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COMMENTARY / World
Nov 1, 2015

James Bond is the U.K.'s greatest intelligence asset

James Bond and his fellow fictional British operatives allow U.K. intelligence to project an image that goes well beyond the niggling issues of reality.
Japan Times
JAPAN / TELLING LIVES
Sep 4, 2015

Patrick Harlan, an American who can make the Japanese giggle

Japan's entertainment business is a come and go affair. Hundreds of local and foreign talents have entered the spotlight with a joke or two, only to vanish a year or two later when their gags ran out of chuckle.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / 20 QUESTIONS
Aug 22, 2015

Chie Suzuki: 'I'm always thinking about what to make next'

Wooden clog designer on ukiyo-e, cats and sushi
Japan Times
JAPAN
Aug 20, 2015

English-immersion share house offers cultural experience

On any given weekday some 15 to 20 residents of a four-story apartment building in the Tokyo suburb of Fuchu converge in the Scandinavian-style cafe-lounge at around 9 p.m. to converse in English.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Society
Aug 14, 2015

Almost 30% of young people don't want to work for a company, survey finds

A survey revealed Thursday that some young people in Japan maintain an unenthusiastic and rather cool attitude toward employment.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Jul 25, 2015

Will 'neurotic' Japan go postcapitalist?

Is Japan on the threshold of postcapitalism? If it is, as Morris Berman suggests in "Neurotic Beauty: An Outsiders Look at Japan," Prime Minister Shinzo Abe doesn't seem to have received the memo.
Japan Times
MORE SPORTS
May 29, 2015

Prefontaine's legacy still growing 40 years after death

'I'm not afraid of losing. But if I do, I want it to be a good race. I'm an artist, a performer. I want people to appreciate the way I run.' — Steve Prefontaine
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Feb 14, 2015

The three-cornered world of Glenn Gould and Natsume Soseki

Two years after it was published, a copy of Natsume Soseki's novella 'The Three-Cornered World' was placed in the hands of one of the world's most celebrated pianists, Glenn Gould.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jan 1, 2015

Son of God: 'There is little to no poetic license taken here'

Just in time to be too late for Christmas is "Son of God," Hollywood's latest attempt to reboot the Jesus franchise. Director Christopher Spencer tries to give a more family-friendly version of the life of Jesus than the torture-porn brutality of Mel Gibson's "The Passion of the Christ."
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Dec 24, 2014

Top 10 films of 2014: in search of originality

The longer you go on watching and writing about film, the more you start to feel like one of those jaded vampires in Jim Jarmusch's "Only Lovers Left Alive." It's as though art's power to surprise and amaze you is nowhere near what it was when you were fresh to it. "Gone Girl" and "Interstellar" were...
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 12, 2014

How vodka limits hastened the USSR's demise

When the Soviet Union finally disintegrated at the end of 1991, Boris Yeltsin, the new Russian leader, decided not to repeat Mikhail Gorbachev's error of restricting access to vodka. Some say it was Gorbachev's sober way of life — and his attempt to impose it on his countrymen — that makes Russians dislike him in retrospect.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jul 3, 2014

Nothing is ordinary for Leandro Erlich

'Swimming pools, staircases and elevators are ordinary places that we never question, as we think that we know about them already. But is that true? Do we really know them?' — Leandro Erlich.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / BLACK EYE
Jun 25, 2014

The naked American at Narita airport

Leaving Narita, stripped of your African accoutrement and any other identifiers that speak to your nationality and sensibilities, you advance through an array of unfamiliar sights and sounds, just as brown and naked as the day you were born.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jun 11, 2014

Imagination runs wild in Japanese contemporary art

"Nostalgia and Fantasy: Imagination and its Origins in Contemporary Art" is a ragtag grouping of nine individual artists and one unit, each of whom focus on extremely different things. It is difficult to say, in fact, where "nostalgia" and "fantasy" come into play in some instances. With only minimal...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Apr 23, 2014

PUK's children's puppet shows suspend disbelief for all ages

Parents around the capital seeking entertainment options for young children over the next several weeks could do a lot worse than check out Puppet Theater PUK, where old and new stories will come to life in the hands of seasoned puppeteers.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Nov 7, 2013

'Everyday'

