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Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jun 3, 2011

"The 30th Anniversary of Ito Cultural Foundation — Highlights of The Donation"

The Ito Cultural Foundation was established in 1981 according to the wishes of Denzo Ito, the founder of Itoham Foods. Itoham Foods' headquarters is in Nishinomiya, Hyogo Prefecture, and the foundation was set up near Himeji to help Hyogo museums and cultural facilities offer the public better access...
JAPAN
Jun 1, 2011

Cleanup effort enters new phase

Since the Golden Week holidays in early May, fewer volunteers have gone to the Tohoku region to help it clean up from the devastation caused by the March 11 quake and tsunami.
LIFE / Digital / TECH_JAPAN
Jun 1, 2011

Sony's horrible year is not over yet

This was supposed to be Sony's year. PlayStation 3 sales were on the uptick and, back in January, the Tokyo-based electronics giant introduced its upcoming game handheld, currently codenamed Next Generation Portable or NGP. Then disaster struck, not once but several times. For Sony, 2011 is really starting...
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
May 30, 2011

Procedural phrasing: often a pain, but always polite

Japanese is chock full of procedural phrases that sound incredibly awkward when translated too literally into English. While many of these may seem unnecessary, they are critical to speaking more natural, fluent Japanese. Even the most basic phrases in Japanese are sometimes far more "play-by-play" than...
COMMENTARY
May 30, 2011

High-fat diet for treating epilepsy is revived

The ketogenic diet, a high-fat, adequate-protein and low-carbohydrate diet, is regaining popularity in treating difficult-to-control cases of epilepsy, particularly in children. The classic ketogenic diet contains a 4 to 1 ratio by weight of fat to combined amounts of protein and carbohydrates.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
May 29, 2011

Kan government struggles to raise reconstruction funds

John Maynard Keynes (1883-1946), the British economist who advocated government intervention to regulate financial health, has lately been cited in the Japanese press in reference to the current administration's plan to raise the consumption tax (CT). When he held the post of finance minister for five...
ENVIRONMENT
May 29, 2011

Serendipities at every turn on this island 'pearl'

The sound of Buddhist chanting grew louder as my travel companions and I entered the compound around the "temple," where flickering torches lit the smiling faces of sedately circling monks as the warm tones of their voices carried through the impenetrable darkness on a chilling, flag-fluttering breeze....
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
May 29, 2011

Electrifying one-act lives

The late Meiji Era (1868-1912) to early Showa Era (1926-1989) saw the creation of a body of short, one-act dramas akin in their electrifying impact to the 1960s in Japan, with its upsurge in theatrical experimentation. This book begins with a telling quote from the playwright and director Osanai Kaoru,...
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / BACKSTREET STORIES
May 29, 2011

Casting around in Tsukudajima

From Tsukishima Station on Tokyo's Oedo subway line, I launch myself northward toward Tsukudajima. A mere sandbar in the early days of the Edo Period (1603-1868), Tsukudajima long ago began to be expanded with boulders and landfill on the way to creating the area we now know.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
May 27, 2011

"Jun Igarashi: The Construction Of A State"

"Construction of a State" is award-winning architect Jun Igarashi's first solo show.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
May 27, 2011

"Tezuka Osamu's Student Life in Osaka University: To Be a Doctor or a Manga Artist, That Is the Question"

Osamu Tezuka, one of Japan's most famous manga artists, was an Osaka University medical graduate, though he never practiced medicine. He started at Osaka University in 1945 and made his manga debut the following year. In 1950, when he was still a student, he started a manga series titled "Jungle Taitei"...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
May 27, 2011

"The Pre-Raphaelites and William Morris Artists, Designers and Craftsmen"

After the Industrial Revolution in England (mid-18th to mid-19th centuries), society became concerned with increasing poverty and pollution and many yearned for a return to bygone values and morals.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
May 26, 2011

"French Window: Looking at Contemporary Art Through The Marcel Duchamp Prize"

