Search - life

 
 
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Mar 22, 2008

Here they are once again — The Cherry Blossoms!

Nothing excites Japanese people the way cherry blossoms do. Cherry blossoms are something the Japanese are so proud of, they can't help but smile when someone mentions the magic word: o-hanami.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Mar 21, 2008

Alice Cooper's psycho vaudeville

Alice Cooper, veteran rock star and all-around showbiz maven, is on the phone from Melbourne, Australia, where he plays two concerts before continuing on to New Zealand and then Japan. The singer promises that his Psycho Drama tour contains "all the hits," as well as the stage theatrics he's notorious...
Reader Mail
Mar 20, 2008

Media's tendency to sensationalize

Regarding Yoshio Shimoji's March 16 letter, "Wrong answers to angry questions," which was a response to Billy Fanska's March 9 letter, "Negative rhetoric defeats everyone": I don't think Fanska was minimizing the crimes committed by the U.S. military against Japanese citizens. Crime rates are meaningless...
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / WILD WATCH
Mar 19, 2008

Egrets' epitome of elegance

Late afternoon sunlight was slanting low, glinting like liquid gold, reflecting in the narrow strip of water between broad expanses of snow.
LIFE / Digital / JAPAN TIMES BLOGROLL
Mar 19, 2008

Mutant Frog

Mutant Frog Travelogue is the blog of Adam Richards, Joe Jones and Roy Berman, three friends who met while studying in Japan. The eclectic subject matter includes posts on technology, law, culture, politics and plenty more. With the three writers living at various times in Japan, Thailand, the U.S. and...
SOCCER / J. League
Mar 16, 2008

Grampus thump disjointed Reds

SAITAMA — Urawa Reds slumped to their second straight defeat of the new J. League season on Saturday as Nagoya Grampus hit them with a high-tempo onslaught to claim a 2-0 win at Saitama Stadium 2002.
Reader Mail
Mar 16, 2008

Leave immigration to Darwin

Roger Pulvers, in his March 9 Counterpoint column, "Surely it's time for Japanese to stop being so parochial," continues to distort facts while racializing people in stereotypical "ethnic" categories. Taiwanese and Koreans did not become "citizens" of the Empire of Japan. Japanese law did not then, and...
Reader Mail
Mar 16, 2008

Plea for better judgment this time

With the remaining term of the George W. Bush administration getting shorter by the week, I would like to ask a simple question as a pure political amateur, hoping that the comments of some wise pro -- a Democrat, Republican or other -- could enlighten me and other amateurs a bit.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Mar 16, 2008

Poetic reasons to take a card game seriously

ONE HUNDRED POETS, ONE POEM EACH: A Translation of the Ogura Hyakunin Isshu, by Peter McMillan with a foreword by Donald Keene and an afterword by Eileen Kato. New York: Columbia University Press, 2007, 280 pp., with line drawings, $39.50 (cloth) This is a new translation of one of Japan's most famous...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Mar 14, 2008

Back to square one after a lifetime of work

With spring comes the annual wage negotiations, when unions press employers for higher pay. These days, however, an increasing number of the workers at the bargaining table are themselves in the autumn of life — 60 or older.
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Mar 14, 2008

'Vagina Monologues': Did you know it was about ending violence?

Ten years ago, playwright Eve Ensler and a group of women performed "The Vagina Monologues" in a New York theater on Valentine's Day to raise awareness and money to stop violence against women and girls. The success of the play launched the "V-Day" movement, with its goal of putting an end to the violence....
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Mar 14, 2008

Hanami among the mountain gods

Spring once again blushes the face of Japan, nowhere more so than in Yoshino, the nation's most famous sakura (cherry blossom) viewing destination and UNESCO World Heritage site. Each year, the sleepy mountain village in Nara Prefecture comes to life at the end of March in anticipation of the monthlong...
BUSINESS
Mar 14, 2008

