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Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / FOCUS
Apr 1, 2018

K-pop stars turn diplomatic envoys with concert dates in North Korea

They won over buttoned-up investors at a banking conference with their jingles about teenage love, but the K-pop girl band Red Velvet is about to face what may be its toughest audience yet: North Korea.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / The Big Questions
Apr 1, 2018

Grass-roots involvement enhances 150-year relations

At 66 years of age, Spain's Ambassador to Japan, Gonzalo de Benito, shows no signs of slowing down. He has official and other duties — like this interview with The Japan Times — for starters.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Mar 31, 2018

Asia Society plans to set up new venue in Tokyo

The Asia Society aims to create a new Tokyo facility, slated to open later this year, where experts and policymakers can come together to discuss domestic and international affairs, including North Korea's security threats and trade, an issue crucial to the region, an executive of the nonprofit organization...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Mar 29, 2018

Kiyoshi Koyama: A life lived with jazz

"I have lived a life alongside jazz," says Kiyoshi Koyama, jazz critic, journalist and radio host. This is apparent on a recent visit to his home in Chiba Prefecture, where he and his wife live surrounded by walls of neatly organized records, CDs, books and other archives — a lifetime of research and...
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design
Mar 29, 2018

Designart Tokyo announces plans for bigger and better celebration of creativity

The founders of a Tokyo design and art event that debuted last year gathered in the Shibuya district on Thursday to showcase their plans and ideas for this year’s festival.
Japan Times
LIFE / EVENTS AND INFORMATION
Mar 29, 2018

Hands-on learning at academy

The Japan Visualmedia Translation Academy (JVTA), one of the leading schools in Tokyo for training professional visual media translators, has opened the Japanese Language and Media Institute (JLMI), helping students obtain communication skills in Japanese.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Mar 29, 2018

Marriage quest finds some Japanese men looking to share household duties with female partners

Tokyoite Kiyoshi is 38 years old and is still waiting for luck in love. But when he finds his future life partner, he says he will be willing to handle family duties in the belief that men's and women's roles at home are equal.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 28, 2018

Scoring an own goal: China's Belt and Road funding terms spark criticism

The recipients of Beijing's supposed largess regularly find themselves trapped in debt leading to rising anti-Chinese sentiment.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Mar 28, 2018

Casting director Ko Iwagami plays matchmaker in Hollywood

It was Ko Iwagami's love for American cinema, and "Indiana Jones" in particular, that took him to the United States. Now a successful casting director, he understands that Hollywood isn't always so kind.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Mar 28, 2018

Defying criticism, Taiji pushes forward with bold plans based on continued dolphin hunts

A few years back, the normally sleepy town of Taiji in Wakayama Prefecture was filled with activists furious with its traditional dolphin hunt, which was featured in "The Cove," a 2009 Academy Award-winning documentary.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Mar 27, 2018

Amid tourism rise, Tsushima Island could play evacuation role if tensions flare with North Korea

Within sight of the bright lights and bustling beaches of Busan, sleepy Tsushima Island has little in common with its neighbor located a mere 50 kilometers north, but the island of about 31,000 people has recently become a hot spot for South Korean tourists.
Japan Times
LIFE / Language / WELL SAID
Mar 26, 2018

Showing some style using 'shiki' and 'fu'

Explaining the difference between the compound nouns Xu5f0f (u3057u304d) and Xu98a8(u3075u3046), both of which mean 'in the style of X.'
COMMUNITY / Issues / LABOR PAINS
Mar 25, 2018

Dodgy data spared Japan's workers from a labor system that's ripe for abuse, for now

At first glance, the discretionary work system looks like a dream come true in terms of work-life balance. On closer inspection, though, it has the potential to be a worker's nightmare.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 25, 2018

Controlling the web a dream and nightmare

Authoritarian governments regulate what their citizens can see online. The U.S. lets tech companies make similar decisions.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Mar 23, 2018

No right way to complete Shikoku's 88-temple pilgrimage

"Get in the car." An old woman in thick glasses and a knitted hat gestures from her seat behind the wheel.
Japan Times
WORLD / Society
Mar 23, 2018

Russia's Me Too moment puts lawmakers in focus amid media boycott

Russia may be having its Me Too moment amid a backlash over the decision of a parliamentary ethics committee to dismiss sexual harassment allegations against a senior legislator.
Reader Mail
Mar 23, 2018

Japan should not give up on nuclear power

Regarding the editorial "Time to rethink the nation's post-3/11 energy policy" in the March 19 edition, it's not time to give up on nuclear power in Japan. With the anniversary of the disaster at Fukushima No. 1 fresh in our minds, we must use that memory to strengthen the nuclear power industry, not...
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies / Taking the Lead
Mar 22, 2018

Lawson chief bets on health, tech as future of convenience

Back in 2014, Sadanobu Takemasu was asked by his boss to go to Lawson, the convenience store chain known for its white milk can logo on a blue signboard.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Mar 21, 2018

South Korea's Moon hints at possibility of three-way summit with North Korea and U.S.

South Korean President Moon Jae-in on Wednesday floated the possibility of a three-way summit involving the two Koreas and the United States in the wake of an North-South summit scheduled for next month and a possible meeting of U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un before the...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / OBITUARY
Mar 21, 2018

Chandru G. Advani, 1924-2018: 'Uncle' to Japan's Indian community

Dada Chandru left his mark in the fields of business, bilateral ties and in the hearts of Indians and Japanese whose lives he touched.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Mar 21, 2018

'Smokin' on the Moon': A stoner buddy flick takes a serious turn

Marijuana was a subject for comedy back when I was taking my first clumsy steps into stoner culture: The comedy routines of Cheech and Chong, the music of Commander Cody, the midnight screenings of the unintentionally hilarious 1936 film "Reefer Madness."
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Mar 21, 2018

'Dynamite Graffiti': Sleaze to some and art to others

At the peak of its popularity in the 1980s, the innocuously named "Shashin Jidai" ("Photo Age") sold 350,000 copies a month. Edited by the self-made publishing impresario Akira Suei, the magazine featured cutting-edge photography by the likes of Nobuyoshi Araki and Daido Moriyama and in-depth articles...
Japan Times
BASKETBALL / NBA / NBA REPORT
Mar 20, 2018

Dwane Casey has Raptors looking like the real thing

The Toronto Raptors through the 2016-17 season had been one of the best teams in the NBA the previous four years, averaging 51 wins, top 10 in the NBA in offensive efficiency every year, All-Stars in DeMar DeRozan and Kyle Lowry, a visit to the conference finals.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Mar 20, 2018

Force and fragility meet and merge in 'Dunas'

There are mutual squeals of delight when Belgian dance artist Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui and Spanish flamenco dancer Maria Pages are reunited after "far too long" at a Tokyo rehearsal studio.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Mar 20, 2018

Koga: A pithy affair with the avant-garde

There are two good reasons to see the exhibition on the short-lived photography magazine Koga, now on at the Tokyo Photographic Art (TOP) Museum. One is that it is full of powerful images that will linger in the memory despite their relative simplicity. The other is that, as the story of art continues...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Mar 20, 2018

'Japanese Entertainment: Enpaku's Treasure Box of Kabuki and Bunraku'

March 23-August 5

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