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November 11, 2025
 

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COMMENTARY
Mar 2, 2012

Sure winner fails to inspire

Before the scandalous presidential election of 1996, the situation was clear-cut and critical. A victory by Gennady Zyuganov over Boris Yeltsin would have meant an old-style Communists' revenge for their defeat in the August 1991 putsch as well as a strong drive toward renationalization of the economy...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Mar 2, 2012

'Hugo'

'Hugo" is in 3-D, rated PG in the United States and features two 12-year-olds traipsing around a 1930s Parisian train station. All the ingredients for a cozy Disney picture, but in actual fact this is a Martin Scorsese movie, which picked up five Oscars at last weekend's Academy Awards.
Reader Mail
Feb 26, 2012

Historical realities of getting old

In Craig Bowron's Washington Post article "At the end of a loved one's life, why is it so hard to let go?" (reprinted in The Japan Times on Feb. 22), certain impressions about life expectancy need to be further interpreted with examples from advanced societies other than the United States.
CULTURE / Books
Feb 26, 2012

A quintessential Korean epic to rival the very best of Tolstoy

LAND, by Pak Kyung-ni, translated by Agnita Tennant. UK: Global Oriental, 2011, Three Volumes, 1,172 pp., $187 (hardcover) Given its length — the 1,167 pages translated, in three volumes, into English, are only one section of a five-part, 6-million word epic — and given its scope, comparisons between...
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 22, 2012

Urban pride key to our modern sense of self

What is the big story of our age? It depends on the day, but if we count by centuries, then surely humanity's urbanization is a strong contender. Today, more than half of the world's population lives in cities, compared to less than 3 percent in 1800. By 2025, China alone is expected to have 15 "mega-cities,"...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Feb 16, 2012

The photographic cartographer

Tomoki Imai remembers well the turning point in his life when he decided to become a professional photographer. Already an aspiring film director at the Tokyo University of the Arts, the Hiroshima-native was turned onto the raw and trigger-happy cityscape and portrait snapshots of self-styled photo "genius"...
CULTURE / Art
Feb 16, 2012

The photographic cartographer

Tomoki Imai remembers well the turning point in his life when he decided to become a professional photographer. Already an aspiring film director at the Tokyo University of the Arts, the Hiroshima-native was turned onto the raw and trigger-happy cityscape and portrait snapshots of self-styled photo "genius"...
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Feb 5, 2012

Stressful times lead to rise in child-abuse cases

Who can contemplate a newborn infant unmoved by its helplessness? Few living things are as vulnerable; none for anywhere near as long. Far beyond infancy, into childhood and adolescence, human beings are, if not utterly at the mercy of circumstances beyond their control, at least impressionable to a...
COMMUNITY / Voices / HAVE YOUR SAY
Jan 31, 2012

International vs. Japanese school: Which is top of class for mixed kids?

Some readers' thoughts on the dueling Jan. 10 Zeit Gist columns by Charles Lewis ("Local Japanese school is the obvious choice if you want your child to fit in") and Lisa Jardine ("International education a triple-A investment in your child's — and Japan's — future"):
COMMENTARY
Jan 28, 2012

Can Romney the turnaround artist do it again?

An Illinois lawyer who had a way with words once characterized a particular argument as weaker than soup made from the shadow of a pigeon that died of starvation. The argument for Mitt Romney benefiting from South Carolina's voting is almost as weak as Lincoln's soup, but here it is:
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jan 20, 2012

'Road to Nowhere' / 'Two-Lane Blacktop'

Every film buff knows the Terence Malick story by now: a visionary director who made a couple of landmark films in the 1970s, then disappeared for two decades before staging a late-life comeback, which culminated with "The Tree of Life" winning the Palme d'Or at Cannes last year. Fewer know the story...
CULTURE / Books
Jan 1, 2012

Unknown quantity rich in quality

ZERO and Other Fictions, by Huang Fan. Translated by John Balcom. Columbia University Press, 2011, 152 pp. $19.50 (paperback) Huang Fan, translator John Balcom informs us, is "a literary phenomenon" and "a bright star among Taiwan's so-called new generation of writers." He was, according to Balcom, "such...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / CLOSE-UP
Jan 1, 2012

Mayumi Kagita: A fusion of cultures revealed in dance

On Nov. 19, the Pit hall of the New National Theatre, Tokyo, in Shibuya, was filled with hundreds of eager theater-goers. They had come to see a performance of "Onna Goroshi Abura no Jigoku" ("The Women-Killer and the Hell of Oil"), a play written by Chikamatsu Monzaemon (1653-1724) — Japan's greatest...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Dec 30, 2011

The year of tough guys worth swooning over

Cinematically speaking, 2011 was the Year of the Guy. By this I mean the genuine article, the "you can't kill 'em, you can't live without 'em" variety. Here are the 10 films of the year that feature the most distinctly provocative males in the most appropriate vehicles. All are handsome in suits or cargo...
COMMUNITY / Voices / HAVE YOUR SAY
Dec 27, 2011

Readers' views: Do foreigners deserve a fairer shake in Japan?

Some responses to the Nov. 6 Just Be Cause column by Debito Arudou headlined "For the sake of Japan's future, foreigners deserve a fair shake":
EDITORIALS
Dec 25, 2011

The earthquake year

The year of the earthquake and tsunami is how 2011 will be remembered in Japan. No bounen-kai (forget-the-year party) has passed without thoughts of those who lost so much in the triple earthquake-tsunami-nuclear disaster on or after March 11. The powerful 9.0-magnitude earthquake devastated the northeast...
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Dec 25, 2011

Behold! Christ's grave in Shingo, Aomori Prefecture

One line of text from Wikipedia was all it took to lure me to the town of Shingo, in south-central Aomori Prefecture. It read: "The village promotes itself as the home of the Grave of Christ after a local legend."
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Dec 3, 2011

A graceful hand to help elderly Japanese in Holland

In 1941, in the then Dutch East Indies, thousands of people were forced into internment camps by the invading Japanese army. It is a slice of history almost forgotten today, along with so many other wartime atrocities. It is something Chieko van Santen remembers every day, as the Japanese widow of a...
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 29, 2011

What will wake politicians to threat of climate change?

