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The entrance gate to Arakura Sengen Shrine in Fujiyoshida, Yamanashi Prefecture, with Mount Fuji in the distance.
JAPAN / History / The Living Past
Jan 15, 2025

From wrath to radiance: Why the 'Manyoshu' feels like paradise lost

While the Bible’s God demands obedience and punishes sin, the 'Manyoshu' radiates innocence, joy and harmony with nature.
Japan Sumo Association Chairman Hakkaku (right) alongside David Rothschild, the promoter of an upcoming tournament in Paris, on Sunday in Tokyo
SUMO
Jan 19, 2025

Top sumo pros to enter the ring in Paris in June 2026

It will be the third such event in the French capital and the first since 1995.
Aside from purely aesthetics, the flowers in Mika Ninagawa’s art carry deep cultural and spiritual meaning.
CULTURE / Art
Jan 25, 2025

Mika Ninagawa transforms the Kyocera Museum into a vibrant dreamworld

The artist’s most expansive exhibition in the Kansai region to date is an experience that straddles the boundaries of photography, film and installation art.
Arsenal midfielder Myles Lewis-Skelly (second right) reacts after being sent off by referee Michael Oliver on January 25, 2025.
SOCCER
Jan 29, 2025

Arsenal boss Arteta urges stop to abuse after red card rescinded

The referees' body, PGMOL, said the police were investigating threats and abuse directed at referee Michael Oliver following the game.
Documentary director Kaku Arakawa’s filming style — naturalistic, intimate and unobtrusive — proved essential to portraying anime powerhouse Hayao Miyazaki as a man as flawed and human as he is a visionary artist in “Hayao Miyazaki and the Heron.”
CULTURE / Film
Jan 31, 2025

Two decades of unparalleled access into the world of Hayao Miyazaki

Documentary director Kaku Arakawa has spent years filming the anime powerhouse to reveal the man beyond the myth.
Dress-up games and dating sims were once forgotten genres, but now expanded player bases are helping to generate major profits.
LIFE / Digital / ON: GAMES
Feb 1, 2025

Gaming’s feminine side is starting to make big bucks

Two recent releases — a sci-fi dating sim and a souped-up dress-up simulator — are starting to change the conversation around previously dismissed genres.
Donald Trump, then the Republican nominee for U.S. president, meets with Ukrainian Persident Volodymyr Zelenskyy in New York on Sept. 27 last year.
WORLD / Politics
Feb 2, 2025

U.S. wants Ukraine to hold elections following a ceasefire, says Trump envoy

Volodymyr Zelenskyy's five-year term was supposed to end in 2024 but polls cannot be held under martial law, which Ukraine imposed in February 2022.
The Imperial Household Agency's Instagram account boasts over 1.8 million followers.
JAPAN / FOCUS
Feb 3, 2025

Imperial Household Agency finds success on Instagram amid public relations push

With the account boasting over 1.8 million followers, the agency is aiming to boost engagement.
Taiwanese star Barbie Hsu, who was hugely popular across Asia for her leading role in the 2001 television drama "Meteor Garden," died from a respiratory illness during a family trip to Japan over the Lunar New Year holiday.
CULTURE / TV & Streaming
Feb 3, 2025

Taiwan's 'Meteor Garden' star Barbie Hsu dies at 48

The actor, who rose to fame as the romantic lead in a 2001 television drama based on a manga series, died from a respiratory illness during a family holiday in Japan.
Risshaku-ji Buddhist temple in the snow, with the valley and town in the background.
SATOYAMA CONSORTIUM
Feb 4, 2025

Yamagata’s Zao Onsen Ski Resort is a classic beauty

Each year between mid-November and April, winter sports fans from around the world flock to Japan for the country’s renowned powder snow. Aussie snowboarders, in particular, have made Niseko in Hokkaido and Hakuba in Nagano their winter homes, escaping the hot summers Down Under.
Russian Communist Party supporters carry a flag after a ceremony in Moscow to mark the 150th anniversary of Vladimir Lenin's birth in 2020.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 10, 2025

Russia’s nostalgia machine works for strongman Putin

If Russians are gripped by a yearning for an imaginary past, they will not fight for a better future.
"I hope skaters who train here will go on to shine on the world stage," Olympic silver medalist Mao Asada told the Japan Times at Mao Rink Tachikawa Tachihi, a skating rink in Tachikawa, Tokyo, whose establishment she was involved in, on Jan. 28.
MORE SPORTS / Figure skating
Feb 11, 2025

Mao Asada sets out to safeguard the future of Japanese skating

Mao Rink Tachikawa Tachihi, a project that involved the three-time world champion, has become a dream destination for skaters.
Netflix series “Asura,” directed by Hirokazu Kore-eda, is a remake of a classic TV drama (known as “Like Asura” in English), created by Kuniko Mukoda and broadcast by NHK between 1979 and 1980.
CULTURE / TV & Streaming
Feb 12, 2025

The different faces of ‘Asura’ through the generations

While Hirokazu Kore-eda’s new series meticulously remakes a classic NHK drama, this reinterpretation tweaks the story to give its female characters more agency.
Visitors look at information promoting Saudi Arabia's Neom megaproject at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, on Jan. 22.
WORLD
Feb 13, 2025

Why are TikTok 'momfluencers' lauding Saudi Arabia's desert megacity?

