Search - things-to-do

 
 
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT
Mar 24, 2013

Trafficking wildlife pays as well as drugs or guns

Wildlife trafficking is a murky, lucrative, violent trade; ongoing, increasingly organized and sophisticated, but one that still remains largely unnoticed. And it is out of control.
Japan Times
WORLD
Mar 22, 2013

Rise of Jesuit to papacy surprises cerebral order's membership

Pope Francis belongs to the Jesuits, a religious order whose members take an unusual — and at the moment seemingly ironic — vow: not to strive for a higher office.
Japan Times
BASEBALL / WORLD BASEBALL CLASSIC
Mar 21, 2013

Dominicans overcome by emotion after WBC victory

Fernando Rodney bounded around on a hastily assembled stage with a fresh World Baseball Classic winner's medal and a plantain that was more than a few days past its expiration date both dangling around his neck.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 18, 2013

Fin de siecle crime and prejudice

This year represents a watershed in the history of France's Belle Epoque — the period of unprecedented economic growth and extraordinary cultural foment that nation enjoyed between the centennial of the French Revolution in 1889 (an occasion commemorated by, among other things, the inauguration of...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Mar 10, 2013

Providing lessons on nuclear policy

FALLOUT FROM FUKUSHIMA, by Richard Broinowski. Scribe Publications, 2012, 273 pp., A$27.95 (paperback)
Japan Times
WORLD / Society
Mar 9, 2013

'Kony2012' and the fight for truth in the Internet age

A year ago, Jason Russell was a nobody. Not a nobody, precisely, but just ordinary. Normal. He was a healthy father of two, living in San Diego, and was happy in his work as a director for Invisible Children, a nonprofit organization he'd helped found.
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design / ON: DESIGN
Mar 5, 2013

Keeping your desk in order: from bookish obsessions to tidy-up toys

A few cupfuls of things
BASEBALL / WORLD BASEBALL CLASSIC
Mar 3, 2013

Uchikawa exhibits calm before WBC opener

After a four-year wait, the third edition of the World Baseball Classic has officially begun. Yet Seiichi Uchikawa kept his low-key manner one day before the two-time defending champions were set to face Brazil in Japan's tournament opener.
Japan Times
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Feb 25, 2013

The Japanese traffic light blues: Stop on red, go on what?

Road traffic in Japan is a complicated affair. Apart from those narrow, crooked streets that sometimes end without warning, you have to get used to unclear right-of-way rules and the national fetish for backward parking.
CULTURE / Books
Feb 24, 2013

Painting a vivid picture of Jane Austen's life through the details of humdrum household objects

THE REAL JANE AUSTEN: A Life in Small Things, by Paula Byrne. Harper, 2013, 400 pp., $29.99 (hardcover)
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Feb 22, 2013

Tokyo literary festival writes its opening chapter

Every time David Karashima took a Japanese author to New York or London to do a reading, the local audiences would ask two questions: "Who's the next Haruki Murakami?" and "Why isn't there an international literary festival in Tokyo?"
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHO'S WHO
Feb 19, 2013

Journey to Kenya turns writer's life on its head, spurs Africa fascination

It was a single visit to Kenya in 1972 that completely changed Michio Hiraiwa's philosophy on life. He fell in love with the country, and visited there 150 times over the past 40 years. Once a workaholic, Hiraiwa says he now leads a stress-free and relaxed life, visiting Kenya and Tanzania four times...
Japan Times
BASKETBALL
Feb 18, 2013

Phoenix complete sweep of Evessa

Coming off a championship game loss to the Ryukyu Golden Kings last spring, the Hamamatsu Higashimikawa Phoenix have been on a mission to reclaim the title that was theirs in the 2009-10 and 2010-11 seasons.
BASKETBALL / HOOP SCOOP
Feb 17, 2013

Garrison develops into first-rate coach

Matt Garrison did not set forth to reinvent the wheel when he was hired as the Niigata Albirex BB head coach for the 2011-12 season. So after replacing longtime bench boss Masaya Hirose, who was at the helm for 11 seasons in the team's JBL and bj-league eras, Garrison opted to keep things straightforward....
BASKETBALL
Feb 15, 2013

Defensive hustle, intensity keys to Murry's success

An individual's all-around game can flourish when attention to details and a commitment to defense are ever-present.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Feb 10, 2013

The evolution of Japan's turn away from Confucian ideas

'The evolution of political thought in this relatively isolated island nation during the period in question is unique to the point of being somewhat freakish,” writes political thought scholar Hiroshi Watanabe of the University of Tokyo.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Feb 8, 2013

How to cope when home is where the radiation is?

