Economy | ANALYSIS
Households to take hit from tax hike
by Tomoko Otake
The consumption tax increase will hit every household in Japan hard, with many people’s financial future hanging on whether their wages rise enough to offset the hike's impact.
Life Aug 10, 2013
Ninagawa's golden oldies reach a whole new stage in life
by Nobuko Tanaka
“After a performance at the 232-seat Maison de la Culture du Japon in Paris, one of the Japanese staff there said I had a ‘splendid voice.’ I didn’t buy anything in Paris, but that was the best possible souvenir,” said Kiyoshi Takahashi, 85, the ...
Life Aug 10, 2013
Seven years on, and everyone's itching for more
by Nobuko Tanaka
To date, including his all-male production of “The Merchant of Venice” that’s set to run next month at Sainokuni Saitama Arts Theater outside Tokyo, Yukio Ninagawa will have staged 29 of the 38 plays attributed to William Shakespeare — and his ambition to direct ...
Life Jul 27, 2013
Exclusive: Red Hat's lethal Okinawa smokescreen
by Jon Mitchell
In July 1969, a leak of chemical weapons on Okinawa sickened more than 20 U.S. soldiers and laid bare one of the Pentagon’s biggest Cold War secrets: the storage of toxic munitions outside of continental United States. Public outrage following the Okinawa accident forced ...
Life Jul 13, 2013
Gender bending in Japan
by Michael Hoffman
Do our genitals define us? Increasingly, they do not. Is sexuality more complicated than male/female? Increasingly, it is. Or maybe not increasingly: Maybe the only thing that’s changed over the ages is how much of our true selves society lets us show. The Bible, ...
Life | WEEK 3 Jun 16, 2013
Family-crest master fears he's one of a dying breed
by Tomoko Otake
Dressed in a black kimono and wearing a pair of eye-catching black, triple-framed spectacles, Shoryu Hatoba straightens his back as he sits on the tatami floor of his quaint studio in Ueno, central Tokyo, holding a pair of bamboo compasses fitted with a brush ...
Life Jun 12, 2013
Typewriter aficionados in the United States are rewriting history, slowly
by Leila Macor
Ermanno Marzorati has rarely been so busy. He is currently fixing a 1930 Underwood typewriter for Tom Hanks. But there are plenty more ancient writing machines awaiting his tender care. While the modern world taps away in an ever-increasing frenzy online, the Italian senses ...
Life May 26, 2013
Whatever some say, there's no Japanese-language 'code' to be deciphered
by Roger Pulvers
Ever since Japan opened to the outside world in the middle of the 19th century after some 250 years of isolation imposed and enforced by its ruling shoguns, the Japanese language has been widely regarded as a kind of code. Foreigners, it is generally ...
Life | WEEK 3 May 19, 2013
Fukushima photos focus on what can't be seen
by Ken Kawashima
Photographer Tomoki Imai has been a blur of activity since we reached the lookout point halfway up 601-meter Mount Higakure in the Futaba district of Fukushima Prefecture.
Life | WEEK 3 May 19, 2013
Learning to live with your death
by Tomoko Otake
It can be a big challenge, even a burden, to strategize your life and prioritize your goals — and then stick to them.
Life May 12, 2013
'Beauty' as beheld in Japan through the ages
by Michael Hoffman
In July 2006, Shinzo Abe published a book titled "Utsukushii Kuni e" ("Toward a Beautiful Country"), but what does he mean by "beautiful country"?
Life May 12, 2013
Trendsetting U.S. craft beers pour into Germany
by Michael Birnbaum
Almost 65 years after Allied planes flew Western supplies into blockaded Berlin, a new American import is arriving by air: craft beer. The beer is being flown in due to a new surge of German interest in American brewing that’s upending a centuries-old relationship ...
Life | WEEK 3 Apr 21, 2013
New moves to save Japan's sacred trees from a fiery end
by Winifred Bird
Spend a while walking the streets of any Japanese city and you are bound to notice it: Here and there among the concrete towers, shops and bustling streets, you’ll find clusters of trees. In some places, five or 10 stately Japanese cedars provide a ...