Search - life

 
 
BASKETBALL / BJ-LEAGUE NOTEBOOK
Jan 28, 2011

Kyoto ace Abdul-Rauf staves off Father Time

OSAKA — Kyoto Hannaryz guard Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf participated in the 3-Point Shootout during Sunday's All-Star festivities, providing a thrill for the enthusiastic crowd at Osaka Prefectural Gymnasium.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Jan 23, 2011

Mystery at a crossroads of continents

By the time I reached the small town of Palmyra, way out in the middle of the Syrian desert, I had become somewhat accustomed to the ways of the locals.
EDITORIALS
Jan 22, 2011

Pitch in and help the elderly

Japan boasts one of the highest overall life expectancies among nations. In 2009, the average life span for Japanese women was a whopping 86.44 years and that for men 79.59 years. The health ministry estimates the number of Japan's centenarians in fiscal 2010 at some 44,400 — a record. The population...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jan 21, 2011

A shot of Ardbeg in temple grounds

There's a faint scent of incense as you crawl through a knee-high door into a pebble-filled corridor that leads into a white igloo-like space, just big enough to fit three people. "This is my meditation room," says Akiyoshi Taniguchi, the curator who is introducing Kurenboh, a tiny modern gallery located...
CULTURE / Books
Jan 16, 2011

Mirrors are nothing but eyes

FOREST OF EYES: Selected Poems of Tada Chimako. Translated with an Introduction and Notes by Jeffrey Angles. University of California Press, 2010, 164 pp., $19.95 (paper) These are the lines from which the title of this poetry collection comes:
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / WILD WATCH
Jan 16, 2011

A dream comes true with the blues

My last great wildlife adventure of 2010 began in darkness to the sound of waves crashing on an idyllic beach.
Reader Mail
Jan 16, 2011

Excluding the best from exchange

Regarding the Jan. 8 Kyodo article "Language teachers to go to U.S. for exchanges": I don't understand the rationale behind most language exchange programs. This latest idea is, again, nothing more than a youth exchange. And this obsession with having young people teach language is absurd.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Jan 16, 2011

Osaka: mecca for foodies, and more

A visit to Osaka is all about enjoyment, entertainment and indulgence — particularly in the fine fare to be found everywhere around its historic sites and along the buzzing neon streets of Japan's food-fueled second city.
BASKETBALL / HOOP SCOOP
Jan 15, 2011

NBA prospect Tyler growing under Hill's tutelage

Potential is an intriguing word, a word that packs a punch, a word that grabs people's attention.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / MIXED MATCHES
Jan 11, 2011

Absence makes couple grow fonder

Long-distance relationships are no longer rare in today's global village. But how long can a couple last without actually seeing each other? Fukuoka residents Naoko Yufu, 28, and 26-year-old Xie Guosong from China have been apart for about four of the five years of their relationship.
COMMENTARY
Jan 9, 2011

Palestinians revisit their hopes and failures

SEATTLE — When the late Palestinian President Yasser Arafat read the Declaration of the Palestinian Independence just over 22 years ago, Palestinians everywhere were enthralled. They hung on his every word during the Palestinian National Council session in Algeria on Nov. 15, 1988. The council members...
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Jan 9, 2011

Japan's year of triumph in space

So, it's goodbye to 2010, the Year of the Tiger, and hello to 2011, the Year of the Rabbit.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jan 7, 2011

Fill up on Morimura's unusual 'side dishes'

Some artists are accorded such historical importance that virtually everything they do or have done comes under close scrutiny. Other artists are effectively known for a single thing, such as the nominal Italian Surrealist, Giorgio de Chirico, who is primarily known for his so-called "metaphysical paintings,"...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jan 7, 2011

Realizing the genius of Leonardo da Vinci

A temporary pavilion in Tokyo's Hibiya Park seems like an unlikely venue for showcasing the hallowed works of Leonardo da Vinci, but for this particular exhibition, the big top-like structure is appropriate. "Leonardo da Vinci: The Genius" is aimed straight at the general public. Designed, produced,...
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL: KEYES' POINT
Jan 5, 2011

