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Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jul 22, 2015

A second look at bloody WWII novel 'Fires on the Plain'

Japanese war films typically frame themselves as anti-war, even when they glorify the sacrifices made by brave Japanese boys in defense of the homeland, as in the 2013 hit "Eien no Zero" ("The Eternal Zero").
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jun 30, 2015

The Edo samurai knew how to look sharp

'The World of Edo Dandyism: From Swords to Inro" at the Nezu Museum is a splendid collection of Edo Period (1603-1868) swords and sword accessories that includes blades, scabbards and metal fittings, as well as decorative sets of inrō (pill boxes) and netsuke (carved toggles). The exhibition looks back...
Japan Times
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Jun 22, 2015

When too much is not enough, just dial up the 'sugiru'

When something is in excess, English commonly uses the adverb 'too.' Japanese expresses similar things with the verb 'sugiru.'
JAPAN / History / THE LIVING PAST
Jun 20, 2015

Jomon life 'remained pretty much unchanged'

Jomon Japan is fantastic. It ought to be preserved in stone. It was preserved in stone. For 10,000 years, this New Stone Age culture flourished. It is one of the longest-running single traditions in the world. A man, woman or child dying in, say, 10,000 B.C. and coming back to life circa 400 B.C. would...
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jun 10, 2015

Kobe murderer writes ambiguously of regret and pleasure from 1997 child killings

The killer says in a controversial autobiography that he was an “incorrigible sexual deviant” who took grim satisfaction in dissecting animals and, ultimately, in murdering other humans.
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design
Jun 6, 2015

Refusing to check out of the Hotel Okura

With the iconic landmark poised to close for renovation in August, we explore its significance to the development of modernist architecture in Tokyo.
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design
May 30, 2015

Sayoko Yamaguchi, an enigma to the end

You may not know the name, but there is a good chance you know the face. As Clara Bow, Greta Garbo and Twiggy were iconic of their times, Sayoko Yamaguchi was everywhere in the 1970s. Even if you weren't a dedicated follower of fashion, it would have been difficult to avoid her cool gaze, which appeared...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
May 13, 2015

As Geki×Cine raises its game, Amami goes into battle for her man

Geki×Cine isn't really film and it isn't theater, but rather an intriguing blend of the two. With geki meaning "stage," and "cine" representing film, the finished productions are shown on the big screen. So are they stage-to-screen adaptations? Most certainly not. More accurately, they are stage plays...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
May 9, 2015

Sound waves: the music of Okinawa

How is it possible that a people who have experienced poverty, famine and discrimination, outlasted efforts at cultural annihilation and suffered the indignities of occupation can manage to celebrate life in song and dance with a passion and joy that belies everyday reality?
Japan Times
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
May 4, 2015

Dating in Japan never used to be this difficult — or creepy

It's spring and love should be in the air. But it's a bad, bad time to be out there in the dating scene.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Apr 28, 2015

Bintley returns with his new-look 'Cinderella'

For dance fans, there's the promise of some glittering Golden Week holiday reunions as David Bintley, long-time director of the Birmingham Royal Ballet, returns here with that company for the first time since his four-year stint doubling up as artistic director of the National Ballet of Japan ended last...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Entertainment news
Apr 23, 2015

People magazine names Sandra Bullock 2015 most beautiful woman

Oscar-winning actress Sandra Bullock was named the world's most beautiful woman in 2015 by People magazine on Wednesday and laughed when she heard about the honor.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Economy
Apr 4, 2015

Russia's rich forgo some luxuries but still back Putin

Russian model Alisa Krylova canceled her order for the latest Mercedes, spent New Year's in Moscow rather than skiing in the Alps and now employs Russian staffers rather than foreigners.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / ADOPT ME!
Mar 29, 2015

Dreamy: a cat named Mignon

Mignon loves people and would make a very special companion for someone who appreciates beauty both inside and out.
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Mar 14, 2015

When nature evolves to be awesome

A few years ago, an anthropologist told me an amazing story about a wild chimpanzee she had observed in Senegal. A bushfire had ignited in the summer heat, and she saw a chimp stand upright on its hind legs, face the fire and perform "a really exaggerated slow-motion display."
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Mar 7, 2015

Where will 'proactive pacifism' lead us?

Seventy years after World War II ended, should we be thinking about war or about peace?
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues
Mar 2, 2015

Putting a foreign face on the 3/11 recovery effort

Four years on, survivors of the Great East Japan Earthquake have a searing yearning to be remembered, says Amya Miller, who arrived in Rikuzentakata from the United States weeks after the March 11, 2011, disaster. She has been there ever since, and today works as a volunteer for City Hall, which still...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Feb 4, 2015

Malakhov brings borscht to ballet

"In my free time when I'm not taking classes or conducting rehearsals, I like to go to theaters and museums — or just go shopping and visit different parts of the city," Vladimir Malakhov, The Tokyo Ballet's new artistic adviser explained during our recent Japan Times interview.
Japan Times
MORE SPORTS / MAN ABOUT SPORTS
Dec 16, 2014

Selection committee for NCAA playoff system flawed

"Geez, it's not figure skating." — Florida State coach Jimbo Fisher's take on "style points" affecting the college football playoff rankings.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle
Dec 4, 2014

Designers illuminate us on their winter wonders

When you think of Japanese art forms, many cultural pursuits will come to mind. The grace of ikebana, perhaps, or the beauty of ukiyo-e woodblock prints. At this time of year it becomes clear, though, that holiday lighting displays — referred to simply as "illumination" — are where the country's...
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Nov 22, 2014

Hihōkan: Japan's vanishing sex museums

The real world ends beyond a thick, black curtain. On the other side is one of Japan's last remaining hihōkan (sex museum, literally "treasure palace") in the faded resort town of Atami, Shizuoka Prefecture — a strange, dimly lit space of questionable morals and dated fantasies.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Nov 13, 2014

Uffizi highs of the Renaissance

There's something quaint about the main painting at the "Galleria Degli Uffizi: Arte a Firenze da Botticelli a Bronzino — verso una 'Maniera Moderna' " exhibition now showing at the Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Art. The work, "Pallas and the Centaur" (c. 1480-85), a large canvas by the Italian Renaissance...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / THE KIDS' TABLE
Oct 21, 2014

Halloween barbecue site is an inferno for all the family

Looking for a way to indulge in the glorious fall weather and Halloween festivities, my 3-year-old daughter and I ventured out to meet one of her friends at Toyosu on Sunday afternoon.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Sep 6, 2014

Kanazawa City: the architecture of tea

One of the first things you see as you exit Kanazawa Station is a giant brass sculpture of a teapot sunken drunkenly into a mound of grass or, depending on your interpretation, tilting to fill a cup of the refreshing green brew the city is noted for. That a municipal piece of art should be dedicated...
BUSINESS
Aug 12, 2014

Only 7.4 percent of Japanese companies have female leader

Fewer than one in 14 Japanese companies has a female president, a survey has shown, and more than half of the women inherited the role from a relative.
Japan Times
SOCCER
Jul 22, 2014

Ronaldo expects extraordinary success for Real Madrid in upcoming season

Cristiano Ronaldo says his injury problems are behind him. Now the Portuguese superstar intends to get back to the business of winning everything in sight with soccer superpower Real Madrid.

Longform

A sinkhole in Yashio, which emerged in January, was triggered by a ruptured, aging sewer pipe. Authorities worry that similar sections of infrastructure across the country are also at risk of corrosion.
That sinking feeling: Japan’s aging sewers are an infrastructure time bomb