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Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Sep 8, 2011

"Nobuyoshi Araki 'Higan' "

Rat Hole GalleryCloses Sept. 25
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Aug 23, 2011

Peace Boat-Rolls Royce talks lay bare ethical minefield

Convinced the recovery in Tohoku will result in the birth of widespread corporate philanthropy in Japan, in the same way the 1995 Great Hanshin Earthquake prompted the proliferation of volunteerism, Peace Boat director Tatsuya Yoshioka spent a day in June shepherding a busload of businesspeople on a...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Aug 5, 2011

'Days of Heaven' / 'Nashville'

It's somewhat depressing to think that the two best films on offer this summer, by far, were made over three decades ago. Robert Altman's epic "Nashville" came out in the torrid summer of 1975, while Terrence Malick's sophomore film, "Days of Heaven," was released in '78 after two years in the editing...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Jul 19, 2011

Japan's Nigerians pay price for prosperity

The Nigerian Union in Japan is the central civic organization for immigrants from Africa's most populous nation. It has foundered twice in 21 years and its current incarnation is less than a year old. Its mixed history is a reflection of the social and economic turmoil Japan's Nigerian community has...
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / WILD WATCH
Jul 17, 2011

Green is good for you — and the Earth

My work often takes me away from my home in Hokkaido, and with every absence I am irked to be missing out on some part of the inexorable seasonal advance. So, each time I return I make a beeline for my local forest to reacquaint myself with the resident and migrant birds, to trace the tracks and signs...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / BY THE GLASS
Jul 8, 2011

Kusuda makes NZ wine his own way

Pinot Noir is one of the world's most challenging grapes: Sensitive to frost and rot, this thin-skinned varietal really tests the limits of a winemaker's skill. But tenacious winemaker Hiroyuki Kusuda wouldn't have it any other way. This Japanese national has fought against the odds to set up his own...
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design / STYLE WISE
Jun 14, 2011

A season for accolades, milestones and new frontiers

Florence and Kyoto unite to celebrate Gucci's 90 years Revered luxury brand Gucci is celebrating its 90th anniversary this year with a special traveling exhibition in Japan that highlights its prowess in craftsmanship. Starting at the famed Kinkaku-ji Golden Temple in Kyoto, "Gucci: 90 years" showcases...
EDITORIALS
Jun 12, 2011

Super Cool Biz

June 1 marked the start of the Environment Ministry's Super Cool Biz campaign, with full-page newspaper ads and photos of ministry workers smiling rather self-consciously at their desks wearing polo shirts and colorful Okinawa kariyushi shirts.
Japan Times
BASKETBALL / HOOP SCOOP
May 29, 2011

Evessa's Washington is greatest player in bj-league history

Six years is a long, long time in professional sports. In a word, it's an era.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
May 22, 2011

Iejima: an island of resistance

During the 30-minute ferry ride from Motobu on mainland Okinawa, Iejima reveals itself in stages. First, Mount Tacchu emerges above the waves like a chunk of the peanut brittle for which the island is renowned. Next, the wind-blown scent of countless thousands of hibiscuses sweetens the stink of the...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
May 12, 2011

Inspired by the West and re-made in Japan

Staging famous Western works, or those from well-known foreign playwrights, is an established feature of contemporary theater in Japan, with Japanese dramatists often adapting or reworking plays so they resonate more with domestic audiences.
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design / STYLE WISE
May 10, 2011

The girls, the heart, the virility and the ingenuity of fashion

Let's hear it for the girls: Fashion, music and celebrities The Girls Award, a twice-yearly event not unlike the already massively popular Tokyo Girls Collection (TGC), proves that the trend of daylong fashion festivals is picking up speed.
Japan Times
LIFE
May 8, 2011

A volunteer's journal of hope for Tohoku

When the magnitude 9 megaquake hit northeastern Japan in the early afternoon of Friday, March 11, I was at work in The Japan Times office some 250 km to the south in Tokyo.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
May 5, 2011

Verbal wants to hit the reset button on pop

In the middle of her recent Japan tour, pop superstar Kylie Minogue surprised her fans by announcing a new song on YouTube. The song, written by Japanese rapper and producer Verbal, is called "We Are One" and is the pair's effort to try to raise donations for Unicef following the March 11 earthquake...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Apr 26, 2011

