Tag - nara

 
 

NARA

Japan Times
CULTURE
Nov 25, 2017
Japan's geisha battle to protect their future
A handful of traditional female entertainers across the country are experimenting with innovative ways of preserving their culture.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Sep 5, 2017
A somber prelude to riots of color
Koji Kinutani's entire career — from his student work to his metaphysical portraiture, which inaugurated a manga trend in contemporary art; his Styrofoam sculptures; the "Goddess of the Silvery Peak" (the basis for the official 1998 Nagano Winter Olympic Games poster); and his sometimes frightening...
Japan Times
JAPAN / KANSAI PERSPECTIVE
Aug 27, 2017
Shiga tops in volunteerism; Osaka finishes in last place: leisure survey
If you're the kind of person who prioritizes volunteer work, enjoys playing badminton and has an interest in studying, Shiga Prefecture might be your ideal home in Kansai.
JAPAN / Politics
Jul 10, 2017
Nara Mayor Gen Nakagawa snares third term in close race; LDP-backed candidate crushed
Nara Mayor Gen Nakagawa, 41, was declared the winner of Sunday's mayoral election by just 2,000 votes Monday morning, a narrow difference that election officials say was caused by voter confusion.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics
Jul 7, 2017
Depopulation, tourism on voters' minds as Nara gears up for mayoral election
Nara voters head to the polls Sunday for a mayoral election that has been dominated by concerns over a shrinking population and an expanding tourist industry.
JAPAN / Politics / KANSAI PERSPECTIVE
May 21, 2017
Redrawing of Nara's electoral map may force internal affairs chief into rematch with DP's Mabuchi
The Cabinet's decision last week to approve the redrawing of Japan's electoral map by eliminating one Lower House district from each of six prefectures (Aomori, Iwate, Mie, Nara, Kumamoto and Kagoshima) is the central government's response to a declining population that is increasingly concentrated in...
JAPAN / KANSAI PERSPECTIVE
Jan 22, 2017
A railroad runs through it: Nara wants help keeping popular ancient ruins serene and intact
Strolling around the ancient ruins of Nara's Heijokyo Palace site, a 2,500-hectare area of footpaths and open green fields, it's easy to imagine that one is back in the distant past, walking on ground first tread 1,300 years ago when it was Japan's first true city.
JAPAN
Oct 23, 2016
Ancient capitals spar over future train routes as tourism battle heats up
Thanks to new shinkansen lines built over the past years, once off-the-beaten-path cities such as Kanazawa, Ishikawa Prefecture, and Otaru, Hokkaido, are having tourism booms, proving high-speed trains can bring more cash to local businesses.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Oct 14, 2016
Many of Japan's major historical attractions remain unknown to foreign tourists
Japan as a whole may be attracting record numbers of foreign tourists, but a report by McKinsey & Co. indicates that the four major historical regions of Nara, Kamakura, Nikko and Ise Shrine are almost unknown among Western tourists.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Oct 4, 2016
Reconnecting Japan's ancient cultural hub
"When I visited Todaiji Temple in Nara, just after I arrived as a Chinese student in Japan about 30 years ago, I felt somehow nostalgic as it had an atmosphere of old China," says Cai Guo-Qiang, as he explains his work for Culture City of East Asia 2016, Nara, a cultural project that launched in March....
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
CULTURE / Film
Jun 22, 2016
Keeping it real: Naomi Kawase on filmmaking
Naomi Kawase has always been an outlier in the Japanese film world, if a very successful one. Born and raised in Nara Prefecture, the site of Japan's ancient capital, she started making documentaries while a student at the Osaka School of Photography in the late 1980s, taking as subjects her natural...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Mar 3, 2016
Nara to allow some deer to be culled under new management policy
Wild deer in the city of Nara have long been loved by tourists and locals alike, and have been protected and cared for under law. Some 1,200 deer inhabit Nara Park, pleasing visitors with their mostly harmless, tame nature.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Society
Feb 24, 2016
Nara targets gay tourists with new focus on LGBT economy
The city of Nara, Japan's ancient capital, will target LGBT tourists from Japan and abroad from April 1.
JAPAN / View from Osaka
Apr 18, 2015
Mind the gap: Nara election reveals voter values
In the wake of last Sunday's local elections, big city political reporters were quick to see the results as (1) a mandate for Prime Minister Shinzo Abe; and (2) a disaster for the Democratic Party of Japan.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Jan 21, 2015
Mount Fuji is 'brown hill,' A-Bomb Dome is 'depressing': Whiners diss Japan's wonders
Let's explore what some disgruntled travelers have to say about Japan's most impressive World Heritage Sites.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jan 6, 2015
Britain's alt-j finds inspiration in Miley Cyrus and Nara
An un-Googleable delta symbol name (∆), genre-hopping, challenging sounds and esoteric lyrics inspired by Japanese deer are not the usual recipe for surefire pop success. Yet when alt-j arrives in Japan for its debut headline show — catapulted by 1 million album sales, a Mercury prize and a nomination...
JAPAN
Jun 12, 2014
Fukui, neighbors agree on disaster cooperation
Fukui Prefecture, which hosts 13 of Japan's 48 nuclear reactors, agrees to participate in disaster drills and planning with neighbors Ishikawa and Nara.
JAPAN / View from Osaka
Apr 19, 2014
America: the superpower ally that's far, far away
Japan is, at heart, politically as well as geographically, a country of small towns. One of these is home to the Japanese-American political relationship.
BUSINESS / Economy
Mar 12, 2014
Kyoto pitches to host maglev line instead of Nara
A maglev line through Kyoto on the way to Osaka would have about twice the economic effect as the currently planned course through Nara, according to an estimate by the city of Kyoto.

Longform

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