Search - beauty

 
 
An internet influencer (Tina Tamashiro) loses her identity to AI in Daisuke Miyazaki’s “#Mito.”
CULTURE / Film
Aug 24, 2023

‘#Mito’: Sharp satire riffs on the dark side of AI and social media

Daisuke Miyazaki’s drama offers an intimate look at an influencer’s life and career stripped of surface glamour and glitz.
A Japanese doctor helps a non-Japanese patient check in at the front desk of a hospital.
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Aug 25, 2023

Let’s get clinical: Navigating a trip to a Japanese hospital

You don't need to be stressed out about your linguistic ability when you check into a Japanese hospital, so brush up on some terms beforehand.
Native Englander Paul Christie now spends most of his time rebuilding declining communities across the rural stretches of southwest Japan.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives
Aug 29, 2023

One tour company’s mission to ‘revive a small corner of Japan’

Launched in 2007, the “Community Project” was devised to reinvigorate two neighboring valleys on the Kunisaki Peninsula.
U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo, right, speaks during a meeting with her Chinese counterpart Wang Wentao in Beijing on Monday.
WORLD / Politics
Aug 29, 2023

U.S. commerce secretary says trade can stabilize U.S.-China ties

The trip to China this week is a key test of efforts by Washington to ease tensions while holding firm on what it considers national security interests.
Kyoko Yafuso and her son Keiju Togei pose in front of their store in the Sunrise Naha shopping street.
JAPAN / Society / Regional Voices: Okinawa
Sep 4, 2023

Tired Naha shopping arcade evolves into city’s best dining spot

Until about 10 years ago, the central shopping arcade around the Heiwa-dori street in Naha was deserted, with most stores closed and few visitors.
Korean writer-director Kim Sung Hwan's "Iron Mask" took one of the two top awards at this year's Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival (BiFan) in South Korea.
CULTURE / Film / CULTURE SMASH
Aug 30, 2023

Does South Korea now have the edge over Japan when it comes to film?

While Korean cinema tackles universal topics, Japanese studios are content to navel-gaze.
Taliban security personnel in Kabul on Aug. 15. So far, U.S. President Joe Biden has not decided to restore any U.S. support to Afghanistan, despite the country's worsening humanitarian crisis.
WORLD / Politics
Aug 31, 2023

Two years after exit, Biden resists calls for more Taliban contact

Some analysts and U.S. officials had clung to the hope that the Taliban had moderated since they last controlled Afghanistan in the 1990s.
Mizuki Yoneyama is the Kodo taiko troupe's first female odaiko (large-scale drum) player, an indication that things are changing in the traditional community.
LIFE / Lifestyle
Sep 2, 2023

For these women, taiko drumming is no longer a man's art

Ensemble taiko shows were developed in the 1950s, primarily by male leaders. Women taking part in Kodo’s early recitals only performed dance routines.
When night comes around, Lovely is more likely to let you give her a cuddle.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / ADOPT ME!
Sep 3, 2023

Lovely the cat lives up to her name

A cat named Lovely and a dog named Tillo would both make fantastic additions to the family.
Epitheses of various body parts at Ikeyama Medical Japan in Nagoya
JAPAN / Science & Health / Regional voices: Chubu
Sep 11, 2023

Epithesis — offering appearance care to cancer patients

The use of epithesis — artificial reconstructions of body parts — is beginning to attract attention.
Fukuoka, known for its outdoor food stalls, is a popular destination for Japanese tourists, but now it's starting to draw more international travelers, too.
LIFE / Travel
Sep 9, 2023

Beyond its yatai, Fukuoka hosts travel pleasures aplenty

Tourists come for the city’s lauded cuisine, its casual atmosphere, vibrant arts and nightlife scenes and temperate climate.tk
Bottles of whisky sit on display behind the bar at the Door XXV private club in the Golden Equator Group office in Singapore.
BUSINESS / Companies
Sep 13, 2023

Asia takes over the world’s whisky market

Yearslong efforts by Pernod, Diageo and other major whiskey producers to get Asian drinkers to spend more on their premium spirits are finally paying off.
Identifying a sustainable product can involve evaluating claims about emissions, plastic use, water waste and packaging recyclability.
ENVIRONMENT / Sustainability
Sep 19, 2023

Regulators are trying to stop greenwashing before it gets worse

The range of agencies tackling dubious sustainability claims is indicative of its ambiguity and breadth.
Vehicles carrying refugees from Nagorno-Karabakh, a region inhabited by ethnic Armenians, pack the road leading towards the Armenian border on Sept. 25.
WORLD / Politics
Oct 3, 2023

Armenian exodus marks a new front in East-West power tussle

Azerbaijan has so far avoided sanctions despite calls before the assault by the U.S. and the EU not to undermine years of mediation efforts.
BUSINESS / Companies
Oct 6, 2023

Uniqlo owner scouts for more Indian partners after 60% sales jump

The Japanese apparel giant is currently working with over 20 sewing factories and mills in India.
Mysteriously suspended on the water of the Fugan Canal in Kansui Park, Hiroko Kubo’s “Mountain Dogs” (2023) are made from materials that reflect the industries of Toyama.
CULTURE / Art
Oct 7, 2023

