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OLYMPICS
Jul 14, 2021

Lessons in Olympic spirit from 'Japan's' Korean gold medalist live on

At the 1936 Olympics, Korean Sohn Kee-chung stood with his head hung, hiding the Rising Sun flag on his chest with a laurel plant as Japan's national anthem filled the stadium.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jul 2, 2021

A towering figure in South Korean art plans his legacy

At age 89, painter Park Seo-Bo has more shows and two museums for his art in the works.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Jun 30, 2021

Finding relevance in the Communist Party among China's Gen-Z

Party membership grew by a record 2.43 million in 2020, and as is typical, about 80% of new joiners were 35 or under.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink
Jun 12, 2021

Shozo Street is ‘sacred ground’ for cafe lovers

The town of Kuroiso might seem an unlikely candidate for one of Japan's top coffee destinations. But Shozo Kikuchi has kicked off 30 years of community revitalization, one cafe at a time.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
May 27, 2021

Ado's defiant hit is a coming-of-age moment for Japan's Vocaloid culture

Ado caused a moral panic in Japan with her catchy and rebellious track 'Usseewa,' a track influenced by the cultural conventions of Vocaloid that are taking Japanese music by storm.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
May 26, 2021

'Tomorrow's Dinner Table': Three women are served an overwhelming helping of struggle

Mitsuki Takahata is a standout in Takahisa Zeze's uneven multinarrative drama about the struggles of modern mothers.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
May 21, 2021

Rapper Daichi Yamamoto gets personal about breakups, his biracial background and a love of jazzy beats

Japanese rappers are beginning to share more about their own experiences in their tracks, an approach Daichi Yamamoto says is upping the standards for domestic hip-hop.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
May 1, 2021

Solitude or isolation? Whatever it is, it's spreading.

While humanity is a social species, there's something to be said about solitude. The good kind, that is.
Teruko Nakazawa, a retired unpaid parole officer (back), talks with her former parolee in the smoking room of a cafe in Tokyo. Around 47,000 citizen volunteers  far outnumber the 1,000 salaried probation officers working in Japan.
JAPAN / Society / FOCUS
Jan 23, 2025

Japan's unpaid parole officers are driven by a 'love for humanity'

The around 47,000 citizen volunteers far outnumber the 1,000 salaried probation officers in Japan.
Aside from purely aesthetics, the flowers in Mika Ninagawa’s art carry deep cultural and spiritual meaning.
CULTURE / Art
Jan 25, 2025

Mika Ninagawa transforms the Kyocera Museum into a vibrant dreamworld

The artist’s most expansive exhibition in the Kansai region to date is an experience that straddles the boundaries of photography, film and installation art.
Rodgers (right) was a longtime managing editor of Kyoto Journal and, alongside colleagues like Susan Pavloska (left) and John Einarsen (center), helped make it one of Japan’s leading English-language publications.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives
Jan 27, 2025

Ken Rodgers, a fixture of the Kyoto literary scene, dies at 72

Hailing from Australia, Rodgers made a home and community for himself in Japan’s ancient capital across more than four decades.
The third patient to receive a genetically engineered pig kidney is thriving post-transplant, providing valuable insights into animal-to-human organ replacement and bringing the field closer to clinical trials. 
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 27, 2025

Why a recent pig kidney transplant is a major advance

The 53-year-old woman who received the genetically modified animal organ is the ideal recipient to push science forward.
A woman walks past a mural adorning a family clinic in Nairobi in 2017.
WORLD / Society
Jan 28, 2025

Trump 2.0 instills fear in African abortion activists

Trump has reinstated an anti-abortion pact that cuts off U.S. funds to foreign charities that provide or promote abortions.
Myanmar migrant worker Ma Phyu in her apartment in Samut Sakhon province, Thailand
ASIA PACIFIC
Jan 31, 2025

Misery continues for Myanmar exiles four years on from coup

Those who fled to Thailand scrape by doing hard jobs for little pay — often living in fear of being arrested and sent back to Myanmar.
The rubble of destroyed buildings in Jabalia on Jan. 30
WORLD / Society
Feb 7, 2025

Trump call for Gazan exit echoes in destroyed homes

The war has stopped after 16 months, but the destruction left in its wake leaves Palestinians in a daily battle of trying to decide whether to stay or go.
“Yasuko, Songs of Days Past” centers on a real-life love triangle between poet Chuya Nakahara (Taisei Kido, left), actor Yasuko Hasegawa (Suzu Hirose, center) and literary critic Hideo Kobayashi (Masaki Okada).
CULTURE / Film
Feb 20, 2025

‘Yasuko, Songs of Days Past’ puts overlooked star in the spotlight

Kichitaro Negishi’s drama, based on a real-life love triangle among notable figures of the Japanese literati, captures the flavor of a bygone era.
From left: "Conclave" cast members Sergio Castellitto, John Lithgow, Isabella Rossellini and Ralph Fiennes pose with the awards for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture at the 31st Screen Actors Guild Awards, in Los Angeles.
CULTURE / Entertainment news
Feb 24, 2025

