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EDITORIALS
Oct 12, 2016

The government's 'karoshi' report

The Abe administration must ensure that a new regulation on overtime work will be effective enough to protect the health of company workers.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Oct 4, 2016

Reconnecting Japan's ancient cultural hub

"When I visited Todaiji Temple in Nara, just after I arrived as a Chinese student in Japan about 30 years ago, I felt somehow nostalgic as it had an atmosphere of old China," says Cai Guo-Qiang, as he explains his work for Culture City of East Asia 2016, Nara, a cultural project that launched in March....
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Sep 27, 2016

Ishinha set for stunning final show

Performing on deserted beaches and in villages, temples, dockland warehouses and urban railyards, few theater companies can have traversed the range of landscapes and settings that have inspired Osaka-based Ishinha.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Sep 24, 2016

The ascendancy of a Japanese maestro

In the past few months, the media has been pleasantly surprised at the sudden ascendancy of some noteworthy Japanese women, mainly in the realm of politics. Since pianist Hiroko Nakamura passed away in July, the media has been filled with obituaries that paid tribute to her own powerful position in Japan's...
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Sep 18, 2016

Trump likened to dominant male chimp by famed primatologist Goodall

The brash antics of Republican U.S. presidential nominee Donald Trump have earned him a comparison to a male chimpanzee by renowned anthropologist Jane Goodall.
CULTURE / Music
Aug 21, 2016

Sahra Halgan sings recognition for Somaliland

We in the West are used to thinking of music mainly as entertainment. On occasion, it can fulfill a religious function, or be deployed to argue one political point or another. But for Sahra Halgan, the purpose of her music is to bring recognition to Somaliland, a self-declared state unrecognized by the...
Japan Times
JAPAN / Society
Aug 17, 2016

Sex trade a shaky safety net for Japan's working-poor women

For the past six years, 47-year-old single mother Kasumi Endo has lived a double life.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink
Aug 12, 2016

California roll creator Hidekazu Tojo's continuing quest to broaden palates overseas

A namigai (geoduck pronounced gooey-duck) is not a pretty creature. Native to North America's west coast, it looks like a beige slug that has outgrown a clam shell. Hidekazu Tojo is about to convince an audience to eat it.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink
Jul 1, 2016

For summer dining, escape to the sunny Shonan coast

The Shonan coast in Kanagawa Prefecture, about an hour south of Tokyo by train, has something for just about everyone. Some head to Chigasaki to ride the waves or to Enoshima to luxuriate in its spa. Others explore the hills and temples of Kamakura or just get away from it all in sleepy Hayama. Few make...
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Jun 18, 2016

A spiritual high in the temples of Takayama

Isolated from the pulsating sounds of pachinko parlors and the neon lights of Tokyo, the small, laid-back city of Takayama in the mountains of Gifu Prefecture offers something that visitors to Japan's urban hubs don't typically find: quiet.
Japan Times
JAPAN / GENERATIONAL CHANGE
Jun 5, 2016

West-inspired anime chief propels Polygon Pictures to success

Polygon Pictures, one of the oldest digital animation studios worldwide, has been turning its lights off at 10 p.m. sharp since 2011. Employees can turn them back on again but they automatically go dark every hour.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE FOREIGN ELEMENT
May 18, 2016

Giving voice to foreign talent via the spoken word

Tokyo's English poetry scene gets a shot in the arm with a lively event night and new journal.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
May 17, 2016

The many portraits of an artist as a young, and older, man

As photographer Yasumasa Morimura has predominantly made his name since 1985 in eccentric self-portraiture involving impersonations of famous people, his current exhibition is conceptually and structurally all autobiography. It is a tale serially told through chapters with a beginning, middle-stage developments...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink
May 13, 2016

Why is Tokyo starting to taste like Portland?

Walking into PDX Taproom, a bar in Tokyo's Shibuya Ward, is like wandering into a condensed, alternate version of Portland, Oregon. Everything from the folk-pop hits playing in the background to the craft beers on tap hail from the Pacific Northwest metropolis.
CULTURE / Music
May 8, 2016

Homecomings craft a catchy and intricate gem with 'Sale of Broken Dreams'

Kyoto four-piece Homecomings excel at capturing the small, sad details of life.
MORE SPORTS
May 2, 2016

Inoue determined to help Japan keep pace in judo

Judo had always been a reliable provider of Olympic medals for Japan since the sport was first officially included in the 1964 Tokyo Games.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Apr 2, 2016

Finding the locus of David Mitchell

David Mitchell's world is always growing. Raised in England's West Midlands, Mitchell lived in London for a time before moving to Japan in 1994 — while he was in his 20s — to work as an English teacher. After eight years in Hiroshima, he returned to the U.K. to launch his career as a novelist.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Mar 19, 2016

'Drop dead, Japan!' moms try to stay on message

Shiori Yamao is a University of Tokyo graduate, former public prosecutor, current Lower House lawmaker and mother. As a force for the opposition, she has been causing Prime Minister Shinzo Abe considerable grief over the past few months.
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design
Mar 17, 2016

Issey Miyake invites us to see his material world

Issey Miyake, designer of some of the world's most distinctive clothing and international symbol of modern Japanese craftsmanship, received France's Legion of Honor on Tuesday at the opening of a major exhibition of his work at The National Art Center, Tokyo.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Feb 26, 2016

Undergoing the third degree in prewar Japan

A New Zealander who was taken into custody by prewar Japanese police provides a haunting account of jailhouse torture.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Feb 22, 2016

With eye on Downing Street, Boris bets all on 'Brexit'

With one hand in his suit pocket and the other mussing his signature blond hair, Boris Johnson on Sunday took the riskiest gamble of his career: to oppose Prime Minister David Cameron by campaigning for Britain to leave the European Union.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Feb 16, 2016

Takashi Murakami collects more than just his thoughts

"Takashi Murakami's Superflat Collection" is an exhibition of other people's work, amassed as the result of one man's phenomenally successful artistic career. It's evidence that Murakami must have done something right, or wrong, depending on your view of culture. He's sometimes portrayed as a kind of...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Feb 9, 2016

Dutch painters cut from the same canvas

The first noticeable thing about the exhibition "Vermeer and Rembrandt: the Masters of the 17th Century Dutch Golden Age" at the Mori Arts Center Gallery is the juxtaposition of the names. Vermeer's name comes before that of Rembrandt, marking him as the leading Dutch artist as far as the modern art...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jan 28, 2016

Opera Theater Konnyakuza perfects a union of stage and song

The world of opera has always found inspiration in the works of William Shakespeare, but adapting them for the stage requires flexibility.
JAPAN / History / THE LIVING PAST
Jan 16, 2016

'It is I who rule' — Japan's 'Manyoshu' morning

What fun civilization is in its infancy! How bright and fresh the world looks at the dawn of consciousness! Listen:

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