Search - life

 
 
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 12, 2016

Time to seize the climate's low-hanging fruit

An amendment to the Montreal Protocol to phase out hydrofluorocarbons could be a boon for climate-change mitigation.
Japan Times
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
Sep 11, 2016

Carp fans savor end of 25-year championship itch

The Hiroshima Carp have strived for the moment for 25 years, and their fans are full of emotion about the team's long-awaited league championship.
JAPAN / Society
Sep 10, 2016

Is Japan waking up to the menace of stalking?

Health professionals are trying to be more proactive in rehabilitating stalkers before their actions escalate to something more sinister.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle / CHILD'S PLAY
Sep 10, 2016

Hiking with kids is not an uphill climb

Hiking in Japan is always fun with family, and with summer subsiding, some of the best months for a mountain walk are around the corner. Japan offers countless choices in its vast mountain ranges, but one of my favorite family hikes is only 90 minutes north of Kyoto. The mountain villages of Kibune and...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Sep 10, 2016

'The Eternal Zero': Naoki Hyakuta's best-selling novel reveals the transformative power of war

Revisit the end of World War II with Japan's all-time best-selling paperback, "The Eternal Zero" by Naoki Hyakuta, originally published in Japanese in 2006. Although the movie adaptation sparked controversy with its nationalistic ending, the book does not glorify war. Hyakuta's storytelling structure,...
Reader Mail
Sep 10, 2016

'Haafu' deserve full acceptance

In only two years, Priyanka Yoshikawa is the second mixed race contestant to win a major Japanese beauty pageant, but even so she is facing a severe backlash ("Japanese-Indian crowned Miss World Japan" in the Sept. 7 edition).
JAPAN / Politics
Sep 9, 2016

Tokyo governor announces plan to increase child care slots

Tokyo Gov. Yuriko Koike on Friday announced a plan to boost capacity at day care centers for children in Tokyo to 17,000 as part of efforts to ease the country's chronic shortage of such spots at care facilities.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / DESSERT WATCH
Sep 9, 2016

Seven-Eleven Japan unites a pudding and a roll cake in holy matrimony

Few things in life can top the joy of two desserts coming together to form an super-treat. Seven-Eleven's new Perfect Circle Pudding Roll Cake does just that, plunking the former right into the center of the latter.
BUSINESS / Companies
Sep 9, 2016

Idemitsu scion's defiance imperils $1.7 billion refinery merger

In Japan's carefully choreographed corporate world, public power struggles are generally frowned upon. Shosuke Idemitsu, 89, apparently doesn't roll that way.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Sep 8, 2016

Colombian's memoir reveals deceptions that pulled her into Japan's sex trade in 1990s

Mother Marcela Loaiza tells tale of how she was lured to Tokyo for dance work only to wind up in the hands of the yakuza.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 8, 2016

Age of Asian sweatshops coming to an end?

Automation is replacing human labor in Asian garment factories, but workers who lose their jobs face an uncertain future.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Sep 8, 2016

The UNHCR Refugee Film Festival finds increased focus on Europe for 11th edition

The status of refugees and displaced people continues to worsen since the European refugee crisis first gained widespread attention in 2015. In the news refugees may be portrayed as powerless victims, but the tremendous strength they show in taking strides toward a better future is anything but. The...
Japan Times
BASKETBALL / B. League
Sep 8, 2016

Sunrockers working to meet professional commitments

The B. League, a brand-new men's professional basketball circuit in Japan, will open its inaugural season later this month.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Tech
Sep 8, 2016

New PlayStation 4 models change life cycle of gaming consoles

Sony Corp. has released two new versions of its PlayStation 4: the PlayStation 4 Pro and a slimmer, more efficient version of the PlayStation 4.
JAPAN / Explainer
Sep 7, 2016

Renho nationality accusations spur debate on dual citizenship

Renho, one of the three candidates vying for the top slot in the Sept. 15 Democratic Party leadership election, has repeatedly denied speculation that she may be violating the Nationality Law by having de facto dual citizenship.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 7, 2016

The Islamic State group's European strategy

Europe needs its democracies to unite around a common strategy to defend against manifold security challenges.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / Japan
Sep 7, 2016

Japan shows why the Fed should hike rates

Tokyo's lesson is that keeping rates at zero for too long may do more to deaden confidence than instill it.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Sep 7, 2016

The delicate notes of 'Someone's Xylophone'

Japanese directors now routinely do dozens of media interviews to publicize their new films, especially if they are on the indie end of the spectrum. The stars of said films also sit down with the press, if not as commonly, but though I have been writing about local film folk since 1991, an interview...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Sep 7, 2016

'Janis: Little Girl Blue': Basking in the limelight of the blues

Hollywood loves its messed-up, tragic rock stars, and a biopic of hippie icon and "white blues" singer Janis Joplin has been in the works for longer than anyone can remember, with everyone from Pink to Amy Adams slated for the lead role.
Japan Times
WORLD / Society
Sep 7, 2016

There she is, the first openly gay Miss America contestant

The first openly gay Miss America contestant will compete this weekend, a first in the competition's 95-year-history, organizers said.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Sep 6, 2016

'Similarity and Difference: Who's Who by Kazuo Okazaki'

Sept. 7-Oct. 30
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 6, 2016

Welcome to the Anthropocene

For better or worse, humans are now in charge of the entire planet.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 5, 2016

At Clinton Foundation, access equals corruption

More than half of the people who managed to score a personal meeting with Hillary Clinton while she was secretary of state donated money to the Clinton Foundation.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Sep 3, 2016

Strolling the quiet alleyways of Nara, Japan's forgotten capital

It's hard playing second fiddle when you used to be first chair. Just ask Nara, Kyoto's underpraised southern neighbor.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Sep 3, 2016

Building a stairway to the singularity

A computer's victory over a human go master this past March reminds us of the pending "singularity" — the rapidly approaching moment in time when artificial intelligence overtakes human intelligence. Machines will learn, and we won't be their teachers. Are we prepared for it? Can we prepare for it?...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Sep 3, 2016

'Lord of the Darkwood': The third book in Lian Hearn's epic fantasy series

In tetralogies, the third book is perhaps the most difficult. A master storyteller, like a chess player, must move their ensemble cast toward an endgame, but the strategy for getting them there should remain obscure to the reader.
Japan Times
WORLD
Sep 3, 2016

Putin says DNC hack was public service, denies Russia had any hand in it

President Vladimir Putin said the hacking of thousands of Democratic National Committee (DNC) emails and documents was a service to the public, but denied U.S. accusations that Russia's government had anything to do with it.

Longform

An illustration features the Japanese signs for "ganbare" (good luck) and the Deaflympics, which will be held between Nov. 15 and 26.
A century of Deaf sport finds its moment in Tokyo