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Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Aug 5, 2021

Former AKB48 idol Miyu Takeuchi takes her musical career into her own hands

Singer Miyu Takeuchi got her start just shy of the spotlight in Japan's idol-pop group, but has taken her creative output into her own hands as a solo performer on YouTube.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / Japan Pulse
May 8, 2021

The Japanese art of racking up clicks online

Stories focusing on the ways that Japan can fix your life are proliferating online, but they may say more about our need for change than Japan itself.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE FOREIGN ELEMENT
Jan 30, 2020

Parents in Japan use YouTube to teach bilingual baby talk that's good for any age

Mothers raising their kids in Japan head to YouTube to create a community that goes beyond basic parenting tips.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Jan 25, 2020

Is Japan enjoying a new literary golden age?

The case for Yes
Japan Times
JAPAN / History / THE LIVING PAST
Jan 18, 2020

Kukai: Sowing the seeds of Shingon Buddhism

'Some say that though Kobo Daishi (Kukai) left this life he did not die, that he lies uncorrupted in (his tomb on Mount Koya) under these ancient trees, awaiting the coming of the future Buddha who will signal the salvation of the world' — Oliver Statler, 'Japanese Pilgrimage' (1983)
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHY DID YOU LEAVE JAPAN?
Aug 10, 2019

Something's cooking in Sachie's Kitchen

Sachie Nomura's home-cooking skills become the recipe for business success in New Zealand.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHY DID YOU LEAVE JAPAN?
Aug 3, 2019

Jessica 'JJ' Rabone: Dancing on air in the U.S.

A passion for dance led JJ to get into a Californian groove
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / TELLING LIVES
Apr 3, 2019

Joy Waller's 'Pause :: Heartbeat' tackles intimacy and solitude in Tokyo

The solitude of losing yourself in techno, pink-tiled facades and rooftops as far as the eye can see, nocturnal intimacy and secret pockets of drug use — this is the lonely underbelly of Tokyo that Joy Waller puts into words in "Pause :: Hearbeat."
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Jan 13, 2019

Sort out your digital diet and keep your sanity in 2019

Judging by the New Year's resolutions I'm hearing so far this year, the internet was a real source of frustration for a lot of people in 2018.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
May 16, 2018

'Mori, the Artist's Habitat': A delightful dip into a creator's world

Fact-checking biopics is an easy game for critics to play since nearly all films about real people fudge facts or even outright lie to tell a story. I've played the game myself, but in the case of Shuichi Okita's delightful "Mori, the Artist's Habitat," it's almost beside the point.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle / CHILD'S PLAY
Jul 16, 2017

Traveling through time with the kids in tow

Life in Japan has changed dramatically over the past 100 years. In the span of a few generations, millions of Japanese left the countryside and moved into urban and suburban sprawl. For city kids like mine, the connection to rural farm life is tenuous at best, but we feel that it's still important to...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Jul 8, 2017

'Fall Down 7 Times Get Up 8': 'The Reason I Jump' author returns with new English collection

The accomplishments of Japanese poet, novelist and essayist Naoki Higashida are impressive. He's published more than 20 books in Japanese, pens a popular blog and is seeing the release this month of his second book in English — all before his 25th birthday in August.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHY DID YOU LEAVE JAPAN?
Apr 1, 2017

Etsuro Sotoo: Master sculptor in Spain found calling in a pile of rocks

Etsuro Sotoo cuts a distinguished figure on the Barcelona culture scene. As the Sagrada Familia's only official sculptor, he exudes old-world style in his felt fedora, flowing scarf and manicured goatee.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / BLACK EYE
Dec 18, 2016

A 'Big Bang' in the ring kicks it old school in Japan

American 'joshi puroresu' follows her dreams and finds fresh challenges in the 'mecca of wrestling'
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / FOREIGN AGENDA
Dec 7, 2016

So you want to write about Japan?: the 10 essential tips

Having taken the daring — not reckless or avoidant — step of leaving your home country, you now have a million stories to tell.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / BLACK EYE
May 15, 2016

Laid-back baker finds luck and love in Tokyo

Once shunned by his in-laws because of his race, father of four hopes to change minds in Japan, little by little.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Nov 18, 2015

