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JAPAN
Feb 18, 1998

Toho Life, GE Capital join forces in new insurance venture

Financially ailing Toho Mutual Life Insurance Co. and leading U.S. nonbank financial firm GE Capital Services Inc. formally announced Wednesday that they will set up a new life insurance company in Japan.
Japan Times
LIFE
Aug 28, 2022

Foraging vegetables and fending off roosters: Daily life on Shikoku's zero-waste frontier

Kana Lauren Chan has let her desires for direct action guide her across the globe — including to her latest stop in Japan's most eco-friendly town.
WORLD
Mar 19, 2020

U.S. life insurers impose waiting periods to skirt coronavirus risk

U.S. life insurers are trying to curb their own risks to coronavirus by imposing waiting periods for applicants who have traveled to regions with widespread outbreaks, industry experts said.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Dec 14, 2019

Laughing at life's trials and tribulations in Japan

Life is tragic, life is comic; the glass is half-empty — no, half full. Point of view is all. Two magazines — President and Spa — represent the opposite poles of optimism and pessimism. For President, bad luck and good luck are all in the mind. The former is a failure of will, the latter always...
Japan Times
JAPAN / History / THE LIVING PAST
Oct 20, 2018

Life lessons from the master of noh Zeami

Stately, stylized noh arose from primitive, rollicking ancestors — sarugaku (monkey music) and dengaku (rural music). Two qualities in particular define it: yu016bgen (mystery) and monomane (imitation).
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Apr 7, 2018

'Patient X' by David Peace: An intensely profound portrait of a writer's life and death

There is an astounding authenticity permeating Peace's writing on Japan, as if he is painstakingly recreating the biography of an entire nation and age.
Japan Times
LIFE / Language / MORNING ENGLISH
Aug 7, 2017

Let's discuss Japan's life expectancy records

This week's featured article
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 21, 2016

Scientists give the tree of life a brand-new look

Humans are the only animal that has the power to choose which limbs of the tree of life survive.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 27, 2016

Now scientists can keep complicated life simple

The origin of life on Earth remains unexplained, but last week we saw the notion of a simpler version of life go from theory to reality.
WORLD / Science & Health
Aug 27, 2015

Global life expectancy rises, but people live sicker for longer

People around the world are living longer, but many are also living sicker lives for longer, according to a study of all major diseases and injuries in 188 countries.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / FOREIGN AGENDA
Aug 6, 2014

After the romance of expat life fades, the dream lives on

Some foreign residents in Japan might be living a dream on paper, but many are plagued by the question of if and when to return home.
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital / JAPAN TIMES BLOGROLL
May 24, 2012

This Japanese Life

Scholars of Friedrich Nietzsche, the German philosopher best known for his controversial statement "God is dead," have for years talked about a gaping hole in his works: Where are Nietzsche's writings about teaching English to Japanese high schoolers? What has he got to say about the paranoia of being...
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 22, 2012

At the end of a loved one's life, why is it so hard to let go?

I know where this phone call is going. I'm on the hospital wards, and a physician in the emergency room downstairs is talking to me about an elderly patient who needs to be admitted to the hospital. The patient is new to me, but the story is familiar: He has several chronic conditions — heart failure,...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / CLOSE-UP
Dec 4, 2011

Tenten Hosokawa: Drawing the blues away

In the last few decades, clinical depression in Japan has emerged from its longstanding obscurity shrouded in shame and guilt to becoming far more openly recognized as a national disease.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Aug 12, 2011

'The Tree of Life'

When "Days of Heaven" was finally released in 1978 (see last week's review) after two years of perfectionist fiddling in the editing room, director Terrence Malick was given a blank check by his patron at Paramount, industrialist Charles Bluhdorn, to develop his next project. Malick assembled a small...
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
Dec 26, 2010

Your money or your life: Where happiness lies

Year-end holidays always elevate hopes for happiness, but with expectations set high it is not surprising that they often seem to bring depression and loneliness instead.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / CLOSE-UP
Sep 5, 2010

