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Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle
Apr 7, 2019

The Moomins find a second home in Japan

With almost 50 percent of the global 'Moomin market' in Japan, MoominValley Park has the ideal audience — nostalgic adults, kawaii fans and, of course, woodland-creature-loving kids.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Feb 28, 2019

Tokyo restaurateur develops spore sheet to speed up aging of meat — and fish

Mikio Atobe carefully peels a layer of rayon netting from a chunk of farmed bluefin tuna, revealing a secondary sheet of cloth clinging to its exposed flesh, partially yellowed by the mold coating it.
Japan Times
LIFE / Language
Feb 25, 2019

Japanese that's so beautiful it belongs in a museum

What if there was a Museum of Exceptional Japanese? Daniel Morales discusses the kinds of words he would like to see in such an institution, but what words would you donate?
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Feb 19, 2019

Hikaru Uzawa blends old and new to add vitality to the world of noh

Hikaru Uzawa is a noh performer who marries her work within the traditional confines of the art form with performing in contemporary pieces internationally, bringing freshness to the traditional world of noh.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Society / GENERATIONAL CHANGE
Feb 10, 2019

Japanese makeup guru on crusade to revamp men's grooming habits

As a university student, Hiroki Takahashi could barely step outside his home without a surgical mask on. Even when he did venture out, he was terrified of the fluorescent lighting ubiquitous in convenience stores and trains that ruthlessly illuminated what he was desperately trying to hide — a mass...
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / Japan
Feb 4, 2019

Breaking the spell of aging

Extending the working lives of the elderly by offering better employment conditions is a top priority for Japan.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jan 30, 2019

'The Shutendoji Picture Scroll': Japan's grisly tale of demonic drama

The Nezu Museum showcases Sumiyoshi Hironao's 'Shutendoji Monogatari' ('The Tale of the Drunken Demon' scrolls in their entirety for the first time in the museum's history.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jan 22, 2019

'Toshiko Okanoue, Photo Collage: The Miracle of Silence'

Jan. 26-April 7
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jan 16, 2019

'Chiwawa': An enigma wrapped in a riddle

Edie Sedgwick was an Andy Warhol "superstar" and Bob Dylan muse who died at age 28 after bouts with mental illness and drug addiction — and has had a long afterlife as a legendary 1960s "it" girl.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Dec 28, 2018

Raking it in: Kumade craftsmen carry on Edo Period tradition making ornamental talismans

On a chilly night in late November, Seizo Hashimoto, 65, was stood beside his stall at Otori Shrine in Asakusa, Tokyo, selling ornamental bamboo rakes that are believed to "catch and rake in" wealth and good luck in the coming year.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Nov 27, 2018

Ned Rothenberg: Crossing the Pacific with bamboo flute in hand

Composer and performer Ned Rothenberg has spent his career traversing different musical worlds.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / Japan
Nov 9, 2018

Japan opening doors more widely to foreign professionals

The perception of 'closed companies' is fast becoming a thing of the past.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Internationalization of Japanese Universities
Oct 22, 2018

Timing ripe for pursuing higher education in Japan

There they go, gliding through conversations in flawless Japanese with ease, catching the locals' jokes, even making their own. It all seemed so effortless for them and there I was, struggling away trying to string together a semi-coherent sentence. Just as I had aligned all that tricky grammar into...
CULTURE / TV & Streaming
Oct 11, 2018

Anpanman: Is the children's superhero the best thing since sliced bread?

Illustrator Takashi Yanase's beaming cartoon character celebrates the 30th anniversary of 'Soreike! Anpanman' on Nippon TV.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics / ANALYSIS
Oct 5, 2018

With Kavanaugh probe firing up Republican base, Trump likely a winner whether judge confirmed or not

The ugly partisan brawl over U.S. Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh's confirmation remains undecided, but President Donald Trump appears likely to come out on top regardless of the outcome.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Sep 26, 2018

Seiko Oomori: J-pop's reigning rule-breaker

Pop music often opts for positivity rather than confronting the uncomfortable, but Seiko Oomori has never really adhered to J-pop norms.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Sep 25, 2018

Keiichi Tanaami's visually trippy past

Sometimes innocent, sometimes pornographic, influences percolated, exploded and re-formed in multiple and mutant ways during Keiichi Tanaami's career, which took off in the 1960s and is still going strong.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Aug 28, 2018

An education in modernist art teaching

The Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto surveys German, Japanese and Indian Bauhaus developments as part of a wider collation of international exhibitions and research in preparation for next year's Bauhaus centenary anniversary in Berlin.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle / CHILD'S PLAY
Aug 19, 2018

The museum where the kids can run wild

Surreal as it sounds, the creation of personal digital crocodiles is a pretty typical activity in the world of teamLab — or more precisely, inside teamLab's new museum showcasing the work of the so-called 'ultra-technologist' art collective.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink
Aug 18, 2018

Belon chef to showcase his cooking in Tokyo collab

Known for his precise, classically French approach to cooking, Daniel Calvert will join Yusuke Namai of restaurant Ode in Tokyo's Shibuya Ward for a collaboration dinner on August 29.
Japan Times
JAPAN / History / THE LIVING PAST
Aug 18, 2018

Heian literature: Is all fair in love and no war?

There's nothing quite like Japan's Heian Period (794-1185). Almost four centuries of peace and a governing aristocracy of culture set it apart.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Aug 14, 2018

Jia Pengfang left his home in rural China with an erhu and a dream

Jia Pengfang's talent with the erhu took him around the world, but would audiences overseas appreciate the traditional Chinese instrument?
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jul 16, 2018

'Akira': Looking back at the future

On the 30th anniversary of the release of the animated version of 'Akira' in Japan, we examine the enduring legacy of Katsuhiro Otomo's sci-fi classic.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Jun 23, 2018

'The Penguin Book of Japanese Short Stories': Memorable shorts from the greats of modern literature

From Haruki Murakami to Natsume Soseki, 'The Penguin Book of Japanese Short Stories' serves up a feast of literature, a smorgasbord of over 30 widely varied modern Japanese writers.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / FOCUS
Jun 21, 2018

Crisis-plagued private Pyongyang university seeks revival after Trump-Kim summit

When the only private university in North Korea held a commencement in March, the school's American president wasn't there, blocked by Washington's ban on travel to the country.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Jun 16, 2018

Ken Watanabe: Japan's flag-bearer in the world of entertainment

Ahead of the opening of 'The King and I' in London on June 21, the award-winning actor calls on young Japanese to step outside their comfort zone.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Satoyama Consortium
Jun 4, 2018

Women's panel shares insights

Three women practitioners engaging in satoyama and satoumi-based activities discussed their thoughts during a panel discussion at the Japan Times Satoyama Consortium symposium in Tokyo on May 16.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / FOREIGN AGENDA
May 23, 2018

Zen and the art of Premier League dominance: Buddhist philosophy links Manchester United, Arsenal and Japan

Can the success of Alex Ferguson's 'kids' and Arsene Wenger's 'Invincibles' be linked to Buddhist philosophy? It's worth a try.

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