When she hears the phrase "a sense of home," filmmaker Michale Boganim always endures a wave of sadness. "Home can mean a whole lot of things, but to me it has connotations of displacement and loss," she tells The Japan Times. "I come from a family that was always moving around, and even as we were moving,...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Feb 7, 2013

Hotel Mexico's pop aims at the heart

It's tough to figure out where to take your band when you get some buzz in the media right out the gate. After getting noticed for its fuzzed-out pop jams from highly regarded online music outlets such as Pitchfork, Noisey and Gorilla vs. Bear, Kyoto's Hotel Mexico knew early on that it would need to...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Feb 7, 2013

ZZZ's hone skills abroad and have some chance encounters

The highlight of 2012 for experimental postpunk trio ZZZ's was meeting Sonic Youth guitarist Thurston Moore in Miami. It turns out the feeling was mutual. American record label Matador Records posted their artists' and employees' favorite things from the past 12 months online recently and Hyogo Prefecture's...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / CLOSE-UP
Feb 3, 2013

Hidetoshi Masunaga: making revolution through the Constitution

On Dec. 14, 2012, two days before the Lower House election in which the Democratic Party of Japan headed by Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda was eclipsed as the conservative Liberal Democratic Party swept back to power in a landslide, a one-page advert with a huge banner headline appeared in a vernacular...
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 23, 2013

Ban talks about Japan in the world in exclusive interview

In a series of seven two-hour sessions that included informal get-togethers with his wife Soon Taek, United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki Moon, the well-regarded former South Korean foreign minister, shares his insights exclusively with American journalist Tom Plate. The following excerpts from Plate's...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WORDS TO LIVE BY
Jan 22, 2013

Rag-and-bone man Kei Ochiai

Kei Ochiai is a rag-and-bone man for the Kanto region. He drives his small truck through neighborhoods in Tokyo and Yokohama, circling the areas while sounding his pitch with a loudspeaker: "Furniture, bikes, fridges, anything big and heavy, I'll take it." His jovial demeanor instantly wins him hearts...
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Jan 19, 2013

Japan's growing diaspora reflects concern for the country's future

Here's a surprising fact: One Japanese in a hundred lives abroad. It's surprising because so much is made lately of Japan's growing insularity. Young people seem less interested than ever in studying overseas, and voters last month elected a new government whose platform includes strong doses of patriotism...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jan 17, 2013

When the connections are as crucial as the art

Amid the hurry of daily life it is easy to forget what lies below our feet. To most of us, it may appear to be just cement or dirt, but to artist Kenji Yamada there are profound mysteries contained on the ground, in things as simple as our own footprints in the snow. His installation artworks are born...
BASEBALL / MLB
Dec 29, 2012

Matsui praised for impact on baseball

Kyodo, AFP-Jiji Fans in Japan were saddened Friday by the news of power-hitter Hideki Matsui's retirement from baseball at the age of 38, many wishing he would resume his career in the country.
Japan Times
BASKETBALL / ONE-ON-ONE WITH ...
Dec 23, 2012

Yokohama's Burns thrives as leader

The Japan Times features periodic interviews with players in the bj-league. Draelon Burns of the Yokohama B-Corsairs is the subject of this week's profile.
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital
Dec 22, 2012

Will.i.am: social activist, pop star and tech evangelist

How smart is will.i.am? Pretty damned smart, I'd say. He might have the trappings of a rap star with an entourage that includes a film crew, but that's only a small part of it. He's also one of the most sought-after producers in the music industry and one of its shrewdest business brains.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Dec 19, 2012

British austerity woes highlight risks for U.S.

ANALYSIS

Longform

Koichi Tagawa’s diary entry from Aug. 9, 1945, describes the day of the atomic bombing of Nagasaki.
The horrors of Nagasaki, in first person