Kohei Oguri's 'Foujita' struggles to win over foreign audiences

Veteran auteur Kohei Oguri's first film in 10 years, "Foujita" is a biopic of artist Tsuguharu "Leonard" Foujita. The toast of prewar Paris for his elegantly drawn women and cats, Foujita radically switched styles on his return to a militarized Japan and his propaganda art for the war effort was heavily...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE FOREIGN ELEMENT
Oct 11, 2015

Hoodie Monks mix beats with their Buddhism

The Hoodie Monks bring together two cultures that might at first seem like unlikely partners: Buddhism and hip-hop.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Sep 5, 2015

Transcending issues on the summit of Mount Shichimen

There are times in life when you need a monk. That's when you head out to Yamanashi Prefecture and climb up the sacred Mount Shichimen — to find Keishin-in Temple and get a Buddhist perspective on all things human, including love.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Apr 28, 2015

Orpheus descends on Japan

Of all U.S. playwright Tennessee Williams's many major works — including "A Streetcar Named Desire" and "The Glass Menagerie" — "Orpheus Descending," which opens in Tokyo next week with a star-studded Japanese cast and multi-award-winning English director Phillip Breen at the helm, is among those...
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / BACKSTREET STORIES
Oct 25, 2014

Dead reckoning in the haunts of Honancho

Halloween in Tokyo rarely gets scarier than the price of imported pumpkins, but I've heard that Honancho — a terminal station on the Marunouchi subway line — hosts an uber-spooky obakeyashiki (ghost house). Navigating the station's dank, barely-lit stairwell at Exit 2, I'm already apprehensive.
CULTURE
Jan 1, 2014

NHK's yearlong drama 'Gunshi Kanbei' takes cues from Korean success stories

Strap yourselves in, you're in for a hair-raising ride.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Sep 28, 2013

Biography of Masaoka Shiki excels in the expanded details

Haiku, the short Japanese poem now proliferating overseas, scarcely needs an introduction anymore. Its three great pillars, widely read even in translation, are the poets Matsuo Basho (1641-1694), its first creator, then Yosa Buson (1716-1784) and Kobayashi Issa (1763-1828), who renewed it.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Aug 8, 2013

The dead get their day as zombies go mainstream

My first zombie movie was "Night of the Living Dead," viewed at a midnight screening at the old Harvard Square Cinema, attended by a small coterie of late-night freaks and stoners. With its relentless dread and entrail-chomping ghouls, it was a film beyond the pale of normal, daytime moviegoers.
Japan Times
BASKETBALL / HOOP SCOOP
Mar 31, 2013

Cummings, father share hoop bond

Terry Cummings' success as an NBA player inspired his son, T.J., who now plays for the Sendai 89ers, to follow in his footsteps.
CULTURE / Books
Nov 25, 2012

Introducing the irreverent, unconventional Ryokan

SKY ABOVE, GREAT WIND: The Life and Poetry of Zen Master Ryokan, by Kazuaki Tanahashi. Shambhala, 2012, 224 pp., $17.95 (paperback) It is fitting that the first poem in this book features Ryokan's nod to the most famous of Japanese poets:
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Aug 12, 2012

Diving into Ise-Shima's ancient womanly traditions

The hut of the pearl divers is more modern than I'd expected. Here, in the village of Osatsu along the craggy coast of the Ise-Shima region in Mie Prefecture, the small concrete building named Hachimankamado blends in with its 21st-century surroundings. But inside the hut the traditions are age-old,...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Apr 7, 2012

Fighting the good fight for a healthy natural diet

Mamiko Matsuda, the best-selling author, translator and nutritional expert who divides her time between Japan and Houston, overcame an early struggle with poor health and disease to become an advocate for healthy diets and "natural hygiene."

Longform

A small shrine perched atop rocks braves the waves hitting the shoreline during a storm in Shimoda, Shizuoka Prefecture. The area is under threat of a possible 31-meter-high tsunami if an earthquake strikes the nearby Nankai Trough.
If the 'Big One' hits, this city could face a 31-meter-high tsunami