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Japan Times
JAPAN / FOCUS
Mar 7, 2015

Chasing Chinese planes 400 times a year stretches Japan's top guns

Fighter pilot Jun Fukuda sits edgily on the couch in his flight suit, waiting for the call that sends him sprinting to his jet. On any given day, he will chase and warn off Chinese military planes nearing Japanese airspace.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Feb 11, 2015

American Sniper: 'a refusal to deal with the complexity of war'

Just about every Iraq war movie to date has bombed at the box office, and there's a reason for that: Like the war itself, most of those movies were bummers. Even "The Hurt Locker," which did well at the Oscars, had a lukewarm reception at the box office. But along comes director Clint Eastwood with "American...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Feb 6, 2015

Immigration detention centers like prisons, U.K. inspectors say

When British incarceration inspection expert Hindpal Singh Bhui last month paid his first visit to a Japanese immigration detention center, his overriding initial impression was that it looked like a prison.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Feb 4, 2015

20,000 Days on Earth: 'Nick Cave beside a fireplace talking about his childhood'

Once upon a time — say, around 1982, when he was strung out on heroin and singing as though a Ridley Scott-style alien had just burst through his chest — it was hard to imagine Nick Cave sitting in front of a fireplace talking quietly about his childhood with a chin-stroking interviewer. Like Iggy...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / THE HIGH GROUNDS
Feb 3, 2015

Blue Bottle Coffee offers a fresher brew

Whether by accident of fate or surfeit of real estate, Tokyo's Kiyosumi-Shirakawa neighborhood is turning into one of the most caffeinated corners of the capital. Already home to artisan roasters, including The Cream of the Crop and Arise Coffee, this district of galleries, parks and low-rise housing...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Feb 2, 2015

South Korean children navigate rocky road to K-pop stardom

Nine-year-old Kim Si-yoon has no time to throw tantrums.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jan 27, 2015

Sugar's Campaign come up with some sweet city pop for debut album 'Friends'

Seiho Hayakawa and Takuma Hosokawa think modern pop music is "grotesque," but that's exactly how they wanted the debut album by their band Sugar's Campaign to sound.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jan 21, 2015

What We Do in the Shadows: 'straight-to-camera confessionals intercut with savage bouts of feasting on human blood'

Shortly after the first weekend that box-office returns came in for "Twilight," a swarm of studio suits rushed to their BlackBerrys and proceeded to greenlight every vampire-related script they could find buried under the cobwebs. Six years on, we've been deluged by more undead movies and TV series that...
Japan Times
JAPAN / DAVOS SPECIAL 2015
Jan 21, 2015

Transitioning from spectator to participant at Davos meeting

The annual meeting of the World Economic Forum is underway in Davos-Klosters in Switzerland from Jan. 21. The theme of this year's meeting is "The New Global Context" for decision making.
Japan Times
WORLD / Society / FOCUS
Jan 18, 2015

Paris killings leave France troubled by 30 years of failure with immigrants

Latifa Ibn Ziaten knows a thing or two about terrorism.
COMMENTARY / World / COUNTERPOINT
Jan 17, 2015

Sri Lanka votes against fear and kleptocracy

The stunning ouster of Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa on Jan. 8 was good news for that island nation of 20 million, and further evidence of a universal yearning for good governance.
SPORTS / MAN ABOUT SPORTS
Jan 13, 2015

New Year's resolutions Man About Sports hopes for

For an improved sports world, some better-late-than-never New Year's resolutions MAS would like to see made — and carried out:
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jan 3, 2015

Behind the wheel: Honda thinks outside the box

When it comes to business, no one wants to settle for second best. Companies, almost by definition, are always trying to ensure that they are in front of their rivals in terms of market share, sales and brand recognition.
CULTURE / Film
Jan 1, 2015

What if 'The Interview' had been made in Japan?

