Search - features

 
 
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
Feb 22, 2014

Can waste-made chic save the oceans?

Search online for "Pacific gyre" and you'll get about 455,000 results in 0.15 seconds. Try "Pacific trash vortex" and you'll get 474,000. Here's another: Do a search for "Pacific garbage patch" and, in 0.40 seconds, you'll have 593,000 hits.
Japan Times
JAPAN / CHUBU CONNECTION
Feb 21, 2014

'Fallujah' asks where responsibility lies for 2004 Iraq War hostage issue

A movie documenting the lives of three Japanese who were taken hostage by an armed group in Iraq in 2004 during the Iraq War and were later released started playing on Feb. 8 in Cinemaskhole, a movie theater in Nagoya.
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital / JAPAN WEB WATCH
Feb 20, 2014

'Kantai Collection': Social game of warships sets course for big money

Casual online games based on military themes and with a kawaii (cute) twist are currently a surprise hit in Japan. Is this related to the recent rightward tilt in national politics, or just part of Japan's creative desire to "cutify" everything.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Markets
Feb 19, 2014

Merger of Jasdaq, Mothers, second section eyed

Japan Exchange Group Inc. will consider merging three smaller equity markets to simplify its exchange structure, a bourse official said.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Feb 18, 2014

Fukushima kids compose for Philharmonic

The Sony Music Foundation took the opportunity of the New York Philharmonic's current Asia tour to organize a special event on Feb. 11. The concert aimed to provide Japanese youth — some of whom were from Fukushima Prefecture — with first-class live performances by a top-rate orchestra.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / TRAVEL INSIDER
Feb 18, 2014

High-flying fashion, New SAS reward plan, Haneda to Jakarta

High-flying fashion
LIFE / Digital / ON: TECH
Feb 17, 2014

Personal devices to keep you fit and calm, plus Fujitsu's latest 'convertible' ultrabook

Earbuds that's aren't earbuds; a laptop that's not just a laptop; a mouse that's not really a mouse; and a wristband that's not for telling the time.
Japan Times
JAPAN / CHUBU CONNECTION
Feb 14, 2014

Chinese students put Shiga residents online

Chinese exchange students at Shiga University have been interviewing local residents and posting the videos and articles in Chinese under a project called Interviewing 100 People in Hikone.
Japan Times
CULTURE / CULTURE SMASH
Feb 13, 2014

The symbiotic relationship between anime and games

Japan excels at making you play. From its flower arrangements to tea ceremonies to karaoke, nothing much happens until you get into the game, and a big part of Japan's appeal to non-natives is its invitation to engage.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / LABOR PAINS
Feb 12, 2014

ANA caricature speaks volumes about Japan's outdated mind-set

My personal opinion is that the ad is a disappointing anachronism, and a reminder of the parochial outlook of large Japanese corporations. The ad appeals to the facile formula that 'foreigner = white = blonde and big-nosed = English-speaking = globalization.
Japan Times
JAPAN / ADVANCES IN PROGRESS
Feb 9, 2014

Organic lights hold promise of softer glow

Cost-efficient and eco-friendly, lights powered by light-emitting diodes are taking off but may soon be upstaged by their organic cousins.
Japan Times
JAPAN / WEDGE
Feb 9, 2014

Eco-labels urged to save endangered marine life

2013 highlighted the decline in Japan's fishery resources, with baby eel trading at ¥3 million per kilogram — more expensive than silver — and the catch quota of bluefin tuna being slashed at the December meeting of the Commission for the Conservation and Management of Highly Migratory Fish Stocks...
Japan Times
OLYMPICS
Feb 9, 2014

Records broken in biathlon, speedskating events

Norway's Ole Einar Bjoerndalen tied a Winter Olympics record with his 12th medal by taking gold in the biathlon 10-km sprint.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 8, 2014

Is wealth inequality near a tipping point?

Today's vast wealth inequality probably isn't the result of any economic conspiracy, or of vast differences in human skills. It's more likely the banal outcome of a fairly mechanical process that, unless altered, could easily carry us into a place where most of us would rather not be.
Japan Times
JAPAN / CHUBU CONNECTION
Feb 7, 2014

Female scientists push for breakthrough in equality

Recent news that Haruko Obokata of Riken's Center for Developmental Biology found a new way to generate pluripotent cells cast a spotlight on women in the male-dominant field of science.
BASKETBALL / ONE-ON-ONE WITH ...
Feb 5, 2014

Sendai's White recognizes importance of team chemistry, close-knit family

The Japan Times features periodic interviews with players in the bj-league. Wendell White of the Sendai 89ers is the subject of this week's profile.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Feb 5, 2014

Can nature solve humankind's errors?

Masato Kodama's sculptures are concerned with light, gravity and air. For him, light is a symbol of tomorrow and potential futures, gravity represents the present and the past, and air is associated with memory.
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design
Feb 3, 2014

Japan's iron age continues in style

Nambu Tekki, traditional Japanese ironware has developed to produce many aesthetically pleasing designs, including brightly colored contemporary products for the French market.
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Feb 1, 2014

For Japan's foreign residents, the little things make such a big difference

American political ideals may be grander, European philosophy may be deeper, Islamic faith may be firmer than anything native to Japan — but Japan, perhaps uniquely, knows the value of small things.
Japan Times
JAPAN / CHUBU CONNECTION
Jan 31, 2014

Hida lacquer artisans seek successors to preserve technique

Hida Shunkei lacquer work, a traditional craft based in Hida, Gifu Prefecture, is at risk of fading away because its masters are having serious difficulty finding successors to keep it alive amid weak sales.
JAPAN
Jan 30, 2014

Scholar quits NHK over nuclear power hush-up

A noted professor who regularly provides commentary on an NHK AM radio show resigns from the program to protest the broadcaster's demand that nuclear power not be discussed until after the Feb. 9 Tokyo gubernatorial poll.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 30, 2014

Concerns of G-20 leadership

Having assumed the presidency of the Group of 20 nations, Australia should identify one core concern for each summit beyond economic matters.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Jan 29, 2014

Olé! A 'Carmen' supreme

The heroine of French composer Georges Bizet's "Carmen" is one of the most famous roles in opera, but it's also one of the most difficult of all to carry off well.
EDITORIALS
Jan 28, 2014

The Mac computer turns 30

Thirty years ago this month, little-known Apple Computer began to transform the world. Its signal event was a television advertisement broadcast during America's Super Bowl, announcing the introduction of a new product in two days.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jan 28, 2014

Ten years on, Hyperdub finds that it pays to be weird

Most journalists hope to get a few decent quotes from an interview. Steve Goodman ended up getting a record label.
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design
Jan 27, 2014

Can big names help the plight of small factories?

The smooth, metallic surface reflects the sunlight coming through the window. Without touching it you can see that this is an object made with great care — even though it came from a factory. I'm inside a shop run by Lexus in Tokyo, but what I'm looking at isn't part of a luxury car, it's a small metal...

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