Mori Art MuseumCloses August 28
EDITORIALS
May 24, 2011

Difficulty awaits in reconstruction

The Reconstruction Design Council, an advisory body for Prime Minister Naoto Kan, is entrusted with the task of drawing a grand vision for the reconstruction of northeastern Japan following the March 11 earthquake and tsunami, and the nuclear crisis at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant. Prime Minister...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
May 24, 2011

Travel firms feel pinch, pitch in after disasters

Every spring, as the wave of blossoms sweeps up the archipelago from south to north, washing up from the coasts into the higher altitudes, travelers flood into Japan. Rivaled only by the cool autumn months that redden maple leaves across the country, March and April are high season for tourism in Japan....
COMMENTARY / World
May 23, 2011

India's show of strategic autonomy flouts Washington's 'investment' in building ties

Finally, the Indian government seems to have convinced its domestic detractors that it is indeed "nonaligned" and that its foreign policy is not being crafted in Washington.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
May 22, 2011

Nuclear policy was once sold by Japan's media

Prime Minister Naoto Kan's decision to ask Chubu Electric Power Co. to shut the Hamaoka nuclear power plant in Shizuoka Prefecture met with mixed reactions. The residents of nearby Omaezaki are concerned since the facility employs about 2,800 people, but Chubu's subsequent announcement that it would...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
May 22, 2011

Untouchable lays bare a divided nation

With ebooks increasingly dominating the publishing market, it is a pleasure to hold a printed book so gorgeously designed as this one; the cover alone would make it a welcome addition to any Kenji Nakagami collection.
Japan Times
LIFE
May 22, 2011

Up close and personal: Why Dylan is so big in Japan

It was the fall of 1963, when — in what seemed like a flash of lightning — I became a fan of Bob Dylan the moment I heard "Blowin' in the Wind" on the radio. I was in my first year of high school.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
May 22, 2011

Iejima: an island of resistance

During the 30-minute ferry ride from Motobu on mainland Okinawa, Iejima reveals itself in stages. First, Mount Tacchu emerges above the waves like a chunk of the peanut brittle for which the island is renowned. Next, the wind-blown scent of countless thousands of hibiscuses sweetens the stink of the...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
May 20, 2011

"Tokuda Yasokichi III"

Yasokichi Tokuda III (1933-2009) was born into a Kutaniware pottery family. Kutaniware traditionally used dark-blue, purple, green and yellow glazes, but its creators also produced more contemporary colors based on traditional hues. Tokuda himself took advantage of the 200 different colored glazes now...
CULTURE / Art
May 20, 2011

"Michael Lin Mingling"

Born in Japan and now based in Shanghai and Paris, Michael Lin is a globally known artist whose work is strongly inspired by textiles. His installations are often large-scale, involving painting architectural spaces with brightly colored motifs similar to those of fabrics.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
May 20, 2011

"Le Chat Noir: Entertainment, Art And Culture In Paris 1880-1910"

From the end of the 19th to the early 20th centuries, Paris went through two completely different periods: end-of-century decadence and the apolaustic Belle Epoque. In 1881, "Le Chat Noir" (French for "The Black Cat"), an entertainment house, opened in Montmartre, and it became a base for a group of...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
May 19, 2011

Art in the realm of the sense of smell

In the battle between sight and smell, sight usually comes out on top as the more valued sense. But while our visual sense supplies us with copious and precise information about the world around us and allows us to appreciate images of beauty, our olfactory sense often has a firmer grasp on our moods,...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
May 19, 2011

Edo disaster images strike grim chords

How will the experience of the recent natural disasters impact on the work of Japan's artists? It's a question that is playing on the minds of many observers of the art world here these days, and it's a question that is somewhat answered — at least by way of historical parallel — in a show currently...
MORE SPORTS / ICE TIME
May 18, 2011

Morozov once turned down chance to coach Mao

It's a story that few know, but is fascinating nonetheless, one that may have changed the course of recent skating history.
COMMENTARY / World
May 16, 2011

Beware the impact of returning to normal

At the U.S. Federal Reserve's recent and first-ever public press conference, Chairman Ben Bernanke gave a spirited defense of the Fed's much-criticized policy of mass purchases of U.S. government bonds, or "quantitative easing." But was his justification persuasive?

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