Masumi Kuwata: Pitching for change

Masumi Kuwata has spent most of his life in the spotlight of stardom and publicity.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
May 15, 2010

Fatalist follows music to find his niche in life

Life can veer abruptly, in mere seconds, from the way it was to the way it is. Occasionally, change occurs so gradually that metamorphosis is under way before you can even detect the unfamiliar wind.
The color of a red torii gate in Bushidaira, Saitama Prefecture, still stands out against a vibrant green backdrop.
JAPAN / Society / Longform
Aug 18, 2023

Exploring the eerie beauty of Japan's abandoned villages

Depopulation and an aging society have turned parts of the countryside into tourist attractions for those eager to explore a forgotten era.
The Nagor fishing harbor in Nagapattinam, Tamil Nadu, India, in 2016
ASIA PACIFIC / Society
Aug 28, 2023

Indian fishermen use smartphones to map a vanishing way of life

Port and power plant development plans could beach a flotilla of boats that trawl the waters for mackerel and sea bass.
Jessica Gerrity says kyūdō is for everyone. It's just a matter of finding a dojo that fits you best.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / 20 QUESTIONS
Sep 30, 2023

‘Archery gives me a chance to decompress from a busy life’

Gerrity is trained in several forms of traditional Japanese martial arts and works to promote Japanese culture as a tourism ambassador.
Kim, 31, who loaded his family into a homemade wooden boat in May and sailed away from his native North Korea, attends a job fair for North Korean defectors in Seoul while holding a whiteboard that reads "Navigator."
ASIA PACIFIC / Society
Dec 6, 2023

North Korean defector plans new life after high-risk escape by sea

Tens of thousands of North Koreans have fled to South Korea since the peninsula was divided by war in the 1950s, but most go overland.
Diagnosed at a young age with a rare variant of glycogen storage disease type IV, Mark Bookman went on to distinguish himself in academia in both the United States and Japan.
COMMUNITY / Issues / The Foreign Element
Feb 19, 2024

New film honors life and legacy of disability pioneer Mark Bookman

Free screenings of THE new documentary on Japan-based disability rights advocate Mark Bookman will be held around Tokyo on Feb. 24, 25 and 27.
Tucupita Marcano, then with the Pirates, throws to first base during a game against the Giants in Pittsburgh in July last year.
BASEBALL / MLB
Jun 5, 2024

San Diego Padres infielder Tucupita Marcano banned for life for gambling

Michael Kelly, a pitcher for the Oakland Athletics, and three minor league players were also suspended for a year for gambling on baseball games, MLB said.
Jonah Ndeuludila (right) is studying at Tochigi Prefecture's Asian Rural Institute in order to bring skills back to his job at Namibia's Namib Desert Environmental Education Trust.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives
Sep 2, 2024

Over half a century, seeds of change grow at a Tochigi farm

Founded by Toshihiro Takami in 1973, ARI promotes organic, subsistence farming methods and the practice of servant leadership.
Located in Nagano Prefecture, Samurai Gakuen tries to help young and old individuals who have withdrawn from society rediscover their places out in the world.
LIFE / Lifestyle
May 31, 2025

How ‘hikikomori’ shut-ins ‘start to have dreams for the future’

As many as 1.5 million “hikikomori” shut-ins withdraw from social life in Japan, but one school in Nagano is finding success is coaxing them back into the world.
From participants on the JET Programme to full-time content creators, Megan and Ben share their lives in Japan on screen. They recently signed with Tokyo-based influencer agency GeeXPlus.
LIFE / Digital
Jun 19, 2025

The Hitobito's Megan and Ben uncover the real Japan, one video at a time

The couple moved to Japan to be teachers. Now, their YouTube clips are viewed by millions.

Longform

Ichiro Suzuki, one of the most iconic players in NPB and MLB history, was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame with 99.7% of the vote.
With Hall of Fame induction, Ichiro makes himself heard loud and clear