As ordinary people try to cope with inflation and unemployment, and businesses struggle with higher taxes and falling demand — since consumers are scared to spend — few politicians are looking at life beyond the economic crises.
LIFE / Language / KANJI CLINIC
Nov 28, 2011

Some kanji can take a lifetime to fully appreciate

I made my first kanji connection with the graphically unassuming character 生 in the early days of a beginners Japanese class, when I stumbled through a self-introduction using the standard 私は学生です (Watashi wa gakusei desu. I am a student.). My instructor explained that one meaning for 生...
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
Nov 27, 2011

Demand change: an open letter to Japan's rising generations

If you're like my 17-year-old, then you probably already know just about everything there is to know, and reading this column you'll likely just say: "Yeah, right, whatever," or "So?"
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Nov 6, 2011

You don't need to be bbarking to wwoof

Through the glass doors of the spartan arrivals hall in the airport on Miyako Island, I caught a glimpse of a slightly frail looking man who I figured was the guy I had exchanged a few basic emails with to arrange my trip.
CULTURE / Books
Nov 6, 2011

Words for all seasons

THE UNDYING DAY: Poems by Hans Brinckmann. Trafford Publishing, 2011, 131pp., $14.50 (paperback) In person, Hans Brinckmann is a dapper European gent with the patrician manner of the well-practised host or master of ceremonies. Reading this book of time-seasoned verse, one suspects that he would be equally...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Nov 3, 2011

"To See as Artists See: American Art From The Phillips Collection"

The National Art Center, Tokyo,Closes Dec. 12
BUSINESS
Oct 19, 2011

Olympus investors drop ¥250 billion

Olympus Corp. shareholders, including Nippon Life Insurance Co., lost more than ¥250 billion in value of their holdings in the first two trading sessions after the board fired President Michael C. Woodford.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Oct 14, 2011

'Blitz'

You can be a dedicated raw-food-vegan workout fiend and still give in to cravings that involve a bucket of deep-fried onion rings and Kirin lager by the tank. At this point, that's probably what Jason Statham is to the global film industry: a bad, illogical, artery-hardening craving.
CULTURE / Music
Oct 13, 2011

Tenniscoats make tunes out of tiffs

It's a late night on Hannana Dori in Tokyo's Meguro Ward. From a window above the P-Koen atelier and shop comes the sound of a couple arguing. But listen carefully and you'll realize that it's not a domestic row; rather, the pair are in heated debate over what their "sound" might be. It dawns on you...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Sep 17, 2011

Why you shouldn't worry about receiving a pension

Worried about all those years you have, or haven't, contributed to the Japanese pension system? Worry no more! The good news is that you won't need a pension from the Japanese government anyway. In honor of Respect for the Aged Day, I'll explain why.
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Sep 4, 2011

As 9/11 nears, morality dictates we recall victims of America, too

In the lead-up this week to the 10th anniversary of the attacks on the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon in Washington, it is important to keep in mind this: Dates take on a mythical significance that may mask reality.
Tsunami threat passes following magnitude 6.9 quake off Iwate
A tsunami advisory was issued for Iwate Prefecture on Sunday evening following a strong earthquake. The advisory was later called off, after waves measuring 20 centimeters were recorded in some areas.
Japan to subsidize demolition of abandoned inns
Abandoned Japanese-style inns in the Kinugawa hot springs resort in Nikko, Tochigi Prefecture, in March 2023
Japan’s bears have been on their killing spree for more than 100 years
Bear attacks have dominated Japanese news headlines in recent months, with 13 people so far having been killed by the animals.
Takaichi stands firm on controversial Taiwan contingency remarks
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi responds to questions during a session of the House of Representatives' Budget Committee in parliament in Tokyo on Monday.
From France to Mali, a deportee's struggle far from home
Moussa Sacko, a Malian deported from France — where he had lived since he was a young child — stands on a street in Bamako, Mali, in December. Compared with his home in France, Bamako feels like a different planet, Sacko said.
Florist Nicolai Bergmann flourishes outside the box
Florist Nicolai Bergmann shops for fresh flowers at the Ota flower market in Tokyo on Friday.
Jenson Button brings end to an illustrious racing career intertwined with Japan
Jenson Button races for Honda during the Singapore Grand Prix in September 2008.
Cleanliness gets competitive at Tokyo’s Spogomi world cup
On Oct. 29, teams from 33 qualifying countries scoured the streets of Shibuya for all manners of trash as part of the Spogomi litter-picking competition.
Jon Homewood: ‘There’s beauty in what we throw away’
After a peripatetic childhood around the world, teacher and artist Jon Homewood ended up coming to Japan in 2012 for a professional opportunity.
High-speed rail is expensive and difficult, but seen as a key to growth
Achal Khare, former managing director at India’s National High Speed Rail Corporation, gives a presentation during the IHRA Forum 2025 in Tokyo on Oct. 23.

Podcast

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.
Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

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
By Yukana Inoue

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

We are pleased to announce the winners of the 6th annual Sustainable Japan Award.
We are pleased to announce the winners of the 6th annual Sustainable Japan Award.

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