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May 03, 2025
 

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Japan Times
BASKETBALL / BJ-LEAGUE NOTEBOOK
Mar 12, 2014

Webb hit with record ban for kicking opponent in head

Niigata forward Rodney Webb, who made his bj-league debut in 2007, was handed the biggest suspension in league history on Tuesday night.
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design
Mar 3, 2014

When it comes to public space, Atelier Bow Wow barks up the right tree

Atelier Bow Wow uses the framework of art exhibitions to encourage public social interaction in what it calls 'micro public spaces.'
Japan Times
WORLD
Mar 2, 2014

Xi orders terrorism crackdown after deadly rail station attack

China's President Xi Jinping ordered a crackdown on "violent terrorist activities" after 33 people died when knife-wielding assailants rampaged through a train station in a southwestern city Saturday.
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Feb 22, 2014

Abe's culture wars boomerang against Japan

Japan's culture wars are heating up to the detriment of the nation. The Financial Times is right to warn that the jingoism of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, and attempts to stifle public debate, are grave threats to Japan's open society. Most Japanese don't want to go where Abe is trying to drag them, but...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Feb 8, 2014

Drawing on the past reveals the Showa Era

The rest of the world knew him as Hirohito, but to his subjects he was always just "the Emperor." Known posthumously as Showa, Japan's 124th monarch reigned for over 60 years, during which he would be witness to both the best and worst of times.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Economy
Feb 3, 2014

Workers stumble while 'Abenomics' soars

Japanese stocks and profits are soaring under Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's push to revive the economy. Even shop prices are up, a key step after years of deflation kept pocketbooks shut tight. None of that matters to Shuzo Matsui.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Jan 29, 2014

What's the worth of words?

By popular demand, Shizuoka Performing Arts Center is set to stage a revival of "A Midsummer Night's Dream," its sell-out 2011 production adapted by contemporary theater paragon Hideki Noda and directed by its own artistic diector, Satoshi Miyagi.
Japan Times
BASKETBALL / BJ-LEAGUE NOTEBOOK
Jan 29, 2014

Wholesale changes continue slow decline of Evessa

The Osaka Evessa were in dire straits at this time a season ago, losers of 19 of 24 games before the All-Star break. Then Bill Cartwright arrived and did a remarkable job leading the team's reclamation project. The ex-Chicago Bulls bench boss went 17-11 in a short, memorable stint in charge.
BUSINESS / JAPANESE PERSPECTIVES
Jan 25, 2014

In Davos, gripping kabuki with little substance

Afriend asks via email: "Did you see the video of Abe in Davos?"
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Jan 18, 2014

A True Novel

Like all artists, novelists find the impetus to begin in various places. Some inspire themselves with a formal challenge. Georges Perec, for example, asked himself what would happen if he tried to write a novel entirely bereft of the letter "e." Others, in their doodling and false starts, stumble upon...
SOCCER / PREMIER REPORT
Jan 17, 2014

Mourinho in form ahead of Man United showdown

With Jose Mourinho it is usually a metaphorical knife in the ribs followed by a supportive arm around the shoulder.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jan 15, 2014

'Admired from Afar: Masterworks of Japanese Painting from The Cleveland Museum of Art'

The Cleveland Museum of Art, which houses one of the best collections of Japanese art in the world, brings 50 masterpieces to Tokyo.
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital
Jan 9, 2014

A lost year for new technology? Look beyond 2013's gadgets

Writing the other day in Quartz, an admirable sister publication of The Atlantic magazine, the experienced technology watcher Christopher Mims struck a gloomy note. Under the headline "2013 was a lost year for tech," he lamented that "all in, 2013 was an embarrassment for the entire tech industry and...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Jan 4, 2014

Slippery slope to Yasukuni, Nago oiled by lucre

As with the Yasukuni story, most of the commentary on Okinawa base relocation deal focused on its contentious nature, but also like the Yasukuni story, the main impetus behind the actions reported was economic.
CULTURE / Books
Dec 28, 2013

Epicenters of death

This study of the Great Kanto Earthquake by scholar Charles Schencking, begins not as you might expect, with the cataclysmic temblor of 1923, but with the Great East Japan Earthquake of March 11, 2011. In this latter event, optimism was predicated on the assumption that swift and decisive action would...
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Dec 28, 2013

Cracking the feminist psyche, wallet

On the evening of Dec. 19, a Pantene commercial ran on U.S. television that skirted all the formal avenues of parent company Procter & Gamble's typical advertising process. Storyboards weren't pored over in P&G's Cincinnati headquarters. Average Americans didn't provide feedback in consumer research...
Japan Times
WORLD / Society
Dec 9, 2013

'Privacy' services thwart investigation of rape video sites

Researcher Garth Bruen long has investigated the seamier corners of the Internet, but even he was shocked to discover Rapetube.org, a site urging users to share what it called "fantasy" videos of sexual attacks.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Nov 27, 2013

Takarazuka dances to a different tune

What happens when Takarazuka, Japan's longest-running all-female theater troupe, takes on Masayuki Suo's hit movie "Shall We Dance?," which won 14 Japanese Academy Awards in 1996 and aired internationally in 16 countries?
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Nov 24, 2013

TV sports broadcasts as a language-learning tool

Another exciting grand sumo tournament ended yesterday, and brought back memories of my first encounter with sumo, in Okinawa back in September 1965.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Nov 23, 2013

