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Japan Times
WORLD / FOCUS
Dec 25, 2017

Tracing Christmas traditions to Scripture

When I taught Sunday school to a precocious bunch of fifth- and sixth-graders, I used to ask, "What about Christmas is not in the Bible?" They were quick to go for the obvious: Santa, the reindeer, stockings, the sleigh.
Japan Times
Dec 25, 2017

Pop Culture Experience Program 'pop-cul.jp' for International Visitors to Japan Launch on January 2018!

'MANGA Drawing Experience for Press' on January 4.
Japan Times
BASKETBALL / B. League
Dec 24, 2017

Yuki Togashi and Gavin Edwards power Jets past Diamond Dolphins in Christmas cracker

In a dazzling treat for basketball fans, the Chiba Jets Funabashi made a few more key plays down the stretch to seal an entertaining victory over the Nagoya Diamond Dolphins on Sunday.
Figure Skating
Dec 24, 2017

Shoma Uno defends national title despite free skate struggles

Shoma Uno captured his second straight national title on Sunday night in decisive fashion at Musashino Forest Sports Centre. The young star dominated his opponents at the All-Japan Championships despite struggling in his free skate.
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball / NPB NOTEBOOK
Dec 24, 2017

Hawks catch break with Yanagita

On one hand, Yuki Yanagita will be one of the most well-paid players in Japan next season. On the other, he'll be kind of a steal.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE FOREIGN ELEMENT
Dec 24, 2017

Homeless in Tokyo: Fallen through society's cracks and frozen out

A night on homeless patrol in Tokyo highlights the range of factors that can lead to a life on the streets.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / TELLING LIVES
Dec 24, 2017

Tony Cetera, 'Lone Ranger' of Tokyo's homeless, calls for a good deed a day

Tony Cetera is 79 years of age and has bad legs, but that doesn't stop him helping the homeless whenever he can.
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design
Dec 24, 2017

Japanese fashion's great end to the year

With the holidays upon us, it is a season for celebration. Japan's fashion industry has its own reason to enjoy the festivities, as the ceremony for the Mainichi Fashion Grand Prix awards revealed some amazing talent on home turf. And then, we discover o-kaizome, a unique way to ring in the new year,...
Japan Times
CULTURE / CULTURE SMASH
Dec 24, 2017

Foreign anime artists still face a long haul

In an interview with Buzzfeed two years ago, American animator Henry Thurlow, who had moved to Tokyo from New York six years earlier, summed up his dilemma. "When I was working as an animator in New York, I could afford an apartment, buy stuff and had time to 'live a life,'" he said. "Now (in Japan)...
Japan Times
JAPAN / FUKUSHIMA FILE
Dec 24, 2017

Fukushima farmers looking for authoritative ways to shed nuclear stigma

In light of the 2011 Fukushima nuclear crisis, the Fukushima Prefectural Government is hoping to find a new, faster and easier way to certify the safety of homegrown rice to ease the burden on local farmers.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / Japan
Dec 24, 2017

Clear regulations needed for international schools

If the government allows some Japanese children to attend non-Article 1 schools, it should allow all Japanese children to do this.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / The Big Questions
Dec 24, 2017

Exceptional skills, passion needed to sell luxury goods

A 2017 report released by Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Ltd. on luxury consumers identified two major interrelated trends for the year. The first shows how the essence of luxury is moving to an experiential focus, with the second seeing changing luxury shopper behavior demanding a more individualized response.
JAPAN / KANSAI PERSPECTIVE
Dec 24, 2017

Expo, casinos and shinkansen at top of Kansai's 2018 agenda

For Kansai, many of 2017's events will remain newsworthy in 2018. Here are some of the bigger topics expected to be closely followed in the region.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Dec 24, 2017

In 'China's Jerusalem,' Christians say faith trumps official Sunday school ban

Despite authorities in China's southeastern city of Wenzhou having outlawed Sunday school earlier this year, Christian parents are still determined their children learn about Jesus and the Bible.
JAPAN / KANSAI PERSPECTIVE
Dec 24, 2017

Kyoto to mark 150th anniversary of Meiji Restoration with series of events

Kyoto's long history is one of great prosperity (the Heian Period of a millennium ago, when the arts flourished) and great tragedy (the 1467-1477 Onin War devastated the city). But in more modern times, 1868 was something of an annus horribilis.
Japan Times
WORLD
Dec 24, 2017

Former Peruvian president Alberto Fujimori taken from prison to hospital after heart irregularity

Peru's former president Alberto Fujimori was rushed from prison to a local hospital by ambulance late Saturday after suffering a severe drop in blood pressure and abnormal heart rhythm that put him at risk of dying, Fujimori's doctor said.
Japan Times
WORLD
Dec 24, 2017

Pentagon inspector general cites top U.S. space contractors for lapses

The Pentagon's inspector general cited key contractors in the military's primary space launch program, including billionaire Elon Musk's SpaceX and Aerojet Rocketdyne Inc., for a range of quality-control lapses which it said could result in increased costs or delays to launches.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle
Dec 23, 2017

'Yokohama Mary': Looking back at the life of one of the city's most mysterious figures

An enigmatic woman wearing a frilly white dress stands silently outside Matsuzakaya department store in Yokohama's Isezakicho district during a local festival. Her face is caked in white makeup and her eyes are lined in black.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHY DID YOU LEAVE JAPAN?
Dec 23, 2017

Yokosuka native Haruna Kamezaki attains the American dream

Kamezaki was born in the mid-1980s and grew up in a household 'full of American records and movies, because my parents — and especially my dad — loved American culture.'
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink
Dec 23, 2017

Short Kyoto hike packs in plenty to stimulate the mind and palate

The last trail in this series is short and sweet — just 4 kilometers. For years I'd been hearing good things about the two-hour hike between the mountain towns of Kibune and Kurama north of Kyoto. The restaurants in Kibune are known for their terraces built out over the river, a tradition that serves...
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / Japan Pulse
Dec 23, 2017

A picture of food is worth 1,000 words for businesses on Instagram

With end-of-year parties now in full swing, social media users are curating their profiles with "Insuta-bae" photographs that capture them enjoying enviable times.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / OSAKA RESTAURANTS
Dec 23, 2017

Yes! Burger: Gets an affirmative, though side-issues need work

The crew behind Garage 39, a craft beer pub, have gone west and opened up a burger outpost.
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Dec 23, 2017

Men still making houses as women try to leave home

Dogen Ogata's name is known worldwide before he knows it himself. He's 8 months old. One day last month, in all innocence, cradled in his mother's arms, he attended a session of the Kumamoto municipal assembly.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Dec 23, 2017

Fuji TV's home-improvement wrecking ball

A popular sub-genre of reality TV is the home-improvement show, and as with many things having to do with television, Japan did it first.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Dec 23, 2017

Accounts and Images of Six Kannon in Japan

An 11th-century text, "A Tale of Flowering Fortunes," described the Six Kannon who "filled the worlds in the 10 directions with innumerable rays of light, which manifested in their colors the bodhisattva resolve to benefit all living beings everywhere."
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / 20 QUESTIONS
Dec 23, 2017

Illustrator Luis Mendo: 'Only listen to intelligent people'

Luis Mendo's most embarassing moment is yet to come.

Longform

Figure skater Akiko Suzuki was once told her ideal weight should be 47 kilograms, a number she now admits she “naively believed.” This led to her have a relationship with food that resulted in her suffering from anorexia.
The silent battle Japanese athletes fight with weight