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Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Nov 13, 2011

Erotica to celebrate and educate

The word shunga ("spring picture"), used to identify woodblock prints that portray erotic subjects, is not simply a euphemism for the awakening of natural urges. Rather, as both these books inform us, it is an abbreviation of a longer Chinese name, shunkyu higa ("secret pictures from the Spring Palace"),...
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Nov 6, 2011

Kuriyama facing tough transition in new role with Fighters

The Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters have indicated the next field manager of the team will be former Yakult Swallows outfielder Hideki Kuriyama, with a formal announcement to be made this week following the conclusion of the Pacific and Central League Climax Series.
Japan Times
MULTIMEDIA
Oct 13, 2011

Wonderlands of the artists' making

With a show titled "Ways of Worldmaking," you expect something big and with plenty of diversity — and The National Museum of Art, Osaka, mostly achieves this. Six individuals and three artist groups — all young and up-and-coming — have been brought together and given large, immersive spaces in...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Oct 9, 2011

Pan-Asian history writ large

Finally there is an excellent source book on Pan-Asianism, an ideology that has played an important role in Japan's regional interactions since the late 19th century.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Oct 2, 2011

Press miss the point at antinuke demo

Three weeks after Japan's biggest antinuclear demonstration, there is still some dispute over how many people actually attended. The organizers estimate 60,000 and the police say about 30,000. Except for the Yomiuri and Sankei newspapers, which accept the police figure, the mainstream vernacular media...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Sep 23, 2011

'The Company Men'

Years ago, Tommy Lee Jones came to Tokyo and said to a room full of overworked reporters: "I envy the Japanese. You don't have any vacation time. I hate vacations, they make me ill." That must have struck a resounding chord with the media here, because soon after that Jones started appearing in ads,...
COMMENTARY
Sep 19, 2011

'Our prosperity is not a threat to our neighbors'

Modern-day China still seems to search for a clear-headed sense of its true self and its proper place in the 21st-century sun.
EDITORIALS
Sep 5, 2011

World's biggest blog obsession

Internet users in Japan spend more time reading blogs than any other country in the world, according to a recent study from comScore, a research company measuring the digital world. The average Japanese user spent 62.6 minutes reading blogs during June of this year, when the survey was conducted.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Sep 2, 2011

Kyoko Kagawa retrospective looks back at Japan's golden age of cinema

Actress Kyoko Kagawa has starred in some of Japan's most successful films, over an impressive acting career that has spanned more than 60 years. She was the First Lady during the so-called golden age of the Japanese film industry in the 1950s and '60s, appearing in such classics as 1953's "Tokyo Monogatari...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / LIGHT GIST
Aug 30, 2011

Mascots on a mission to explain the mundane

It is often said that the Japanese have a unique attitude towards law. Many explanations have been offered for why this is so, and in what circumstances:
CULTURE / Books
Aug 21, 2011

Poetry as stimulating as a stun gun

THE NEW YURI AND SELECTED YURI: Writing From Peeling Till Now, by Yuri Kageyama. Ishmael Reed Publishing Company, 2011, 134 pp., $19.99 (paper) In the babbling cosmos of contemporary literature, there have been a handful of distinguished cross-cultural writers who have made the English language their...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Aug 2, 2011

Disaster brings out best in people, communities

"The Towering Inferno." "Deep Impact." "The Road." Hollywood's notion of how communities react to a disaster is unequivocal: People panic, societies collapse and enemies take advantage of the chaos to settle old scores.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / JUST BE CAUSE
Aug 2, 2011

The loneliness of the long-distance foreigner

A few months ago I had beers with several old Japan-hand guys (combined we have more than a century of Japan experiences), and one of them asked an interesting question:
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jul 28, 2011

"RongRong & Inri: Three Begets Ten Thousand Things"

Shiseido Gallery Closes Aug. 14
CULTURE / Books
Jul 10, 2011

Watch your manners!

MANNERS AND MISCHIEF: Gender, Power and Etiquette in Japan. Edited by Jan Bardsley and Laura Miller. University of California Press, 2011, 245 pp., $22.95 (paper) Don't let the cutesy Hello Kitty cover fool you. "Manners and Mischief" disdains frivolity and stands firm as an academic text for students...
Japan Times
BASKETBALL / BJ-LEAGUE NOTEBOOK
Jun 17, 2011

Nakamura hopes to bring winning ways to Akita

Fiery leader Kazuo Nakamura is officially on board as the Akita Northern Happinets' new head coach. The announcement, made earlier this week, was in the works for weeks.
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
May 31, 2011

English magazines run gamut from poetry to prose, Kanto to Chubu

We received several additional English-magazine suggestions in response to our May 17 column, "Print is suffering, but English readers have never had it so good."
Japan Times
BASKETBALL / BJ-LEAGUE NOTEBOOK
May 27, 2011

Niigata brings down curtain on Hirose era

After 11 seasons at the helm, Masaya Hirose's tenure as Niigata Albirex BB coach has ended.
Japan Times
BASKETBALL
May 23, 2011

Phoenix claim second straight title

The beast of the East proved once again it is the bj-league's best team.
JAPAN / WEEK 3
May 15, 2011

Author's fiction turns horribly real

The Pacific Ocean a few kilometers off the coast of a city in the Tokai region of central Honshu turns white. Hundreds of curious holidaymakers caught in a traffic jam on the seaside road get out of their cars and jump up onto the sea wall for a better view of the strange sight — only to realize that...
SUMO / SUMO SCRIBBLINGS
May 4, 2011

