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COMMUNITY / Our Lives / CLOSE-UP
Aug 3, 2013

Toyohiro Akiyama: Cautionary tales from one not afraid to risk all

In December 1990, journalist Toyohiro Akiyama made headlines the world over when he blasted off aboard a Soviet rocket to become the very first "space correspondent" in history.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Aug 3, 2013

The Emperor and the general: a visit to Fushimi Momoyama

On the evening of Sept. 13, 1912, a cart decorated in gold leaf and lacquer and solemnly hauled by a team of oxen left the Imperial Palace in Tokyo along with a phalanx of people carrying banners, torches and weapons and beating drums and gongs. After midnight, a special train left Tokyo Station bound...
JAPAN
Aug 2, 2013

Japan social security reform proposal seeks to double contributions from seniors

A government panel's social security system reform proposal calls for greater contributions from the elderly and high-income earners as well as other reforms to make the system more sustainable.
Japan Times
WORLD / Science & Health
Aug 2, 2013

Different perceptions of smell linked to genetics

The next time you argue with a friend about the whiff of cilantro in your stir-fry that he finds disgusting, blame his genes.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Aug 1, 2013

Marusen Seimen: Chicken ramen to bowl you over

It's summer: You're not supposed to have an appetite. All you feel like is eating noodles? Welcome to the club. Here's one place where I've been finding nourishment in this most difficult of seasons.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 1, 2013

'All-weather' friendship has its own rainmaker

When the Pak-China relationship is described as 'higher than the mountains, deeper than the oceans, and sweeter than honey,' get ready to raise the umbrella.
Japan Times
WORLD
Aug 1, 2013

Queen's secret speech for WWIII revealed

British government files from 1983, opened to the public for the first time Wednesday, include an official's view of the message Queen Elizabeth II would have broadcast to the nation in the event of World War III.
Japan Times
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Aug 1, 2013

Isobe works herald rebirth for museum

'Scrap and build" used to be the mantra of Japanese developers when approaching out-of-date structures. The theory was that Japanese people preferred their buildings to be in a more-or-less constant state of "newness" — a la Ise Shrine, which is rebuilt every two decades.
Japan Times
WORLD / Crime & Legal
Aug 1, 2013

Where does Manning rank in the annals of espionage?

Cleared of the most serious charge — aiding and abetting the enemy — but convicted of most everything else, including espionage, Pfc. Bradley Manning is now facing sentencing, which could land him behind bars from roughly zero to more than 100 years.
Japan Times
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Aug 1, 2013

Fantasy goes on display at Nebuta Festival

Although staying at home in the air conditioning is tempting in this sweltering weather, if you're here for the summer you might as well embrace the heat and sweat it out with everyone else at a festival.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jul 31, 2013

Understanding the fun side of Surrealism

Part of the reason for the success of Surrealism in the 1920s and '30s was its sexual dimension. This element, covered over by a veneer of respectable intellectualism, had a powerful attraction at a time when sexuality was much more circumscribed by social morality than it is today. Although many Surrealist...
BUSINESS / NOTEBOOK
Jul 30, 2013

Seibu's Prince Hotels ventures into China ski resort; new Haneda special souvenir

ANNOUNCEMENTS
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 30, 2013

China should return to the natural birth model

China has one of the highest Ceasarian birthrates in the world. The consequences should make Chinese women think twice before requesting this procedure.
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design
Jul 29, 2013

Film, music and Moomins: events at Setouchi Triennale 2013

Though Setouchi is often referred to as an 'art festival,' there are plenty of other events taking place across the islands, including lectures, theater performances and concerts.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 28, 2013

World watches trans-Atlantic free trade talks

The world watches as negotiations commence between the U.S. and the European Union on potentially the largest regional free trade accord in history.
Japan Times
WORLD
Jul 28, 2013

Breakneck NSA growth fueled by insatiable demand for its product

Twelve years later, the cranes and earthmovers around the National Security Agency are still at work, tearing up pavement and uprooting trees to make room for a larger workforce and more powerful computers. Already bigger than the Pentagon in square meters, the NSA's footprint will grow by an additional...
ASIA PACIFIC / Society
Jul 28, 2013

In India, a rise in surrogate births for West

When 24-year-old Komal Kapoor handed over the twins she had just borne to a visiting American couple last month, she said she felt "something like sadness."
CULTURE / Books
Jul 27, 2013

Multiple perspectives in novel on the Russo-Japanese War

I asked a Japanese friend how he would characterize Shiba Ryotaro's famous historical novel, "Clouds Above the Hill." I've known its immense popularity, but Shiba had started its newspaper serialization after I left Japan in 1968, and the size of the finished work — six volumes in book form — had...
Events / KANSAI: WHO & WHAT
Jul 26, 2013

Make 1,000 visits in one at Atago Shrine

For Shinto worshippers who visit Atago Shrine in Kyoto from the night of July 31 to the morning of Aug. 1, that one visit is said to be equivalent to 1,000.
WORLD / Politics
Jul 26, 2013

U.S. Justice to take on state laws over voting

The U.S. Justice Department is preparing to take fresh legal action in a string of voting rights cases across the nation, part of a new attempt to blunt the impact of a Supreme Court ruling that the Obama administration has warned will imperil minority representation.
LIFE / Food & Drink / EVERYMAN EATS
Jul 25, 2013

A nostalgic nibble on lasting favorites

As Japanese families return to their hometowns for the traditional summer holidays, cries of 'Atsui!' ('Hot enough for ya?!') give way to feelings of natsukashii — a sense of nostalgia triggered by the sights, sounds and tastes of childhood.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jul 24, 2013

August Live

For those people who can't take time off work for any of this month's major music festivals, there are still plenty of options for live music across the country.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 24, 2013

Too early to talk about 'Likonomics' in China

Premier Li Keqiang's plans to overhaul the Chinese economy have hardly earned such a grand moniker as 'Likonomics' yet. Cutthroat politics lie ahead.
JAPAN
Jul 24, 2013

Thousands hit Kanebo over skin discoloring

Kanebo Cosmetics Inc. has announced that more than 2,000 people have complained about serious skin discoloration after using its products, with the firm saying Wednesday that it has begun meeting with people suffering from such symptoms, promising them long-term support.

Longform

After pandemic-era border regulations eased, Indian migrants began returning to Japan. Their population now stands at more than 50,000 across the country.
How remote work is rewriting the migrant experience in Japan