author

 
Menu
Search
 
November 23, 2024
 

Today's print edition

Home Delivery
Subscribe for more access

Meta

Don O'Keefe
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books / ESSENTIAL READING FOR JAPANOPHILES
Mar 9, 2019
'Japan in the World': A comprehensive analysis of Japan's international image
Published near the height of Japan's global economic power in 1993, 'Japan in the World' brings together essays that reflect on the country's place in international affairs.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books / ESSENTIAL READING FOR JAPANOPHILES
Oct 6, 2018
'Studies in Intellectual History of Tokugawa Japan': Chronicling the political theory of the Edo Period
In "Studies in Intellectual History of Tokugawa Japan," leading postwar political scientist Masao Maruyama chronicles the ideas and debates of scholars throughout the Edo Period (1603-1868).
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books / ESSENTIAL READING FOR JAPANOPHILES
Apr 28, 2018
'Japanese Architecture as a Collaborative Process': A must-read to understand Japanese architecture
Dana Buntrock's fieldwork highlights the collaborative nature of architecture, manufacturing and construction in Japan.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books / ESSENTIAL READING FOR JAPANOPHILES
Sep 30, 2017
'The Making of Urban Japan': The best introduction to Japanese urban planning in English
In "The Making of Urban Japan," professor Andre Sorensen explains the genesis of modern Japanese cities, from bustling stations to intimate alleyways. Published in 2002, while he was a lecturer at the University of Tokyo, it remains the best introduction to Japanese urban planning in English.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Apr 8, 2017
'MITI and the Japanese Miracle: The Growth of Industrial Policy, 1925-1975': Revisiting Chalmers Johnson on the U.S.-Japan relationship
May 15 will mark the 45th anniversary of the reversion of Okinawa to Japanese control, again reminding us of how drastically the U.S.-Japan relationship has changed over the years.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Mar 4, 2017
Culture and commerce thrive under Japan's elevated train tracks
At dusk, the bars and restaurants that crowd the underside of the tracks at Yurakucho Station come alive.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books / ESSENTIAL READING FOR JAPANOPHILES
Feb 18, 2017
'Edo and Paris: Urban Life and the State in the Early Modern Era': Essays on growth and bureaucracy
"Edo and Paris" compares the development of these two great cities of the early modern era. It compiles 19 essays by American, European and Japanese academics, edited by James L. McClain, John M. Merriman and Kaoru Ugawa, professors of history at Brown, Yale and Rikkyo universities, respectively.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Dec 10, 2016
'Between Land and Sea': Disentangling architect Kiyonori Kikutake from metabolism
Kiyonori Kikutake (1928-2011) was a leading Japanese architect of the postwar period and is best known for his central role in metabolism, the avant-garde architectural movement. "Kiyonori Kikutake: Between Land and Sea" disentangles Kikutake from the legacy of metabolism and provides new perspectives...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Oct 29, 2016
Are Japanese really 'docile'?: challenging an enduring myth
A common perception abroad is that Japanese society is docile. This is partly thanks to Western writers who tried to create a single profile of the Japanese in the early to mid-20th century, such as Ruth Benedict in her 1946 book "The Chrysanthemum and the Sword." Today, this dangerous myth of consensus...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Sep 17, 2016
'One Hundred Million Philosophers': The life and times of Japan's Science of Thought group
In "One Hundred Million Philosophers," Historian Adam Bronson profiles "one of the longest lasting and most influential intellectual groups" of the postwar era: Science of Thought (Shiso no Kagaku). He focuses on the tumultuous period between its founding in 1946 and the 1960 Anpo protests against the...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Sep 10, 2016
'Postmodernism in Japan': Critics, historians and writers analyze the contemporary age
"Postmodernism and Japan" opens with editors H.D. Harootunian and Masao Miyoshi declaring that postmodernism is a Western phenomenon that cannot be exported globally. The essays that follow draw connections and expose dissonances between postmodernism and Japan. Topics range from close readings of works...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books / ESSENTIAL READING FOR JAPANOPHILES
Jul 30, 2016
'Japan-ness in Architecture': Arata Isozaki and the search for a national identity
