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Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives
Sep 26, 2022

Ojizo Coffee is brewing up a plan to give back to the community

One couple sees ethical cafe culture as being a part of the rehabilitation of those who are afflicted by societal ills.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / 20 QUESTIONS
Sep 11, 2022

Yuka Natori: ‘Starting a climate initiative in your own community would be great’

Yuka Natori helped found the group Media Is Hope as way to get Japan's mainstream media caught up with the global conversation on climate issues.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Jan 9, 2022

China reports nation’s first community spread of omicron

The discovery ignited a mass testing blitz in the city of Tianjin as the country strives to maintain its zero-tolerance approach to COVID-19 in the face of more transmissible variants.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 11, 2021

Diplomats dither while millions of people starve

Afghans are trapped between a radical Islamist group and a global community apparently content to sit back and let their aid-dependent country plunge into crisis.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives
Oct 25, 2021

For one dancer, the Mohiniyattam became a step to unlocking a whole new world

Hiromi Maruhashi's interest in dance eventually led her to the Indian state of Kerala and a cultural exchange she is eager to show to Japan.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Jul 3, 2021

Japan’s LGBTQ community ends up losing thanks to intraparty politics in the LDP

The media coverage of a bill on LGBTQ 'understanding' focuses on a conservative purity test instead of the contents of the legislation.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books / The World of Translators
Jun 20, 2021

Morgan Giles: ‘I’m astounded by the sense of community among literary translators’

The World of Translators series wraps up with Morgan Giles, whose first full-length work, Yu Miri's “Tokyo Ueno Station,” won the National Book Award for translated literature in 2020.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / Japan Pulse
May 29, 2021

'Curry Police': A problematic music video leads to a problematic backlash

A Japanese music video filled with stereotypes about Indians leads to an angry response that exposes some nasty misogyny.
Japan Times
JAPAN
May 23, 2021

Lack of openness and flexibility in Japan hamper efforts to help virus-hit India

Indian residents find their efforts to purchase and send oxygen concentrators hit numerous brick walls.
Lantoko, a company operated by Taiwan native Ping-Fang Lan, offers drift ice walking tours and other exhilarating experiences in and around Shiretoko National Park.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives
Jan 13, 2025

Due north: Foreign-born guides introduce Hokkaido’s unique charms

With adventure tourism on the rise in Hokkaido, a new generation of foreign-born guides is eager to greet travelers.
Roxana Oshiro and her husband gather their belongings in front of their house in Furukawacho, in Kobe's Suma Ward, after the Great Hanshin Earthquake in 1995.
JAPAN / Society / FOCUS
Jan 17, 2025

The efforts to bridge the disaster information gap, 30 years on

Disaster information didn't reach many non-Japanese speakers after the Great Hanshin Earthquake struck. Thirty years later, has the situation improved?
New Yorker Kenny Colvin opened Sanita, an Italian American-style cocktail bar, in Tokyo’s Hatagaya neighborhood in 2020.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / 20 QUESTIONS
Jan 24, 2025

Kenny Colvin: ‘Work hard, drink hard, eat hard … relax hard’

The owner of Sanita, a cozy cocktail bar in Hatagaya, shares his journey and inspirations.
Brian Hutto runs Craft Sake Shoten, a Yokohama shop he calls a hangout for 'real sake enthusiasts.'
LIFE / Food & Drink / Kanpai Culture
Feb 2, 2025

Sipping down the rabbit hole at Craft Sake Shoten

A chance encounter with sake evangelist John Gauntner led Brian Hutto to reinvent himself with sake as his new focus.
Keidanren Chairman Masakazu Tokura hailed Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba's first meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump as successful.
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 11, 2025

Japan's business community expresses relief after the Ishiba-Trump summit

Uncertainty about the future remains, however, as Trump mentioned his eagerness to eliminate the U.S. trade deficit with Japan.
Kendrick Lamar performs at the halftime show of Super Bowl LIX in New Orleans, Louisiana.
COMMUNITY / Voices / Black Eye
Feb 17, 2025

Black History Month in 2025: The boundaries between 'us' and 'them'

Our columnist reflects on the fraught ideologies of race from both sides of the Pacific.
Mike Sunda at a concert in Haikou, China
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / 20 QUESTIONS
Feb 20, 2025

Mike Sunda: ‘Creative production comes with a bigger responsibility than ever before’