Precarious Japan

"Precarious Japan" is a forward-thinking commentary on the current state of Japan, detailing a progressive history from the economic collapse in 1991 to how the country functions today in a modern, post-earthquake society.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Nov 22, 2013

Parliamentary democracy without a viable opposition

The lack of a viable opposition party is causing a serious crisis of democracy in Japan.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Entertainment news
Nov 18, 2013

Doris Lessing, Nobel-winning writer, dies at 94

Doris Lessing, a Nobel Prize-winning novelist and essayist whose deeply autobiographical books and piercing social commentary made her one of the most significant and wide-ranging writers since World War II, died Sunday at her home in London. She was 94.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Nov 13, 2013

Brecht's 'Fatzer' underground in Kyoto

The term "metatheater" refers to devices in a play that break the so-called "fourth wall" — the illusion of theatrical reality — in order to involve the audience as critical participants in the production. Metatheatricality is a hallmark of early 20th-century Modernist drama, and is often associated...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Oct 30, 2013

'Art and literature in Japan 1926-1936'

Early 20th-century Japan experienced changes in both its political and sociological structures that, as the Showa Era (1926-1989) progressed, helped creative disciplines flourish. The 20th-century thus became a period of artistic and literary renaissance that paved the way for emerging trends and movements,...
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design
Oct 28, 2013

Smashing ideas on future design and technology

While contemporary art is still transfixed by its own reflection, veteran Japanese curator Yuko Hasegawa has focused her cultural microscope on something quite different. "Bunny Smash Design to touch the world," the current group exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo, is a hit-and-miss...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Oct 24, 2013

Trading identity for compassion in the Middle East

Filmmaker Lorraine Lévy likes to tread lightly wherever she goes. Her aversion to intrusiveness affects the way she looks at the world, and defines her approach to filmmaking. It's certainly a significant part of "Le Fils de l'Autre (The Other Son)," Lévy's latest film (and arguably her most successful),...
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 21, 2013

China has its own political gridlock to worry about

The U.S. and Chinese governments share a significant problem: how to align their political systems to enable the vital structural economic changes their countries desperately need.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 20, 2013

Taiwan opposition leery of China trade accord

The opposition DPP generally understands the economic realities facing Taiwan, but it is apprehensive of the political perils of a closer trade and services partnership with China.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Oct 19, 2013

The Little Book of Japan

Covering a broad range of topics for the first time visitor, yet comprehensive enough for the truly Japan-obsessed, "The Little Book of Japan" is certainly not small in scope. Sectioned into four chapters — Cultural Icons, Traditions, Places and Spiritual Life — this book includes 44 essays from...
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 18, 2013

Civilizing academia's marketplace of ideas

History professor Niall Ferguson goes after liberal economist Paul Krugman, calling him the intellectual equivalent of a robber baron for the way he 'abuses his power' in the blogosphere.
Israel protests after Kyoto inn seeks war crime declaration from tourist
A street in Kyoto in March 2023. An Israeli tourist was asked to sign a document stating that he had not committed war crimes when he checked in at a Kyoto guesthouse in April, prompting a response from Israel's ambassador.
Nearly half of workers in Japan engage in ‘quiet quitting’
"Quiet quitting" is most common among the younger generation, with 46.7% of respondents to a survey in their 20s identifying with the practice, reflecting a less-motivated workforce more focused on work-life balance.
Britain responds after Expo 2025 afternoon tea brews outrage
The café space at the Osaka Expo's British pavilion
Truck driver's body recovered from huge Japan sinkhole after three months
Workers stand around a vehicle carrying the body of a person recovered from a sinkhole in Yashio, Saitama Prefecture, on Friday.
Second round of U.S.-Japan tariff talks ends inconclusively in Washington
U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick (far left), U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent (left) and Ryosei Akazawa, Japan's chief tariff negotiator. The second round of tariff negotiations between Japan and the United States were held on Thursday in Washington.
Want to see the future at Expo Osaka? Get in line.
“‘Future of life,’ by Ishiguro,” the World Expo pavilion by roboticist Hiroshi Ishiguro, displays humanlike androids.
Ishiba hears advice from across the aisle on how Japan should handle Trump
Prime Minister Shigaru Ishiba and CDP head Yoshihiko Noda at a parliamentary session in Tokyo on April 23.
Don't send in the clones: AI event nixed as Alt accounts get reality check
A screenshot from the website for Alt's AI conference, which was canceled after the company disclosed an investigation into its sales figures.
CDP submits bill proposal on separate surnames, but challenges remain
Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan lawmakers speak to reporters in parliament on Wednesday after submitting a bill in the Lower House to allow married couples to retain different surnames.
Puzzling decisions and opaque rankings are all part of sumo's charm
Chiyoshoma (right) battles Churanoumi during the New Year Basho in Tokyo in January. The Mongolian's drop down the sumo rankings ahead of the May tournament was one of the biggest surprises of the latest banzuke.

Podcast

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.
Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Longform

A small shrine perched atop rocks braves the waves hitting the shoreline during a storm in Shimoda, Shizuoka Prefecture. The area is under threat of a possible 31-meter-high tsunami if an earthquake strikes the nearby Nankai Trough.
If the 'Big One' hits, this city could face a 31-meter-high tsunami
By Alex K.T. Martin

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

Smile! It’s ‘Sanrio Time,’ now and ever after
Smile! It’s ‘Sanrio Time,’ now and ever after

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