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Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Aug 23, 2012

"Sukiya Carpenter: The Creator of Beauty"

Despite the recently rekindled popularity of traditional Japanese architecture, many admirers are not fully aware of the wa, the key to harmonious Japanese design, behind their structures. Sukiya is a residential architecture style that incorporates the refined aesthetics of the Japanese tea house and...
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 21, 2012

Whose future is it anyway?

Singapore's paternalistic government is unappealing to many Americans — media restrictions, one-party rule, harsh penalties for gum-chewing.
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
Aug 20, 2012

Yokohama star Ramirez keeps family close to his heart

Alex Ramirez is dressed in his full uniform and standing a few feet in front of the Yokohama BayStars clubhouse, but baseball is the furthest thing from his mind right now.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Aug 9, 2012

"Given Forms: Tatsuno Toeko/Shibata Toshio"

Toeko Tatsuno has been leading the field of abstract painting in Japan for more than 30 years with her colorful and emotionally charged works.
JAPAN
Aug 9, 2012

Hashimoto reeling after students' names leaked

Osaka Ishin no Kai (One Osaka) officials were reeling with embarrassment and threatening to file a police complaint this week after a weekly tabloid magazine published the names of the 888 students studying at an academy set up by the local political group and its founder, Osaka Mayor Toru Hashimoto....
COMMENTARY
Aug 8, 2012

Autopsies shine light on NFL's deadly problem

Are you ready for some American football? First, however, are you ready for some autopsies? The opening of the NFL training camps coincided with the closing of the investigation into the April suicide by gunshot of Ray Easterling, 62, an eight-season NFL safety in the 1970s.
COMMUNITY
Aug 7, 2012

American photographer recounts childhood in wartime Karuizawa

Hungarian-American photographer Tom Haar, 71, who spent several years of his childhood in wartime Karuizawa, Nagano Prefecture, says he wants to help promote the resort area once again "as an international cultural community."
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / CLOSE-UP
Aug 5, 2012

David Atkinson: Ancient Japan captures money man's interest

David Atkinson was still in his 20s when he rose to fame as a Japan-based banking analyst with the U.S. investment bank Salomon Brothers, prior to him moving to Goldman Sachs.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Japan Pulse
Aug 2, 2012

Edo-era amazake is back to beat the summer heat

The Edo-era health tonic amazake is back to help Japan beat the summer heat.
Japan Times
LIFE
Jul 29, 2012

The Taisho Era: When modernity ruled Japan's masses

"Democracy is so popular these days!" — "The Democracy Song," 1919
Japan Times
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Jul 27, 2012

Sisi stars in new exhibition

More than a century after her death, Austria's Empress Elisabeth (1837-1898) has built a big fan base in Japan.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jul 26, 2012

"Future Beauty: 30 Years of Japanese Fashion"

The world first began to take notice of Japanese fashion in the 1980s after Issey Miyake and Kenzo Takada began presenting their collections in Paris. Their work signaled a departure from an industry dominated by Western norms, and their unusual aesthetic shocked fashion critics.
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital / TECH_JAPAN
Jul 25, 2012

Making the move away from smartphone snaps

For aspiring photographers looking to step up their game from a point-and-shoot camera or smartphone, there have been a number of exciting new options released in recent weeks. Whether you want to take the leap to your first DSLR, opt for a more evolved point-and-shoot, or go with something in between...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives
Jul 21, 2012

Architect builds Heart House for 3/11 survivors

When Richard Bliah visited Ishinomaki last August after the coastal city in Miyagi Prefecture was devastated by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami, the veteran French architect was quite sure many residents lost not only family and friends but also the "network of people living in the same area" —...
CULTURE / Books
Jul 15, 2012

Madame Butterfly's love child

Butterfly's Child, by Angela Davis-Gardner. Dial Press, 2011, 352 pp., $26.00 (hardcover) Western opera's opulent pageantry contradicts traditional Japanese understated aesthetics. In the novel "Butterfly's Child," Angela Davis-Gardner resolves this difference by crafting a subdued, multilayered marvel...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jul 12, 2012

"Hair Accessories and Makeup Sets Fabulous Fashion"