Scandals offer a silver lining

Over 20 rikishi have thus far been expelled. Some have gone quietly picking up very nice severance packages on the way out the door. Others have promised legal battles ahead that will, in all likelihood, be timed to avoid a clash with a particular basho. Wherever the yaocho allegations, dismissals and...
BASKETBALL / BJ-LEAGUE NOTEBOOK
Apr 29, 2011

Hamamatsu's Parmer named season MVP

When a team goes 40-6 in the regular season, its players deserve recognition for their success.
CULTURE / Books
Apr 24, 2011

Lotus Stutra enlightenment

THE STORIES OF THE LOTUS SUTRA, by Gene Reeves. Wisdom Publications, 347 pp., 2010, $18.95 (paper) Gene Reeves is just the kind of preacher-teacher I like, one who lays his wares out, takes a step back and lets you appraise what he has to offer without obligation. Buddhism, like all religions, is best...
COMMUNITY / Voices / HAVE YOUR SAY
Apr 19, 2011

'Nuclear plants on tofu,' 'Debito's drivel': readers respond

Some readers' responses to our stories and letters on Japan's nuclear crisis and Debito Arudou's "Letting radiation leak, but never information" (April 5):
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Apr 10, 2011

Kroon can't make cut with San Francisco

Marc Kroon was cut just prior to opening day after trying to make the San Francisco Giants. The six-year Japan veteran closer with the Yokohama BayStars and Yomiuri Giants was attempting to return to the majors with the defending World Series champions, and he did not make the team — but why not?...
Japan Times
BASKETBALL / BJ-LEAGUE NOTEBOOK
Apr 8, 2011

Shiga must cope with loss of injured Peppers

When he arrived in the city alongside picturesque Lake Biwa , the well-traveled Josh Peppers gave the Shiga Lakestars an added component that every team covets: a professional scorer.
EDITORIALS
Apr 6, 2011

End game in Ivory Coast

In most elections, the person who collects the most votes is declared winner and takes the office that was contested. Not in the Ivory Coast. There, incumbent President Laurent Gbagbo has refused to leave office after losing to former Prime Minister Alessane Ouattara.
CULTURE / Books
Apr 3, 2011

Sojourner of the mystical realm

THE PASSING SUMMERS, The Japanese Mystique: Charm and Consequence, by Ivy C. Machida. Printed Matter Press, 2010, 280 pp., $20 (paper) The 21st century has seen a proliferation of memoirs entering the book market — from James Frey's memoir-fiction "A Million Little Pieces" to the slew of ghosted celebrity...
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST
Mar 26, 2011

Measuring what has happened

This is supposed to be a humor column.
JAPAN / Media
Mar 23, 2011

Scatalogical 'Reactor Boy' web-cartoon eases fears of radiation

On March 15, four days after the Tohoku-Kanto earthquake and amid the heightened radiation fears following explosions at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant, Tokyo-based media artist Kazuhiko Hachiya started posting a series of short messages on Twitter.
Japan braces for more quakes as authorities dismiss doomsday hype
Evacuees from Akuseki Island, located in the Tokara island chain in Kagoshima Prefecuture, arrive at Kagoshima Port on Friday.
Heatstroke alert issued for 19 prefectures as Japan enters 'once-in-a-decade' heat wave
Japan will experience a heat wave through mid-July on a “level only seen once in a decade,” the Meteorological Agency said on June 30.
Hidden AI prompts in academic papers spark concern about research integrity
Waseda University is one of 14 institutions in eight countries found to have used hidden prompts in research papers.
Tokyo and Kyoto feature among top ‘noctourism’ destinations
Tokyo ranked second after New York and ahead of Dubai and Singapore in a ranking of the top global cities for nighttime tourism.
Elon Musk says he has created a new U.S. political party
Elon Musk looks on during a news conference with U.S. President Donald Trump in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington on May 30.
Ghibli’s Isao Takahata exhibit shows how beloved anime is made
“The man who planted Japanese animation” exhibition includes a variety of sketches, drawings and animation cels from Isao Takahata films such as color design for characters by Michiyo Yasuda from "Grave of the Fireflies."
Flag football facing challenges and opportunities ahead
Japan’s women’s flag football team at the 2025 International Bowl in Los Angeles in June. The sport is enjoying continued growth in the country.
From Hokusai’s Great Wave, shinkansen to One Piece: a cultural treasure box for Lego Japan
Michael Ebbesen, general manager of Lego Japan, says Lego bricks based on Japanese culture have a rich global appeal and are sellable around the world.
With farmed fish, RelationFish swims against the tide in fine dining
Chef Hideaki Matsuo (middle) and the staff of Oseto Suisan Fisheries prepare to check on their sustainably farmed fish.
As Southeast Asia heats up, a Japanese cooling giant sees a major opportunity
An employee of Daikin Cambodia explains the use of different tools during an air conditioner installation training session in Phnom Penh. Daikin is one of Japan’s oldest air conditioning companies, but as Japan’s population falls, the firm is keying in on overseas growth.

Podcast

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

Longform

Mount Fuji is considered one of Japan's most iconic symbols and is a major draw for tourists. It's still a mountain, though, and potential hikers need to properly prepare for any climb.
What it takes to save lives on Mount Fuji
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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