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Japan Times
MULTIMEDIA
Dec 29, 2020

In memory of lives we lost to COVID-19

“Cause of Life” celebrates the messy, tenacious and extraordinary lives of five people we lost to COVID-19.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / 20 QUESTIONS
Dec 26, 2020

20 Questions: The best answers of 2020

The 20 Questions format aims to get people in Japan to tell us about their thoughts and beliefs in their words. Here are some of the most interesting answers from 2020.
Japan Times
JAPAN / History / THE LIVING PAST
Dec 19, 2020

Thoughts on healing from the Heian Period

The psychology of health in 'The Tale of Genji' suggests that enlightenment may be the cure for what ails you.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Oct 31, 2020

U.S. says coronavirus can’t be controlled. China aims to prove it wrong.

The United States is hitting records in daily coronavirus cases. But China, the country first afflicted with the scourge, is having a different experience.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Oct 30, 2020

Filmmaker Eiji Han Shimizu finds his 'True North' in animated film about North Korea

Eiji Han Shimizu seeks to accurately reflect the experiences of prisoners in North Korean camps with his animated film.
Japan Times
WORLD
Sep 15, 2020

Jack ‘Murph the Surf’ Murphy, heist mastermind, dies at 83

He called himself "Murph the Surf,” a tanned, roguish, party-loving beach boy from Miami, and he transfixed the nation in 1964 by pulling off the biggest jewel heist in New York City history — the celebrated snatching of the Star of India, a sapphire larger than a golf ball, and a haul of other gems...
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital
Aug 2, 2020

Japan on air: The best podcasts about the Land of the Rising Sun

The Japan Times' recommendations for nine Japan-related podcasts, covering everything from the day's headlines to language and culture.
Japan Times
CULTURE
Jun 19, 2020

YouTuber Laranzo Dacres highlights the experience of being Black in Japan

The YouTube channel The Black Experience Japan explores the lives of black people living in Japan through interviews and a journalistic approach.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / Japan
May 15, 2020

Changing lifestyles and nightlife in Japan's post-pandemic 'new normal'

Like it or not, our world is going to be different moving forward, and some of the biggest changes may be in Japan's entertainment districts.
Lee Sang-il’s “Kokuho,” which premiered at the Cannes Film Festival this year, follows the life of an "onnagata," a male kabuki actor who plays female roles, from his childhood as the son of a yakuza boss in 1960s Nagasaki to his official designation as a living national treasure.
CULTURE / Film
Jun 6, 2025

'Kokuho' illuminates the high price of becoming a national treasure

Director Lee Sang-il turns a long-held vision into reality with his sumptuously shot film that reveals the dedication, sacrifice — and loneliness — behind kabuki greatness.
June is Pride Month, which means it’s the perfect time to get acquainted with how sexual minorities have been represented in Japanese fiction if you’re not familiar with these narratives already.
CULTURE / Books
Jun 11, 2025

Pride and prose: Novels that illuminate queer lives in Japan

From Yukio Mishima and Haruki Murakami to Li Kotomi and Akira Otani, dive into Japanese fiction’s LGBTQ+ narratives in honor of Pride Month.
Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama addresses journalists in London in 2008.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Jun 30, 2025

The Dalai Lama: Tibet's spiritual leader, bane of Beijing

A thorn in China's side, Tenzin Gyatso became the face of the Tibetan cause as he crisscrossed the globe, mixing with royalty, politicians and celebrities.
Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama attends a long-life prayer offering ceremony at the Main Tibetan Temple in McLeod Ganj, near Dharamsala, India, on Saturday.
ASIA PACIFIC
Jul 6, 2025

'Simple Buddhist monk' Dalai Lama marks landmark 90th birthday

Beijing condemns the Nobel Peace Prize winner — who has led a lifelong campaign for greater autonomy for Tibet.
After pandemic-era border regulations eased, Indian migrants began returning to Japan. Their population now stands at more than 50,000 across the country.
COMMUNITY / Issues / Longform
Jul 14, 2025

How remote work is rewriting the migrant experience in Japan

Remote work is reshaping how Indian professionals navigate life, family and identity in a post-pandemic Japan.
In 2020, 38% of all households were single-person. That figure is projected to rise to 44.3% by 2050.
JAPAN / Society / Longform
Jul 21, 2025

The rise of AI companionship in a lonely Japan

AI chatbots are becoming stand-ins for pets and partners — offering comfort, connection and raising new concerns.
Reporters and photographers, including long-time baseball beat writer Keizo Konishi, swarm around Ichiro Suzuki during the World Baseball Classic in San Diego in 2009.
BASEBALL / MLB
Jul 27, 2025

Three decades and a pile of notebooks: The beat writer who chronicled Ichiro’s career

For nearly three decades, this journalist's job revolved around one man — Ichiro Suzuki. But covering the baseball legend was never boring.
Hajime Kawano and his family traveled from Japan to see Ichiro Suzuki be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York, on Sunday.
BASEBALL / MLB
Jul 28, 2025

Ichiro's Hall of Fame induction becomes family affair for some fans

Some traveled from Japan to the United States to be part of Ichiro's big moment.
Kunshiro Kiyozumi, 97, who was the youngest crew member of the Imperial Japanese Navy submarine I-58 in World War II, on his way to a restaurant to have lunch in Matsuyama, Japan, on April 29.
JAPAN / History
Jul 29, 2025

