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EDITORIALS
Nov 27, 2018

What should we expect of the 2025 Osaka Expo?

Organizers of the 2025 Osaka Expo should grapple with the meaning of holding the event at a time when the information age has cast doubt on the relevance of international expos.
Japan Times
Figure Skating / ICE TIME
Nov 27, 2018

Rika Kihira will require full arsenal to win Grand Prix Final

Rika Kihira staked her claim as Japan's biggest female skating star with a victory at the Internationaux de France in Grenoble on Saturday night. The triumph clinched a spot in next month's Grand Prix Final for the 16-year-old.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Nov 25, 2018

Pole dancing sheds seedy image to climb to new heights

Sixty-three-year-old Kiyoshi Ikehara mops his bald head with a towel, wipes his hands and grips the vertical pole.
JAPAN / History / Defining the Heisei Era
Nov 24, 2018

Defining the Heisei Era: Examining the rise of otaku culture

With the number of children shrinking, popular entertainment naturally began targeting the otaku population that didn't hesitate to open their wallets for material many considered juvenile.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Nov 24, 2018

The Jomon Period: Modern Japanese art with ancient beginnings

Japanese art has a quality all its own. The ancient and the avant-garde merge. Prehistoric figurines seem 10,000 years deep rather than 10,000 years old. And modern art takes us back even as it propels us forward. Manga, for instance, predates its name by centuries — millennia even, you might suppose,...
JAPAN
Nov 24, 2018

As Osaka basks in glow of successful 2025 Expo bid, economic concerns move to the forefront

After Osaka wins the right to hold the event, questions about costs and integrated casino resorts come to the fore.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
Nov 23, 2018

Kura's Kunihiko Tanaka: From peddling vinegar to running a sushi empire

Kunihiko Tanaka was peddling vinegar to sushi restaurants in western Japan when he spotted the opportunity that would change his life.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Nov 23, 2018

YMO's Yukihiro Takahashi celebrates a pair of 40th anniversaries

The past few years have been a boom time for Japanese reissues, as labels dredge up everything from ambient obscurities to glossy disco-pop for the benefit of listeners who missed them first time around. For Yukihiro Takahashi, it's all a bit confusing.
Japan Times
BASEBALL / MLB
Nov 22, 2018

Shohei Ohtani reflects on successful first year in Major League Baseball

A little over a year ago, Nov. 11, 2017, to be exact, Shohei Ohtani strode into a room full of journalists at the Japan National Press Club and told the world he was ready to head to MLB and hoped to one day become the best baseball player in the world.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / Japan
Nov 21, 2018

Building a 'free and open' Indo-Pacific

While deference usually invites bullying, standing up to China draws respect and a readiness to negotiate and make concessions.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Nov 21, 2018

Colorful walls can 'blow away' toilet odor, Japanese study says

Using bathrooms can be an everyday nightmare for children attending Japan's public schools where the restroom is often considered dirty and smelly.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 20, 2018

The limits of Beijing's charm offensive

While China's neighbors will undoubtedly welcome any respite from Chinese belligerence, they will not be fooled by sweet talk — or even sweet trade deals.
Japan Times
Figure Skating / ICE TIME
Nov 20, 2018

Hanyu's health a paramount concern

When a country takes the gold and bronze medals in the same discipline at a Grand Prix it would usually be considered a successful weekend.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Nov 20, 2018

Bruce Nachbar brings Hollywood know-how to Japanese filmmaking

The Japanese film industry may be the second-biggest in Asia, but to Hollywood it is still an island unto itself, its inner workings little understood. And the knowledge gap goes the both ways too; Japanese filmmakers may mine Hollywood for ideas and inspiration, but few try to make films — let alone...
EDITORIALS
Nov 19, 2018

Agreement eludes APEC

The APEC breakdown makes clear the widening gap in visions of regional order. Choices will have to be made, and soon.
Japan Times
MULTIMEDIA
Nov 18, 2018

November 19, 2018

Japan Times
JAPAN
Nov 18, 2018

NGOs worry about their waning influence over the G20

Nongovernmental organizations are concerned whether Group of 20 leaders will heed their views over global issues.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Nov 18, 2018

When it comes to teaching English, a theater troupe answer the CALL

Teachers across Japan no doubt understand the struggle to get junior and senior high school students interested in learning English. For elementary school-aged kids, that task takes a lot of creativity.
EDITORIALS
Nov 17, 2018

Move the isles dispute forward

If the Abe administration is changing the basic position on dealing with Russia, it should publicly explain and build a solid domestic consensus over its position.
EDITORIALS
Nov 16, 2018

Dip in GDP — no alarm but caution is warranted

The third-quarter GDP dip may be no cause for alarm but we should still be on guard against a possible downturn of the economy.
Reader Mail
Nov 16, 2018

Improving the welcome mat for foreign workers

If Japan is serious about "welcoming" foreign workers, one valuable step it could take to make them feel less excluded would be the wider adoption of the English language.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / Sound Off
Nov 15, 2018

Don't worry too much over BTS

Throngs of fans packed Tokyo Dome on Tuesday and Wednesday to watch K-pop group BTS perform songs from across its five-year career. The crowd cheered, bought merchandise and the two days offered the seven-member group some respite from a week of scandal.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Nov 15, 2018

Manga artist draws on history for tales of politically powerful women

A feminist manga-style artist says she plans to use characters based on an Egyptian pharaoh and a Chinese empress to bring more female empowerment to the male-dominated world of comic books.

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