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Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Jan 18, 2019

Madarao: The tree skiing capital of Japan?

The Madarao Kogen ski resort prides itself on two things: its powder snow ('Madapow!') — enjoying over 10 meters of fresh snow annually — and its tree skiing. It is less well-known than some of its rivals within the prefecture, but that just means emptier runs and shorter lift queues.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 18, 2019

What the fall of Sears and GE teaches us about capitalism

We pay a high price for economic flexibility, but benefit enormously from the rising living standards it produces.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jan 18, 2019

Amid a challenging financial landscape, Japan's young female investors seek diverse portfolios

For years, retail currency investors were known as "Mrs. Watanabes," a reference to the metaphorical housewife who invests family savings mostly in foreign exchange. Now, a younger generation of women is looking at a wider asset range in which to park investments.
Reader Mail
Jan 18, 2019

We should make foreign laborers feel welcome

The editorial "Support for foreign laborers" in the Dec. 30 edition enticed me into quickly reading it to the end. It's a blessing that up to 345,000 blue-collar workers will come to Japan in the first five years of the new visa program because Japan has been suffering from a chronic manpower shortage....
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Jan 18, 2019

As cramped Hong Kong eyes $64 billion island-building plan, critics say developers are hoarding unused land

Hong Kong's government says it needs to build billions of dollars' worth of artificial islands to give the city's glittering skyline room to grow, but critics say developers are hoarding unused land that could solve the problem.
Japan Times
WORLD
Jan 18, 2019

U.K.'s Prince Philip, 97, escapes unhurt after car crash near royal Sandringham estate

Queen Elizabeth's husband, Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh, 97, was involved in a traffic accident while driving on Thursday near the Sandringham estate in eastern England, Buckingham Palace said. He was not hurt.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 17, 2019

Are China, Russia winning AI arms race?

Artificial intelligence is creating new avenues for war in what could be the century's defining arms race.
Japan Times
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / Wide Angle
Jan 17, 2019

Marie Kondo's new TV series cleans up

Marie Kondo is the type of person you wouldn't initially expect lots of people to go crazy over. In the cleaning consultant and best-selling author's new Netflix show, "Tidying Up with Marie Kondo," she simply lays out the basics of her "KonMari" method of organizing homes — guided by the idea of finding...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jan 17, 2019

Funk on Da Table: The band bringing New Orleans funk to Japan

For over two decades, June Yamagishi and John "Papa" Gros have been bringing New Orleans and Japan closer together through music.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Jan 17, 2019

How Coretta Scott King brought her husband's message to Japan

Martin Luther King Jr. Day, which this year falls on Jan. 21, is a federal holiday that marks the birthday (Jan. 15, 1929) of one of the United States' most-revered civil rights leaders.
Japan Times
WORLD
Jan 17, 2019

Czechs mark 50 years since Jan Palach's fatal fiery protest against the crushing of Prague Spring

Czechs marked the 50th anniversary on Wednesday of student Jan Palach setting himself on fire in central Prague in a desperate act aimed at lifting the apathy hanging over the country in the wake of the Soviet invasion that crushed the Prague Spring of 1968.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jan 16, 2019

A second helping of horror for 'Suspiria'

Filmmaker Luca Guadagnino cites categorization as one of his enemies, and the sudden fierceness in his eyes shows he's not kidding.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Entertainment news
Jan 16, 2019

'Baby Shark' driving you crazy? Its creator warns penguins are next

"Baby Shark (Doo Doo Doo Doo Doo Doo)" is the YouTube sensation that's been viewed more than 2 billion times and made the Billboard Hot 100 chart last week as its top new entrant. The jingle has also become such an earworm that late-night-show host Jimmy Kimmel proposed throwing those responsible in...
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Economy
Jan 16, 2019

Shutdown bites economy and U.S. Coast Guard as Washington talks stall

The U.S. economy is taking a larger-than-expected hit from the partial government shutdown, White House estimates showed on Tuesday, as contractors and even the Coast Guard go without pay and talks to end the impasse seemed stalled.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jan 15, 2019

How will AI change international politics?

The AI revolution will have an immense impact on global power politics, but Japan may get left behind.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jan 15, 2019

'Leiko Ikemura Our Planet: Earth & Stars'

Jan. 18-April 1
Japan Times
Figure Skating / ICE TIME
Jan 15, 2019

Takahiko Kozuka aiming to enrich skating

When a skater's career comes to an end, they are often faced with a difficult choice about how to proceed with their life.
Japan Times
LIFE / Language
Jan 14, 2019

You still need to know your ABCs if you're living in Japan

Written Japanese has three different scripts — hiragana, katakana and kanji — so you wouldn't think there'd be room for any more. But you'd be wrong.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / The Big Questions
Jan 13, 2019

Publisher aims to bridge fictional fun and reality

For Frank Foley, joining HarperCollins Japan as managing director in 2017 was akin to coming full circle, as it was also the first company he worked for in Japan.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 13, 2019

The vital isolation of indigenous groups

Whatever the motivation, connecting with remote tribes with the rest of the world would amount to a death sentence for them.
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Jan 12, 2019

Perceived dearth of freedom in Japan's schools reflects wider woes

What a strange place a school is — a world within a world, a society within a society. Kids grow up in it asking themselves, "Is the real world like this?"
JAPAN / Media / Japan Pulse
Jan 12, 2019

Maezawa's offer of prize money for retweets sets Twitter abuzz

Yusaku Maezawa has accomplished an awful lot in his life. He has founded a number of successful companies, including online fashion retailer Zozotown. He’s worth billions of dollars. He’s secured a trip to space to address one of humanity’s biggest problems — a lack of art inspired by being...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books / RECENTLY PUBLISHED BOOKS ABOUT JAPAN
Jan 12, 2019

'Small Buildings of Kyoto': A spotlight on Kyoto's overlooked quotidian

When it comes to photography books about Kyoto, the genre is usually limited to three areas: geishas, gardens and temples — in the English language at least.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / 20 QUESTIONS
Jan 12, 2019

Aki Fujita Taguchi on life behind the camera

Rock photographer Aki Fujita Taguchi reveals how to snap the essence of a band in just three songs.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 12, 2019

Brexit: A cultural morphology

How the deep forces of British history, from royalism and classism to nationalism and imperialism, combined to trigger the Brexit moment.
Japan Times
WORLD / Science & Health
Jan 11, 2019

In first, Native American tribe displaced by sea gets land to relocate

A small Native American tribe in Louisiana whose land has nearly vanished into the sea has moved a step closer to relocating its community further inland after authorities acquired new land for the move, part of a first-of-its-kind project.

Longform

Tetsuzo Shiraishi, speaking at The Center of the Tokyo Raids and War Damage, uses a thermos to explain how he experienced the U.S. firebombing of March 1945, when he was just 7 years old.
From ashes to high-rises: A survivor’s account of Tokyo’s postwar past