Search - life

 
 
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Jan 17, 2015

Lingering outside the way station for the dead

It's a hardy soul who braves Osorezan (Mount Osore), a volcano in Aomori Prefecture known as the Japanese way station for the dead. For most, the name conjures up images of the supernatural and the unknown, but for Marie Mutsuki Mockett, it is a place of healing and beauty.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 16, 2015

The worldwide reality of religious persecution

While good judgment tells us not to express every thought we have, as moral agents responsible for our actions, we must be free to assess the world and express ourselves in vibrant public debate. Attacks on this freedom is spreading from Third World dictatorships to First World democracies.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / FOREIGN AGENDA
Jan 14, 2015

A note of concern to wounded MLK from a friend in Japan

Throughout Martin Luther King Jr.'s pursuit of justice and equal rights for African-Americans, he knew he had the support and consideration of Japan through an old classmate who had decided to study abroad and broaden his cultural understanding.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Jan 14, 2015

Ichiyanagi opera aims to be 'total work of art'

As part of its 40th-anniversary celebrations, Kanagawa Kenmin Hall in Yokohama will stage a world-premier version of "Legend of the Water Flame," an opera by the renowned composer Toshi Ichiyanagi that's scored around a libretto by a fellow octogenarian, the poet Makoto Ooka.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Jan 11, 2015

Fear and retribution rule amid Xi's crackdown on corruption in China

Chen Zhenggao, a member of the Communist Party's elite Central Committee, clearly has enemies.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 11, 2015

Dispelling the glamor factor of Islamic State

The Pentagon is trying to figure out why Islamic State has been so successful at attracting followers. Islamic State's recruitment imagery offers a different, more contemporary and overtly violent form of glamour.
Japan Times
WORLD
Jan 10, 2015

French police kill Charlie Hebdo massacre suspects; four hostages die in separate siege

Two brothers wanted for a bloody attack on the offices of French satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo were killed on Friday when anti-terrorist police stormed their hideout, while a second siege ended with the deaths of four hostages.
Japan Times
SOCCER / PREMIER REPORT
Jan 9, 2015

Martinez struggling to keep Everton competitive

So David Moyes is not such a bad manager after all.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 9, 2015

We are all Charlie, too late

The hope must be that the assassinations of cartoonists and journalists at the weekly Charlie Hebdo will waken political and media leaders to understand that press freedoms have been badly eroded worldwide.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink
Jan 8, 2015

Redzepi: 'I think the restaurant staff in Japan are some of the best on Earth'

Last year, while still only halfway through the extensive planning process, Noma chef Rene Redzepi sat down with The Japan Times in the extensive test kitchen above his Copenhagen waterfront restaurant and outlined his reasons and vision for Noma in Japan.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jan 7, 2015

100 Yen Love: Punching your way out of an old paper bag

Boxing films share a similar arc, typically climaxing in a big bout that decides everything — at least everything relevant to the hero's fate. This does not always means triumph, as fans of the "Rocky" series know, but even in defeat the hero usually inspires respect and sympathy, at the very least...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jan 7, 2015

Trash: 'inside Rio de Janeiro's rotten core'

'Trash" takes on greed and garbage — two issues that are linked to crucial global problems of climate change and poverty. These issues are really all part of one big family of troubles, but if one of these factors can be destroyed, chances are it might not be so hard to stomp out the others.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Jan 7, 2015

Uyama's new 'Lear' acts his age

"You see me here, you gods, a poor old man,As full of grief as age; wretched in both!"
WORLD
Jan 6, 2015

Growing number of foreigners signing up to fight Islamic State in Mideast

While illegally crossing the border between Iraq and Syria, Peter Douglas, a Canadian, was adamant that his incursion was for humanitarian reasons — to help the people of Syria.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Jan 3, 2015

In Kawabata's footsteps to 'Snow Country'

"The train came out of the long tunnel into the snow country."
ENVIRONMENT / OLD NIC'S NOTEBOOK
Jan 3, 2015

Talking tanuki — or whatever you call them

After deer, easily the most commonly seen wild mammals up here in the Kurohime hills where I live, and in northern Nagano Prefecture in general, are the furry, short-legged burrowing creatures called tanuki in Japanese.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books / ESSENTIAL READING FOR JAPANOPHILES
Jan 3, 2015

Hirohito and the Making of Modern Japan

"Hirohito and the Making of Modern Japan," first published in 2000, is a comprehensive and convincing biography of the wartime Emperor Hirohito and one which set out to shatter the myth that he was merely a figurehead, isolated from the power play that saw Japan militarize on a massive scale.
JAPAN / History
Jan 1, 2015

Donald Keene reflects on 70-year Japan experience

My first visit to Japan was very short, only a week or so in December 1945. Three months earlier, while on the island of Guam, I had heard the broadcast by the Emperor announcing the end of the war. Soon afterward, I was sent from Guam to China to serve as an interpreter between the Americans and the...
SPORTS / MAN ABOUT SPORTS
Dec 30, 2014

Bowl game experiences provide lifetime of memories

We are presently smack dab in the middle of MAS' favorite time of the sports year — the college football bowl season.
CULTURE / Music
Dec 30, 2014

'Kohaku' rallies the J-pop acts, but don't count enka out just yet

On New Year's Eve, many families in Japan inevitably wind up gathered around the TV to watch a selection of holiday programming. One of the most popular shows is NHK's "Kohaku Uta Gassen."
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 28, 2014

Hacking of low brow movie raises high stakes issues

The movie 'The Interview,' featuring the supposed blowing up of North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un, is a sad commentary on the idiocies of our troubled times. It should not have been made.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Dec 28, 2014

'Plant hunter' on quest to shake up horticulture with rare trees, flowers

From the isolated Socotra Islands off Yemen in the Arabian Sea to the dry forests of Argentina, Seijun Nishihata has traveled to 33 countries over the past 13 years to track down unique plant species for clients all over the world.
CULTURE / Books / ESSENTIAL READING FOR JAPANOPHILES
Dec 27, 2014

The Woman in the Dunes

Certain books must be read, even with the knowledge that the reading will be painful. Kobo Abe's masterpiece "The Woman in the Dunes" is one such book. Called an "existential fable," it is no surprise that Abe's favorite writers were Franz Kafka, Friedrich Nietzsche and Edgar Allan Poe.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / 20 QUESTIONS
Dec 27, 2014

20 Questions: best answers of 2014

Japan Times On Sunday contributors select the responses that made them laugh loudest over the past 12 months
EDITORIALS
Dec 25, 2014

Japan's space goals

Asteroid Explorer Hayabusa2, launched by Japan Space Exploration Agency on Dec. 5, is flying without a hitch so far. Regardless of whether this mission is successful, Japan needs to continue advancing its space exploration capabilities.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Dec 24, 2014

Top 10 films of 2014: made in Japan, for Japan

Are Japanese films in decline? Not at the box office, where they still beat the Hollywood competition (with the huge exception this year of "Frozen"), but what about international festival invitations, awards and critical buzz? The answer depends on your perspective. For overseas festivals specializing...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Dec 24, 2014

2014: New horizons opened up in Japan's theater world

Looking back over the past 12 months in Japan's theater world, it's clear that one encouraging trend is a lessening of the capital's dominance.

Longform

After the asset-price bubble crash of the early 1990s, employment at a Japanese company was no longer necessarily for life. As a result, a new generation is less willing to endure a toxic work culture —life’s too short, after all.
How Japan's youth are slowly changing the country's work ethic