Last soldiers of Imperial Japanese Army have a warning for younger generations

"In their last breaths, no one shouted for the long life of the emperor,” said one veteran about his comrades. "They called out for their mothers, whom they would never see again.”
Ralph Edwards (far left), Capt. Robert Lewis (rear left), Bertha Starkey (rear center), Marvin Green (rear right), Kiyoshi (seated, left) and Chisa Tanimoto (seated, right), Koko Kondo (front left) and her three younger siblings, on the show “This Is Your Life,” on May 11, 1955
JAPAN / History / FOCUS
Aug 12, 2025

How an A-bomb survivor found forgiveness for Hiroshima bombers

Koko Kondo’s anger was extinguished when she saw the co-pilot of the Enola Gay bomber recall with regret what he and his crew had done on Aug. 6, 1945.
One notable section of the “Prism of the Real: Making Art in Japan 1989-2010” exhibition is a predominantly pink room featuring works that explore the lives of Asian women, such as Minako Nishiyama’s “The Pinku House”and footage of Lee Bul’s performance “Sorry for suffering — You think I’m a puppy on a picnic?”
CULTURE / Art
Sep 19, 2025

‘Prism of the Real’ makes two turbulent decades tangible with art

Born of a partnership between The National Art Center, Tokyo and M+, the show reveals how artists across borders grappled with a changing world.
U.S. President Donald Trump speaks before signing an executive order directing federal agencies to recommend changes to a temporary visa program used to bring foreign workers to the United States to fill high-skilled jobs during a visit to the world headquarters of Snap-On, a tool manufacturer in Kenosha, Wisconsin, on April 18, 2017.
BUSINESS / Companies
Sep 22, 2025

H-1B workers abroad race to U.S. as Trump order sparks dismay and confusion

Tech companies and banks sent urgent memos to employees, advising them to return before a deadline of 12:01 a.m. U.S. Eastern Time Sunday.
"Shake hands with Lima-chan," a statue that shares the name of the Peruvian capital looks in the direction of Peru, where a sister statue, "Sakura-chan," is located. Erected in Yokohama's Rinko Park in 1999, it commemorates Peruvian-Japanese friendship.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / Longform
Sep 22, 2025

The journey of Peru’s Nikkei: Finding identity in Japan

From sugar plantations in Peru to factory floors in Japan, the Nikkei story is one of migration, resilience and identity.
Visitors wait in line to enter the Tech World pavilion at the Osaka Expo on Thursday.
JAPAN
Sep 26, 2025

Taiwan showcases chipmaking prowess as a private exhibitor at Osaka Expo

The expo’s guidebook makes only brief references to Taiwan's food and lifestyles, but the structure of its pavilion and exhibits are rich in symbolism.
Although Ryan Bader is stepping into somewhat unfamiliar territory at Rizin, where he will be fighting in a boxing-style ring as opposed to the cage typically used in Western promotions, his New Year’s Eve bout won’t be his first time competing in Japan.
MORE SPORTS
Oct 1, 2025

From Hollywood to Japan, MMA star Ryan Bader has his sights on Rizin glory

After starring alongside Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson and Emily Blunt in "The Smashing Machine," Ryan Bader has a new mission: become a champion with Rizin.
Masami Nagasawa plays the talented but circumscribed offspring of a famed ukiyo-e artist in “Hokusai’s Daughter.”
CULTURE / Film
Oct 9, 2025

‘Hokusai’s Daughter’ captures the ferocity of a forgotten painter

Masami Nagasawa delivers one of her most compelling performances yet in Tatsushi Omori’s historical biopic.
A recent survey by the Sports Agency found that women in their 30s and 40s were less physically fit in 2024 compared to 1998 levels as more women are busy working and/or raising children.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Oct 14, 2025

Fitness levels fall for women in their 30s and 40s compared to 1998, survey finds

The survey from the Sports Agency suggested women are too busy working and/or raising children to do physical exercise, resulting in the decline.
Chloe Zhao’s "Hamnet"
CULTURE / Film
Oct 16, 2025

What you need to see at this year's Tokyo film festival

From slow cinema and satire to moving biopics and restorations of classics, the TIFF lineup has something for every cinephile.
Yukari (Hana Sugisaki, right) is brought out of her shell by a beautiful hostess (Kotona Minami) in “Meets the World.”
CULTURE / Film
Oct 23, 2025

‘Meets the World’: A tragicomic hunger for connection

Between grilled meat and gay manga, Daigo Matsui’s latest is a darkly funny tale of friendship, fantasy and female loneliness.
“Mother Bhumi” takes place in a multiethnic rice-farming community where Chinese, Thai and Malay lineages intertwine.
CULTURE / Film
Nov 6, 2025

Across borders and screens, Tokyo film festival finds humanity in migration

Five films screened at this year’s TIFF put migration and its human impact front and center.
Aya Fujioka, who hails from Hiroshima Prefecture, takes a less somber approach to the city and its history.
CULTURE / Art
Nov 8, 2025

What we see when Japanese women photographers shoot back

Women in photography have been less visible than their male counterparts. An anthology of 25 photographers and three exhibitions this autumn are turning the tides.

Longform

Bear attacks have dominated Japanese news headlines in recent months, with 13 people so far having been killed by the animals.
Japan’s bears have been on their killing spree for more than 100 years