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May 01, 2024
 

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Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / CLOSE-UP
Jun 3, 2012
Koki Mitani: Japan's Mr. Comedy
Koki Mitani is far and away the nation's best-known dramatist. Although theater is quite a niche medium here, most people in Japan — whether male or female, young or not so young, Japanese or not — recognize his face, even if they couldn't name many of his works. Recently, indeed, I was amazed when a young child sitting next to me in a theater was thrilled to identify Mitani, who was pictured on one of a bunch of handouts disguised as the great Russian playwright and author Anton P. Chekhov.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / CLOSE-UP
May 6, 2012
Richard Collasse: Sold on brand Japan
In Tokyo's high-end Ginza district, the Chanel Building stands out among the luxury fashion boutiques and global brands' emporiums thanks to its shining black-glass exterior.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / CLOSE-UP
Apr 1, 2012
Naohiko Jinno: Master of public finance brings life to numbers
Born the grandson of a once-prosperous textile manufacturer in Urawa, Saitama Prefecture, Naohiko Jinno says that when he was growing up he was told by his mother, over and over again, that money was not important.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / CLOSE-UP
Mar 4, 2012
Taro Yamamoto: Actor in the spotlight of Japan's antinuke movement
On a rainy midwinter day, Taro Yamamoto stood with a small group of people in front of Shimokitazawa Station in Tokyo's Setagaya Ward and addressed passers-by in that artsy youth-culture hub.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / CLOSE-UP
Feb 5, 2012
Mickey Curtis: from rocker to 'Robo-G'
The pioneers of the rock 'n' roll era on both sides of the Atlantic have now largely faded from the show-business scene — which is hardly surprising, given that those still strutting their stuff are in their 70s and 80s, and even "The King" himself, Elvis Presley, who died in 1977, would be 77 today.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / CLOSE-UP
Jan 1, 2012
Mayumi Kagita: A fusion of cultures revealed in dance
On Nov. 19, the Pit hall of the New National Theatre, Tokyo, in Shibuya, was filled with hundreds of eager theater-goers. They had come to see a performance of "Onna Goroshi Abura no Jigoku" ("The Women-Killer and the Hell of Oil"), a play written by Chikamatsu Monzaemon (1653-1724) — Japan's greatest dramatist, known for his kabuki and traditional bunraku puppet works. For this version of the play, however, the performance was to be far from traditionally Japanese.
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
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / CLOSE-UP
Nov 6, 2011
Kiyoshi Nakabayashi: Ex-Tokyo cop speaks out on a life fighting gangs — and what you can do
Kiyoshi Nakabayashi well remembers how, when he was a high school student in the late 1950s and early '60s, newspapers were full of stories of violent gang wars being fought out openly on the streets of Tokyo.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / CLOSE-UP
Oct 2, 2011
Satoshi Kamata: Rebel spirit writ large
Monday, Sept. 19, was Respect for the Aged Day in Japan. But on that sweltering national holiday, it wasn't the heat that that drew tens of thousands of people to Meiji Park in central Tokyo, but their concerns for all the nation's citizens, and others, who may face a threat from nuclear power.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / CLOSE-UP
Sep 4, 2011
Alfons Deeken: Priest-philosopher makes death his life's work
On Friday, July 22, as the stifling heat and humidity of summer relented for just a fleeting few days, hundreds of people filled a hall at Enkakuji Temple in Kamakura, Kanagawa Prefecture, to listen to a lecture by philosophy scholar Alfons Deeken.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / CLOSE-UP
Aug 7, 2011
Tadanori Yokoo: An artist by design
In conversation, Tadanori Yokoo jumps nimbly between the past and the present. One moment he's watching the sky glow red as bombs rain down on Kobe during World War II. The next he's riding in a taxi with Yukio Mishima. And then he's back in the present, here at his studio in Tokyo's Setagaya Ward, discussing his latest painting.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / CLOSE-UP
Jul 3, 2011
Kotaro Horiuchi: A life spent in uncharted waters of boat design
Considering the current state of Japan's economy, it's remarkable to recall that 60 years ago there were hundreds of companies both old and new jockeying restlessly to fill the vacuum left after almost all the nation's cities were heavily bombed in World War II — jockeying, that is, with the kind of entrepreneurial verve now associated with China or India.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / CLOSE-UP
Jun 5, 2011
Amon Miyamoto: Globe-trotting dramatist seeks new horizons
