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Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Aug 27, 2010

'Tokyo-jima (Tokyo Island)'

It's a common fantasy — being the only guy on an island of beautiful women. But to be the only woman on an island of men, including the good, the bad and the ugly? Somewhat different, isn't it?
COMMENTARY
Aug 24, 2010

Save overseas assistance

LONDON — The British government, faced with the need to make drastic cuts in government expenditure, has nevertheless decided to ring-fence the overseas aid budget and has pledged to continue to work toward the U.N. target of providing aid equivalent to 0.7 percent of GDP.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 15, 2010

SOS for world disaster victims

HONG KONG — Television pictures tell terrible stories of the week: swirling floodwaters gobbling up people, cattle, homes, bridges, communications systems and threatening up to 20 million people in Pakistan; torrential rains triggering landslides in northwestern China; while dense smog suffocates Moscow,...
JAPAN
Aug 14, 2010

Student grocers put down roots

Small vegetable stores called "yaoya" are common in most local shopping districts, but neighborhood retailers in general are declining due to competition from supermarkets.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Aug 13, 2010

Finding fun in Summer Sonic's odd lineup

In May, Japanese Web site Netallica reported that advance tickets for two of the big rock festivals, Fuji and Summer Sonic, were not moving. Both feature foreign artists, and Netallica implied that the latter added the grand old man of Japanese rock, Eikichi Yazawa, and best-selling J-pop hip-hop group...
Japan Times
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Aug 10, 2010

Makeup Japan-style: Dark to light

Makeup for many women is a vital component of their appearance and one they take great pains to apply, even to the point of dolling themselves up during the crowded morning commute, working through the routine starting with a foundation, then eyebrows, mascara and finally lip gloss.
Japan Times
LIFE
Aug 8, 2010

Lost worlds of Japan

The sound of bells echoes through the monastery at Gion Shoja, telling all who hear it that nothing is permanent. The flowers of the sala trees show that all that flourishes must fade. Proud men, powerful men will fall, like dreams on a spring night, like dust before the wind.
Japan Times
LIFE
Aug 8, 2010

Crumbling relics tell of life and death — and of rebirth, too

There's an area in Miyagi Prefecture called Kejonuma that's home to an arresting legend.
Japan Times
LIFE
Aug 8, 2010

Axed railroads signal nostalgia

The Miyanoharu Line that connected Oita and Kumamoto prefectures in Kyushu was a scenic wonder when it opened along its entire route in 1954, winding for 27 km through mountains and valleys and across no fewer than seven bridges in the town of Oguni in Kumamoto alone.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Aug 6, 2010

Setouchi: the art of island hopping

Japan's Seto Inland Sea, known for its breathtaking vistas and art-filled island of Naoshima, is the site for the inaugural Setouchi International Art Festival until October 31. Also titled as a "100-Day Art and Sea Adventure," about 78 Japanese and internationally recognized artists and art groups are...
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Jul 21, 2010

Kanji for ‘big' will expand your Japanese skills

Every year on Aug. 16, at exactly 8 p.m., the first in a series of five giant bonfires is lit on a mountainside overlooking the city of Kyoto, signaling the moment when ancestral ghosts return to the spirit world after visiting relatives on Earth during the three-day O-bon festival. The largest and most...
Japan Times
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Jul 16, 2010

All dressed up for a trip to the museum

Kyoto's International Manga Museum aims to exhibit the history of manga, one of Japan's main cultural exports.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jul 16, 2010

Looking back at the Renaissance

To the receptive, an old painting can sometimes seem like a time machine, giving a vivid sense of the hand and mind that created it, as well as the social milieu and atmosphere behind it. But this time- traveling analogy doesn't just extend to the viewing of venerable art. Even the creation of new paintings...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Japan Pulse
Jul 14, 2010

Wish upon a lucky star: ema cartoon craze

Ema (shrine prayer plaques) are getting a new twist as fans use them for paying homage to their favorite anime and J-pop idols.
Events / WHERE IT'S AT
Jul 10, 2010

Party celebrates launch of Tokyo.JapanTimes photo comp show

More than 100 people gathered July 2 at the Heartland bar in Roppongi for the launch of a photo exhibition hosted by user-generated media site Tokyo.JapanTimes. Thirty photos on display, whittled down from almost 1,000 competition entries, included winners chosen by a panel of judges.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art / ART BRIEF
Jul 9, 2010

'Nippon Takaine Exhibition'

@butterfly.stroke.inc. gallery
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jul 9, 2010

Komura Settai finds a new modern audience

It is often difficult to fathom how an artist so popular in his own time slides into oblivion in subsequent generations. 2010 has been a good year for one such artist, Komura Settai (1887-1940), who in his time was a prolific creator, producing illustrations, woodblock prints and stage designs. His recent...
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle / Japan Pulse
Jul 7, 2010

Joshikai jamboree: Girls check in for a night out

Ladies' night lasts all night long with special hotel packages for women only.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jul 2, 2010

Vernacular photography — a means to avoid an end

A woman in a corseted, white-lace dress stares straight ahead as she unveils a framed funerary portrait of another young woman. This sepia-toned 19th-century photograph is historian and curator Geoffrey Batchen's choice for the very first image of "Suspending Time: Life - Photography - Death" at the...
Japan Times
LIFE
Jun 27, 2010

Asahiyama's natural touch

Ivan the polar bear has been having relationship problems recently.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 22, 2010

BBC World Service's vices

HONG KONG — If there is one global voice that has a deserved reputation for truth, honesty, fairness, awareness, understanding and balance, it is the BBC, as almost everyone knows the British Broadcasting Corp., and its World Service radio programs.
Japan Times
LIFE / WEEK 3
Jun 20, 2010

Towering ambition

One sunny Saturday last month, Hitachi Ltd., Japan's largest electronics maker, made headlines when it hosted a rare tour of its spanking new elevator-testing tower — the world's tallest — at its sprawling facility in Hitachinaka, Ibaraki Prefecture.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Jun 15, 2010

A light of hope for abused children

In the dock, Katsuyuki Okuno cut a strange figure as he listened baby-faced, chubby, graying, frightened and seemingly unable to understand what he had done.

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