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Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design
Jun 25, 2013

The neglected stars of Norwegian design

What do you think of as a typical example of Scandinavian design? The massively copied 1950s bentwood chair series "Seven Chairs" by Danish architect Arne Jacobsen? The vividly colored Unikko poppy patterns by the Finnish textile company Marimekko? Or the ready-to-assemble furniture available at the...
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 25, 2013

Taksim Square and the new ways of mobilizing

Turkey's democratic opposition can address flaws of the system only if it recognizes the need for very different forms of mobilization from those of the past.
Japan Times
WORLD / Crime & Legal
Jun 24, 2013

State photo-ID databases become troves for police

The faces of more than 120 million people are in searchable photo databases that state officials assembled to prevent driver's license fraud but that increasingly are used by police to identify suspects, accomplices and even innocent bystanders in a wide range of criminal investigations.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Jun 24, 2013

Is Rand Paul going mainstream, or is mainstream going Rand Paul?

Rand Paul seems to be crossing over to the mainstream — or maybe it's the other way around. When Kentucky's junior senator arrived in Washington just over two years ago, he seemed destined to inhabit the role of perpetual outlier. But now, he's in the mix on just about everything that is happening,...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives
Jun 22, 2013

Old school potter goes native in the wilds of southeast Okinawa

It took a devil of a time before finally managing to locate the home of potter Paul Lorimer, the building tucked into a rural lane on the fringes of the Sashiki community on Okinawa Island's southeast coast.
Japan Times
JAPAN / CHUBU CONNECTION
Jun 22, 2013

Participants ease stress levels at crying events

Most people know what it is like to have a good old cry and to get the feeling of having a huge weight removed from their shoulders.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Jun 21, 2013

The bell tolls on Demon Pond

The sound of the temple bell of "Yashagaike (Demon Pond)" will ring for the first time at the New National Theatre, Tokyo (NNTT) — but it's the bell's silence that will reverberate for the characters of this new Japanese-language opera.
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Jun 21, 2013

June blooms decorate Japan

While the ongoing rainy season means staying indoors to some people, for others, it is a chance to get out and enjoy the beautiful tapestry of ajisai (hydrangeas), whose colors vary from white to blue to pink to purple — and all shades in between.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jun 21, 2013

'21 & Over'

When "Hangover" screenwriters Jon Lucas and Scott Moore got green-lighted to direct their first film, it's pretty easy to imagine their marching orders from their producers: give us the same, but different.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jun 21, 2013

'The Complete (Existing) Films of ...'

Director: Sadao Yamanaka
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 20, 2013

Cyber-snooping only one side of the information war

Efforts by the NSA and others to find out what we are thinking have long been matched by black- or gray-information programs to tell us what we should think.
Japan Times
WORLD
Jun 20, 2013

U.S. Treasury chief 'fixes' unusual signature scribble

Jack Lew was the senior budget adviser to Presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton. He was Obama's chief of staff. Now he is Treasury secretary.
LIFE / Digital / JAPAN WEB WATCH
Jun 19, 2013

Web company IPOs in Japan pick up pace

What Web services are hot in Japan? One indicator that a company's business is growing and that it's expecting more growth is when it lists on the Tokyo Stock Exchange (TSE) with an IPO (Initial Public Offering).
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design
Jun 18, 2013

The 'Sunny' side of Taiyo Matsumoto

The Toronto Comics Arts Festival, which celebrated its 10th anniversary this year, has of late made its name bringing over cutting-edge Japanese artists for signings, live drawing sessions and speaking events. The atmosphere at this year's event, held in May, in many ways like an independent film festival,...
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 18, 2013

Cruise missile threat in Asia

Cruise missiles that are difficult to detect, increasingly fast and capable of carrying nuclear warheads are raising the risk of catastrophic conflict in Asia.
Japan Times
JAPAN / CHUBU CONNECTION
Jun 15, 2013

Student group helping combat leprosy in India

A group of university students from Nagoya and Tokyo known as Namaste! will begin to provide support to those who have recovered from leprosy in India by selling accessories made by them from Monday in Japan over the Internet.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jun 14, 2013

'Great Gatsby' reunites Luhrmann, DiCaprio

"The Great Gatsby" is a classic novel from 1925 that is often a required part of the school curriculum in North America. However, it has yet to become a classic film.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / HOTELS & RESTAURANTS
Jun 14, 2013

Gatsby-inspired cocktail at Swissôtel Nankai Osaka; summer bar at Grand Hyatt Fukuoka; Spanish fair at Royal Park Hotel

Gatsby-inspired cocktail at Swissôtel
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Jun 14, 2013

Firefly festivals in the summer capture spirit of growing up in old Japan

It's hard to believe there was a time when fireflies outnumbered the neon lights of Tokyo. Luckily there are still places outside the capital where the glowing insects still reign.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jun 13, 2013

Making sense of medieval avatars

The Western model of sexual equality — one that drives women to focus on careers but also contributes to lower birthrates — may not be an entirely unmixed blessing, but the roots of the West's gender attitudes run deep and stem from some interesting places, as "The Lady and the Unicorn" exhibition...
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / TRAVEL INSIDER
Jun 12, 2013

Cathay Pacific special campaigns; KLM summer fare sale; Singapore Airline's new mobile services

Cathay summer specials
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE FOREIGN ELEMENT
Jun 11, 2013

Japan's Nigerians see symbol of change in masquerade

Anyone wandering the back streets near Omiya Station at 7:20 a.m. on Sunday, June 2, might have passed a particular office building, unremarkable except for two African men standing on a 2nd floor balcony, rope in hand, lowering a car-sized Ugo (eagle) costume down to the parking lot. One of them was...
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Jun 9, 2013

A world of flowers and willows in Kyoto's geisha districts

'No matter what happens / I am in love with Gion. / Even when I sleep, / Beneath my pillow / The waters ripple.'
Japan Times
JAPAN / CHUBU CONNECTION
Jun 8, 2013

Mara the elephant slowly gets back on her feet

Treatment for Mara, a baby female elephant with fractures in both of her front legs, continues at the Toyohashi Zoo and Botanical Park in Aichi Prefecture.
Japan Times
WORLD / Science & Health
Jun 8, 2013

Why do identical twins lead such different lives?

Barbara Oliver has had an intriguing relationship with her identical twin sister, Christine, over the decades. Throughout their childhoods, they were effectively treated as two versions of the one person: they were dressed in exactly the same manner and were given the same hairstyles. "Our parents did...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jun 7, 2013

'Shui Hu Zhuan' (Japan title: Suikoden)

Director: Zhou Xiaolin
Japan Times
Events / Events In Tokyo
Jun 7, 2013

Sanno Festival features kendo, folk dancing

Counted as one of the three biggest festivals in Edo, present-day Tokyo, the Sanno Festival kicks off its annual celebration Friday in the heart of the capital.
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design / ON: DESIGN
Jun 4, 2013

From paperclip holders and cityscape planters to corner lights and sustainable cameras

Even though we are moving — forcibly — toward the paperless office, the reality is that we still at some point find ourselves with piles of physical documents to deal with, which usually means a desktop covered in paper clips.

Longform

Tetsuzo Shiraishi, speaking at The Center of the Tokyo Raids and War Damage, uses a thermos to explain how he experienced the U.S. firebombing of March 1945, when he was just 7 years old.
From ashes to high-rises: A survivor’s account of Tokyo’s postwar past