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Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jan 28, 2015

Big Eyes: 'The devil's pact between creativity and marketing'

Tim Burton's "Big Eyes," a portrait of real-life artists Margaret and Walter Keane, who specialized in creepy but cute paintings of saucer-eyed children and kittens, marks the first time Burton has returned to the real world since "Ed Wood" (1994). Yet while "Big Eyes" is as much an ode to kitsch as...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jan 28, 2015

Breathe In (Japan title: Anatatono Kiss Madeno Kyori)

Director: Drake Doremus Language: English
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Jan 28, 2015

Condors dancers share double bill with rising star

Ryohei Kondo, who founded the popular male dance troupe Condors in 1996, is always brimfull of innovative ideas — even when they're garbed in traditional clothing.
WORLD
Jan 28, 2015

Blizzard hits Boston and New England, spares New York

A powerful blizzard struck Boston and surrounding New England on Tuesday, leaving 4.5 million people grappling with as much as 3 feet (1 meter) of snow and coastal flooding but sparing New York City residents, who had braced for a significant blast.
JAPAN
Jan 28, 2015

Journalists, Muslims say Japan is a friend, urge Goto release

Multiple organizations in Japan have issued statements on the hostage crisis. Following are selected quotes:
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 27, 2015

Washington suffers from a tolerance problem

For the next two years, the chances are good that the U.S. government will be almost completely paralyzed.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jan 27, 2015

Sugar's Campaign come up with some sweet city pop for debut album 'Friends'

Seiho Hayakawa and Takuma Hosokawa think modern pop music is "grotesque," but that's exactly how they wanted the debut album by their band Sugar's Campaign to sound.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Society
Jan 27, 2015

In South Korea, women's careers take back seat to caring for kids

Ahn Ji-sun was looking forward to going back to work after she had given birth to her second child. But she had no one to baby-sit the kids.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Economy
Jan 27, 2015

Nomura says 'Abenomics' more likely to derail amid doubt over tax pledge

Nomura Holdings Inc. says the probability that Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's economic policies will end badly is increasing.
Japan Times
WORLD
Jan 27, 2015

Northeastern U.S. hunkers down, awaits 'crippling' blizzard blitz

The U.S. Northeast on Monday braced for a massive, crippling blizzard that could dump as much as 3 feet of snow as tens of millions of people were urged to stay home and airlines canceled thousands of flights.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jan 26, 2015

Hostage crisis puts work of aid groups on nation's public agenda

Groups with a stake in the Islamic State hostage crisis include aid teams who at times have struggled to keep the Syrian refugee crisis on the agenda back home.
JAPAN
Jan 26, 2015

Japan journalists press for talks with Islamic State group

A journalists' association has called on Japan to engage in dialogue with the extremists holding Kenji Goto, a day after an image emerged appearing to show the dead body of fellow hostage Haruna Yukawa.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE FOREIGN ELEMENT
Jan 26, 2015

Nous ne sommes pas Charlie: Voices that mock authority in Japan muzzled

Why is there no equivalent of Charlie Hebdo, 'The Daily Show' or 'Monty Python' in Japan?
Japan Times
WORLD
Jan 26, 2015

Got a spare billion? Bankers keen to help

The growing ranks of the super rich and their increased appetite for risk have caught the eye of investment bankers.
Japan Times
WORLD
Jan 26, 2015

Survivor detailed camp life in his book

In a little leather book, the kind some men used to use to list lovers, Holocaust survivor Hy Abrams keeps the names that still haunt him: Auschwitz, Plaszow, Mauthausen, Melk and Ebensee.
JAPAN
Jan 25, 2015

Families, acquaintances dismayed by latest video of Japanese hostage

Shock and confusion overwhelms the families and friends of the two Japanese men held captive in Syria by the Islamic State group.
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
Jan 25, 2015

It's OK to film people in public in Japan, if the conditions justify it

A reader asks, 'In Japan, is it OK to film other people in public?'
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 25, 2015

Health care pressures grow

Expect the state of siege under which the National Health Service has labored recently to be the biggest political issue at the next election in Britain, due in May.
JAPAN / Politics
Jan 25, 2015

Abe says likelihood of video being real is 'high'

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe says the static video purportedly showing a photo of Japanese hostage Hau00adruu00adna Yuu00adkau00adwa is probably authentic.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jan 25, 2015

Purported Islamic State video shows hostage Goto claiming Yukawa has been executed

A video posted online shows journalist Kenji Goto holding a picture of what appears to be the body of slain fellow hostage Haruna Yukawa.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / BACKSTREET STORIES
Jan 24, 2015

Monkeying around in Sarugakucho

Sarugakucho — which loosely translates as "monkey fun town" — is a hot spot near Daikanyama Station in Shibuya, Tokyo. As a place to hang out, this area sets the bar pretty high: Its backstreets are a zoo of uber-cute boutiques offering exclusive jeans, aromatic drip coffee made with gourmet beans,...
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Jan 24, 2015

Can the DPJ reinvigorate Japanese democracy?

Columbia University's Gerald Curtis recently wrote, "It is a sad commentary on Japan's politics that after nearly 70 years of democracy a competitive party system has all but disintegrated."
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books / ESSENTIAL READING FOR JAPANOPHILES
Jan 24, 2015

The Ink Dark Moon

No other period in Japan's literary history was as dominated by women as the Heian Period (794-1185). Most Japanophiles know names such as Sei Shonagon ("The Pillow Book") or Murasaki Shikibu ("The Tale of Genji") for their contributions to the world of literature, but Izumi Shikibu (Shikibu is a title,...
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Jan 24, 2015

New heir to Saudi throne is said to be relatively liberal outsider

Saudi Arabia's new Crown Prince Muqrin represents the biggest break from the kingdom's tradition of any of his predecessors in the role — both because of his lowly maternal birth and his foreign education.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jan 23, 2015

Hostages in limbo as deadline passes

The presumed 72-hour deadline for paying the exorbitant ransom demanded by the Islamic State group apparently expired at 2:50 p.m. Friday without any hint about what would happen to the two Japanese hostages in its grasp.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Society
Jan 23, 2015

Activist says Uganda documentary may aid LGBT cause

Japan has developed a more favorable view of sexual minorities in recent years, but activist Mameta Endo wants to raise awareness of the issue further by encouraging people to take in a documentary that captures the hatred, harassment, and risk of prison time such people face in Uganda.

Longform

Tetsuzo Shiraishi, speaking at The Center of the Tokyo Raids and War Damage, uses a thermos to explain how he experienced the U.S. firebombing of March 1945, when he was just 7 years old.
From ashes to high-rises: A survivor’s account of Tokyo’s postwar past