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Japan Times
JAPAN
Feb 14, 2014

Drift rightward has been building for years

Fashion model Junko Amo made headlines on Aug. 15, 2002, when she initiated a visit to controversial Yasukuni Shrine with a group of some 180 people she met via 2channel, Japan's biggest Internet forum.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Feb 13, 2014

'The Butler'

Back in 1997, when Steven Spielberg released "Amistad," it was a pretty huge deal for a big-name Hollywood filmmaker to tackle slavery. Now the deal is a lot bigger for Lee Daniels, the second African-American filmmaker in United States history to be nominated for an Oscar (for "Precious" in 2009), who...
Japan Times
CULTURE / CULTURE SMASH
Feb 13, 2014

The symbiotic relationship between anime and games

Japan excels at making you play. From its flower arrangements to tea ceremonies to karaoke, nothing much happens until you get into the game, and a big part of Japan's appeal to non-natives is its invitation to engage.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Feb 13, 2014

'Color 4 Ozu: Eien Naru Ozu Color (Color 4 Ozu: Forever Ozu Color)'

Director: Yasujiro Ozu
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Feb 13, 2014

Making sense of cultural nonsense

In today's complicated world of mass media and communication, contemporary British artists are finding new means of expression.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Feb 12, 2014

'MOT Annual 2014: Fragments — Incomplete Beginnings'

This is the 13th of the Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo's annual exhibitions that showcase young Japanese artists and new trends in contemporary art.
Reader Mail
Feb 12, 2014

Career limits due to language

I have spent 14 years in Japan's academic/research fields. Every morning I get up with three questions in mind: How can I contribute to the science and technology of this country more efficiently? What can be my career path in this country? And what will become of my children after 10 or 20 years?
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / KYOTO RESTAURANTS
Feb 11, 2014

Okudohan: Fresh ingredients would be on the menu if there was one

In the hierarchy of Kyo ryōri, or Kyoto cuisine, obansai is at the bottom. Essentially it is home cooking that has wound its way from the homestead to the restaurant. At Okudohan it remains uncomplicated and comforting — as it should be.
CULTURE / Music
Feb 11, 2014

Cibo Matto's Yuka and Miho share the secrets to their 'second marriage'

The story of Cibo Matto's return to the public eye is, thankfully, not one powered by cold, hard cash. Not for these two.
Japan Times
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Feb 9, 2014

Chocolates and funerals, when Japanese lack for love

They say February is the month of love but take it from one who knows — the Japanese have become increasingly suspicious of the whole Barentain (バレンタイン, Valentine's) thing as just another marketing ploy to open womens' purses. And what with the consumption tax kicking in, chances are we'll...
LIFE / Language / WELL SAID
Feb 9, 2014

Honto-ni yoku nite-iru

Today we will introduce various meanings and usages of adverb u3088u304f(well). u3088u304fis the adverbial form of adjective u3088u3044/u3044u3044 (good) and is used as an adverb in various meanings.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 9, 2014

Mexico's reformer Pena Nieto can't quit Castro

It isn't clear what Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto gains by ignoring the reality that Cuba has no elections, no political parties, no free press or freedom of expression, and that dissidents are harassed and jailed.
Japan Times
JAPAN / WEDGE
Feb 9, 2014

Eco-labels urged to save endangered marine life

2013 highlighted the decline in Japan's fishery resources, with baby eel trading at ¥3 million per kilogram — more expensive than silver — and the catch quota of bluefin tuna being slashed at the December meeting of the Commission for the Conservation and Management of Highly Migratory Fish Stocks...
Japan Times
OLYMPICS
Feb 9, 2014

Records broken in biathlon, speedskating events

Norway's Ole Einar Bjoerndalen tied a Winter Olympics record with his 12th medal by taking gold in the biathlon 10-km sprint.
CULTURE / Books / ESSENTIAL READING FOR JAPANOPHILES
Feb 8, 2014

Snow Country

Winter, when mornings are crisp, puddles frozen and the promise of snow floats in the air; it's the perfect season to crack open "Snow Country" and let its well-known opening line — "The train came out of the long tunnel into the snow country" — transport you into Yasunari Kawabata's poetic tale...
CULTURE / Books
Feb 8, 2014

The Nature of Japan

The title of longtime Japan Times columnist Mark Brazil's collection of essays sells itself a little short, for "The Nature of Japan" is less about identifying the web of life that inhabits this archipelago as it is about offering an insightful peek into the Japanese relationship with the great outdoors....
COMMUNITY / Voices / OVERHEARD
Feb 8, 2014

Age-old dilemma

American woman: I'm so old. I feel like staying in Japan is making me miss out on other things in my life.
OLYMPICS
Feb 7, 2014

Mao maintains confidence ahead of second Olympic appearance

Mao Asada went through her paces Friday afternoon in her second practice session since arriving for the Sochi Games.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Feb 7, 2014

Lessons for fixing Fukushima

In March 2011 all of Japan was united by the terrible experience of the earthquake, tsunami and nuclear accident. Three years later this unity is increasingly fracturing as a more uneven reality emerges.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 7, 2014

Russia's Potemkin Olympic village

Even if the Sochi Games pass off successfully and, despite the security restrictions and official bigotry, athletes and visitors enjoy their stay, will Russia's brief display of national pride really be worth the financial and political cost?
EDITORIALS
Feb 7, 2014

NHK's credibility at stake

Two of the more recent appointees to the NHK Board of Governors show their stripes so to speak by denying that the 1937 Nanjing Massacre happened, on one hand, and writing an essay in praise of the Emperor as a 'living god' on the other. Might employees for Japan's national broadcaster start to feel pressure to develop programs from a particular perspective?
Japan Times
JAPAN / CHUBU CONNECTION
Feb 7, 2014

Female scientists push for breakthrough in equality

Recent news that Haruko Obokata of Riken's Center for Developmental Biology found a new way to generate pluripotent cells cast a spotlight on women in the male-dominant field of science.
BUSINESS / Japan Pulse
Feb 7, 2014

Bandai's projection-mapping candy toy: Hako Vision

A toy, its cardboard box and your smartphone are all you need to projection-map at home.
Japan Times
OLYMPICS
Feb 6, 2014

Hanyu chosen for team competition

Grand Prix Final champion Yuzuru Hanyu will represent Japan in the men's singles portion of the inaugural Olympic Games figure skating team competition, it was revealed on Wednesday.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Feb 6, 2014

'Mogura no Uta: Sennyu Sosakan Reiji (The Mole Song: Undercover Agent Reiji)'

Directors in a profitable rut often feel the urge to try something new, even though the box office tells them to keep making the same old. Sometimes a change of genre can work wonders. After grinding out 48 episodes of the "Tora-san" dramedy series, Yoji Yamada ventured into the feudal past for the first...

Longform

Members of the nonprofit group Japan Youth Memorial Association search for the remains of dead soldiers in a cave in Okinawa Prefecture in February.
The long search for Japan’s lost soldiers