English mags approach milestone, crossroads

Those members of the expat community in Japan who are addicted to their weekly or monthly fix of English-language magazines will have surely noticed all the changes going on lately. These are troubled and exciting times and, just as it has in the past, the local media world is trying to rise to the challenge...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Apr 15, 2011

There are oppositions that attract

Japan's limited progress at Tohoku's Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant after damage from the Great Eastern Japan earthquake and tsunami makes the March opening of this Taro Okamoto exhibition seem apocalyptic. Okamoto's unique avant-garde style was deeply influenced by the West. He found contradictions...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Mar 4, 2011

It takes innovation, imagination and perseverence to challenge contemporary theater

Recently, while looking through a handful of upcoming production flyers displayed in a cozy, small-scale theater, I noticed to my surprise that one name kept reappearing: Norihito Nakayashiki.
JAPAN
Feb 19, 2011

Tabloids feast on Imperial family foibles

Emperor Akihito is a quiet, studious type. The paragon of respectability. But, oh, what a family!
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Feb 11, 2011

Miila and the Geeks take Tokyo 'riot grrrl' sound international

A small girl, stylishly dressed in a short, black-and-white dress crouches hunched over a microphone, spitting out vocals that might be English or might be Martian for all the audience can tell beneath the thick overlay of distortion; a sax player with crazy hair is engaged in some kind of intense, seemingly...
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design / ON: FASHION
Feb 10, 2011

Blue moon rising over Tokyo

Comme des Garcons' Marunouchi: no longer alone
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital / TECH_JAPAN
Feb 2, 2011

Handheld wars redux

For more than a decade, Nintendo ruled handheld gaming. Challengers, such as the Atari Lynx and the Sega Game Gear appeared, but Nintendo batted them away one by one. Only Sony and its PlayStation Portable could withstand the Nintendo onslaught. And Sony isn't going away anytime soon — launching a...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jan 28, 2011

Local, foreign songwriters camp it up

Early in the band's career, Rolling Stones manager Andrew Loog Oldham is reputed to have locked Mick Jagger and Keith Richards in a room and told them not to come out until they'd written their first song.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Dec 26, 2010

A clean slate for this year's media awards

Media persons of the year: Toshikazu Sugaya and Atsuko Muraki
LIFE / Food & Drink
Dec 24, 2010

Why not spend New Year's Eve totally soba?

The yearend period, called shiwasu, is a really hectic time in Japan. Think of it as spring cleaning, Thanksgiving and the usual end-of-year activities all rolled into one.
CULTURE / Film
Dec 10, 2010

'Film Socialisme'

Jean-Luc Godard once said in an interview in the magazine Cahiers du Cinema during the 1980s that 1960's "A Bout de Souffle (Breathless)" was his least favorite of his own films. The interviewer responded that he understood, and that the problem with Godard's first, most watched and most commercially...
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WORDS TO LIVE BY
Dec 9, 2010

Hibiya Matsumotoro owner Tetsuro Kosaka

Tetsuro Kosaka, 78, is the owner of Hibiya Matsumotoro, one of Japan's most historical restaurants. A three-story building resembling a cozy country estate, Matsumotoro was designed to sit in the center of Japan's first Western-style park, Hibiya Koen, and it has been in business since the park opened...
JAPAN / Media
Nov 28, 2010

Nicholas Bornoff, Japan Times writer and author of 'Pink Samurai,' dies aged 61

Nicolas Bornoff, who died of cancer in London on Oct. 30, was my predecessor as a film critic at The Japan Times, starting in the late 1970s and continuing for nine years. His style, in contrast to fellow reviewer Andy Adams' slangy journalese, aimed for the elevated and authoritative, which made me,...
LIFE / Travel / BACKSTREET STORIES
Nov 28, 2010

Eats, shoots and leaves in Hakusan

It's hunting season in Tokyo. I kit up and trek out to the Hakusan area of Bunkyo Ward, hoping to shoot (with camera) the wild shades of autumn.
CULTURE / Music
Nov 26, 2010

The 'weird' world of techno's Ishino

"Salarymen are fantastic," says DJ and producer Takkyu Ishino. "If there weren't so many of them doing their thing, then people like me would not be able to exist. If more people acted like me (outside the norm), then I wouldn't have had the life that I've had."

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