Creative strategist Mike Sunda talks about his influences and the filming of Megan Thee Stallion’s “Mamushi” music video.
Artist Adrian Steckeweh 3-D prints otherworldly clothes and accessories for himself, in a way augmenting his reality with tangible objects.
CULTURE / Art
Mar 16, 2025

Augmented reality artist Omega C navigates a precarious scene for XR art

Just this year, XR art featured heavily in the digital art festival Dig Shibuya and is the focus of the ongoing “Machine Love” exhibition at Mori Art Museum.
Johan Leutwiler checks a sword he made at his workshop studio in the Kui district of Mihara, Hiroshima Prefecture.
JAPAN / Regional Voices: Hiroshima
Mar 24, 2025

Japan's first foreign swordsmith opens workshop in Hiroshima Prefecture

Johan Leutwiler hopes to promote the charm of Japanese swords following the completion of his five-year apprenticeship.
As the founder of Z Rakugo, Edanoshin Katsura is introducing the traditional storytelling form to younger audiences by blending it with club visuals and electronic music.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / 20 QUESTIONS
Mar 22, 2025

Edanoshin Katsura: ‘Rakugo and techno are both about rhythm and groove’

A 23-year-old entertainer is redefining the Japanese comedic storytelling tradition for Gen Z by introducing elements of techno and underground youth culture.
Noriko Shakti has been living in Goa, India, since 2020 and specializes in the tabla, a traditional hand drum from the Indian subcontinent.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / 20 QUESTIONS
Apr 12, 2025

Noriko Shakti: ‘Music reflects my journey and learnings’

The India-based DJ and producer talks about bridging Indian and Japanese traditions in electronic music and advocating for women’s representation in the industry.
Customers line up patiently for some early-afternoon baked goods outside Truffle, which is located close to Hiroo Station on the Hibiya Line.
COMMUNITY / Issues / The Foreign Element
Apr 13, 2025

How to spend the perfect day in Hiroo, Tokyo’s expat enclave

A stroll through Hiroo reveals both the comforts of expat luxury and the quiet intrusions of a changing Tokyo.
Arunima Mazumdar, a New Delhi-based communications professional, began sharing her love of Japanese literature online in 2022. The platform has grown into a robust community known as Dokusha Book Club.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / 20 QUESTIONS
Apr 26, 2025

Arunima Mazumdar: ‘Japanese literature has a niche but deeply engaged readership in India’

The founder of Dokusha Book Club talks about why Indian readers love Japanese books and the community that she’s forged, online and offline.
Mateusz Urbanowicz’s recent book “Imaginary Storefronts” collects his illustrations of the mundane Japanese street scenes that have given him immense inspiration.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / 20 QUESTIONS
May 31, 2025

Mateusz Urbanowicz: ‘Miyazaki inspired me to put the audience first’

The Polish artist and animator talks about how he came to Japan and the inspiration he draws from ordinary streets and storefronts.
More Chinese families are clustering in Tokyo's Bunkyo Ward, a district renowned for having the finest educational environment in Japan.
JAPAN / Society
May 29, 2025

Chinese parents are fueling Tokyo’s education race

International schools in Tokyo are already witnessing an influx of children from the newly arrived, highly involved Chinese households.
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.
Ayaka Ohira (center) celebrates the launch of “Shinsei Galverse” with interpreter Himari Lala Shimizu and executive producer Jack Baldwin.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / 20 QUESTIONS
Jul 24, 2025

Ayaka Ohira: ‘Being outside of the traditional path gave me more freedom’

Anime director Ayaka Ohira talks about her newly launched ‘Shinsei Galverse’ series and how she navigates the industry as a self-taught female artist.
In honor of his longstanding ties and contributions to Japan's business, legal and nonprofit communities, Carl J. Green was awarded the Order of the Rising Sun, Gold Rays with Rosette in 2018.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives
Aug 20, 2025

Carl J. Green, mentor to a generation of ‘Japan hands,’ dies at 85

A lawyer and scholar with deep ties to Tokyo’s business and legal communities, Green opened the Ford Foundation’s Tokyo office.

Longform

Tetsuzo Shiraishi, speaking at The Center of the Tokyo Raids and War Damage, uses a thermos to explain how he experienced the U.S. firebombing of March 1945, when he was just 7 years old.
From ashes to high-rises: A survivor’s account of Tokyo’s postwar past