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CULTURE / Books
Nov 2, 2013

My Awesome Japan Adventure

Targeting children, but interesting enough for adults, this fictitious illustrated journal is written by "Dan," an American boy on a four-month homestay with a family in Japan. His entries consist of typical culture shock and observations — from Japanese shoe etiquette and family bath routines to food...
JAPAN / Media / DARK SIDE OF THE RISING SUN
Nov 2, 2013

Can Japanese really be such cold sushi in the sack?

Sex in Japan is a knotty issue — even if you're not a fan of tying up your lover with rope, also known as shibari. No matter how you write about it, it raises ire. If you point out that Japan has a vibrant sex industry in which every sexual act other than vaginal penetration can be legally bought and...
Events / KANSAI: WHO & WHAT
Nov 1, 2013

Kyoto palace to hold football, music event

Until Monday visitors to Kyoto can enter the Imperial Palace without the need to make applications in advance.
Japan Times
JAPAN / CHUBU CONNECTION
Nov 1, 2013

Events mark 1800s castaways who were first Japanese in U.S.

In the late Edo Period 200 years ago, a Japanese ship crippled by a storm drifted for 484 days, the longest period on record.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Oct 31, 2013

The blessing and the curse of being Steve Jobs

Filmmaker Joshua Michael Stern has the distinction of directing "Jobs," the first big-budget movie biopic on one of the world's most important entrepreneurs: Steve Jobs. The film was bound to come under extreme scrutiny from avid Apple fans, of whom there are many, and so Stern takes a cautious approach,...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Oct 31, 2013

'Jobs'

The centerpiece of "Jobs" isn't really Steve Jobs but the portrayal of Steve Jobs by Ashton Kutcher — whose fame heretofore had rested largely on the fact that he was married to Demi Moore. Who would have thought the guy who oozes Hollywood charm and toy-boy insincerity from every invisible pore had...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Oct 31, 2013

'Kiyosu Kaigi (The Kiyosu Conference)'

Koki Mitani is one of those very Japanese conundrums: Considered a master of comedy and a box-office king at home, he remains little known abroad — despite a career that spans three decades and includes work as a playwright and scriptwriter, as well as his six films to date as director.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Oct 31, 2013

'Venuto al Mondo'

So many films these days seem to be trying their hardest to be the same, their connect-the-dots three-act narratives all carved from the same stone. Then there's "Venuto al Mondo" (released in English as "Twice Born"), which features a story that flows like a river: shallow here, deep there, a gentle...
BASEBALL
Oct 30, 2013

Terauchi, Chono, Giants draw even with Eagles in Japan Series

Takayuki Terauchi and Hisayoshi Chono secured return tickets to Sendai for the Yomiuri Giants and breathed new life into the Japan Series in the process.
JAPAN / Politics
Oct 30, 2013

Anti-nuclear Koizumi agitating for comeback?

Long out of the public eye, ex-Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's recent rumblings against nuclear power are causing many to wonder if the most popular leader of recent decades seeks a political comeback.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Oct 30, 2013

'The Suit' squares a love triangle

In his seminal 1968 work "The Empty Space," Peter Brook wrote: "Certainly, we still wish to capture in our arts the invisible currents that rule our lives, but our vision is now locked to the dark end of the spectrum. Today the theatre of doubting, of unease, of trouble, of alarm, seems truer than the...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Oct 30, 2013

'Total abandon' for two landmark duos

Ballet audiences in Japan are widely acknowledged to be among the best in the world, but there's still a lot to be learned here about contemporary dance. However, those seeing a show in a short tour of works by French choreographers Mathilde Monnier and Jean-Francois Duroure can be sure of enjoying a...
Reader Mail
Oct 30, 2013

Coexist under any circumstances

The Oct. 28/29 editorial of "Pushing for nuclear disarmament" prompted me to share some thoughts on the abolition of nuclear weapons. Needless to say, it is good news that Japan has signed a United Nations statement calling for the nonuse of nuclear weapons "under any circumstances."
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 29, 2013

The sectarian war at hand: redrawing the Mideast again

Groups like the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham, a powerful component of Syria's savage war, could not have moved with such ease if it had not been for the U.S. invasion of Iraq.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 29, 2013

Blame liberals for illegal drone war

Critics of the George W. Bush administration didn't realize that condemning quasi-lawless detention at Guantanamo Bay would lead a Democratic president to break new ground with drones.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Oct 29, 2013

Damo Suzuki sees promise in young artists

"I don't like to make music, I like to make energy. Music is just a way to get energy, so why not just make energy?"
BASEBALL
Oct 28, 2013

Flawless Tanaka wins Sawamura Award

Masahiro Tanaka followed up an amazing career first with something even more impressive the second time around.
COMMUNITY / Voices / COMMUNITY CHEST
Oct 28, 2013

'Fired' English teacher fights cancer and HIV: readers' mail

Readers offer a range of views on the case of Briton Neil Grainger, the English teacher struggling with cancer and HIV whose contract was not renewed by his employer, Waseda International.
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE FOREIGN ELEMENT
Oct 28, 2013

Getting published is easy; getting noticed is trickier

How can writers make themselves heard in the age of blog and self-publishing saturation? Japan-based authors offer a diverse range of views
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design
Oct 28, 2013

Smashing ideas on future design and technology

While contemporary art is still transfixed by its own reflection, veteran Japanese curator Yuko Hasegawa has focused her cultural microscope on something quite different. "Bunny Smash Design to touch the world," the current group exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo, is a hit-and-miss...
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design / ON: ARCHITECTURE
Oct 28, 2013

Tokyo's new National Stadium faces opposition

Now that the celebrations surrounding the announcement that Tokyo will host the 2020 Summer Olympics have died down, attention is turning to the physical transformations that this will bring the city, for better or for worse.
JAPAN
Oct 27, 2013

Half of public opposes secrecy protection bill: poll

A government bill aimed at toughening penalties for leaking state secrets is opposed by 50.6 percent of the public, a survey says.
Japan Times
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Oct 27, 2013

Taking count of the sufficiency of Japanese suffixes

One of the first things new learners of Japanese must struggle with is the amazing variety of classifiers for numbers. When counting books, for instance, the number is followed by 冊 (satsu, volumes, as in issatsu, nisatsu etc.); for thin, elongated objects such as pencils it's 本 (hon, as in ippon,...
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 27, 2013

Chemical weapons watchdog has tighter leash

The Nobel Committee's decision to honor the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons with this year's Peace Prize should compel world leaders to increase their support for it.
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball / HIT AND RUN
Oct 27, 2013

Rookie Norimoto gives Eagles hope for promising future

When the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles lost ace Hisashi Iwakuma to the major leagues in 2011, they had another, Masahiro Tanaka, waiting in the wings.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Oct 27, 2013

Rajapaksa: Sri Lanka's affable authoritarian?

Down in the deep south of Sri Lanka, where life usually moves at a leisurely pace, there is one small town that is less tranquil. Hambantota — population 20,000 — is expanding fast. There is a vast new deepwater port, built with $360 million of borrowed Chinese cash; a new 35,000-seat cricket stadium;...

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