Politics & Diplomacy
Hashimoto to retract sex suggestion for U.S. military
Osaka Mayor Toru Hashimoto aims to retract his remark that U.S. servicemen in Okinawa should use the local adult entertainment industry to avoid committing sex crimes.
Lifestyle Mar 6, 2013
Awakening the desire for a home with personality
by Edan Corkill
Bored with run-of-the-mill suburban Japanese apartments? Perhaps putting the grand piano in the center of the living room would improve the situation.
Lifestyle Feb 26, 2013
Tips on 'eating clean': Going from fast food to healthful meals
by Maggie Fazeil
Writer and former fast-food junkie Maggie Fazeli Fard gave an online Q&A with her readers about the journey to healthful eating. Here is an edited excerpt. “Eating clean” usually means avoiding processed food, but there can be different understandings of the term. What do ...
Lifestyle Feb 19, 2013
Sewing words for thought
by Tomoko Otake
Some words can evoke powerful images, values and stereotypes that have crept into our subconsciousness to sometimes dictate the way we think or behave. For Ruri Clarkson, this is something that needs to be challenged in Japan, and which she does herself with art.
Lifestyle Feb 4, 2013
Teach your teens basic life skills
by Mari-jane Williams
Everyone graduates from high school knowing how to read, write and do basic math (you would hope). But to be a self-sufficient adult, those skills are not enough. In fact, they’re nowhere close to enough. Advanced skills in academic areas aren’t going to help ...
Lifestyle Feb 4, 2013
Extroverts fail, and introverts flounder, but the rest of us will probably succeed
by Daniel H. Pink
Spend a day with any leader in any organization, and you’ll quickly discover that the person you’re shadowing, whatever his or her official title or formal position, is actually in sales. These leaders are often pitching customers and clients, of course. But they’re also ...
Lifestyle | WEEK 3 Jan 19, 2013
Turnip-tossing turns up trumps for trader
by Tomoko Otake
Yoshio Otsuka’s years of striving to revive a near-extinct strain of turnip known to have been grown some 400 years ago in the Shinagawa district of today’s central Tokyo recently struck pay dirt in a most unexpected fashion. That’s because, via a little local ...
Lifestyle Dec 18, 2012
Acne Studios opens house in Japan
by Danielle Demetriou
They are two cities separated by more than 8,000 km. But despite the geographical distance, a little piece of Stockholm arrived last week in Tokyo — in the form of Asia’s first Acne store. The cult Swedish brand, famous for its high-quality jeans and ...
Lifestyle Dec 18, 2012
Charles and Ray Eames: A deep-seated legacy
by Paul Mcinnes
A touring exhibition and a recently released full-length documentary are shedding new light on the polymathic world of the U.S. couple Charles and Ray Eames, two of the most prolific and influential creatives of the 20th century. “Essential Eames” at the Living Design Center ...
Lifestyle | WEEK 3 Dec 16, 2012
Last Tokyo street view of Mount Fuji set to go
by Justin Aukema
As the sun sets over a small patch of the Nippori district of Tokyo’s northeastern Arakawa Ward, people can often be seen stopping to gaze to the West — something not so surprising atop a street named Fujimizaka, which means “Mount Fuji Viewing Slope.” ...
Lifestyle | WEEK 3 Dec 16, 2012
Tsunami survivor uses English to share his tragic story
by Teiichi Sato
The following is a further excerpt from Teiichi Sato’s book, “The Seed of Hope in the Heart.” People’s accounts that Sato records here about the huge tsunami triggered by the Great East Japan Earthquake of March 11, 2011, were all told to him first-hand ...
Lifestyle Dec 4, 2012
Original gifts for your unique friends
The design lover Makoto Aida’s controversial art has made him popular with the public, but not so with the kind of corporate sponsors who usually back big exhibitions, like the one at the Mori Art Museum now. To fund the show limited-edition prints are ...
Lifestyle Nov 6, 2012
touchMe event puts fashion within reach of all
by Samuel Thomas
Just one week after Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Tokyo had drawn to a close, the capital’s fashionistas were drawn back to the runway for a slew of shows that have been gaining in popularity. The touchMe presentations, now in their third year and seventh iteration, ...