In "Japan-ness in Architecture," architect and theorist Arata Isozaki chronicles the search for a Japanese identity through design. Isozaki begins by outlining Japan's architectural discourse in the 20th century, in which he played a key role. He writes honestly about his contemporaries who grappled...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Jun 18, 2016
'As We Saw Them': Masao Miyoshi and the dawn of U.S.-Japan relations
In "As We Saw Them," literary critic and academic Masao Miyoshi looks at the 1860 Japanese embassy to the United States, the first sent to a Western power after centuries of seclusion.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books / ESSENTIAL READING FOR JAPANOPHILES
May 28, 2016
'Neighborhood Tokyo' dispels myths about the megacity
"Neighborhood Tokyo" is a portrait of an average Tokyo neighborhood in Shinagawa Ward where Harvard Anthropologist Theodore Bestor did fieldwork from the late 1970s to early '80s. Though the book is a rigorous study of social life, Bestor's wit and candor open it up to general readers.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books / ESSENTIAL READING FOR JAPANOPHILES
Apr 23, 2016
'Off Center' tries to pull Japan out of America's shadow
"Off Center" is Japanese-born U.S. academic Masao Miyoshi's exposition of the asymmetrical relationship between Japan and the West.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Mar 12, 2016
Recurring views of Tokyo's utopian dream
When the Nakagin Capsule Tower opened in Tokyo in 1972, it embodied the energy and optimism of Japan's postwar boom. Considered architect Kisho Kurokawa's opus, its completion was also a major moment in the development of metabolism, the much publicized Japanese avant-garde architectural movement that...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Aug 1, 2015
'Allegories of Time and Space' tunnels into the history of modern Japanese aesthetics
In "Allegories of Space and Time," Columbia University Professor Jonathan M. Reynolds charts the discourse surrounding tradition and modernity in Japanese aesthetics from the 1940s to '80s.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Jun 13, 2015
Sou Fujimoto's 'Architecture Works 1995-2015' prioritizes visuals over insight
All of architect Sou Fujimoto's projects to date are methodically presented in "Architecture Works 1995-2015." This is essentially a reference book, prefaced only by Fujimoto's one page introduction.
Tokyo Metro’s overseas efforts begin in earnest with London deal
Tokyo Metro will soon have a role in the running of London's Elizabeth Line, a major train route serving the U.K.’s capital city and environs.
Man charged with murder allegedly made victim date other men for money
A car carrying suspect Ryotaro Masuda, who was indicted for allegedly beating his 25-year-old girlfriend to death, leaves the Shibuya Police Station in Tokyo on Thursday.
Russia fired experimental ballistic missile at Ukraine, Putin says
Ukrainian firefighters work on a spot following an airstrike in Dnipro on Thursday.
Ex-yokozuna Kitanofuji dies at 82
Yokozuna Kitanofuji enters the ring during the May 1970 grand sumo tournament in Tokyo.
The slow-burn success of ‘A Samurai in Time’
A 19th-century warrior gets struck by lightning and wakes to find himself in 21st-century Kyoto in Junichi Yasuda’s surprise hit “A Samurai in Time.”
Shohei Ohtani wins National League MVP award
Shohei Ohtani celebrates after hitting a three-run home run against the Padres during the National League Division Series at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles last month.
The slow-burn success of ‘A Samurai in Time’
A 19th-century warrior gets struck by lightning and wakes to find himself in 21st-century Kyoto in Junichi Yasuda’s surprise hit “A Samurai in Time.”
Around a quarter of Japan married couples in their 20s met through dating apps
A survey released by an organization promoting “Good Couples Day” shows that 24% of couples in their 20s met their marriage partner through a dating app.
'Tokyo Swindlers': Get deep into the minds of real estate con artists
In Ko Shinjo's "Tokyo Swindlers," a group of con artists manipulates real estate giants into falsified deals within the highly competitive, quick market.
Japan, U.K. and Italy discuss inviting more countries to joint fighter project
A new concept model of a next-generation fighter jet to be jointly developed by Japan, Britain and Italy is on display in Farnborough, Hampshire, in July.

Podcast

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.
Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Longform

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

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

The celebrated artist ‘updating’ the kimono
The celebrated artist ‘updating’ the kimono

SPECIAL SUPPLEMENTS note

Read more

SUPPLEMENTS BINDER