Click here for our gallery of past covers

Old-School Cool
Genre-hopping actor Shido Nakamura is making Kabuki hip
August 4, 2003

Crime Fighters Unbound
Bayside Shakedown broke box-office records with a tale of well-meaning cops ensnared by Japanese bureaucracy. Now a sequel is gunning for even bigger success
July 23, 2003

Royale Terror
Japan's teenage death-match movie gets a sequel that's just as bloody, but not as misanthropic, as the original
July 7, 2003

The Beast Goes East
A failed American football player finds fame and fortune in Japan by beating people senseless
June 9, 2003

Look, Up in the Sky!
It's Shonen Jump, Japan's most popular comic, making the leap to America in a single bound
February 24, 2003

Pop Master
Japan's literati may sneer at Haruki Murakami, but his latest novel has sold 460,000 copies in two months—and he's revered overseas
November 25, 2002

On the Circuit
DJ Tsuyoshi fashioned a life—and music—from the Asian rave scene
November 11, 2002

Tokyo Psycho
Tadanobu Asano has made a name for himself playing misfits and bad boys. Now he faces a wilder prospect: stardom
October 21, 2002

The Ichiro Paradox
No power, no personality, yet with no peer, Ichiro Suzuki may be the greatest player to come out of Japan and the worst thing to happen to Japanese baseball
July 15, 2002

Kwest For Kawaii
If you want to be trendier than the next girl, 'gal style' is out and faded denim is in. Kate Drake went to Shibuya 109 to see the faces behind today's brands—and found some extremely young women staring back
June 25, 2001

The Beat Goes On
Beat Takeshi, Japan's one-man entertainment conglomerate, is a subversive—of a very Japanese sort
February 12, 2001