Tag - close-up

 
 

CLOSE-UP

Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / CLOSE-UP
Nov 2, 2008
Probing the real Japan with Kenneth Pyle
Kenneth Pyle says his first memories of Japan were of watching war films when he was a child — "all the dogfights with Zero fighters and all that."
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / CLOSE-UP
Sep 7, 2008
Jurgen Lehl: A rebel with style
First-time visitors to Japanese department stores are likely to be surprised by the brand Jurgen Lehl. Chances are they haven't heard of it although it sounds international and its quiet chic suggests they should have. As well, Jurgen Lehl outlets generally occupy large chunks of prime in-store real...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / CLOSE-UP
Aug 3, 2008
Jiang Rong: Writing in a world of wolves
Jiang Rong (pen name of Lu Jiamin), who is now 62, was born in Jiangsu Province, China, and educated in Beijing. In 1967, at age 21, he volunteered to go and work in Inner Mongolia, where he'd heard about the practice of people there paying homage to "wolf totems" erected in the rolling grasslands that...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / CLOSE-UP
Jul 6, 2008
Peace follows turbulent times
"It was a nightmare," laughs Tokyo-based author David Peace of a recent trip to Paris to promote the French version of his most successful novel, "The Damned Utd."
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / CLOSE-UP
Jun 1, 2008
Arata Isozaki: Astonishing by design
If the entire Japanese architectural fraternity was one big royal family, then Arata Isozaki would be a king approaching the end of a long and glorious reign.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / CLOSE-UP
May 4, 2008
Hideki Noda: Acting with joy in his soul
Even in today's theater world in Japan, which tends to venerate age, at just 52 Hideki Noda is already a towering, legendary figure.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / CLOSE-UP
Apr 6, 2008
Tom Maschler: A storied life of luck and literary passions
Regardless of whether you take it with a pinch of salt or think this consummate professional is simply being modest, Tom Maschler says that throughout his celebrated publishing career, "luck" has often played a significant role.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / CLOSE-UP
Mar 2, 2008
Shintaro Tsuji: 'Mr. Cute' shares his wisdoms and wit
Shintaro Tsuji isn't joking when he says he wants to make Hello Kitty, his company's best-selling character, into a brand name that rivals Gucci or Hermes.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / CLOSE-UP
Dec 2, 2007
Dalai Lama: Ocean of wit and wisdoms
Lhamo Thondup was born on July 6, 1935 in Taktster, a small village in the Amdo region of northeast Tibet. But neither his parents — farmers who grew barley, buckwheat and potatoes — nor his three elder brothers and one elder sister (a younger sister and brother came later) were to discover his true...
Japan Times
LIFE / CLOSE-UP
Nov 4, 2007
Sue Palmer: The kids are not OK, top educator warns
To a growing legion of educated, enlightened and empowered mothers in Japan and abroad, Sue Palmer's advice on how to bring up children might sound — if not heard in context — too old-fashioned, too alarmist or even maybe too naive to prepare their loved ones for the rapidly changing, fiercely competitive...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / CLOSE-UP
Oct 7, 2007
Nahoko Yamazaki: Off-stage woman stars in men's theater world
Just as in the realm of politics, in the arts world — and here, particularly regarding the performing arts — different countries adopt different policies depending on their historical and economic circumstances.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / CLOSE-UP
Sep 2, 2007
Danjuro Ichikawa: Destined to act wild
When Danjuro Ichikawa stomps around the stage in flamboyant costumes, his face painted in red-and-white makeup and his voice virtually bellowing, it is kabuki in its rawest, most dramatic form. This actor and his ancestors through 11 previous generations have been wreaking havoc in the elegant world...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / CLOSE-UP
Aug 5, 2007
Antiwar activist Steven L. Leeper
In a sense, it is the ultimate irony: The man appointed to oversee the memorial to victims of the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima on Aug. 6, 1945 by an American B-29 aircraft is . . . an American.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / CLOSE-UP
Jul 1, 2007
Kotaro Sawaki: Writer on the road of life
Kotaro Sawaki is one of the most popular nonfiction writers in Japan. He made his name with "Shinya Tokkyu (Midnight Express)," a reportage of a yearlong overland trip through Asia and Europe he took when he was in his mid-20s. Those stories — whose title refers to a euphemism for "prison break" used...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / CLOSE-UP
Jun 3, 2007
Thinking beyond the brain
Kenichiro Mogi would be the ideal person to find sitting next to you at a dinner party, or one bleary post-sake morning over breakfast in a Japanese mountain inn.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / CLOSE-UP
May 6, 2007
Karel Van Wolferen: Insights into the new world disorder
When Karel Van Wolferen released his seminal book "The Enigma of Japanese Power" in the dying months of the bubble economy, the normally staid monthly magazine Chuo Koron described its impact as akin to being struck by a bolt of lightning. For once, the hype was merited. Little before had matched the...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / CLOSE-UP
Mar 4, 2007
Nanae Aoyama: Office worker takes exalted literary status in her stride
Nanae Aoyama only turned 24 in January, but already she has won literary prizes for each of the two books she has published.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / CLOSE-UP
Feb 4, 2007
Princess Tenko: conjuror of pure mystery
The life of illusionist Tenko Hikita -- better
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / CLOSE-UP
Jan 7, 2007
Yoshiharu Habu: Japan's king of the board
Yoshiharu Habu shocked the shogi (Japanese chess) world when, on Feb. 14, 1996, at the age of 25, he won his 7th title to become the only person in the history of the ancient board game to simultaneously possess all seven titles -- Meijin, Ryuo, Kio, Oza, Kisei, Oi and Osho.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / CLOSE-UP
Dec 3, 2006
Ryuichi Sakamoto: Japan's expat rebel with many causes blends music and a wider world view
Former Japanese pop heart-throb and musical pioneer Ryuichi Sakamoto talks about music, the state of the planet — and why he still reluctantly lives in New York City.

Longform

Construction takes place on the Takanawa Gateway Convention Center in Tokyo, slated to open in 2025.
A boom for business tourism in Japan?