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COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Aug 1, 2010

Japanese quotes cast country's life and culture in disparate lights

SECOND IN A THREE-PART SERIES — In its current issue, the popular monthly magazine Bungei Shunju has a long feature titled "Tekichushita yogen 50," meaning "50 predictions that hit the mark."
BUSINESS / YEN FOR LIVING
Mar 8, 2010

Tax deductions and the myth of the "no-donation culture"

With few incentives to give to charities and few that qualify as NPOs, it no surprise that Japan has a bum rap as a 'no-donation' culture.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Feb 14, 2010

Could 'Godzilla cherry blossom' save Japanese culture?

Cherry blossom is as quintessentially Japanese as sushi and samurai.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Feb 13, 2010

Computer whiz turns 'strangeness' into asset

From his early days in Japan as a destitute student sleeping in train station stairwells to living in a 3-mat room that cost him ¥10,000 a month, Richard Northcott went on to head a mobile software company that now enjoys sales of $2 million a year.
Japan Times
Events / WHERE IT'S AT
Nov 3, 2009

African and Mideast culture in spotlight at biannual Tokyo bazaar

Thousands of people sampled the tastes of Africa and the Middle East during the 15th charity bazaar held in Tokyo's Nihonbashi district on Oct. 27 by Nihon Chukinto Africa Fujinkai.
Events / WHERE IT'S AT
Nov 3, 2009

African and Mideast culture in spotlight at biannual Tokyo bazaar

Thousands of people sampled the tastes of Africa and the Middle East during the 15th charity bazaar held in Tokyo's Nihonbashi district on Oct. 27 by Nihon Chukinto Africa Fujinkai.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / HOTELS & RESTAURANTS
Oct 23, 2009

Italian food, wine culture fair

The Hyatt Regency Tokyo is featuring Italian food, wine and culture at an Italia Fair through Nov. 30.
Japan Times
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Sep 2, 2009

Cell phone culture here unlike any other

Cell phones in Japan have evolved as a virtual extra appendage that people can't walk, ride or relax without, as they constantly peer into their screens, send and receive messages, play video games, watch TV, and sometimes even communicate verbally.
CULTURE / Books
Jul 12, 2009

Finding much more to explore in Japan

If you are unsure whether Kinki lies to the east or west of Chugoku, what the principal city of Kagawa is, or which prefectures are landlocked — rest assured that you are not alone. If we have one failing in common, it is geography.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives
Apr 4, 2009

Nihonshu evangelist preaches heady mix of culture, taste

John Gauntner appreciates a great destination, but for him, it's really about the journey. With five books published on sake, and as the only non-Japanese to be recognized as a kikizake meijin (accomplished sake taster) for accuracy in sake tasting, Gauntner is widely considered the leading English-speaking...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Mar 6, 2009

Edo to Meiji

The popularity of ukiyo-e (genre painting) woodblock prints is partly due to aesthetic reasons and partly symbolic ones. In terms of sheer beauty, there is much to recommend in the better examples in the genre, from bright blocks of color and sinuous lines to lively compositions and intriguing details,...
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Feb 15, 2009

Do Japanese yet realize that culture's acquired, not in the blood?

There's no doubt that Japanese people's attitudes toward foreigners, and the ways they relate to them, have changed markedly in the 40-odd years since I first arrived here. But is this change we can believe in?
COMMENTARY
Jan 6, 2009

Prophet of world-culture clashes is dead

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. — A giant died early last week. His name was Samuel Huntington, a Harvard professor whose gigantism was intellectual. His ideas left huge footprints on our intellectual landscape, the way giant storms impact the Earth. Minds were shaken, sometimes stirred, and never left untouched....
Reader Mail
Dec 21, 2008

The source of manga culture

Regarding the Dec. 2 Kyodo article "Late 'manga' pioneer Tezuka still the king": I'm a Japanese student studying communications in the United States. I strongly believe that Osamu Tezuka's wonderful manga stories had a lot of influence in Japan. He established the manga culture in Japan, creating a new...
Reader Mail
Oct 2, 2008

Don't sacrifice culture to please

Regarding the Sept. 27 article "Tourism minister apologizes for gaffes" -- about Nariaki Nakayama's remarks on the lack of self-sacrifice by Japanese in "opening the country to foreign tourists": I wish to state that I have not found another country whose people are as tolerant as the average Japanese...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Aug 7, 2008

Nihon buyo dancers pass on their culture

As far back as elementary school, Yukari Hatori, now age 34, dreamed of becoming a nihon buyo (Japanese dance) performer.
Reader Mail
Jul 31, 2008

Culture counts as much as looks

Call me trite, but Sakumi Shimose's July 27 letter, "Japanese beauty on world's stage," totally misses the point! Japanese women and men can be confident on the world stage while being proud of their heritage and culture, not just their looks.
Reader Mail
Feb 24, 2008

Critique of culinary culture

I am a food barbarian. The Feb. 21 article "Tokyo's samurai chefs devoted to their craft" got me thinking more about the wasted concern that restaurants, hotels and food professionals afford their Michelin ratings. There are only three things important to me about food: (1) is it delicious? (2) can...
Reader Mail
Feb 3, 2008

Whither the 'keitai' culture?

It was refreshing to read the Jan. 27 editorial, "The 'keitai' generation." With Japanese youth already ostracized and socially strangled, the keitai culture adds fuel to the fire. Kids need physical playgrounds not video games, social interactions not text messaging, more human interactions not keitai....
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jan 31, 2008

A steady hand in the culture

For more than 700 years until the modern period, members of the Konoe family have been prominent among the nobles of the Imperial Court. Descended from Fujiwara Iezane (ca. 1179-1242), whose own elite clan can be traced back to the beginnings of written Japanese history in the seventh century, the Konoe...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Nov 22, 2007

A taste for blood, arts and culture

One haunting image that lingers in the mind after seeing the exhibition "Legacy of the Tokugawa — The Glories and Treasures of the Last Samurai Dynasty" at the Tokyo National Museum is a carved-wood statue of Ieyasu (1543-1616), the first of the Tokugawa shoguns, now the deity of the Shiba Tosho-gu...
Reader Mail
Sep 16, 2007

Okinawa's old tattoo culture

While I enjoyed the Sept. 6 article "Japanese tattoo art carves its mark in the mainstream," I think the writer left out a very important prefecture with regard to the tattoo industry in Japan. Okinawa had mainstream studios long before they became popular on the mainland.
EDITORIALS
Jul 4, 2007

A corporate culture turned fatal

The final report of the government's Aircraft and Railway Accidents Investigation Commission on the April 25, 2005, West Japan Railway accident in Hyogo Prefecture — which killed the train driver and 106 passengers and injured 562 people — has blamed the railway company's corporate culture for the...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
May 13, 2007

One culture's dirty old man is another's dandy

Despite the close proximity of the world afforded by the Internet and global media conglomerates, intercultural ignorance is still pretty common. Richard Gere almost got himself arrested in India when, during an AIDS-awareness event last month, he grabbed Bollywood star Shilpa Shetty and kissed her....
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Apr 27, 2007

Japan finally warms to vulture culture

Time was when Japan Inc. shunned the heady world of corporate raiders as a vulture club anathema to the country's consensus culture.

Longform

Ichiro Suzuki, one of the most iconic players in NPB and MLB history, was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame with 99.7% of the vote.
With Hall of Fame induction, Ichiro makes himself heard loud and clear