Search - culture

 
Menu
Search
 
July 26, 2025
 

Today's print edition

Home Delivery
Subscribe for more access
20,404 results
Sort by: Relevance Newest Oldest
After adjusting your search parameters, press Enter on your keyboard or click on the red magnifying glass to run your query again.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle / CHILD'S PLAY
Jan 14, 2017

Don't let winter stop you from going out

It's the coldest part of the year in Japan. Combine frigid weather with cramped apartments, rambunctious kids and a dose of cabin fever and you have a parent's recipe for frustration. However, in Tokyo there are countless options for indoor family fun, and with the season in mind, I've created a list...
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Jan 14, 2017

The little black screen we just can't take our eyes off

A great weight sits perched on us. It's called a head. It houses our brain and presents our face to the world. It comprises roughly 10 percent of our body weight. Heavy enough at the best of times, it grows heavier as it inclines forward. Held high, it's a 5.5-kilogram burden on the neck of a person...
JAPAN / History / THE LIVING PAST
Jan 14, 2017

The evolution of the Japanese ego: Learning to say 'I'

When Adam and Eve defied God, creator and master of the universe, and ate the fruit of the tree of knowledge, what did they learn? To say "I."
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / KANPAI CULTURE
Jan 13, 2017

Ginza sushi restaurant tests Champagne pairing

Nothing says "festive" like Champagne, that most elegant of elixirs. The drink's life-affirming effervescence makes it a natural choice for New Year's celebrations, but Champagne pairs so well with many of my favorite foods that I drink it far more often than once a year — with everything from raw...
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 11, 2017

The messy march of folly to Brexit and beyond

Barbara Tuchman published her masterpiece, "The March of Folly," in 1984. It explored what the American writer and historian called "one of the most compelling paradoxes of history: the pursuit by governments of policies contrary to their own interests." Today she might have explored the march of folly...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jan 10, 2017

Learning to bow: Japan reluctantly opens door to foreign housemaids

In a Japanese-style apartment, Maria Del Bago learns how to properly bow, clean traditional tatami floor-matting and decipher instructions for a high-tech toilet.
LIFE / Language
Jan 9, 2017

Feel young again with the 'yokozuna' products of last year

Back in 1971, a newly launched newspaper covering retailing and distribution, named the 日経流通新聞 (Nikkei Ryūtsū Shimbun, subsequently named Nikkei Marketing Journal), was looking for a promotional idea. It came up with a real winner by mimicking a 相撲番付 (sumō banzuke, a stylized hierarchical...
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Jan 7, 2017

The 'washi' paper trail: from the tree to its many purposes

Stepping off the bus at the Gakko-iriguchi stop in Higashi-Chichibu Village in Saitama Prefecture, the first things to strike the eye are high-flying clusters of balloons, suspended like colorful dirigibles.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Jan 7, 2017

'Falling into the Dragon's Mouth': a poetic tale of overcoming school bullies

In her third verse novel, Japan-based writer Holly Thompson tackles the topical issue of bullying. Her protagonist, likable American sixth-grader Jason Parker, struggles to fit in at his Japanese elementary school after moving from America to a seaside community on the Shonan coast in Kanagawa Prefecture....
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink
Jan 6, 2017

Richie Hawtin: Pairing Japan's best sake with techno

Richie Hawtin needs no introduction to anyone familiar with electronic music. For 25 years, this Berlin-based, English-Canadian DJ has been at the forefront of techno and he continues to play at major music and art events around the planet.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / EARLY START
Jan 6, 2017

Have breakfast in Tokyo where time has frozen, but the coffee's hot

Visiting one of Japan traditional coffee shops, known as kissaten, is a unique way to start to the day.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / HOTELS & RESTAURANTS
Jan 5, 2017

Traditional crafts to welcome new year; luxury retreat for examination prep; inspired cocktails offer a twist

Traditional crafts to welcome new year
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 4, 2017

Putin's Russia: the enigma continues

In the end Vladimir Putin will be gone and Russia will return to a different kind of greatness.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jan 4, 2017

McDonald's opens shop near Vatican, upsetting purists, cardinal, but not nuns

McDonald's has opened a franchise just steps away from the gleaming white marble dome of St. Peter's Basilica, giving indigestion to some cardinals and local business owners.
Japan Times
BASKETBALL / NBA / NBA REPORT
Jan 3, 2017

Karl up to old tricks with new book

Many who know George Karl will tell you there's a good side, welcoming, generous, warm and funny, though George works very hard to hide it.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Jan 3, 2017

How ties to an 'equestrian princess' landed Samsung at the center of the Park scandal in South Korea

