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Japan Times
JAPAN
Jun 11, 2014

Popularity of 'kendama' abroad spurs trend at home

The traditional cup-and-ball game "kendama" is back, thanks to a new "cool" image mostly nurtured overseas and imported back to Japan.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Jun 11, 2014

David Bintley bows out with a 'Pagoda' set in Japan

Challenge is intrinsic to artistic creation, but David Bintley relishes it so much that he specializes in conceiving the unlikely.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jun 10, 2014

ICJ ruling will help Japan resume whaling in name of 'research': official

An embarrassing court ruling that halted Japan's Antarctic whaling will actually help Tokyo take whales in the name of science, a top whaling official said just a day after the prime minister vowed to press for commercial whaling.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics / FOCUS
Jun 10, 2014

Putin gambles on culture war with the West

Oleg Makarenko wants to set the story straight and answer the "Russophobes" who he says are trying to split and humiliate Russia.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / KANPAI CULTURE
Jun 10, 2014

Meet the Willy Wonka of extraordinary cocktails

Contrary to expectation, the Blue Cheese Martini at the Akasaka branch of Code Name Mixology is a subtle concoction. The cocktail is clear, served in a delicate crystal glass, with three olives on the side. The cheese aroma hovers faintly on the nose, but the first sip is mildly sweet and fruity. The...
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 10, 2014

Some companies still struggle with their dark WWII history

The amount of bookshelf space dedicated to the 12 years of Hitler's Third Reich often exceeds that of any other period in history, but the role and the complicity of companies in the atrocities committed by the Nazis continue to be shrouded in obscurity.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jun 10, 2014

Boris sums up its sonic spectrum with 'Noise'

Trying to define the sound of Tokyo-based experimental trio Boris is like asking someone their favorite kind of music. It's everything, it's nothing in particular ... it's definitely not country.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Science & Health / ADVANCES IN PROGRESS
Jun 9, 2014

Algae underfunded in energy hunt

Could algae power your car? In the search for new energy sources, scientists are turning the green goo into oil.
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design / ON: FASHION
Jun 9, 2014

Young designer opportunities, plus new lines for older brands

Designers, get ready to get crazy
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 9, 2014

Asian threats, provocations giving rise to whiffs of war

When the political history of the 21st century is written, it may well trace the tipping point toward war in Asia to our present decade.
COMMENTARY / Japan / COUNTERPOINT
Jun 7, 2014

Abe touts immigration, but refugees get shunned

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe may be considering letting down the drawbridges for 200,000 immigrants a year in order to offset Japan's declining population and boost the economy. At this year's Davos World Economic Forum, Abe stated that Japan needs more foreigners, but accepting enough to make a difference...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Jun 7, 2014

'Battle Royale' wins the game for hungry fans

I should probably start this review with somewhat of a disclaimer. About 10 years ago — not long after Kinji Fukasaku's film adaptation of Koushun Takami's controversial novel "Battle Royale" became a cult hit overseas — I bought a screen-printed poster from a London-based design studio called Airside....
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Markets
Jun 6, 2014

Zombie firms pressured to act

The government is targeting stagnant companies that lack the will to grow and has drafted a plan to help institutional investors pressure them into pursuing growth more aggressively.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jun 4, 2014

Tokihiro Sato: A breath of fresh photography

Using a penlight at night and a mirror during the day, the photographs in Tokihiro Sato's 'Photo-Respiration' series show trails or spots of light in darkened landscapes, of which probably the most audacious are scenes of central Tokyo.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 4, 2014

China wields history as weapon, except on June 4

For China, history is a weapon to use against other countries, but it keeps a curtain of silence drawn around the events that transpired in Tiananmen Square on June 4, 1989.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jun 3, 2014

Website targets women for management jobs

BizReach Inc., a Tokyo-based job search company, has introduced a career-change website for women, as Prime Minister Shinzo Abe encourages companies to boost female leadership.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO BAR ADVENTURE
Jun 3, 2014

Drinking with the dead at Tokyo's zombie bar

Once a month, Night Gallery Cafe Crow in Roppongi becomes a horror scene straight out of a George A. Romero film, as zombies descend upon the small venue. For more than two years, zombie performance unit Zombiena has been renting out the place every last Sunday from 3 p.m. to 9 p.m. to hold what it calls a Zombie Bar.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jun 3, 2014

Especia takes a road less traveled by idol acts

The eldest member of six-member idol unit Especia was born in 1989, so when I ask them about life during Japan's early '90s bubble era they can only imagine what it was like.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 3, 2014

The CCP defied doomsayers, but how will it last?

The problem now facing the Chinese Communist Party is that most of the factors that enabled it to survive since the Tiananmen incident 25 years ago either have already disappeared or are about to. For all practical purposes, pro-market reforms are dead, as a kleptocracy of government officials, their families and well-connected businessmen has colonized the Chinese state.
EDITORIALS
Jun 2, 2014

Poroshenko's assignment

The most pressing task for newly elected Ukraine President Petro Poroshenko is reaching out to Ukrainians in the east and assuring them that they have a place in the new Ukraine.
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design / ON: DESIGN
Jun 2, 2014

Clever designs in kitchenware and desktop decor

Keeping flower books
Japan Times
MULTIMEDIA
Jun 1, 2014

Dip into spanish culture

Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
May 31, 2014

AKB48's business model is likely to survive media attacks

The universe shifted on the afternoon of Sunday, May 25, when a young, unemployed man attacked two members of the all-female idol collective AKB48 and a male security staffer with a folding saw during a fan event in the city of Takizawa, Iwate Prefecture. Or, at least, that's how the media reacted. Some...
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
May 31, 2014

Walking on water: the seven bridges over the Seto Inland Sea

Through the clouds of steam rising from the hotel's hot spring, I can make out Jupiter — a tiny pinprick of light beaming over the twinkling black waters of the Seto Inland Sea. It's easy to see why this hotel is called Bella Vista. Tucked into the hills outside the historic town of Onomichi, in Hiroshima...
Japan Times
JAPAN
May 30, 2014

Tsukiji traders fish for new export markets

Businesses operating at Japan's largest fish market are increasingly trying to boost exports, sensing demand overseas for such fare as octopus, abalone and stonefish sold with the renowned Tsukiji brand.
COMMENTARY / World
May 30, 2014

Why Google's self-driving car terrifies Detroit

Perhaps the U.S. auto industry's biggest problem right now is that the usually slavish press is going crazy for the Google self-driving car prototype in ways that the carmakers haven't been able to inspire in a long time.
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
May 30, 2014

Yokohama celebrates 155 years as a trade port

It might surprise you to know that Yokohama was once a tiny village with less than 100 households living off farming and fishing. It wasn't until the port opened to foreign trade in 1859 that it began to expand to become Japan's second most populated city. Now it is one of the most popular tourist destinations...

Longform

Japan's growing ranks of centenarians are redefining what it means to live in a super-aging society.
What comes after 100?