An introspective Go For Kogei turns its attention to Toyama

The craft-art festival focuses on the historically industrial city to explore the Hokuriku region's crafts in an urban setting.
The Brave Blossoms leave the pitch after their loss to Argentina at the Rugby World Cup in Nantes, France, on Sunday.
MORE SPORTS / Rugby
Oct 9, 2023

Japan shows heart in bittersweet finale at Rugby World Cup

Japan's hopes at the Rugby World Cup were dashed in a thrilling match against Argentina.
Singer-songwriter Aina The End (center) plays a young woman who strives to overcome her hardscrabble life and become an indie musician in “Kyrie.”
CULTURE / Film
Oct 12, 2023

'Kyrie': Musical melodrama celebrates youth

Shunji Iwai's film about indie musicians and female friendships may have an overstuffed plot, but it also has a visual energy unique to the director.
Writer Baye McNeil (left) poses for a picture with Cameron Peagler, who organized the Black Gold event in Tokyo’s Adachi Ward.
COMMUNITY / Voices / Black Eye
Oct 16, 2023

An OG's tips for Japan: Create beauty and don't fake your smile

Speaking at Black Gold, an event aiming to connect the Black and Japanese communities, our columnist offered seven tips to enjoying life in Japan.
Gala Espel’s “Archeology of the Future” fuses digital technology with handcraftsmanship to create silverware and jewelry of industrial forms and natural motifs.
LIFE / Style & Design / ON: DESIGN
Oct 17, 2023

Designart’s young creators foreshadow the future

On: Design this month focuses on the work of five creators selected by Designart judges for its 2023 Under 30 program.
Cooling towers and reactors at a nuclear power plant in Cattenom, France
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Oct 17, 2023

Nukefluencers are on a quest to push clean power from reactors

Influencers are tapping into a generation that’s increasingly anxious about climate change by focusing on how nuclear energy is carbon-free.
Former firefighter Yoshifumi Usui now guides tourists in search of active pursuits in and around the Aso caldera.
LIFE / Travel
Oct 21, 2023

In volcanic Aso, the land gives much more than it takes

Locals in Aso have a saying: “The land takes away, but it gives us something, too.”
Voice actors record their parts for a radio drama at a radio station studio in Manila.
ASIA PACIFIC / Society
Oct 25, 2023

Filipino listeners cheered by last surviving radio dramas

A small team of voice actors and technicians produce shows that are broadcast in Tagalog by DZRH, one of the oldest radio stations in the country.
A woman walks past newly unveiled lettering that references the Oct. 29 Itaewon crush in Seoul. A more fully developed memorial was later built to commemorate the event and the more than 150 people who lost their lives.
ASIA PACIFIC / Society / Longform
Oct 27, 2023

One year on, Itaewon's scars remain

A year on from the Itaewon crush, foot traffic in the Seoul neighborhood is picking back up. But what the future of the area is still in doubt.
Thon Soukhon, who has been a ranger in Virachey since the forest became one of Cambodia’s first national parks in 1993, holds a rope as he crosses a rain-swollen river within the protected area.
ENVIRONMENT / Energy / OUR PLANET
Oct 29, 2023

In the name of sustainability, Cambodia risks its ‘final frontier’ of biodiversity

Virachey National Park is a rare untouched wilderness in Southeast Asia, but potential hydropower plans threaten its future.
In addition to its regular whiskies, Suntory is released a limited-edition 100th Anniversary Hibiki blend retailing at $5,000 per bottle.
LIFE / Food & Drink
Nov 5, 2023

A century of Suntory's whisky mastery costs $5,000 per bottle

Suntory's 100th anniversary blends are already selling for double their original retail prices online.
Group photo after an NTT smart city was certified Level 4
ESG CONSORTIUM
Nov 6, 2023

NTT sustainable smart city effort is developing tools for well-being

As envisioned in its new fundamental principle, “Innovating a sustainable future for people and planet,” the NTT group has been contributing its strength as Japan’s leading telecommunications company to the realization of new values and a sustainable society using the power of data and technology....
Yogendra Puranik, the first person from India to win elected office in Japan, at the Indian cultural center he manages in Tokyo's Edogawa Ward in October 2022.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Nov 6, 2023

Japan needs Indian migrants. How can it attract them?

India can help fill the domestic labor gap, but for migrants to succeed, Japan must embrace a genuinely intercultural approach.
As a young man, preserving the 400-year-old Ueda Soko Ryu tea ceremony school, which had survived the 1945 atomic bombing of Hiroshima, was always on Soko Ueda's mind.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / 20 QUESTIONS
Nov 11, 2023

‘Life is for being who I am — not who others expect me to be’

A soon-to-be 17th-generation tea ceremony grandmaster shares the journey he took in embracing his family heritage and preserving a Hiroshima tradition.
Kyoto’s Tofukuji temple is a notable place for viewing multicolored fall foliage.
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Nov 10, 2023

The culture, customs and vocabulary of Japan’s fall season

The changing colors of Japan’s foliage have been a prominent part of the culture since the Nara Period when they inspired artists.

Longform

A sinkhole in Yashio, which emerged in January, was triggered by a ruptured, aging sewer pipe. Authorities worry that similar sections of infrastructure across the country are also at risk of corrosion.
That sinking feeling: Japan’s aging sewers are an infrastructure time bomb