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Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Apr 20, 2012

Actress Mizukawa tackles 'violent, turbulent' character

Despite being holed up in a Tokyo hotel room for a press junket, 28-year-old actress Asami Mizukawa is surprisingly upbeat. However, she gives an unusual response when asked about the new TV mini-series she is starring in.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Apr 20, 2012

'Le Havre'

Finnish filmmaker Aki Kaurismaki has always been free from a particular pressure of the modern world: the pressure to grow and change. You know, the one where we have to make more money, be better looking and forever fit, and go on better vacations than the Joneses (or Suzukis) and post the pictures...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Apr 20, 2012

Shindo's 100th birthday screenings

"I have depicted so many things, but I have depicted only one thing," Kaneto Shindo once said. "It is how humans live." And on April 22, the venerable filmmaker — the oldest working director in Japan — will celebrate his 100th birthday.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Apr 20, 2012

L'As: New French restaurant does things differently

It is always a pleasure to discover a great new restaurant — and even more so when "new" means a lot more than just "recently opened." L'As is a small place with a young crew and a location that is easy to overlook. But since opening in early February in the backstreets of Minami-Aoyama, it's been...
Reader Mail
Apr 19, 2012

'Sink or swim' ethic in America

Regarding Robert J. Samuelson's April 16 article "Look at Social Security for what it is: welfare," unfortunately millions of retired Americans depend upon Social Security payments for survival. Because the concept of "lifetime employment" is virtually unheard of in the United States, we do not often...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Apr 19, 2012

"Masterpieces of Chinese Ceramic Art Exhibition"

Even though the quality of Hikonobu Ise's collection of Chinese ceramics has been highly acclaimed internationally, the majority of his acquisitions have never before been shown to the public.
CULTURE / Art
Apr 19, 2012

"Masterpieces of Chinese Ceramic Art Exhibition"

Even though the quality of Hikonobu Ise's collection of Chinese ceramics has been highly acclaimed internationally, the majority of his acquisitions have never before been shown to the public.
COMMENTARY
Apr 18, 2012

Dam-building disputes roil Asia

Dam building on shared rivers has emerged as the leading source of water disputes and tensions in Asia, the world's driest continent whose freshwater availability is less than half the global annual average of 6,380 cubic meters per inhabitant. Dam-building activities by China and Central, South and...
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle
Apr 17, 2012

Medicinal direction from both the East and West

Once shunned as outdated and unproven, kanpō (Chinese herbal therapy) is currently making a vibrant comeback in Japan.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Apr 17, 2012

Bread and becquerels: a year of living dangerously

My New Year's resolution back in January was to survive this year, and many more to come, which means keeping myself and my family as far from harm's way as possible.
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Apr 15, 2012

Papa is an idol; marriage and memory loss; CM of the week: Takara Shuzo

Last month, pop idol Jin Akanishi was punished by his agency, Johnny's & Associates, for getting married without telling them. Another Johnny's idol, Ryo Nishikido, of the group Kanjani 8, has his handlers' blessing in the new series "Papa-doru" ("Papa Idol"; TBS, Thurs., 9 p.m.), which, though fiction,...
Japan Times
Features / WEEK 3
Apr 15, 2012

U.S. forces keep the world in their sights

Complex issues often become much easier to understand when they are approached with the benefit of a broader perspective.
JAPAN / History / JAPAN TIMES GONE BY
Apr 15, 2012

Titanic disaster, cherry trees sent to Washington D.C., "Sunflowers" fetches record price at auction

100 YEARS AGOFriday, April 19, 1912
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital / JAPAN TIMES BLOGROLL
Apr 12, 2012

Tokyo Times

When not working as a high school English teacher, photoblogger Lee Chapman walks the streets of Tokyo in search of stories and sights that tourists, and even long-term residents, seldom see. Chapman, a U.K. native, has been running the photoblog Tokyo Times for almost 10 years. While his posts do sometimes...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Japan Pulse
Apr 11, 2012

Toilet with a view opens in Chiba

If you gotta go, might as well go with a view. Seriously, we're not taking the piss, or anything.
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital / TECH_JAPAN
Apr 11, 2012

Capture your ideas any which way with these USB peripherals

Over the last five years or so, the USB drive has eliminated the need to cart around expensive disks of varying sizes that don't hold much data, or burn endless CDRs, making life a lot more convenient for computer users everywhere. Recently, the storage and connection format has seen some impressive...
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design / ON: FASHION
Apr 10, 2012

Mixing and matching wardrobes for Japan's The Reality Show

The Reality Show, a Tokyo-based bilingual glossy magazine, is nothing like the TV genre it borrows its name from.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Apr 10, 2012

Toyota, Nissan primed for comeback

Automakers were among the companies most heavily damaged by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami last year, but the road to recovery was fast and their plants are getting ready to make up for lost time.
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
Apr 10, 2012

Can I sue a former employer for not paying toward my pension?

John has a question about the Japanese pension system. He writes: "I am a permanent, legal Japan resident, and worked full time for a foreign company in Tokyo for six years. I am now retired and the Japan pension office advised that this company did not enroll me in any government pension plan during...
Reader Mail
Apr 8, 2012

Sunny pipe dream in the storm

Regarding the April 5 front-page Kyodo article "Softbank plans huge Hokkaido solar plant": This project sounds wonderful in theory. In reality, the promised minimum output won't be under Softbank's control; it will depend 100 percent on weather conditions. And Hokkaido really isn't suitable for the project....
BUSINESS
Apr 7, 2012

Japan-like fertility rate, aging population pose threats to China

The rapid aging of China's population poses a serious threat to the country's future growth and social security, and policy actions need to be taken now to deal with the repercussions in the coming decades, said a senior Chinese scholar from Shanghai.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Apr 6, 2012

Kita-Kamakura En: Kaiseki course as delicate as blossom

It's been a long countdown, but finally spring has liftoff. The buds and leaves are out, and so are those all-important cherry blossoms. And there is no finer way of appreciating them than from a table with a good menu and a choice vantage point.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Apr 5, 2012

'Murayama Tomoyoshi: Get All of Me Seething'

Greatly influenced in Europe by avant-garde movements such as Dadaism, Tomoyoshi Murayama (1901-1977) joined the radical Mavo art group upon his return to Japan in 1923. His artistic activities often disregarded traditional artistic genres and were politically motivated. He is particularly well known...
CULTURE / Art
Apr 5, 2012

'Murayama Tomoyoshi: Get All of Me Seething'

Greatly influenced in Europe by avant-garde movements such as Dadaism, Tomoyoshi Murayama (1901-1977) joined the radical Mavo art group upon his return to Japan in 1923. His artistic activities often disregarded traditional artistic genres and were politically motivated. He is particularly well known...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Apr 1, 2012

Slideshow: Roppongi Art Night 2012

Roppongi Art Night, which was cancelled last year due to the March 11 disasters, was back with a bang this year, featuring large scale expressions of Yayoi Kusama's famous obsession with dots, Tohoku-related projects, and events through the night of March 24. For roughly 24 hours, art lovers congregated...
CULTURE / Art
Apr 1, 2012

Slideshow: Roppongi Art Night 2012

Roppongi Art Night, which was cancelled last year due to the March 11 disasters, was back with a bang this year, featuring large scale expressions of Yayoi Kusama's famous obsession with dots, Tohoku-related projects, and events through the night of March 24. For roughly 24 hours, art lovers congregated...

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