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Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Aug 9, 2012

From Comme des Garcons to Somarta, Japanese fashion excels at weaving past, present and future

In 1981, while Western designers focused on shoulder-padded power suits, bright colors, sharp stiletto heels and statement jewelry, Yohji Yamamoto and Comme des Garcons' Rei Kawakubo sent their models down the runway in defiant black, voluminously draped garments, accessorized with nothing but flat shoes....
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Aug 9, 2012

"30th Anniversary Temporary Exhibition: Blue-and-White Ware of the Joseon Dynasty" (Ware)

One of the most important times in the history of Korean blue-and-white porcelain ware was during the 518-year reign of the Joseon Dynasty. The strong influence of Confucianism at that time persuaded the public to lead more frugal lifestyles, which led many to view the conventional blue-and-white ware...
OLYMPICS
Aug 9, 2012

Yoshida ready to defend wrestling title

Two-time defending gold medalist Saori Yoshida will be seeking another Olympic title when the women's 55-kg freestyle wrestling competition is staged on Thursday at Excel Arena.
CULTURE / Music
Aug 9, 2012

Music industry takes baby steps toward digital content

Will it be the "carrot and stick" or just "the stick" that revives flagging digital-music sales in Japan?
COMMENTARY
Aug 7, 2012

Wedding gift for the first couple of North Korea

I guess I am a sucker for old-fashioned romance. When I heard about the stunning marriage of Kim Jong Un, the young new leader of North Korea, to the lovely Ri Sol Ju, apparently a professional singer, I hurriedly buried the ideological hatchet and grabbed the latest BRIDES magazine to figure out what...
JAPAN
Aug 7, 2012

Noda forges on as temperatures rise

Tokyo is in the dead of summer and if anything, things are only getting hotter in the political hub of Nagata-cho.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Aug 7, 2012

Female parley slaps male dominance

Men need to shed their deeply ingrained leadership mentality and tap female innovation, especially in Japan, where women could be the key to regaining competitiveness and igniting the rapid economic growth being experienced in many other parts of Asia.
Japan Times
OLYMPICS
Aug 7, 2012

Superstar Bolt delivers with 100-meter victory

He's back on top.
BUSINESS
Aug 7, 2012

Share rout cues record margin trades

Sharp Corp.'s biggest one-day stock slide in 37 years sent its shares sold short in Japanese margin-trading accounts surging to a daily record as investors bet volatility will continue.
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."
COMMUNITY / Voices / VIEWS FROM THE STREET
Aug 7, 2012

Nagoya: What is the best thing about cosplay?

This past weekend marked the 10th anniversary of the World Cosplay Summit in Nagoya, so The Japan Times took to the streets to pick cosplayers' brains about why they choose to devote hours upon hours of their lives to designing, making and — finally — acting out their fantasies in elaborate costumes....
JAPAN
Aug 6, 2012

New hearing held to gauge nuke sentiment

The government continued to solicit public opinion on nuclear energy policy over the weekend by holding a discussion-oriented polling session in Tokyo involving about 300 citizens from across the country.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Aug 6, 2012

Foreign students of Japanese hold Tokyo summit

At a symposium in Tokyo on Sunday, 12 people between the ages of 17 and 25 from a dozen different countries exchanged views about their cultures and the things they experienced during a one-month stay in Japan.
COMMENTARY
Aug 6, 2012

Fundamental hits to India's brand

The hits just keep coming. In recent weeks, credit rating agencies have downgraded India's investment status, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has been described by Time magazine as an underachiever, U.S. President Barack Obama has raised concerns that corporate America is worried about India's investment...
Reader Mail
Aug 5, 2012

Programs to eliminate bullying

There have been some useful suggestions from readers for eliminating bullying from schools, but what has been lacking so far is a discussion of conflict resolution.
Reader Mail
Aug 5, 2012

Living in a drought of 'fun'

Regarding the Aug. 1 Kyodo article from Osaka, "Police crackdown has the club set up in arms": Basically, as everyone knows, in Japan, fun must be stopped. There should be no fun had here, except the type approved by old men, which really leaves drinking alone, smoking cigarettes, or undertaking some...
Reader Mail
Aug 5, 2012

Group needs to confront China

Regarding the front page Aug. 1 article "China flexing more muscle in Pacific": I am not the Philippines' president or a foreign affairs officer, but I think the solution is for small and bullied countries like Vietnam, Brunei, the Philippines, Malaysia, Japan and Taiwan to form an association for settling...
Reader Mail
Aug 5, 2012

Death penalty pros and cons

Regarding the July 31 Kyodo article: "Sugiura: End death penalty in name of democracy": Former Justice Minister Seiken Sugiura's comment that abolishing the death penalty in Japan would represent a step toward becoming a "mature democratic nation" is an unusual take for a Japanese on this difficult topic....
Reader Mail
Aug 5, 2012

A sense for health care spending

Not a day passes that I don't hear about the critical situation of Japan's national health insurance system. Mass media are likely to attribute the deterioration of the insurance system's budget only to the graying of society, but there are other serious reasons.
Reader Mail
Aug 5, 2012

Shut out of the grand finale

As for the London Olympic Games, I noticed that NHK was to broadcast the opening ceremony live, starting at 4:30 a.m., so I duly set my TV to record and looked forward to watching it the following day. But I was baffled to discover that the program came to an abrupt end just before the grand finale:...
EDITORIALS
Aug 5, 2012

Let them dance!

The police have been cracking down on dance clubs over the past year, arresting operators and shutting clubs by suddenly enforcing a law about dancing and other amusement that goes back to 1948, and related regulations.
JAPAN
Aug 4, 2012

Two killers hanged, in Tokyo and Osaka

Two death-row inmates were hanged Friday, in Tokyo and Osaka, in the second round of executions this year after three men went to the gallows in March.
Japan Times
SPORTS / ODDS AND EVENS
Aug 4, 2012

Sasaki's unsavory tactics bring shame on Nadeshiko

A year ago, Nadeshiko Japan captured the world's hearts, the Women's World Cup champion producing a fabulous upset over the heavily favored United States to grab the title.
OLYMPICS / LONDON POSTCARD
Aug 4, 2012

No reason to complain about weather or traffic

Whingeing about the weather is a national pastime in England.
Japan Times
JAPAN / CHUBU CONNECTION
Aug 4, 2012

Jellyfish swarms in danger of clogging Ise thermal power plants

Large numbers of jellyfish have been swarming near nine thermal power plants on Ise Bay. Chubu Electric Power Co. estimates that there are close to 24,000 tons of the sea creatures swimming around the area, twice the usual level and the second-most recorded in the past decade.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Aug 4, 2012

Cataclysmic circumstances lead to neko strike

Fed up with long working hours, minimal job security and paltry remuneration in Japan's depressed economy, maneki neko cats all over Japan are going on strike.
OLYMPICS
Aug 4, 2012

Phelps takes third straight 200 IM

Michael Phelps collected his unprecedented third straight Olympic 200-meter individual medley gold medal on Thursday night at the Aquatics Centre.

Longform

After the asset-price bubble crash of the early 1990s, employment at a Japanese company was no longer necessarily for life. As a result, a new generation is less willing to endure a toxic work culture —life’s too short, after all.
How Japan's youth are slowly changing the country's work ethic