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EDITORIALS
Apr 16, 2020

Government’s support for schools is essential

Students in public schools closed by the pandemic are at a strict disadvantage to their peers in private schools. The nation must do everything it can so these children are not left behind.
Reader Mail
Apr 16, 2020

Watch out for Abe's vision of 'unity'

Regarding Yoichiro Sato’s April 14 opinion piece “Will Abe’s conservative nostalgia beat COVID-19?” Prime Minister Abe's vision for a "beautiful" Japan seems to be based on the "unity" of good and beauty through the sameness of the community (and, it seems reasonable to say, the essential...
Reader Mail
Apr 15, 2020

Frustrating lack of access to multilanguage Ghibli films

Regarding the April 11 story "Forget you're under quarantine and lose yourself in the world of Studio Ghibli," not only are Ghibli movies not available on Netflix in Japan, but even the DVDs here are not bilingual. So, one has to purchase both English dubbed DVDs and Japanese DVDs respectively in order...
Japan Times
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Apr 14, 2020

Outlook uncertain for Japanese-language exams

Japanese-language exams are in an uncertain state due to the outbreak of novel coronavirus around the world. Your Japanese study doesn't need to stop, though.
Reader Mail
Apr 9, 2020

A plea to the government: Don’t lock down

As a former business journalist for The Economist and a clinical psychologist treating health anxiety, I have watched in admiration as Japan’s economy has stayed open during the coronavirus panic. Now pressure is mounting to lock down the country. I beg Japan’s government not to succumb; a plea on...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Apr 6, 2020

My life on the run from COVID-19

Right now I am in voluntary self-quarantine after returning from overseas. When I flew into Kansai International Airport from the island of Bali on March 23, Indonesia wasn’t on the list of countries with known coronavirus infections, and local authorities had not yet asked returnees from abroad to...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Apr 5, 2020

Businessman paid ¥881 million by Tokyo's Olympic bid committee lobbied figure at center of French graft probe

A businessman who received millions of dollars for his work on Tokyo's successful campaign to host the 2020 Olympics, which were postponed in March due to COVID-19, has said he played a key role in securing the support of a former Olympics powerbroker suspected by French prosecutors of taking bribes...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Apr 4, 2020

‘What is Japanese Cinema?’ review: A deft and engaging history of Japanese film

This book is healthily nonjudgmental concerning which films are “good” and which are not. Instead it steps back — far back — to gaze carefully at and analyze the bigger picture: the role that cinema has played in reflecting and altering Japanese consciousness and Japanese reality over the span of a century.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / Food Sustainability in Japan
Apr 4, 2020

Bio Labo House: Miica Fran’s experimental zero-waste kitchen

Food creator Miica Fran is on a mission to save the planet through her “special healing power” of salvaging and savoring vegetables.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT
Apr 4, 2020

C.W. Nicol, a committed environmentalist with deep humanity

Author and environmentalist C.W. Nicol died on Friday after being diagnosed with cancer in 2016. As a long-standing contributor to The Japan Times, we asked his equally long-standing editor, Andrew Kershaw, to write a few words in memory of the award-winning conservationist
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Apr 3, 2020

Actress Aoi Mizuhara explores Asian family values in 'The Farewell,' her Hollywood debut

Japanese actress Aoi Mizuhara explores Asian family values in her debut Hollywood film, 'The Farewell,' which is set for release in Japan in April.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Apr 1, 2020

Meet the expat comedians who keep Tokyo smiling

Probably the biggest paradox of stand-up comedy is that while there are no schools of humor — no Bachelor of Laughs degree, not even a “funny” skill on Linkedin to endorse your friend for — stand-up comedians are out there in good numbers. Even in Tokyo, where speaking English can be a struggle,...
LIFE / Language / MORNING ENGLISH
Mar 31, 2020

Let's discuss the cherry blossoms

An article by Alex Martin looks at the history of Japan's iconic cherry blossoms, serving up new English terms in the process.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / OLD NIC'S NOTEBOOK
Mar 30, 2020

We live in neither East nor West

With COVID-19 pulling the world apart, it's the people, from healthworkers to thoughtful neighbors that can bring it back together.
CULTURE / Books
Mar 28, 2020

The seemingly perfect world of author Clarissa Goenawan

Set in Japan, Clarissa Goenawan's eagerly anticipated second novel, 'The Perfect World of Miwako Sumida,' has a winsome tone, harkening to the early works of Banana Yoshimoto.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink
Mar 27, 2020

Asia's 50 Best Restaurants is a somber countdown for an industry and continent in crisis

In the latest edition of the Asia's 50 Best Restaurants rankings, Singapore's Odette has retained its No.1 position for a second straight year, ahead of The Chairman in Hong Kong and Tokyo's Den. But the announcement on Tuesday was overshadowed by the escalating coronavirus pandemic that has swept the continent.
Japan Times
PODCAST / deep dive
Mar 25, 2020

Episode 44: The Tokyo 2021 Olympics

On Tuesday 24 March it was announced that the Tokyo Olympics will be postponed until sometime 2021. Staff writer Ryusei Takahashi on what we know so far.
Japan Times
OLYMPICS
Mar 22, 2020

Tokyo organizers quietly plan for potential Olympic delay: sources

Tokyo 2020 organizers have started drafting possible alternatives to holding the Olympics this summer, two sources familiar with the talks said, in contrast to the government's stance that postponement is not an option.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Mar 21, 2020

Dramatizing the reality of a nuclear meltdown

As with many feature films based on real-life incidents, "Fukushima 50," which opened nationwide March 6 and depicts the actions of the men who struggled to contain the disaster at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant following the Great East Japan Earthquake of March 2011, is a blend of factual exposition...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books / Children's Literature in Japan
Mar 21, 2020

Momoko Ishii: Shaping Japanese children's literature for the modern era

Dedicated to children's literature since her youth, Momoko Ishii authored and translated dozens of books, and her tireless advocacy changed the way postwar society valued children's literature for decades to come.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Mar 20, 2020

Gezan's Mahito The People says music won't be beaten by a virus

These are trying times for gigging musicians. As COVID-19 continues its relentless spread, tours are being cancelled and artists and promoters are having to adjust to a brutal new reality, in which the activities that livelihoods depend on are suddenly rendered taboo. When I meet the members of alternative...
Figure Skating
Mar 19, 2020

Alexandra Trusova leads quad revolution in debut senior season

Writers dub her the "Quad Queen."
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 18, 2020

Donald Trump and the great man theory of politics

Trump views foreign leaders who wield dominant power and authority as people who can help him solve international problems.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Mar 18, 2020

Canceling your trip due to coronavirus? Airbnb refuses scores of refunds

Josh Ostroff had a difficult choice to make: Cancel a trip to Japan in March that he'd been promising his 10-year-old son for three years, or ignore travel warnings and put his family's health at risk amid the coronavirus outbreak.
Figure Skating
Mar 17, 2020

Retired ice dancer Chris Reed dies of heart attack at age 30

Former ice dancer Chris Reed, who represented Japan for more than a decade, died on Saturday of a heart attack in Detroit, according to a published report. He was 30.
Reader Mail
Mar 13, 2020

Government is bungling virus outbreak

In the space of a few days, the government response to the current health crisis exposed many of its deep-rooted inadequacies.

Longform

In 2020, 38% of all households were single-person. That figure is projected to rise to 44.3% by 2050.
The rise of AI companionship in a lonely Japan