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The head of an official inquiry into the deadly collapse of a Bangladesh factory complex said the building’s owner was the “main culprit” for the disaster because he violated construction codes. The cave-in of the eight-story Rana Plaza outside the capital last month killed ...
Throughout most of Japan, June is the rainy season. While all that rainfall is great for rice paddies so that we can have delicious new harvest rice in the fall, it makes it a rather dull month for seasonal produce: The summer’s bounty of ...
“I was stopped by two men in a government-registered vehicle, blindfolded and dragged off the street. They took me away to a house in a place I did not know. I was forced into a room with blood all over the walls and floor, ...
Claude Regy says the team at the Shizuoka Performing Arts Center (SPAC) threw him the “best birthday party ever” when he arrived in Japan just days after the actual May 1 occasion. The 90-year-old French director is hoping for an even better birthday gift, ...
As far as debuts go, Shohei Otani's delivered. The celebrated rookie pitched fairly well on Thursday night, and though he finished outside the decision, he left the mound with the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters well within striking distance of the Tokyo Yakult Swallows.
100 YEARS AGOWednesday, Oct. 12, 1910 Korean peerage and education We welcome news (from the recently annexed Korea) that the gracious act of our Court in conferring the patent of peerage and other marks of honor on Koreans of noble lineage and distinguished careers ...
In his wrap-up of the previous decade in music on Dec. 18, 2009, this newspaper’s Philip Brasor identified harmony vocal groups as the “most enduring fad.” Well, judging from the activities of a sizable group of young performers from northern Japan, the fad looks ...
A quick story about me, public seating and Japan: It’s 1994. I’ve been in Tokyo less than a week and this is my first time in Shinjuku. Lunchtime comes and my student thriftiness and Australian love of the outdoors beget a plan: I’ll grab ...
Kengo Kuma might be the most self-effacing architect around. His trademarks are not large monumental forms or breathtaking sculptural shapes, but finely wrought details such as elegant stone cladding on a high-rise tower, an unlikely pitched roof or a superbly framed view on a ...
Among this year’s many events celebrating the 1,300th anniversary of Nara as Japan’s first capital is one with a decidedly international tone. From Oct. 2 to 3, Nara’s Akishino Music Hall welcomes some of the most talented singers from throughout Asia as it hosts ...
100 YEARS AGOSunday, Sept. 4, 1910 The annexation of Korea and the Chinese press A dispatch from Mukden [present-day Shenyang in Liaoning Province] says that the local Chinese papers have begun to comment upon the annexation. Most of them, like their Shanghai and Peking ...
Director: Linda Hoaglund Language: Japanese Linda Hoaglund’s documentary deftly conveys the mood of the 1960 protests against the Japan-U.S. security treaty (anpo). But for a subject that remains controversial, mood is hardly enough. Consider this: Hiroshi Nakamura, an artist present in 1960 and who ...
In March, with the opening of the Design Museum Holon, Israel added its name to a long list of countries that have at least one full-fledged museum dedicated to design. Japan, despite its reputation as a design powerhouse — hard-earned during the 20th century ...
Talk about a nightmare of a client. They expect deliveries tailored to their precise instructions — once every year. They send missives along the lines of, “You should be a bit more creative with your designs,” and then append them with casual reminders that ...
In 1993, when large tracts of wilderness on the Kagoshima Prefecture island of Yakushima were listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, environmentally minded observers the world over celebrated. But the real battle to save the island’s forests had been fought — and won ...
If you’ve ever had a tennis lesson, your coach likely told you to block, rather than swing at your volleys. That knowledge makes it all the more thrilling to watch someone like the athletic 16-year-old Sanae Ota rush in from the back of the ...
As if the heat wasn’t enough. Now there’s another reason to chug down a beer on the beach this summer. On Aug. 21, “Beers for Books Beach House Blast,” a charity event aimed at helping literacy in developing countries, will be held at the ...