September 12, 2024

Today's print edition

Subscribe for more access

JAPAN

History

Science & Health

After 80 years, Toshimizu Ishii is speaking out on his experience making balloon bombs during World War II.

JAPAN / History

Aug 14, 2024

96-year-old recounts WWII experience in Fukushima balloon bomb exhibit

"Back then, I didn’t think much about it," Toshimizu Ishii admitted. "But now, I see how senseless it all was."

Though some in the country rejected their wartime associations, the Japanese government made the Hinomaru flag and "Kimigayo" anthem official 25 years ago.

JAPAN / History / Japan Times Gone By

Aug 1, 2024

Japan Times 1999: Flag, anthem now official

After some controversy, the Hinomaru flag was made official alongside the country's national anthem, "Kimigayo."

A tunnel inside the Sado Island Gold Mines in Sado, Niigata Prefecture

JAPAN / History

Jul 27, 2024

Japan's Sado gold mines added to World Heritage list

The site is associated with Korean wartime labor and was once the world's largest gold mine complex.

As childish as Ryokan may have been, human suffering wrung his heart. A portrait of the monk and calligraphy by him are shown here. (Ink on paper; early 19th century; replica before 1970)

JAPAN / History / The Living Past

Jul 21, 2024

Ryokan and us: 'How wide! How boundless!'

By Michael Hoffman

The Edo Period monk could see the world through a child's eyes, maybe even those of a child from our modern era.

As the 1924 Exclusion Act came into effect in the United States, people in Japan were not happy. It would define American immigration policy for near three decades.

JAPAN / History / Japan Times Gone By

Jul 1, 2024

Japan Times 1924: Anti-America Day observed by all Japan

Two very different views of the United States from Japan, separated by 25 years and, more importantly, a war, define this month's look back at Japanese history.

The Atomic Bomb Dome in Hiroshima

JAPAN / History

Jun 21, 2024

Oppenheimer apologized to atomic bomb survivors, Japan nonprofit says

Oppenheimer apologized profusely while crying intensely as soon as he met the visitors, an interpreter said.

A statue of Santoku Taneda stands at Hofu Station in Hofu, Yamagata Prefecture, where the Zen monk was born in 1882.

JAPAN / History / The Living Past

Jun 14, 2024

The joy of Zen — Part 2: Poetry

By Michael Hoffman

Ryokan and Santoka lived in different times, connected by a knack for words but polar opposites when it came to the monk's life they both chose.

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.

Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

A store clerk tries to cool things down in front of their shop by spraying a hose.

Is extreme weather changing the way Japan shops?

By Alex K.T. Martin

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

Sasakawa works for a sustainable blue economy

Sasakawa works for a sustainable blue economy

SPECIAL SUPPLEMENTS

SUPPLEMENTS BINDER

international-reports