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Japan Times
COMMENTARY / Japan
Apr 27, 2017

Abe's Trumpian opportunity

Building a close and effective working relationship with the U.S. president is vital to Abe's effort to accelerate Japan's security policy reform.
Japan Times
LIFE / EVENTS AND INFORMATION
Apr 27, 2017

Stylish umbrella brand

Moonbat Co., which sells umbrellas, scarves and other fashion items, recently launched an online shop to showcase their high-quality goods.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Apr 25, 2017

Kaiho Yusho: painting privilege

The Momoyama Period (1573-1615) artist Kaiho Yusho (1533-1615) was renowned among the elite painters of his time, and still is. More remarkable, however, is that fame came when he was in his 60s during what is called his "early" period. Over the following two decades, he went from painting for priests...
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 25, 2017

Enjoy Earth Day, while you last

Earth's climate will probably recover from this human-fueled round of global warming, but on time scales that are unimaginable to humans. And perhaps without humans.
Japan Times
JAPAN / CHUBU CONNECTION
Apr 24, 2017

Nagoya group looks to spread jump rope 'culture' to the world

In Aichi Prefecture, the nation's top producing region of jump ropes, efforts are being made to promote the sport at home and abroad.
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design
Apr 23, 2017

Street style always looks back and forward

Style has always referenced the past, even though it's focused on the future. With spring heralding new looks and summer already approaching fast, new collaborations, brands and innovations are making their mark in stores now.
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Apr 22, 2017

Could Japan become a future cultural melting pot?

Why not welcome 10 million immigrants to Japan by 2050? That's Hidenori Sakanaka's pitch, but it's a hard sell.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / OSAKA RESTAURANTS
Apr 22, 2017

Soryuko: spoiled for choice and big portions

The menu at Soryuko, a popular Chinese restaurant in Tenma, runs to roughly about 200 items, bound together in a large laminated volume. Narrowing this down to a few choices can be dizzying, but here's a hack that will help: put down the menu and go for a walk.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books / ESSENTIAL READING FOR JAPANOPHILES
Apr 22, 2017

'Second-Best Justice: The Virtues of Japanese Private Law': Championing mediocrity in the courts

Ignore the irony of a tenured Harvard professor railing against the pursuit of excellence and employment security and J. Mark Ramseyer's book is fun and enlightening.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Apr 21, 2017

Home of the cultured pearl, Toba in Ise-Shima has both history and living tradition

"To Bond," Ian Fleming wrote in his 1964 novel, "You Only Live Twice," "they all seemed beautiful in the soft evening light ... the gleaming, muscled buttocks, cleft by the black cord, the powerful thong round the waist with its string of oval lead weights."
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Apr 18, 2017

Kyotographie: from Kyoto, with love

Kyotographie — the brainchild of photographer Lucille Reyboz and lighting artist Yusuke Nakanishi — is 5 this year. Conceived and nurtured in Kyoto, it is now one of few substantial photography festivals in Japan, inarguably rivaling, even surpassing, many of the country's other calendar art events....
Japan Times
JAPAN / CHUBU CONNECTION
Apr 17, 2017

Shizuoka firm promises good luck in every cup of its green tea

A tea wholesale store based in the city of Makinohara, Shizuoka Prefecture, has developed a technology to ensure a tea stem floats vertically — an omen of good fortune widely believed by Japanese.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / DESSERT WATCH
Apr 15, 2017

American Cherry Pie Frappuccino: Crust crumbs distract from otherwise tasty treat

We all can use a little indulgence from time to time, especially in such exhausting times. Thankfully, there's always an eye-grabbing dessert being wheeled out by a chain restaurant in Japan to focus on.
JAPAN
Apr 13, 2017

Kumamoto Castle repairs expected to take decades

"Warning: No trespassing due to earthquake damage," bears a sign at Kumamoto Castle, a popular tourist destination in the prefecture, while castle officials make rounds to prevent trespassers.
LIFE / Travel / HOTELS & RESTAURANTS
Apr 13, 2017

