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EDITORIALS
Oct 14, 2016

Questioning capital punishment

The time has come for truly meaningful discussions on whether Japan should keep executing prisoners.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 14, 2016

Controversies surrounding Thailand's next king

Crown Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn's accession to the Thai throne could be good news for Thai democracy.
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design
Oct 8, 2016

Oki Sato of Nendo: on the objects of design

This year alone, Oki Sato, founder and director of Nendo, has not one, but two major retrospective exhibitions of the design unit's work — one at the Design Museum Holon in Israel, the other at the Taiwan Design Museum. His acclaimed "50 Manga Chairs" installation for Friedman Benda, which first debuted...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Sep 25, 2016

Will Hikaru Utada's new album 'Fantome' change the rules of modern J-pop?

'As trends fade into the cultural rearview mirror, Hikaru Utada is a prime candidate to bring back what J-pop has lost in her absence: relatability.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Sep 20, 2016

Out of the ordinary comes a new art festival

I've never been comfortable with the idea that Japan has three "most beautiful" places. It's a tradition, or a received wisdom, if you like, to rank the triad of the land bridge Ama-no Hashidate, the rocky islands of Matsushima and the sacred torii in the water at Miyajima as the indisputable height...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / BLACK EYE
Sep 18, 2016

Londoner finds her voice on the Tokyo stage

Originally setting out to be a Japanese voice actress, Reina has arrived at a destination she had not foreseen, a place where outside voices are rarely heard.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Sep 14, 2016

'Someone's Xylophone': Yoichi Higashi hits an unusual tone

Yoichi Higashi has made everything from commercial hits to festival favorites in his five-plus decades as a director, while taking up politically sensitive subjects and unpopular issues. His 1992 smash "The Bridge with No River" ("Hashi no Nai Kawa") depicted the raw prejudice endured by burakumin outcasts...
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / OLD NIC'S NOTEBOOK
Sep 3, 2016

New horse lodge signals the way ahead

On July 15, 2016, just a few minutes' gentle canter from our splendid Afan Trust Centre here in the hills outside Kurohime in northern Nagano Prefecture, we officially opened our brand-new, first-ever horse lodge.
Japan Times
JAPAN / History / THE LIVING PAST
Aug 20, 2016

An awakening gives birth to modern medicine

Illness we share with our ancestors. Diagnosis and remedies set us and them apart.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / BLACK EYE
Aug 14, 2016

After 30 years in Japan, teacher from Zambia is still learning

Globe-trotting son of Zambian envoy thought he'd seen it all until he arrived on these shores.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / 20 QUESTIONS
Jul 23, 2016

Baker Ian Gibbins: 'New experiences open new opportunities'

Owner of British deli and bakery on preserves and cold pork pies.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Jul 22, 2016

Hillary Clinton, the candidate we know so well — and don't

When she was about 14, Hillary Clinton says, she wrote to NASA volunteering for astronaut training.
Japan Times
CULTURE / CULTURE SMASH
Jun 18, 2016

Drawing on the past of Osamu Tezuka

In 1977, American author and translator Frederik L. Schodt and three friends formed a manga-translation group in Tokyo, with the then-quixotic dream of introducing Japanese comics to a global readership. Schodt had arrived in Japan in 1965, courtesy of a father in the United States Foreign Service. He...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / LEARNING CURVE
Jun 8, 2016

Is the Eiken doing Japan's English learners more harm than good?

Critics argue that the Eiken proficiency exams focus too heavily on vocabulary, grammar and the written word at the expense of fluency.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle
May 28, 2016

Whispers of ASMR are softly rising in Japan

The sensation begins at the base of my skull. It radiates up to my scalp, behind my ears, and across my forehead. It creeps down my spine and out to my fingertips like a faint, slow-moving spark along a fuse. This mysterious and wonderful feeling has a name and over the past decade awareness of it has...
Japan Times
JAPAN / OBAMA VISITS HIROSHIMA
May 26, 2016

WWII fighter pilot's Japan experience: From foe to family

The long and circuitous life of 92-year-old World War II veteran Jerry Yellin reads like a work of fiction.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
May 14, 2016

There's no escape from big data's eye

I am being watched. I am under surveillance. So are you. There are eyes on us, or maybe it's just one eye. Singular or plural, it is/they are ubiquitous, all-seeing. It/they never sleep(s). So much the better, for at least two reasons: 1) We are better protected, and 2) we are better informed.
EDITORIALS
Apr 27, 2016

Ninety years for Queen Elizabeth

Queen Elizabeth has been a pillar of strength and the embodiment of the British ideal of service and a stiff upper lip.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Apr 27, 2016

Van Sant plots a bleak hike through Aokigahara

At least Arthur Brennan didn't want sushi, an AKB48 concert or a night out on the town with a maiko (trainee geisha) on his arm. As Japan's ranking soars on the international travelers' destination lists, the more cliched their itineraries seem to get. But Matthew McConaughey's Brennan of Gus Van Sant's...
JAPAN
Apr 19, 2016

Women's health award; furthering medical study

Women's health award
Japan Times
BASKETBALL / HOOP SCOOP
Apr 16, 2016

Aoki, Maki cherished chance to play for Hill

Second in a three-part series
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 9, 2016

For orcas, menopause is just the beginning

Killer whales and humans are among the only animals known to experience menopause, and scientists are learning how this phenomenon benefits orcas.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / FOREIGN AGENDA
Apr 3, 2016

An open letter to Japanese womankind

Some advice on how to take the best parts of the stereotypes without becoming one yourself.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE FOREIGN ELEMENT
Mar 30, 2016

Evidence mounts of missed red flags in case of former Tokyo teacher facing U.S. child rape charges

Fugitive 'Mr. Wonder' returned to Tokyo in the 1980s and visited St. Mary's International School, witness says.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Mar 11, 2016

Disaster survivors make peace with past, embrace the future

In memory of the events that occurred on March 11, 2011, representatives from the disaster-stricken areas were asked to speak at an event held at the National Theater of Japan in Tokyo's Chiyoda Ward. This is a transcript of their speeches.

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