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Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jul 24, 2014

'Cool and Breezy: Summer Greetings through Paintings and Ceramics'

Just like its title suggests, this exhibition aims to show viewers that feeling cool and refreshed is not something that can only be experienced physically.
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE FOREIGN ELEMENT
Jul 21, 2014

Chores, charges and chin-wags: the chōnaikai ties that bind

Perhaps fearing that the entire council could fall apart, some neighborhood associations resort to drastic measures to keep members active and in line. The culture clash is not foreigner vs. Japanese, but traditional vs. modern.
CULTURE / Books / ESSENTIAL READING FOR JAPANOPHILES
Jul 19, 2014

House of the Sleeping Beauties and Other Stories

Yasunari Kawabata's novella "House of the Sleeping Beauties and Other Stories" is one of his finest works. It is primarily concerned with the connections between the youth and old age, sex, death, life and memory.
Events / Events In Tokyo
Jul 18, 2014

Television fun away from the couch

This summer, TV Asahi and Roppongi Hills are working together to get you off the sofa and into the sun while still enjoying some of your favorite television programs.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jul 17, 2014

'Two Tapestries: The Miho Merciful Mother Kannon and The Lotus Miroku'

This is the first time that "Miho Merciful Mother Kannon" and "Lotus Miroku," two large tapestry works belonging to the Miho Museum collection, are being displayed together. Created by the fabric company Kawashima Selkon Textiles Co., Ltd., both the tapestries celebrate traditional craftsmanship combined...
CULTURE / Music
Jul 15, 2014

Kis-My-Journey takes us down a familiar path

It's not the highest of honors, but I'd like to award awkwardly named boy band Kis-My-Ft2 as the best pop act under the Johnny & Associates umbrella.
CULTURE / Music
Jul 15, 2014

Emerald Four slows its sound down

The music created by Emerald Four practically oozes from the speakers. The Kyoto-based duo crafts narcotized songs built around unfolding electronics and slow, dreamy vocals.
Japan Times
WORLD / Crime & Legal
Jul 15, 2014

Invasive giant African snails seized at L.A. airport

U.S. customs inspectors at Los Angeles International Airport seized a shipment of several dozen live giant African snails, considered a delicacy in Nigeria but also voracious pests that can eat paint and stucco off houses, officials said on Monday.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 14, 2014

Is new China the old Japan?

Does China risk becoming the Japan of some seven decades past, namely a rising nation that sparks conflict and then war under the guise of 'Asia for Asians'?
EDITORIALS
Jul 11, 2014

Pros and cons of genetic testing

More and more nonmedical companies are offering genetic testing services that inform people of their risks of developing cancer, diabetes and other diseases, but customers often don't understand the limits of such tests. Nor do they know what providers may do with such personal information.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jul 10, 2014

When it came to horror, ukiyo-e artists kept their wits about them

This exhibition showcases more than 250 Japanese woodblock prints of the Edo Period (1603-1868), depicting ghosts, goblins and other supernatural beings. The lurid subject matter, a graphic illustration of the shadowy spirit underworld, is as delightful as it is ghoulish.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 8, 2014

Shevardnadze's lessons for the West

Eduard Shevardnadze, the former Soviet foreign minister and Georgian president who died Monday at 86, was not an effective leader, but if Western leaders had paid closer attention to what he said when he was alive, they would have been better prepared for today's crisis in Ukraine.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / How-tos / HOME TRUTHS
Jul 4, 2014

When should we make noise about loud neighbors?

In August 1974, a 46-year-old man living on the fourth floor of a public apartment building in Hiratsuka, Kanagawa Prefecture, forced his way into the unit below him and killed two little girls and their mother. After attempting suicide he was arrested, and he told police he had been driven to murder...
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 4, 2014

NSA surveillance needs more alert watchdog

A U.S. senator now worries that there isn't the judicial oversight to prevent the National Security Agency from using its access to the giant pile of foreign-intelligence information it has collected over many years to conduct warrantless searches for communications from Americans.
Japan Times
Places
Jul 3, 2014

A selection of Japan's strangest 'museums'

Seen enough views of Mount Fuji and suits of samurai armor? Here are 13 museums that will take you well off the beaten trail.
Japan Times
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Jul 2, 2014

Dancing between cultures in Yokohama

Contemporary dance has always pushed the boundaries of corporal expression by exploring themes that traditional dance genres and their movements have difficulty conveying. As one of the Month of France series of events organized by the Yokohama branch of the Institut Francais du Japon, CrossDance continues...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jul 1, 2014

Leftfield J-pop, '70s influenced rock and shadowy R&B: Our favorite albums of 2014 (so far)

In his Strange Boutique column last week, Ian Martin wrote about the need for a canon in Japanese music in order for newcomers to the scene — especially those writing about it — to gain some context into what is being released.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jun 25, 2014

Kids' stuff that adults need to see

Perhaps in the wake of this attack on seriousness, many artists have since taken refuge in childishness, whimsy or playfulness, though these values have been carefully rationed in 'Go-Betweens: The World Seen through Children,' with the emphasis being more on showing childhood as a state of vulnerability and transformation.
Japan Times
WORLD / Crime & Legal
Jun 25, 2014

Murdoch protegee Brooks cleared of cellphone hacking

Rebekah Brooks, the former boss of Rupert Murdoch's British newspaper arm, was acquitted Tuesday of orchestrating a campaign to hack into phones and bribe officials in a case that has shaken the British political establishment.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 23, 2014

Tea party hangs on to its seat at the kids' table

Despite its recent big win, the tea party wing in the U.S. Congress has no more than the ability to say no, to wreak havoc and to generally make House Speaker John Boehner's life miserable. Insiders still set the agenda.
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital / JAPAN WEB WATCH
Jun 20, 2014

Well-bitten consumers shy of Japan's disappearing e-books

Although it has now been surpassed by the United States, Japan was once the world's largest market for e-books, thanks to the early success of the cellphone-content business. But in today's competitive market, e-book sellers disappear every few months, leaving consumers to wonder whether the digital...
JAPAN
Jun 19, 2014

Nakaima to drop call to kick out U.S. air base

Okinawa Gov. Hirokazu Nakaima will scratch a call to oust Futenma air base from his address commemorating the end of the Battle of Okinawa next week.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jun 18, 2014

'Guess What? Hardcore Contemporary Art's Truly a World Treasure'

Contemporary artworks are rarely described as "world treasures," but here The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo has come up with its own definition of the phrase. These are works that are literally "treasures" in terms of their high market value, but also because of their ability to convey universal...
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Jun 14, 2014

Ghostly footprints of the 'modern girl' along Kamakura's coastline

There's a scene in Junichiro Tanizaki's serialized novel "Naomi" (originally titled "A Fool's Love") from 1924 where the besotted protagonist, Joji, watches his wife, Naomi — part Lolita, part Madame Bovary, all trouble — through the pine trees. Having just emerged from a seaside villa, she is sashaying...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jun 13, 2014

'Crowdfunding' readers back 'library bar,' request a book each

When 30-year-old book lover Shunsuke Mori decided to open a "library bar" in Tokyo, he took a leap of faith to solicit funds over the Internet.
JAPAN / Politics
Jun 11, 2014

China seeks UNESCO listing for Nanking Massacre, sex slave archives; Japan protests

The government has filed a protest against China's applications to have what it says are historical documents on the 1937 Nanking Massacre and Japan's wartime "comfort women" brothel system registered in the U.N. archive program, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said Wednesday.

Longform

Visitors walk past Sou Fujimoto's Grand Ring, which has been recognized as the largest wooden structure in the world.
Can a World Expo still matter? Japan is about to find out.