Springtime dining in the 'garden of France'

La Tour d'Argent at The Hotel New Otani Tokyo has created a selection of food specialties inspired by the regional cuisine of France's Loire Valley. Two dinner courses, priced at ¥18,000 and ¥25,000 (excluding drinks, tax and service charge), are available until April 25 (closed Mondays).
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Apr 11, 2017

Hard-core vinyl fans are fueling a revival in obscure Japanese music from the 1980s

Fans of Japanese vinyl have good reason to be happy. HMV recently opened a store in the Kichijoji area dedicated to selling records — the third such establishment in Tokyo — and April 22 is Record Store Day. What started in 2012 as four artists putting out special releases has evolved into a day...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Apr 11, 2017

Kakiemon: Generations of beauty

There's still time to enjoy cherry blossoms. Through May 14, the Toguri Museum of Art in Tokyo is exhibiting a stunning new work by Sakaida Kakiemon XV, the current inheritor of one of the most famous names in Japanese porcelain. The very large lidded jar, commissioned by the museum to commemorate its...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Apr 11, 2017

'Collection of Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen: Bruegel's "The Tower of Babel" and Great 16th Century Masters'

April 18-July 2
Japan Times
JAPAN / CHUBU CONNECTION
Apr 10, 2017

Chubu-based firms set up Silicon Valley hubs to tap local tech expertise

Okaya & Co. Ltd., a Nagoya-based trading company for iron and steel, is set to open an office in Silicon Valley in California in the hope of teaming up with tech-savvy ventures there.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Apr 10, 2017

Duterte softens tone toward U.S. before talks with Beijing over South China Sea issue

The Philippines appears to be softening its tone toward the U.S. before holding talks with Beijing on the South China Sea.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Apr 6, 2017

Duterte orders occupation of uninhabited isles in disputed South China Sea

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte on Thursday ordered the occupation of uninhabited islands and shoals it claims in the disputed South China Sea, asserting Philippine sovereignty in an apparent change of tack.
Japan Times
WORLD
Apr 6, 2017

The enemy within: Russia faces changing Islamist threat with metro bombing

Akbarzhon Dzhalilov, the man suspected of blowing up a Russian metro train, represents a new wave of radical Islamists who blend into local society away from existing jihadi movements — making it harder for security forces to stop their attacks.
Japan Times
CULTURE / TV & Streaming
Apr 6, 2017

'Samurai Gourmet' explores the art of the meal

In the first episode of Japan's latest contribution to original Netflix programming, "Samurai Gourmet," Takeshi Kasumi enters a small teishoku (set meal) joint and grapples over whether to have a beer with lunch. Inspired by an imaginary samurai, he gets one. That's it.
Japan Times
JAPAN / GASTECH JAPAN 2017
Apr 4, 2017

LNG and the future of Japanese energy

Japan Gastech Consortium Chairman Nobuo Tanaka expects Gastech Japan 2017 to be a milestone for power suppliers and users to come to a consensus on the role of gas in the energy mix of the future.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Apr 4, 2017

Envy, Mono and Downy devise a dream lineup for After Hours music festival

It's no secret that the Japanese music industry has a hollowing-out problem; you are either a pop act on a major label with high levels of exposure or an obscure underground act for whom not losing money on a show is a major success. Guitarist Nobukata Kawai of hardcore band Envy knows the latter reality...
Japan Times
JAPAN / CHUBU CONNECTION
Apr 3, 2017

Treatment for mentally ill elusive at Japan's medical prisons

When a 21-year-old woman was sentenced to life in prison on March 24 for killing an elderly woman, the Nagoya District Court acknowledged that the defendant's mental illness — a developmental and bipolar disorder — was part of the reason for the heinous crime and that she should be treated in a medical...

Longform

After pandemic-era border regulations eased, Indian migrants began returning to Japan. Their population now stands at more than 50,000 across the country.
How remote work is rewriting the migrant experience in Japan