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Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Apr 7, 2012

Fighting the good fight for a healthy natural diet

Mamiko Matsuda, the best-selling author, translator and nutritional expert who divides her time between Japan and Houston, overcame an early struggle with poor health and disease to become an advocate for healthy diets and "natural hygiene."
COMMENTARY
Dec 23, 2011

Learning about dignity

On Dec. 19 the United Nations General Assembly, meeting in New York, adopted a historic new U.N. Declaration on Human Rights Education and Training.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / HAVE YOUR SAY
Dec 20, 2011

Cultural relativism, Meiji, phonetics and eigo woes

Some readers' responses to Nicolas Gattig's Nov. 22 Zeit Gist column, headlined "MacArthur, identity theory and Japan's lingering eigo woes":
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHO'S WHO
Nov 29, 2011

Jose Alvares finds Portugal-Japan links

Jose Alvares has tried to "reconnect" the Portuguese and Japanese cultures over the last 43 years he has spent in Japan.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Sep 29, 2011

The cute 'n' kooky world of Kyary Pamyu Pamyu, Japan's newest pop idol

A recurring theme in the Strange Boutique column has been the question of what has gone wrong with pop music in Japan. Amid discussions of the pernicious influence of advertising agencies, record industry conservatism in the face of declining sales, and the faceless, self-replicating Eurobeat monstrosity...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Jul 14, 2011

The future of Japanese theater lies in individuality

In April 2010, Junnosuke Tada became Japan's youngest-ever artistic director of a public theater when, at age 33, he was appointed by the Kirari Fujimi Theater in Fujimi, Saitama Prefecture.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives
Apr 3, 2011

Japan's 'La Gaijine'

On Francoise Morechand's living room table there sits a book once owned by a samurai in the Edo Period (1603-1867) that she says she has been studying.
COMMENTARY
Mar 22, 2011

The rejuvenation of Tokyo

With April's gubernatorial election in Tokyo just around the corner, major candidates have announced their decisions to run. This political event comes amid the world's red-hot competition for intercity popularity.
Reader Mail
Jan 30, 2011

Cultural generalizations dangerous

Anyone reading James Hicks' Jan. 20 review ("Speak out for 'universal' standards") of the recent exchange of letters between him and me, and who had not read all the letters, might assume that I was an obsequious cultural relativist who was trying to justify the video rape game that Mark Soni of Maryland...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Dec 30, 2010

Ainu tell their story with their own film

Many people believe the Ainu live only in Hokkaido, but that's not true.
COMMUNITY / Voices / HOTLINE TO NAGATACHO
Nov 9, 2010

Japan must end the scourge of parental child abduction

To the government of Japan:
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WORDS TO LIVE BY
Sep 23, 2010

Language teacher Kae Minami

Kae Minami, 32, is a bilingual language teacher. For the past seven years, she has had an outstanding record as a top Japanese juku sensei (prep school teacher). Her foreign students start out with virtually no knowledge of Japanese and almost all of them pass their Japanese university entrance exams,...
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 2, 2010

A shift in strategy needed to revive Japanese industry

Against the backdrop of intensifying Japan-U.S. trade frictions in the 1980s, it was considered for some time that Japan's economic power was a threat to the United States. This country's high rating has since declined, however, giving way to comments like "Japan has disappeared from the world's radar...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Jul 23, 2010

Reflections of Chekhov's Russia in modern-day Japan

"People compare me with Bertolt Brecht, and I am glad to hear that — but why won't anyone call me Anton Inoue?"
Reader Mail
Jul 22, 2010

Rakuten may be asking for trouble

Some praise Rakuten for displaying ambitions in expanding globally and others criticize the move to English as ineffective from a human resource perspective, but no one seems to have considered its plan from a socio-cultural perspective.
Japan Times
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Oct 16, 2009

Tea gets Grand treatment

This year's Tokyo Grand Tea Ceremony provides an opportunity for anyone to experience Japan's renowned tea culture.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHO'S WHO
Sep 29, 2009

The man who delivered pizza to Japan

Earnest Higa's life is all about being bicultural in Japan and the United States. He has used this aspect of his character in his career, spending the past 24 years making sure U.S.-based Domino Pizza fits in Japan.
COMMUNITY
Aug 15, 2009

Surviving a Japanese summer boils down to the art of omiyage

, smells of sea salt and suntan lotion on the beach; these images of summer dominate the mental landscape of Shonan, just as the umi-no-ie summer beach houses physically transform the shoreline from Chigasaki to Zushi, Kanagawa Prefecture. For me, however, one image reigns supreme during the months of...
CULTURE / Books
Jun 28, 2009

Seduced by the stereotype: a meeting and parting of East and West

A prequel to her autobiographical best-selling novel "Fear and Trembling," Amelie Nothomb's "Tokyo Fiancee" is a slight tale of love and doubting in Japan. The narrative overlaps the time period of "Fear and Trembling," recounting the years between Amelie's return to Japan from Belgium after 16 years...
Japan Times
JAPAN / MIXED MATCHES
Feb 7, 2009

Long-shot meeting, longtime love

After training under a dyer for six months in Takamatsu, Kagawa Prefecture, art student Satoko Yamagishi decided she needed a break. In October 1998 she went to Montreal, where she met Philippe Lavoie, a Canadian computer chip designer studying Japanese.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle
Nov 25, 2008

Harajuku in peril?

As a dedicated follower of Japanese pop culture and the coauthor of a book on Japanese teen fashion, I confess that I'm getting a bit concerned about the direction in which the Harajuku district is headed these days.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Nov 13, 2008

Modern maki-e

I don't express otaku culture," says Tomotaka Yasui at the Megumi Ogita gallery in Ginza, where he is having a solo exhibition of three new works. "Now in foreign countries, all people hear about is otaku culture. I want to introduce other aspects of Japanese culture to other countries — Japanese style,...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Oct 2, 2008

Explosive new anime packed with surprises

'I was looking to do something different, but at the same time if it was too unique, it could fail," says Masayuki Miyaji, director of PlayStation Network's new anime series "Xam'd: Lost Memories." "But then if it fails, that might even be more fun."
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 22, 2008

Indonesia's miraculous 'free' democracy

JAKARTA — Modern miracles do happen. Ten years ago, as the Asian financial crisis savaged Indonesia's economy, many experts predicted that the country would become unstable, if not splinter. Instead, Indonesia, the world's most populous Islamic country, has emerged as a beacon of freedom and democracy...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Aug 28, 2008

Ainu musician Oki brings the world to Hokkaido

With a Japanese mother and Ainu father, the appearance of Oki on "The Rough Guide to the Music of Japan" with his Oki Dub Ainu Band presents a rare glimpse of the multiracial underbelly that Japan seems reluctant to own up to. Despite being indigenous to Hokkaido, or Ezo as it is known to them, the Ainu...
Japan Times
JAPAN / RETRACING ROUTES
Jun 19, 2008

'Nikkei' craft own unique ethnicity, samba to manga

Igor Inocima's face filled with contentment as he described the achievement of introducing the culture of manga to Brazil, where his grandparents emigrated to some 80 years ago.
Japan Times
LIFE
Jun 8, 2008

Viva matsuri!

To commemorate 100 years of Japanese emigration to Brazil, and the countries' continuing close links, taiko drummers from both cultures will be powering a huge festival set for Sao Paulo on June 21

Longform

Ichiro Suzuki, one of the most iconic players in NPB and MLB history, was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame with 99.7% of the vote.
With Hall of Fame induction, Ichiro makes himself heard loud and clear