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Japan Times
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Jan 16, 2014

Pacifico Yokohama gets dolled up for its Hinamatsuri-display exhibition

Who says dolls are just for kids? Pacifico Yokohama's exhibition of traditional Japanese display dolls — the largest of its kind — is to be enjoyed by everyone.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jan 16, 2014

Planned demolition bonds mark end of era

After educating children since 1956, Kiyokawa Elementary School stands abandoned, its walls and roof crumbling because there are no longer enough pupils to fill it and the town can't afford to demolish the building.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Jan 15, 2014

This special Horse Year kabuki's a real winner

Most kabuki plays have at their core a dramatic historical episode. Around this, there's generally a colorful, oft-times melodramatic and action-packed confection of intrigues, loyalties, romances, self-sacrifice and villainy founded on varying degrees of fact — or simply fashioned as pure fiction....
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 13, 2014

Abe should end Yasukuni visits

Ever since Prime Minister Shinzo Abe visited Yasukuni Shrine last month, a former British ambassador to Japan has been trying to guess what Abe's motives for such an act could have been.
WORLD
Jan 13, 2014

How affairs of the heart became fair game for the press

Twenty years ago, a French president could carry on extramarital activity in the knowledge that privacy laws and a respectful press would keep his secret. Editors and politicians colluded to ensure the public would never know. Love lives were strictly off limits to the media.
LIFE
Jan 11, 2014

King of the monsters has universal appeal

Kouhei Nomura published a glossary titled 'The Godzilla Encyclopedia' in 2004 after six months of dedicated research. He delivers his verdict on why the king of the monsters is so popular worldwide.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jan 10, 2014

Security put in spotlight after escape

The escape of an alleged rapist from a Kawasaki prosecutor's office interrogation room this week has highlighted the insufficient security steps at such branches as well as the apparent lax guarding of suspected criminals.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives
Jan 10, 2014

Educator with a mission sends out support from Hiroshima

Some people seem to have a knack for turning their hand to anything that comes along and, moreover, making a success of it. This is certainly the case with Hiroshima-based Adam Beck. Over the years, the American has been a children's theater director, an English teacher, a newspaper columnist and the...
Figure Skating / ICE TIME
Jan 10, 2014

Kim looking like a lock for second gold medal in Sochi

With less than a month to go until the Sochi Games begin, all signs are that defending Olympic and world champion Kim Yu-na is rounding into form and will be in top shape when she enters the rink at the Iceberg Skating Palace.
Japan Times
CULTURE
Jan 9, 2014

Will Cool Japan finally heat up in 2014?

After years of talk, 2013 marked a watershed moment in the government's Cool Japan campaign. Which begs the question: Is Japan cool?
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / HOTELS & RESTAURANTS
Jan 9, 2014

Stay plan for Tokyo marathoners; New year lunches in Kobe; meals from the movies

Stay plan for Tokyo marathoners
Japan Times
CULTURE
Jan 9, 2014

Tao makes the cut in new drama

At age 28, actress and model Tao Okamoto is already one of the few women in history — along with actress Farrah Fawcett and Jennifer Aniston's Rachel character from "Friends" to name a couple — to have a haircut named after her.
Japan Times
Events / Events In Tokyo
Jan 9, 2014

Taste some local fun at Tokyo Dome

Whenever you crave a home-made meal, chances are you'll head straight to your hometown or mom's house for a taste of your childhood. Failing that, though, you could visit the Furusato Matsuri at Tokyo Dome City in Tokyo's Suidobashi district, where all kinds of local foods and specialties from across...
CULTURE / Film
Jan 9, 2014

'Dangerous Liaisons'

Dangerous Liaisons" is compelling, not necessarily because of its content but because this is a Chinese movie adapted from an 18th-century French novel by Pierre Choderlos de Laclos. It has exactly zero working-class characters, not counting the occasional maid. That's an event in itself. A decade ago,...
COMMUNITY / Issues / LABOR PAINS
Jan 8, 2014

Restore the shuttered-up New Year's of yore

First of all, I would like to wish a happy new year to all the readers of Labor Pains. While labor news has generally been a gloomy topic of late, it is my hope that this year will bring brighter things for me to write about.
JAPAN / Politics
Jan 8, 2014

Luminaries' statement slams Henoko base deal

Twenty-nine scholars, peace activists, writers, artists and a Nobel laureate issue a statement condemning the decision to relocate the Futenma base to Henoko and comparing opposition to the move with America's civil rights movement.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jan 8, 2014

Foreign delinquency presents special challenges

Sitting in a dimly lit room at a training school for juvenile delinquents in Tokyo, an 18-year-old Brazilian-Japanese boy reflects on his misdeeds.
Japan Times
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Jan 5, 2014

Impress your hosts with osechi meanings

Shōgatsu (正月, New Year) is the time when most Japanese carry out certain religious rituals, though many of them may not realize what they do has religious significance.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jan 5, 2014

Chinese gaming mecca attempts to shed its gaudy image

Walk into a casino in China's gambling mecca of Macau, and the first thing that strikes you is the silence. There's no blaring music, no sharp cries of victory; all you hear is the rustle of clothing, a hushed conversation, the occasional thump on a table — subtle signs of fortunes being made and lost....
JAPAN / Media / DARK SIDE OF THE RISING SUN
Jan 4, 2014

Here's eyeing Japan 2014 — warts an' all

"To know the future, look at the past," is a familiar Buddhist aphorism. However, it's also said that a prophet isn't honored in his hometown — which is why I live in Tokyo. As we ride into the Year of the Horse, I thought I'd canter awhile through times to come and report back on what I found. My...
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 3, 2014

Let's score leaders by deeds

2013 has too many anti-heroes. We need to have leading newspapers, universities or think tanks judge world leaders' performances as if they were in a league.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 3, 2014

Has the world hit the end of the end of history?

Almost 25 years after the intellectual and political collapse of communism, another — and by far grander — narrative of promised progress is unraveling: that of liberal capitalism.

Longform

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