Kushi (combs), kanzashi and kōgai (types of hairpins) are three key accessories that Japanese women traditionally wore to decorate their hair. After the Edo Period (1603-1867), these three items became even more popular as young women began to loop and tie their hair into the then-fashionable mage style....
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Jul 8, 2012

The sorry state of affairs in Japan is enough to turn WGs into FGs

Many years ago I coined a phrase — "Frozen Gaijin" — to describe a particular kind of foreigner living in Japan.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jul 6, 2012

'United'

In "United," soccer is described as "beautiful" — a wondrous amalgam of a simple ball, freshly mown grass and men doing godlike things with their feet. Set in Manchester, England, in the 1950s, "United" pays full tribute to this beauty with loving attention to the details of the sport.
EDITORIALS
Jul 2, 2012

Recovery of Japan tourism

The 2012 white book on tourism endorsed by the Cabinet on June 15 shows that foreign tourists are once again visiting Japan. The Japanese government has a plan to attract 18 million tourists from abroad by 2016. To ensure its success, it will be vital to utilize not only historic sites and places of...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jun 28, 2012

"Japanese Ghosts and Eerie Creatures"

This exhibition invites visitors into a world of "comical horror" and highlights spooky works from the collection of well-known painter Kanpo Yoshikawa (1894-1978).
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jun 22, 2012

Politics is inescapable at 'Arab Express' exhibition

The Arab Spring may not be all it's cracked up to be. There are clearly problems with a large swath of nations, formerly under various forms of authoritarian regimes, switching relatively quickly to "democracy," at least as it is understood in the West.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jun 22, 2012

'One Day'

They say that the older you get, the more you need the people who knew you when you were young. "One Day" is all about that need, and how two people (subconsciously and otherwise) hold on to that for 23 long years.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jun 21, 2012

Slow design: Everyday objects that make us rethink our lifestyle

If you've never been to the 21_21 Design Sight exhibition space in the Tokyo Midtown complex, and have even a passing interest in craftsmanship, now is the time to pay a visit. Just touring the building, which was designed by famed architect Tadao Ando and lies largely underground, would be well worth...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jun 21, 2012

"Bernard Leach: Commemorating the 100th Anniversary of Leach's Career as a Painter"

While in his 20s, British potter Bernard Leach (1887-1979), who was brought up in East Asia, started to fraternize with some of Japan's most forward-thinking artists. His friendship with Soetsu Yanagi, the founder of mingei — a movement that advocated the "utilitarian beauty" of Japanese traditional...
Japan Times
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Jun 18, 2012

The truth about Japanese love: We just don't get along

One of my younger cousins, aged 23, managed to pull off what he calls the kotoshino igyō (今年の偉業, the great accomplishment of this year).
CULTURE / Books
Jun 10, 2012

Okinawa: a long history of hardship

THE OKINAWAN DIASPORA IN JAPAN: Crossing the Borders Within, by Steve Rabson. University of Hawai'i Press, 2012, 312 pp., $55.00 (hardcover) Okinawa, mainland Japan's subtropical playground, is no paradise to Okinawans. Ryukyu, the archipelago's original name, means "circle of jewels." Lush appearance...
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Jun 10, 2012

The self-styled 'Land of the Free' nurtures yet another facet of hypocrisy

Last month, two members of the U.S. Senate vilified Eduardo Saverin, the cofounder of Facebook Inc., for doing something that Americans are apparently coming to consider a punishable sin.
Japan Times
LIFE
May 27, 2012

A lifelong dream comes true on Everest

I always keep a journal when I travel, but something's different about the one open in front of me now — the notebook in which I was writing just a few weeks ago. My normally smooth script has deteriorated into a scrawl, the black biro scoring angrily into the cream-colored pages.
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
May 25, 2012

As the summer approaches, firefly-themed events light up Osaka

At the start of the month, Tokyo's Sumida River was filled with thousands of LED lights to create the illusion of fireflies. Nature lovers in Osaka hope you'll want the real thing.

Longform

Construction equipment sits idle in a park near Shiba Toshogu shrine in Tokyo's Minato Ward. While Japan has a history of treating its trees with reverence, green coverage is said to be lacking in most of the major cities.
Do Japan's trees no longer occupy the sacred space they used to?