Fifty-three years ago, Amon Miyamoto was born into a world in which he grew up listening to spirited exchanges between leading lights from the stage and showbiz in his father's coffee shop across from the modern-leaning Shinbashi Enbujo outpost of the venerable Kabuki-za theater in Tokyo's smart Ginza district.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / CLOSE-UP
May 1, 2011
Atsuko Muraki: Fighter for justice
Atsuko Muraki was thrown into the public spotlight in 2009, when she was head of the Equal Employment, Children and Families Bureau at the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / CLOSE-UP
Mar 6, 2011
Tadao Sato: 'Japan's single finest film critic'
Tadao Sato laughed an embarrassed laugh as he recalled that three years ago, in London, he had been referred to as a "legend." Though adding to his discomfort, I had to admit that in my university days I had thought of him in the same way. And I still do.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / CLOSE-UP
Feb 6, 2011
Yang Sok Gil: Writing about wrongs at home and abroad
Yang Sok Gil is renowned for his novels describing, with remarkable humanity and humor, people's wanton desires and the problems they cause, often from the viewpoint of minorities in Japan or elsewhere.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / CLOSE-UP
Dec 5, 2010
Matsumoto Koshiro IX: A lifetime of kabuki
"Koraiya!" shouts someone in the audience, acclaiming the actor center stage. Feeding off the adulation, he launches into his next line. "What a useless fellow you are," he yells, berating the servant at his side. "You shall pay dearly!"
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / CLOSE-UP
Nov 7, 2010
Noriko Hama: Scholar brings economics to life
Clouds of gloom have been shrouding Japan and its economy for quite some time. The bursting of the asset- inflated economic bubble in the early 1990s, and the failures of banks, insurers and other big corporations later in that decade, has put a huge dent in Japan's collective self-confidence. That is made all the more painful since it followed the country's postwar rise from rags to rich "Asian tiger" — prompting both awe and anxiety around the world.
Japan Times
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 / Our Lives / CLOSE-UP
Aug 1, 2010
Lee Ufan: Korean at the forefront of Japan's modern art
For the last several years, Benesse Art Site on the island of Naoshima in the Seto Inland Sea has featured prominently in rankings of Japan's best tourist destinations.
'So hot you can't breathe': Extreme heat hits the Philippines
A pedestrian cools himself with a folding hand fan as he waits for a ride along a road in Manila on Wednesday, as extreme heat hit the Philippines.
Yen rebounds strongly after first slide past ¥160 since 1990
The yen dropped to ¥160.245 per dollar on Monday before heading into the other direction to ¥155.01 amid speculation of an intervention by Japanese currency authorities.
Did Japan intervene to prop up the yen? Analysts think it did.
A man walks past an electronic board displaying the exchange rate for the yen against the U.S. dollar (right) in Tokyo on Tuesday.
JAL cancels international flight after captain gets drunk at Dallas hotel
A Japan Airlines' flight from Dallas to Tokyo was canceled last week after its captain got drunk at a local hotel.
Golden Week crowds greeted with high temperatures as holiday period kicks off
The departure lobby for domestic flights is crowded with travelers at Haneda Airport in Tokyo on Saturday, the first day of this year's Golden Week holidays.
Climate change, chalky grains and the risks for Japan’s rice farmers
A farmer plants seedlings in Satsumasendai, Kagoshima Prefecture. Japan’s self sufficiency rate for rice is nearly 100%, compared with 38% for food overall, on a calorie basis.
Japan wants you to spend more with ‘luxury tourism’
Performers play a traditional drum unique to Wajima, Ishikawa Prefecture, in the prefectural capital of Kanazawa on March 16 to mark the extension of the Hokuriku Shinkansen line to Tsuruga Station in Fukui Prefecture.
Theaster Gates’ ambitious ‘Afro-Mingei’ brings Black Chicago to Tokyo
Theaster Gates' “A Heavenly Chord” lines up church pews before seven speakers and a Hammond B3 organ, a type of electric organ prevalent in Black American churches.
Casa del Cibo: A thriving jewel born from Tohoku’s harsh past
When chef Ryohei Ikemi moved to Hachinohe, Aomori Prefecture, and opened Casa del Cibo in 2011, it was the first proper Italian restaurant in the city.
Town to block view of Mount Fuji in response to overtourism
The town government of Fujikawaguchiko, Yamanashi Prefecture, decided to set up a 2.5-meter-high screen to prevent tourists from taking pictures of Mount Fuji looming behind a convenience store.

Podcast

From easily navigable train stations to the helpfulness of its municipal staff, Tokyo has earned high praise for its commitment to accessibility for disabled travelers.
[Rebroadcast] Japan is doing better on accessibility than you may think

Longform

When trying to trace your lineage in Japan, the "koseki" is the most important form of document you'll encounter.
Climbing the branches of a Japanese family tree
By Alex K.T. Martin

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