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Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design
Jul 25, 2020

Redefining the kimono in modern times

While many associate the kimono with Japanese tradition, renewed interest in the garment at home and abroad is giving it a new lease on life.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Dec 14, 2019

Winding back the years in Yokohama’s Yamate district

One of Japan's '100 Cityscapes,' Yokohama's Yamate district — also known as 'The Bluff' — preserves some of the city's elegant European structures and international heritage.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Aug 10, 2019

Reborn-Art Festival: A Tohoku community gets a new lease on life

Climbing the stairs of Ishinomaki's first department store, built in 1930, I can hear the sound of a man singing and the gentle strumming of an acoustic guitar. The voice is not one of a professional crooner; it's raspy and unsure, and sounds like an amateur retelling a tale of sorrow without too much...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Jun 28, 2014

Mori classic was the epitome of Meiji style

There has been no period in the history of modern Japanese society so dramatic and so remarkably tumultuous and fluid as the Meiji Era (1868-1912), and no single work of fiction more revelatory in its depiction of that period than Ogai Mori's "The Wild Goose." Now we have, in Meredith McKinney's just...
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design
Jun 11, 2013

For David Bowie, Japanese style was more than just fashion

The Victoria and Albert Museum in London has scored a victory with its exhibition "David Bowie is..." for elucidating what many have probably always suspected: David Bowie is a bit of a Japanophile.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Mar 1, 2007

Storm clouds over an artist's life cut short

In the summer of 1924, fresh out of art school in Japan and settling into the Academie de la Grande Chaumiere in Paris, Yuzo Saeki (1898-1928) was taken by his classmate Katsuzo Satomi to have his work critiqued by the Fauvist painter, anarchist and journalist Maurice de Vlaminck. Just when he was getting...
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Apr 29, 2005

Reliving the good life in the country

Visitors to Japan often go into a form of shock not long after they arrive. It is not the different language, cuisine, or social customs that are the cause, but, rather, the realization that Japanese cities are vast, crowded, hyper-modern jungles of humanity where life seems to be constantly on warp...
Japan Times
SUMO
Mar 7, 2003

Takanohana getting grip on life off the dohyo

Recently retired yokozuna Takanohana was the idol of the sumo world during the 1990s and his departure from the sport earlier this year leaves many wondering how it will carry on.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / Japan
May 15, 2020

Changing lifestyles and nightlife in Japan's post-pandemic 'new normal'

Like it or not, our world is going to be different moving forward, and some of the biggest changes may be in Japan's entertainment districts.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Sep 20, 2008

Coordinating human life

While I was in the city the other day, I saw a sign on a building that described a certain company, in English, as "human life coordinator." I suppose life is something like a pant suit — you've just got to coordinate it.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle
Dec 26, 2020

Japanese abroad adjust to new realities of life in a foreign community amid COVID-19

Uncertainty surrounding the outbreak has forced many Japanese living overseas to view their future with fearful optimism.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jul 13, 2020

Japan needs fight-style reform

Defense Minister Taro Kono has scrapped a plan to deploy Aegis Ashore, a land-based missile defense system. The decision has triggered a series of debate within the ruling Liberal Democratic Party on Japan’s future defense posture including the issue of “enemy base strike capability.”
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design / ON: FASHION
Dec 12, 2015

From Saint Laurent to Uniqlo

Saint Laurent joins the glamour of Omotesando
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Oct 6, 2011

Bringing Western-style painting back to the East

Ryusei Kishida (1891-1929) remains a giant of modern yōga (Western-style Japanese painting), though his idea of "modernism" would mostly have been unrecognizable to his Western counterparts.
BUSINESS
Oct 18, 2005

Murakami, Tokyo Style reach settlement

Outspoken financier Yoshiaki Murakami said Monday his fund has reached a court-mediated settlement with Tokyo Style Co. after the apparel firm's president, Yoshio Takano, agreed to pay 100 million yen in compensation to his own firm for inflicting damages as a result of investments that turned sour....
JAPAN / Politics / FOCUS
May 27, 2021

Suga's top-down management style under scrutiny after series of rapid policy shifts

The prime minister's approach could backfire and is already undermining the government's traditional chain of command.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle / Kateigaho International Japan Edition
Feb 8, 2020