Dollar dive against yen dents exporters' profits

The dollar's sharp dive to a 12-year low against the yen Thursday raises the specter of reduced profits among major export-driven manufacturers in Japan, including Toyota Motor Corp. and Sony Corp., analysts say.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink
Mar 14, 2008

Digging up a real gem of an Indian curry

Northern Indian cuisine — which features some of the country's most elaborate dishes — was largely influenced by the Moghuls, who invaded India from the Middle East in the eighth century. In addition to red meat, the Moghuls enjoyed poultry, nuts, saffron and ghee. Over the centuries a distinctive...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Mar 13, 2008

Nemuro faces fisheries-conservation dilemma

NEMURO, Hokkaido — Despite requests by a committee of UNESCO and the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources, fishery associations in Nemuro remain baffled by the idea of safeguarding their traditional foe.
BUSINESS
Mar 13, 2008

Key sectors to hike pay but amid caution

Major automakers and electronics companies said Wednesday they will raise base wages and bonuses for a third consecutive year but the increases will be moderate this time because of global economic uncertainties.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Mar 13, 2008

A graceful step onto Edo's stage

'Now that his life-long dream of having the stage name of Sakata Tojuro has come true, I think Tojuro aspires to revitalize the style of kabuki acting unique to the Kamigata (Kansai) region," says Shoichi Yamada, the former executive director in charge of bunraku puppet theater at the National Theater....
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Mar 12, 2008

Food for thought in our ways of seeing

W hen the famed Michelin food guide belatedly reached Asia recently, it seemed to make up for lost time, awarding more of its coveted stars to restaurants in Tokyo than are held by restaurants in New York and Paris combined. About time, too.
BUSINESS
Mar 12, 2008

Honda unit plans minicar plant

Yachiyo Industry Co., 50 percent owned by Honda Motor Co., said Tuesday it will build a new factory in Japan to make minicars for its parent company as demand for fuel-efficient vehicles rises.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 11, 2008

'Lower-intensity' discrimination persists

NEW YORK — International Women's Day was celebrated March 8. Although progress has been made in achieving women's rights everywhere, we should not lose sight of the fact that widespread discrimination against women persists in law and practice, directly or indirectly, all over the world.
LIFE / Language
Mar 11, 2008

Smart tips for avoiding those 'White Day' blues

This coming Friday, March 14, is Howaito Dei (White Day), when males follow the custom of reciprocating the Valentine's Day chocolates (or other gifts) they received a month earlier.
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
Mar 11, 2008

Tying the knot; furry fallout

Cats in Kobe Paul, his wife and children lived for some years in Kobe. They arrived shortly after the devastating earthquake of 1995, before the infrastructure had been rebuilt. Part of the fallout, he writes, was cat colonies living in the local parking lot.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Mar 11, 2008

The lowest form of flattery?

In order to avoid the entry of terrorists into Japan, it has been decided to impose fingerprinting and photography at immigration.' So begins the Foreign Ministry video explaining the November changes to the Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Act.
JAPAN
Mar 11, 2008

Japan acquittal doesn't let Miura off the hook in California: expert

Differences between the Japanese and U.S. criminal justice systems made it possible for the Los Angeles Police Department to arrest Kazuyoshi Miura for the 1981 fatal shooting of his wife in California, despite being acquitted of her slaying in Japan, an expert says.
JAPAN
Mar 11, 2008

Tokyo air raid survivors sue for redress

Survivors of the numerous U.S. air raids on Tokyo in 1945 sued the central government for compensation Monday, demanding an apology and a combined ¥220 million in reparations for its failure to assist the wounded.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 10, 2008

Freedom and music go hand in hand

NEW YORK — North Korea, officially known as the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, is one of the world's most oppressive, closed and vicious dictatorships. It is perhaps the last living example of pure totalitarianism — control of the state over every aspect of human life. Is such a place the...

Longform

In 2020, 38% of all households were single-person. That figure is projected to rise to 44.3% by 2050.
The rise of AI companionship in a lonely Japan