One Thai "momfluencer" shared a video of her "typical afternoon in Neom." The video has been viewed around 800,000 times. The city it shows is almost deserted.
The monkish aristocrat Yoshida no Kenko extolled the virtues of asymmetry, imperfection and ephemerality in his famed essay collection “Tsurezuregusa.”
JAPAN / History / The Living Past
Feb 15, 2025

‘The most precious thing in life is its uncertainty’

A man of leisure from 700 years ago extols the virtues of asymmetry, imperfection and ephemerality.
Abdul Hakim Sani Brown (center) runs during a 100-meter heat at the Paris Olympics on Aug. 3, 2024.
MORE SPORTS / Athletics
Feb 20, 2025

Abdul Hakim Sani Brown ready to sprint past Paris disappointment

Despite setting a personal best with a time of 9.96 seconds, Sani Brown finished fourth in his semifinal heat in the 100-meter sprint in Paris.
Tokoro Ruins Museum Director Yuuki Nakamura says that 'most Japanese people don’t know' the history of the Okhotsk culture, but he and others are betting that travelers might be intrigued enough to visit and find out more.
LIFE / Travel
Feb 22, 2025

Bear skulls and pit dwellings: Hokkaido aims to sell ancient history

The Okhostk culture thrived in northern Hokkaido from the fifth to ninth centuries and may have provided the Ainu with some of their best-known rituals.
Seven & I has spent months fending off Couche-Tard’s takeover bid with complex maneuvers, but instead of chasing defensive strategies, it should focus on strengthening its core convenience-store business, which still has untapped potential.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Mar 4, 2025

7-Eleven’s time-wasting isn’t so convenient

Retail is a fast-moving industry — and months spent fending off Couche-Tard means less focus on strategy.
Mendoza, Argentina, offers a combination of natural beauty, a thriving wine industry, political conservatism and valuable resources, making it an attractive potential safe haven amid global instability.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 12, 2025

I just found my nuclear war hideaway

This question is less and less theoretical: The world seems to be living on the edge, with growing tensions between great powers.
Ichiko Aoba’s latest full-length album, “Luminescent Creatures,” weaves in sounds mimicking whale songs and wind to express her fascination with the natural world and its interconnectedness.
CULTURE / Music
Mar 7, 2025

Ichiko Aoba’s intimate sonic fantasy born from dreams

The singer-songwriter turns her subconscious into songs about the natural world and its interconnectedness on “Luminescent Creatures.”
U.S. President Donald Trump is often portrayed as a master dealmaker, but his approach tends to be erratic, his business record includes notable failures and his style leans more toward performance than strategic negotiation.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 11, 2025

Trump’s dealmaking is all about him

From effectively ending the war in Ukraine to setting tariffs, the president’s negotiating skills are coming up short.
K-Ballet Tokyo celebrates its 25th anniversary with an extended lineup including a revival of the vibrant pirate-story ballet "Le Corsaire."
CULTURE / Stage
Mar 15, 2025

K-Ballet Tokyo marks 25 years of passion and perseverance

The dance company celebrates a milestone anniversary with an extended lineup including a revival of the vibrant pirate-story ballet "Le Corsaire."
Johan Leutwiler checks a sword he made at his workshop studio in the Kui district of Mihara, Hiroshima Prefecture.
JAPAN / Regional Voices: Hiroshima
Mar 24, 2025

Japan's first foreign swordsmith opens workshop in Hiroshima Prefecture

Johan Leutwiler hopes to promote the charm of Japanese swords following the completion of his five-year apprenticeship.
An expanded multilevel pond and devices spraying cold mist have been installed at the Omiya Bonsai Art Museum to protect against the dangers of warming summers on the institution's trees.
LIFE / Travel
Mar 24, 2025

World’s first public bonsai museum reopens after renovations

After a five-month refurbishment, the Omiya Bonsai Art Museum believes it’s better suited to care for its trees during intensifying summers.
The "Infinite Paradise" main lantern takes center stage at the 2025 Taiwan Lantern Festival, held in the city of Taoyuan between Feb. 12 and 23.
JAPAN
Mar 30, 2025

Lantern festival lights up skies in Taiwan with Japanese flair

Japanese municipalities added sparkle to the celebration in Taoyuan, with decorations featuring local mascots and icons.
Tadanobu Asano plays real-life photographer Masahisa Fukase in “Ravens,” which follows the artist’s life from his professional beginnings to the accident that ended his career.
CULTURE / Film
Mar 27, 2025

‘Ravens’: Tadanobu Asano plays troubled photographer with scapegrace charm

Mark Gill’s visually lush film subverts the realism of Masahisa Fukase’s life story by introducing a human-sized raven as an imagined antagonist.
Lakers forward LeBron James (center) dribbles the ball while Pacers forward Pascal Siakam defends in the second half at Gainbridge Fieldhouse, Indianapolis on Wednesday.
BASKETBALL
Mar 27, 2025

LeBron buzzer-beater rescues Lakers to halt losing streak

James leapt to palm the ball into the bucket for the winning score and give the Lakers a precious victory in the race for Western Conference playoff berths.
Kazuki Morohashi showcases rice "kōji" at a Japanese sake fair held in Chongqing, China, in November.
JAPAN
Mar 28, 2025

Data science helps sake break into wine-dominated market

To preserve the environment for sake production, some breweries are endeavoring to expand their sales channels overseas.
The Tokyo National Museum’s garden is open to the public in springtime, when 10 different varieties of cherry trees are blooming.
CULTURE / Art
Mar 28, 2025

Cherry blossom-themed art to see this weekend in Tokyo

With the cherry blossoms’ ephemeral beauty immortalized in art and literature for centuries, there's plenty of artworks to gaze upon on rainy days.
Mitsuko Kusabue plays the feisty proprietor of a ramshackle drinking establishment in “Let’s Meet at Angie’s Bar.”
CULTURE / Film
Mar 31, 2025

‘Let’s Meet at Angie’s Bar’: A granny like none other

Acting veteran Mitsuko Kusabue brings wisdom and wit to Yurugu Matsumoto’s lighter-than-air comedy.

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