Vatican thriller 'Conclave' wins top prize in SAG Awards upset

"Conclave" surprises with a SAG Award win for best cast, suggesting it may have a real shot at upsetting the Oscars' Best Picture race.
A scientific officer works in the research lab at the University of Cape Town's Institute of Infectious Disease and Molecular Medicine, in Cape Town, South Africa on Feb. 17.
WORLD / Science & Health
Feb 28, 2025

Services to millions of people collapse as USAID cuts contracts worldwide

Among those to get termination notices were major U.N. health programs, which might have different sources of funding, and smaller groups that relied mostly on U.S. grants.
Director Sean Baker (center) poses with the Oscars for best picture, best director, best film editing and best original screenplay for "Anora" as producers Alex Coco and Samantha Quan pose with the Oscar for best picture for "Anora" in the Oscars photo room at the 97th Academy Awards.
CULTURE / Film
Mar 3, 2025

Small-budget sex worker romp 'Anora' triumphs at Oscars

Sean Baker's dark comedy scooped up five awards including best picture at this year's Academy Awards, which was a relatively staid affair compared to previous editions.
K-Ballet Tokyo celebrates its 25th anniversary with an extended lineup including a revival of the vibrant pirate-story ballet "Le Corsaire."
CULTURE / Stage
Mar 15, 2025

K-Ballet Tokyo marks 25 years of passion and perseverance

The dance company celebrates a milestone anniversary with an extended lineup including a revival of the vibrant pirate-story ballet "Le Corsaire."
The logo of the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification, better known as the Unification Church, is seen at the entrance of its Japan branch headquarters in Tokyo in October 2023.
JAPAN / Society / FOCUS
Mar 15, 2025

Unification Church faces dissolution in Japan

The dissolution would remove the church's tax-exempt status while branding the organization a harmful entity.
Okayama goalkeeper Svend Brodersen reaches for the ball against Urawa's Thiago Santana (front) at Saitama Stadium on March 8.
SOCCER / J. League
Mar 18, 2025

Manga-loving German goalkeeper finds peace, and himself, in Japan

Svend Brodersen moved to Japan in 2021 and now plays for top-tier J. League side Fagiano Okayama, but he admits that initially he felt like he was "on another planet."
People gather at the National Covid Memorial Wall on the COVID-19 Day of Reflection, marking 5 years since the start of the pandemic, in London on March 9.
WORLD / Society
Mar 18, 2025

Debt, job loss and eviction weigh on parents of children with long COVID

Five years after the World Health Organization declared a pandemic, the families of over 111,000 children in the U.K. sick with long COVID feel invisible.
Rieko Tamaki (left) tells her story about the Battle of Okinawa to university student Hinata Kinjo at a park in Yaese, Okinawa Prefecture, near the area where Tamaki’s brother was killed during the conflict.
JAPAN / Regional Voices: Okinawa
Mar 24, 2025

Battle of Okinawa survivor passes down memories of war

The 90-year-old woman still remembers the final moments of her then-14-year-old brother's life during the 1945 battle.
A monument stands in Fujigane Park at the former site of an Aum Shinrikyo facility in Fujikawaguchiko, Yamanashi Prefecture.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Mar 19, 2025

Former member of Aum Shinrikyo expresses regret 30 years on

The 59-year-old man who has served time in prison admitted to following the doomsday cult's leader despite thinking it wasn't right.
George Foreman knocks out Michael Moorer during the 10th round of their bout in Las Vegas on Nov. 5, 1994.
MORE SPORTS / Boxing
Mar 24, 2025

WBC president Mauricio Sulaiman calls George Foreman's record unbreakable

Professional boxing is an unforgiving sport, and Sulaiman believes nobody can match or break Foreman's record of winning heavyweight titles two decades apart.
Medical workers treat a earthquake survivor on a bed in the compound of a hospital in Naypyitaw on Friday, after an earthquake in central Myanmar.
ASIA PACIFIC
Mar 29, 2025

Massive quake kills at least 150 in Myanmar and Thailand

The quake flattened buildings, downed bridges and cracked roads across swathes of Myanmar, and even demolished a 30-story skyscraper under construction in Bangkok.
Tsuyoshi Domoto in Tokyo's Shinjuku Ward on March 28. As an entrepreneur, Domoto experienced plenty of setbacks but maintains a positive attitude and continues to pursue his dreams.
BUSINESS / Tech
Mar 30, 2025

Tokyo tech failures lean into misfortune, mistakes and missteps

At a Tokyo Fail Club gathering, speakers share candid talks about ventures gone wrong, bankruptcy and depression, touting a message of persistence in the face of adversity.
Christian worshippers take part in a Good Friday procession as they carry a cross with a Jesus statue in the town of Klayaa, in southern Lebanon, on March 29, 2024.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 31, 2025

Can the Jesus of history support the Christ of faith?

I would not expect a non-Christian writer to simply embrace the thesis that events in the New Testament did mostly happen as related.

Longform

Bear attacks have dominated Japanese news headlines in recent months, with 13 people so far having been killed by the animals.
Japan’s bears have been on their killing spree for more than 100 years