Dairokkan: sixth sense among the cedars

"When these sugi (杉, cedars) were umareta (生まれた, born), if that's the word," says Mayumi, "Japan was in its Jōmon Jidai (縄文時代, Jomon Period, c. 10,000 B.C.-c. 300 B.C.). Before bunmei (文明, civilization), before nōgyō (農業, agriculture), before sensō (戦争, war) — before...
COMMUNITY
Jan 4, 2011

Arudou's Alien Almanac: 2000-2010

No. 5: The Otaru onsen case ('99-2005)
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / JUST BE CAUSE
Jan 4, 2011

Arudou's Alien Almanac: 2010

No. 5: Renho joins Kan's Cabinet Japanese politicians with international roots are few but not unprecedented. But Taiwanese- Japanese Diet member Renho's ascension to the Cabinet as minister for administrative reforms has been historic. Requiring the bureaucrats to justify their budgets (famously asking...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Jan 1, 2011

Wheelchair pioneer out to change public perceptions

"You can't keep a good man down" is the darkly applicable phrase that springs to mind when listening to Yasuhiro "Mark" Yamazaki. The energy, conviction, sense of mission and utter absence of self-pity in this soft-spoken man is humbling.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST
Jan 1, 2011

Perfect vacation and perfect aggravation

All good marriages hinge on compromise, no matter what the couples' cultural backgrounds. Remove compromise and the open door of married life soon swings awry.
LIFE / Food & Drink
Dec 31, 2010

Eat temple style at home or find the right Tokyo eatery

It seems implausible these days but, until 150 years ago or so, Japan was essentially a vegetarian country. Certainly, river fish were caught, seafood was eaten by people on the coast and hunting was part of life for those living in the inhospitable interior. But the Buddhist tenets against taking life...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Dec 31, 2010

2010 top movies: Japan feels a crazy little thing called love

This was the year of love in Japan. Not that there was a sudden rise in the marriage rate (ain't happening), but you could sense a certain savviness about love-related issues that wasn't present before.
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.
JAPAN / Media
Dec 26, 2010

Arashi get advice from their 'honey man'

What do you get when you combine the Wales-born, dyed-in-the-wool outdoorsman C.W. Nicol with the five squeaky-clean members of Japanese boy band Arashi? Good television, that's what.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Dec 25, 2010

Student group advocates joint child-rearing

Recent years have seen an increase in fathers who try to share in the raising of their children — an activity that even university students are starting to encourage.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WORDS TO LIVE BY
Dec 23, 2010

Part-time salesman/cleaner Seiji Date

Seiji Date, 60, is a part-time clothing salesman and a part-time cleaner. He has 38 years of experience in the fashion business, but six months ago, the economic slump forced his employer to retire him at the company's mandatory retirement age of 60. Having spent 27 years with the same retailer, where...
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Dec 19, 2010

Marriage: A royal pain in the heart

Some outmoded institutions live on as anachronisms because enduring qualities in them continue to appeal to people. Royalty is one example. Marriage is another. Royal marriage? Well, naturally.
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Dec 19, 2010

Japan's most wanted; tribute to Kohei Tsuka; CM of the week: Suica

Last April, the government abolished the statute of limitations for murder, which was 25 years for killings punishable by death and 15 years for others. The new law will not affect cases that had already lapsed before it went into effect. Its purpose, according to the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department,...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Dec 19, 2010

University grads need to expand their horizons

A man I sometimes work with built a house in Hiratsuka, Kanagawa Prefecture, about 10 years ago when he was 30 years old. At the time he was working for one of Japan's most prominent trading companies, and had been ever since he graduated from university. He chose Hiratsuka because it's on the JR Tokaido...
CULTURE / Film
Dec 17, 2010

'Welcome'

The reviews were mixed when "Welcome" won the European Parliament's 2009 Lux Prize, awarded to films that show "the process of building Europe in a different light." Previous winners were the highly acclaimed "The Edge of Heaven" and "Lorna's Silence" — and criticisms of "Welcome" focused on the fact...

Longform

An illustration features the Japanese signs for "ganbare" (good luck) and the Deaflympics, which will be held between Nov. 15 and 26.
A century of Deaf sport finds its moment in Tokyo