Michael Winterbottom doesn't have a signature style, nor even a favorite topic. His films can range from a close observation of a lesbian relationship in "Butterfly Kiss" to a slice off the Bosnian War in "Welcome to Sarajevo" to the sublime sci-fi antics of "Code 46." If there's a commonality to these,...
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 12, 2013

Angus Deaton's 'The Great Escape' fetes growth

Angus Deaton's 'The Great Escape' celebrates growth and looks more favorably on aid directed at improving health, because that can address specific failures of market provision.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Sep 25, 2013

Chawan: Simply, some of the hardest works of pottery to create

In the world of Japanese traditional ceramics there is not one form held in higher esteem than a chawan, a "mere" bowl used to serve whipped green tea.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Entertainment news
Aug 30, 2013

One Direction's new movie is a sign of the times

Those of us discreetly looking forward to a theatrically released film featuring One Direction were perhaps hoping for something more captivating and ingenious than a glorified electronic press kit. We wanted something that didn't represent the depthless, scandal-mongering, narrow-minded, pleasure-seeking...
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST
Aug 16, 2013

Some words of self-introduction

Ask what's good about life in Japan and answers always vary.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle / CHILD'S PLAY
Jul 16, 2013

Aquariums offer summer escape

This past Monday was Marine Day in Japan. Aside from creating a much-appreciated three-day weekend, the role of the holiday is to encourage people to reflect on the integral role the ocean plays in Japan's history. So, what better time to visit an aquarium? Japan has plenty of places to ogle fish, and...
CULTURE / Stage
Apr 9, 2013

'Natch' gets ghostly on stage

"If I thought too much about my future plans, I would kind of get stuck," says Natsumi Abe. "So I just try to concentrate on the next day's work and do it as well as I can."
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE FOREIGN ELEMENT
Apr 2, 2013

A tale of two knives, a Kiwi legend, a gang and a girl

The story reads like a New Zealand news editor's wish list: Celebrity, dangerous weapons, bizarre behavior, death threats, Brazilian street gangs and a mysterious love interest.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / CLOSE-UP
Jan 6, 2013

Frederik Schodt: pop culture ambassador to the world

Quick quiz: Who was the first Japanese civilian to be issued a passport?
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Nov 9, 2012

'Poulet aux Prunes'

Iranian expat author/artist Marjane Satrapi had a breakthrough hit with "Persepolis," her graphic novel about growing up in revolutionary Iran, and she teamed up with director Vincent Paronnaud to bring her story to the big screen in 2007. It worked fantastically well, fully retaining the unique black-and-white...
COMMUNITY
Aug 7, 2012

American photographer recounts childhood in wartime Karuizawa

Hungarian-American photographer Tom Haar, 71, who spent several years of his childhood in wartime Karuizawa, Nagano Prefecture, says he wants to help promote the resort area once again "as an international cultural community."
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives
Jun 16, 2012

Clowning around in Tohoku to help children

The Japanese entertainment world is supposed to be a very hard one to crack for foreigners in these lean years of economic doldrums. Once in a while a few people manage to carve out a niche for themselves through a combination of talent, perseverance and luck.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Apr 14, 2012

Canadian black-belt takes pride in action not words

For Robert Hughes, the shortest answer is doing. From his early determination to procure a traditional Japanese sword to his more recent work with Japanese students in the poverty-stricken streets of the Philippines, Hughes, 54, has spent over 30 years in Japan allowing his actions to speak eloquently...
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle
Mar 20, 2012

Why not slow down the pace and enjoy the countryside?

Last summer, a farmers market called Sukanagosso opened up in my village in western Yokosuka, Kanagawa Prefecture, and the timing could not have been better. A few months after the reactor meltdowns at the Fukushima No.1 nuclear power plant, and with uncertainty and cesium still in the air, there was...
COMMENTARY
Mar 2, 2012

Sure winner fails to inspire

Before the scandalous presidential election of 1996, the situation was clear-cut and critical. A victory by Gennady Zyuganov over Boris Yeltsin would have meant an old-style Communists' revenge for their defeat in the August 1991 putsch as well as a strong drive toward renationalization of the economy...

Longform

Mount Fuji is considered one of Japan's most iconic symbols and is a major draw for tourists. It's still a mountain, though, and potential hikers need to properly prepare for any climb.
What it takes to save lives on Mount Fuji