Folk fun: Making folk toys accessible in everyday life

Japan's abundant forests meant all kinds of wooden toys were made. Some of them, like kokeshi dolls, have come back into vogue, and there are now multiple museums and shops where it's possible to view and engage with these charming toys.
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design
Jul 7, 2019

Shigeru Ban designs an escape from the pressures of urban life

Nature takes precedence in Shigeru Ban's unusual design for Shishi- Iwa House, a resort hotel in Karuizawa designed to encourage human interaction within luxury minimalism.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Jun 22, 2019

'The Fourth String: A Memoir of Sensei and Me': Music, life and reflections on the space in between

Janet Pocorobba's 'The Fourth String' reconfigures the typical Japan fish-out-of-water memoir into a meditation on music and mastery, relationships, culture and narrative.
Japan Times
CULTURE / TV & Streaming
Nov 23, 2017

B.J. Fox navigates life in Japan as a stay-at-home dad in the sitcom 'Home Sweet Tokyo'

There are many ways to learn about a country's culture, but B.J. Fox thinks comedy is one of the best. After being relocated to Singapore from his home country of England for work, he found that sharing a few laughs with others who were in similar situations helped him connect with his new surroundings....
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design
Oct 22, 2017

The traditional kimono never goes out of style

The fusion of traditional Japanese culture with contemporary life isn't a new concept, but as trends change the results can vary greatly. On the runway, we are seeing sophisticated ideas that infuse new looks with time-honored tastes in subtle yet effective ways; while on the streets, the stylings of...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / TELLING LIVES
May 31, 2017

Puppeteer pulls the strings from the sticks of Toyama, with a point to prove

From Toyama to schools far and wide, Jack Lee Randall lives his lesson — that art can thrive wherever people are.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Apr 24, 2016

Guesthouses are proliferating in Japan's countryside, but at what cost?

To ensure they can continue working into their twilight years, many owners of traditional Japanese inns are keen to change their business model.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Jan 7, 2015

'Flies' festers at core of family life

Central to William Golding's dystopian novel "Lord of the Flies" is the notion of violence as a social construct. "Maybe there is a beast ... maybe it's only us," says the protective Simon before a hostile assembly of other schoolboys marooned on the uninhabited island where the English Nobel laureate...
Japan Times
LIFE / Language
Dec 30, 2012

The wonderful worlds of 100 waka

The scene: England, Boxing Day 2012. The archetypical Carters are relaxing after a cold turkey lunch (with bread sauce) and are watching the Royal Family's latest sonnets being read on the goggle-box. Time for a game!
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle
Dec 4, 2012

Original gifts for your unique friends

The design lover
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 11, 2010

Don't count Thai Prime Minister Abhisit out

BANGKOK — For a man who has faced seemingly endless efforts to oust him by both parliamentary ballot and by bullet, by the slippery devious machinations that are meat and drink to Thai politicians and by street protesters who took over the commercial heart of Bangkok for more than two months, Prime...
Aoi Suzuki’s son runs past a home in Taketomi on Iriomote Island (not to be confused with Taketomi Island, which lies to the east of Iriomote). The Suzukis run the Takemori Inn, one of the few hotels on Iriomote.
LIFE / Travel / Longform
Aug 14, 2023

My annual pilgrimage to Okinawa

Navigating between different ferries can open up whole new worlds in Japan's southernmost islands.
I was skeptical of Lillian Cumic's avocado tempura, but I wound up loving it.
LIFE / Food & Drink
Mar 3, 2024

Vegan or no, ‘Hawaii Washoku’ is a cookbook for all eaters

Chef Lilian Cumic offers creative versions of many of Japan’s most iconic dishes crafted from scratch with pantry staples found in most kitchens.
Rows of irises resemble a rice field at the Peter Walker-designed Toyota Municipal Museum of Art.
LIFE / Style & Design / Longform
May 4, 2024

The 'outsiders' creating some of Japan's greenest spaces

Once an exotic curiosity, Japanese gardens have gone on to inspire green thumbs around the world.

Longform

Visitors walk past Sou Fujimoto's Grand Ring, which has been recognized as the largest wooden structure in the world.
Can a World Expo still matter? Japan is about to find out.