film director, TV host and comedian Takeshi Kitano (aka Beat Takeshi) has met with Tokyo governor Yuriko Koike. There would be nothing news-worthy about that in itself, except for the fact that Kitano arrived dressed up as President-elect Donald Trump.
Kitano met with Ko...

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ROCKET NEWS
 
Now there are two Michelin-starred ramen restaurants in the capital, and we lined up to try the signature dish from the latest award-winning eatery.
Last December, Tsuta made international headlines after it became the world’s first-ever ramen restaurant to be awarded a prestigious ...

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