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COMMUNITY
Dec 29, 2013

Orphan of distance? Find time to latch onto some Okinawans this New Year's

Japanese New Year's is a decidedly family affair. If you can't find a family to invite you in from the streets for a bowl of soba, it's important to find the right group of friends — friends who will make a point to gather on a cold New Year's Eve with a fellow orphan of distance. Friends who find themselves, like you, far from their homes and families, caught between two worlds.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Dec 29, 2013

Cool Japan Fund chief says crafty marketing key to regional revivals

Japan has a wealth of undiscovered products that can be sold around the world, with a little ingenuity, the CEO of the Cool Japan Fund says.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Dec 29, 2013

British fears of migrant influx mirrored in Sofia

There are no anti-immigrant militia forces roaming the streets of Britain, but Bulgarian President Rosen Plevneliev sees clear parallels with the U.K. — indeed, in states across Europe — and he is deeply worried.
WORLD
Dec 29, 2013

Secrets of the grotto: Study uncovers joys, trials behind being Saint Nick

It appears that today's Santas are under far more pressure to deliver than other performers, with many recounting experiences that a new study says were 'highly reminiscent of the worst excesses of the rationalized assembly line.'
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Dec 28, 2013

A garden sanctuary in the city

There is a visible nod to tradition in the shaping and use of natural materials to finish off the exterior of International House, a Modernist building in one of the nicer residential areas of Tokyo's swank Roppongi district.
CULTURE / Books / ESSENTIAL READING FOR JAPANOPHILES
Dec 28, 2013

Snakes and Earrings

Take a walk through Tokyo's Shibuya or Shinjuku shopping districts and you'll soon notice the streets are filled with a certain kind of girl — stylishly dressed, sassy, with heavy makeup and dyed brown or blond hair. These are gyaru, and to get a peek inside their world, "Snakes and Earrings" is a...
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / 20 QUESTIONS
Dec 28, 2013

Charles E. McJilton: 'Stop attempting to control nature already'

What confuses you about Japan? When Japan says it loves nature but then cements rivers and prunes back trees so they resemble poodles on a stick.
Japan Times
SOCCER / J. League
Dec 28, 2013

Gamba wait for new site

Gamba Osaka, one of the original J. League members, will move into a brand-new stadium as early as 2016.
COMMENTARY
Dec 27, 2013

Happiness takes faith, family, friends and work

Research from the American Enterprise Institute identifies faith, family, friends and work as the four great sources of happiness. The problem is that all four sources are in retreat in the U.S., especially among men.
COMMENTARY
Dec 27, 2013

Abe and Xi swam naked with Buffett in 2013

In Japan and South Korea this year, talk of epochal change from two newish leaders was shown to be empty. Meanwhile, China's supposedly peaceful rise was laid bare by aggressive actions.
COMMENTARY
Dec 27, 2013

Why is work a zero free-speech zone?

If a reality TV show star, or any American for that matter, can be fired for expressing him- or herself when at work — or not at work — then the right to free speech is a meaningless abstraction that applies only to the tiny fraction of super-rich Americans who don't have to worry about getting fired.
COMMENTARY
Dec 27, 2013

Extremists threatening Libya

Sunday's suicide bomb attack in Libya hat killed 13 soldiers should be a signal that the world can no longer afford to stand aside as this oil-rich nation of 6 million people appears to slide into chaos.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 26, 2013

Christmas Grinch in China

The extension of Chinese President Xi Jinping's anti-corruption and anti-extravagance campaigns is blamed for creating a Grinch responsible for diminishing Chinese holiday cheer this year.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Dec 26, 2013

'The Hunger Games: Catching Fire'

The second installment to "The Hunger Games" is hot and fast but also pensive — not what you'd expect from an adaptation of a Young Adult novel series. I reckon author Suzanne Collins' work and the first "Hunger Games" should be on the syllabus for high schools everywhere, and the latest adaptation...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Dec 26, 2013

Giovanni Fazio's 2013 Top 10: films to remember into the next lifetime

This year saw me watching a lot more films than usual, which, if anything, made me appreciate the cream even more. As per our age, there's a lot of "content" out there begging for our attention, but precious little of it that feels like it was made with passion. Here are 10 that, love 'em or hate 'em,...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Dec 26, 2013

'Feu: Crazy Horse Paris'

Frederick Wiseman's documentary "Crazy Horse," looking at the Parisian burlesque cabaret of the same name, was a surprise fave last year, showing the racy stage shows to be surprisingly creative in their use of staging and lighting.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics / ANALYSIS
Dec 26, 2013

Abe's visit to Yasukuni to further incite hard-liners in China, South Korea

Although the U.S. had effectively urged Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to refrain from visiting Tokyo's Yasukuni Shrine, he goes anyway, ensuring Japan's relations with China and South Korea will further sour.
Japan Times
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Dec 26, 2013

'Ice monsters' are set to give you the chills

Witness the "ice monsters" — one of Yamagata Prefecture's natural wonders — in a special illuminated event this winter beginning on Dec. 28 at the Zao ropeway in Zao.
BUSINESS
Dec 26, 2013

Daiwa Real Estate plans health REIT

Daiwa Real Estate Asset Management Co., a unit of the nation's second-largest brokerage, will set up a health-care real estate investment trust that will own nursing homes and hospitals in the world's fastest-aging society.
Reader Mail
Dec 25, 2013

Humanities hone analytic skills

In his Dec. 16 article, "Abe shows totalitarian bent," Takamitsu Sawa makes a startling disclosure: "I cannot help thinking that the current Japan is drifting away from the modern Western European ideals based on liberalism, democracy and individualism."

Longform

A mushroom cloud from the atomic bombing on Hiroshima taken from a U.S. military aircraft on Aug. 6, 1945. Copying the photo without permission is prohibited.
80 years on, a Japanese American hibakusha recalls the day the bomb dropped