Samsung Electronics' sponsorship of the equestrian daughter of a longtime friend of President Park Geun-hye has helped to land South Korea's top company in the center of the country's influence-peddling scandal.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 2, 2017

Democrats: Stop the fear and loathing of 2017

Democrats need to stop wallowing in misery and start planning on how to take America back.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics / 2017 NEW YEAR SPECIAL
Jan 1, 2017

Big changes likely in '17

A year of surprises has come to a close, but its unresolved questions will generate many more quakes in 2017. Where are the fault lines, what about President-elect Donald Trump, and what does all this mean for Japan?
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Dec 31, 2016

Japan and the world enter a long night of 'post-truth'

In an essay titled "The Future of Mankind," British philosopher Bertrand Russell (1872-1970) laid out three possibilities: "The end of human life," "a reversion to barbarism" or "unification of the world under a single government." He saw the third as the only alternative to either of the first two....
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / OLD NIC'S NOTEBOOK
Dec 31, 2016

Miyagi school opening aids 3/11 recovery

The official opening of Miyanomori Elementary School on Jan. 10 represents an important stage in restoring some normalcy to the city.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books / ESSENTIAL READING FOR JAPANOPHILES
Dec 31, 2016

'The Teahouse of the August Moon': a subversive comedy in postwar Okinawa

Published in 1951 and later adapted for a movie and Broadway play, Vern Sneider's "The Teahouse of the August Moon" is a satirical take on the U.S. Occupation of Japan.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Dec 31, 2016

'Tokyo Poetry Journal': an experimental space for Japan's English-language poets

The third issue of the "Tokyo Poetry Journal" takes music as its central theme and, rather in the manner of the Nobel Committee for Literature, has chosen to blur the lines between poetry and songwriting. The first half of the new volume features song lyrics accompanied by QR codes that, once scanned,...
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / DARK SIDE OF THE RISING SUN
Dec 31, 2016

Hot-spring developer to open a facility that caters to all — even visitors with tattoos

Freelance editor Lauren Hardie applied to join a fitness center when visiting Tokyo last summer but, before her membership was accepted, she was asked to sign a special contract that began with the following condition: "I am not a gangster."
CULTURE
Dec 30, 2016

The top entertainment stories of 2016

The Japan Times newsroom selected these culture stories as the most important of 2016.
Tokyo is the No. 2 choice for international students
The University of Tokyo. International students are increasingly flocking to Asia, with affordability being a particularly important metric.
Junglia, Japan’s newest theme park, opens in northern Okinawa
In Junglia’s Dinosaur Safari attraction during a media preview on Thursday, a casual drive through a habitat for the prehistoric creatures goes haywire when several Tyrannosaurus rexes break out of containment.
Big unanswered questions follow Japan's big, beautiful deal with the U.S.
U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday in Washington, the day after he agreed to an 11th-hour trade deal with Japan.
Extreme heat grips Japan, even Hokkaido
The city of Obihiro in Hokkaido amid scorching heat on Thursday
‘Demon Slayer’ movie slashes its own box office records
“Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Infinity Castle” is the first installment in a trilogy that's set to wrap the anime adaptation of Koyoharu Gotoke's manga about sword-wielding heroes fighting man-eating demons.
Behind the scenes: Inside Fuji Rock’s strategy for staying on top
In recent years, Fuji Rock has had fewer blockbuster performers and showcased more top-selling Japanese acts and international musicians' first-time performances in Japan.
Hall of Fame always held deeper meaning for Ichiro
Ichiro presents then-Hall of Fame President Jeff Idelson with the bat he used to break the single-season hits record in 2004.
Japan leans into homegrown AI amid rising competition
McKinsey’s 2025 Technology Trends Outlook, published Wednesday, says that the use of “sovereign AI” is a trend gaining significant global traction, including in Japan.
JT picks: What not to miss at Fuji Rock 2025
Fuji Rock Festival turns the green slopes of Niigata Prefecture’s Naeba Ski Resort into a summer escape that offers soundtracks for every mood.
Japan’s top brands get tied up in the great sunscreen debate
A coral reef in Okinawa in July 2022. Some jurisdictions around the world have moved to ban certain sunscreens in a bid to protect coral reefs, but some say the impact on reefs is far from clear.

Podcast

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

Longform

In 2020, 38% of all households were single-person. That figure is projected to rise to 44.3% by 2050.
The rise of AI companionship in a lonely Japan
By Alex K.T. Martin

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

Muji has been sustainable from the beginning
Muji has been sustainable from the beginning

SPECIAL SUPPLEMENTS note

Read more

SUPPLEMENTS BINDER