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Japan Times
LIFE / Digital / ON: TECH
Jun 18, 2016

Bright ideas for bookmarks, toys and apps

Kyouei Design's flashy bookmark
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Jun 16, 2016

Jo Kanamori and Oriza Hirata retell 'La Bayadere' with a dose of political awareness

The atmosphere at the Imperial Bolshoi Kamenny Theater in St. Petersburg, Russia, must have been electric on Feb. 4, 1877. That was the day Austrian composer Ludwig Minkus premiered "La Bayadere" — the latest masterpiece of classical ballet by French choreographer Marius Petipa — to some of Europe's...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jun 15, 2016

'Irrational Man': The muddled world of Woody Allen

In the manner of Captain Renault in "Casablanca," I was shocked — shocked! — to find so much dialogue in a modern-day movie. But then "Irrational Man" is a Woody Allen venture and, apparently, Allen is unaware, or has chosen to ignore, that couples today do not talk incessantly with each other the...
Japan Times
WORLD / Crime & Legal
Jun 14, 2016

Macho assault rifle ads may be silver bullet in U.S. gun-control debate

"Forces of opposition bow down. You are single-handedly outnumbered."
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Jun 4, 2016

Japan baffled by the intricacies of LGBT issues

A middle-aged woman I know never wears makeup or skirts and keeps her hair short. Sometimes she receives concerned glances when she enters the women's locker room at the gym she patronizes and, while no one has ever questioned her gender (for the record, she is straight and married), she often feels...
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
May 30, 2016

How breaking news bulletins in Japan evolved from lights to bytes

From news tickers to TV alerts, a look at the ways breaking news was disseminated in the days before the internet and social media.
Japan Times
JAPAN
May 27, 2016

Full text of Obama's speech in Hiroshima

Seventy-one years ago, on a bright, cloudless morning, death fell from the sky and the world was changed. A flash of light and a wall of fire destroyed a city and demonstrated that mankind possessed the means to destroy itself.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
May 24, 2016

'Tell Me' lays bare one woman's quest

The first thing Yojiro Ichikawa said when we sat down for our recent interview in a Tokyo rehearsal studio was, "Shall I speak in English?"
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
May 18, 2016

North Korea's new ad men try out pitches to a growing consumer class

"Pyongyang Spirit: A drink you won't forget after drinking once," reads the text of an ad for a clear, vodka-like North Korean alcohol.
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital
May 8, 2016

Japan's pop culture movers turn out for Niconico party

You'd think nothing would be a surprise during a kabuki show starring a famous actor and a holographic pop star, but you'd be mistaken.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
May 6, 2016

Review: Worldwide Session at Studio Coast

Gilles Peterson has spent his entire career buoyed by gushing enthusiasm, but when the London-based DJ and record label boss declared a gig in Tokyo on May 4 to be a "career highlight," he was probably being sincere.
EDITORIALS
May 2, 2016

The Constitution, 69 years on

Despite Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's efforts to convince the public otherwise, there is no need at this time to revise the pacifist Constitution.
Japan Times
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
May 2, 2016

New law bans bias against people with disabilities, but shortcomings exist, say experts

On April 1, a new law aimed at advancing the rights of people with disabilities took effect explicitly banning discrimination against them and requiring government bodies and private-sector businesses to pay greater attention to their needs.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
May 1, 2016

Scandal-plagued Mitsubishi Motors reliant on ASEAN as redress claims brew

Mitsubishi Motors Corp., embroiled in a car-rigging scandal in Japan, may find that its future increasingly hinges on its performance in Thailand — the automaker's biggest overseas production base.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Apr 30, 2016

Idols put Band-Aids on fragile male egos

Two cities in Tottori Prefecture have set up a facility called the Tottori Deai Support Center, which is a kind of matchmaking service for young residents. In December it published a pamphlet to help people looking for mates better understand what the opposite sex wanted.
Japan Times
WORLD
Apr 28, 2016

FBI to gain new hacking power if Supreme Court approves search warrant rule change

U.S. judges would be able to issue search warrants giving law enforcement agents power to access computers in any jurisdiction — potentially even overseas — under a controversial rule change likely to be approved by the Supreme Court by Sunday.
ASIA PACIFIC
Apr 26, 2016

Chinese authorities hold disabled rights lawyer under house arrest

Chinese authorities have placed a disabled rights lawyer under house arrest and prevented a group of foreign diplomats from visiting her, she said on Monday, ratcheting up pressure weeks after the U.S. State Department gave her a bravery award.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Apr 23, 2016

'Hiroshi Sugimoto: Black Box' ponders representations of representations

"Black Box" is the most recent publication of works by Japanese photographer Hiroshi Sugimoto. It spans the entirety of his artistic career, from the natural history "Dioramas" of the 1970s to his recent "Lightning Fields" series. It also includes a wide-ranging discussion between Sugimoto and curator...
SOCCER
Apr 19, 2016

PSG mum on Mourinho reports

Paris St. Germain on Tuesday issued a terse "no comment" following reports in England that the French champions had approached Jose Mourinho to become their new manager.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Apr 14, 2016

Shibuya's scramble crossing fascinates tourists, judging by Twitter and Weibo

Mount Fuji and popular theme parks Universal Studios Japan in Osaka and Tokyo Disneyland topped what foreign tourists posted on social media during their stay in Japan, a recent survey found.
CULTURE / Music
Apr 13, 2016

Toyomu reimagines Kanye West's 'Life of Pablo' in a creatively fun way

Toyomu — "Imagining 'The Life Of Pablo'" (Self-released)
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Apr 12, 2016

An exhibition of things that make you go 'hmm'

The subtitle of the Mori Art Museum's triennial "Roppongi Crossing" exhibition three years ago was "Out of Doubt." This year it's "My Body, Your Voice." In 2013, the group show was inflected by the destruction caused by the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami, and scepticism about the handling...
Japan Times
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Apr 4, 2016

Luckily for English speakers, machine translation still can't match a native's touch

The consensus is that translation will one day inevitably be taken over by computers — but we're not there yet.
Japan Times
WORLD
Mar 31, 2016

Hollande scraps plan to strip terror convicts of French nationality

French President Francois Hollande on Wednesday scrapped contested constitutional reforms he proposed after the Paris attacks, in an embarrassing U-turn for his already beleaguered government.
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Mar 24, 2016

'Stranger'; 'The World's Most Astonishing News'; CM of the week: Rohto

The TV Asahi drama special "Stranger" (Sun., 9 p.m.) is based loosely on "The Poe Family," the award-winning 1970s girl's comic by Moto Hagio, which is about vampires.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Mar 17, 2016

No excuse for Japan's increasing truancy rate

In so many other countries around the world schooling is denied those who genuinely want an education. Yet in Japan and the U.S., where education is a right, truancy persists.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Mar 15, 2016

Looking forward through photography

The spectacular landscapes left by the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami have been used as source material by photographers to an extraordinary degree. Yes, using the words "spectacular" and "landscape" here may seem indecent, but this is one of many difficult issues that arise when photography...

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