It couldn't happen here — that was my first takeaway from the massive cyberattack on Sony Pictures Entertainment prompted by the Seth Rogen and James Franco comedy "The Interview." In the film, the two heroes journey to North Korea ostensibly to interview its real-life leader, Kim Jong Un, but in fact,...
CULTURE / Music
Dec 30, 2014

The young stars creating a buzz in the enka scene

Even though enka star Saburo Kitajima announced his retirement from NHK's annual "Kohaku Uta Gassen" music program last year, and U.S. singer Jero has seemingly moved into R&B, don't count enka out of the zeitgeist just yet.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Dec 27, 2014

Isolation helps preserve Ishigaki's unique charm

In his 1926 story, "The Man Who Loved Islands," D.H. Lawrence wrote, "Isolate yourself on a little island in the sea of space, and the moment begins to heave and expand in great circles, the solid earth is gone, and your slippery, naked dark soul finds itself out in the timeless world."
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics / FOCUS
Dec 20, 2014

Cuba's Raul Castro sees support surge as he steps out of brother's shadow, brings historic changes

Stepping out of his legendary brother's shadow, President Raul Castro has scored a diplomatic triumph and a surge in popular support with the deal that ends decades of open hostility with the United States.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Dec 18, 2014

Sculpting the uncanny space between permanence and evanescence

Sculpture is supposedly the most solid and permanent of the creative arts, so it is a paradox that an artist like Junichi Mori — whose work often focuses on impermanence and evanescence — has chosen to work in this style, using materials like marble and wood, instead of something more fleeting and...
Reader Mail
Dec 17, 2014

Despicable attack on violinist

As a musician and composer, I was greatly saddened to read in The Japan Times-incorporated International New York Times the Dec. 9 article "Fraud accusations stir violin world," describing an American violinist's despicable attack on the late Shinichi Suzuki, Japan's highly respected founder of the world-famous...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Dec 17, 2014

'Entrance/Exit' shows the way for new arts fest

Bulging like a half moon out into the Seto Inland Sea from Kyushu's northeast corner, the Kunisaki Peninsula in Oita Prefecture may be remote and lack rail links to the rest of the country, but since time immemorial it has been a crossroads for travelers in both directions between Japan, the Korean Peninsula...
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 16, 2014

What economics can learn from human beings

Legend has it that it's hard even to get bank staff to read the 'World Development Report' published annually by the World Bank. The report for 2015 should prove to be an exception, though, as it appears to help policymakers understand deeply ingrained habits or cultural settings.
Japan Times
BASKETBALL / NBA / HOOP SCOOP
Dec 12, 2014

Casey has fueled rise by Raptors

The Toronto Raptors' climb hasn't been an overnight miracle. But it's been a memorable climb under the steady leadership of head coach Dwane Casey.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / LAW OF THE LAND
Dec 10, 2014

Electoral dysfunction leaves Japan's voters feeling impotent

This Sunday's poll could well prove a high-water mark of pointlessness even for Japan: an election campaign waged against the unelected.
EDITORIALS
Dec 6, 2014

Paper-making gets culture tag

Japanese culture gets another global pat-on-the-back after UNESCO designates Japanese traditional paper-making techniques an intangible cultural heritage in this digital age.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Japan Pulse
Dec 4, 2014

#pulsepresents: gift idea grab bag

Gifts ideas for all stripes of Japanophiles.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Nov 27, 2014

The beating art of Ferdinand Hodler

With Japan and Switzerland celebrating the 150th anniversary of diplomatic relations, there have been a few Swiss-themed events in town, such as the exhibition "Masterpieces from the Kunsthaus Zurich" at the National Art Center, Tokyo, reviewed earlier this month. That exhibition contained some paintings...
CULTURE / Music / STRANGE BOUTIQUE
Nov 25, 2014

Pop artifice was never better with Aya Matsuura

When a pop singer who has long faded from the limelight suddenly starts appearing in your Twitter timeline in the form of glowing, nostalgic re-evaluations, they're either gearing up for a comeback . . . or dead.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 21, 2014

Why Merkel is playing long ball with Putin

German Chancellor Angela Merkel's strategy of dealing with Russian President Vladimir Putin stems from her keen understanding of 20th century history.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Nov 19, 2014

Asia enriches the Bard's work-in-progress

Whatever would William Shakespeare make of it all if he were to journey now through Asia, where the interpretations of his works differ so much across vast regions, ethnic groups, cultures and languages?

Longform

Rock group The Yellow Monkey played K-Arena Yokohama in June as part of a nationwide tour. Concerts are increasingly popular in the age of social media as users value in-person experiences.
Inside Japan’s arena boom: Sports, sound and city-building