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December 23, 2024
 

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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.
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.
Zelenskyy to replace Ukraine ambassador to Japan
Ukrainian Ambassador to Japan Sergiy Korsunsky delivers a speech during a handover ceremony of Self-Defense Force vehicles to Ukraine, at the Defense Ministry in Tokyo, in May last year.
Bankruptcies and suicides rise as Japanese struggle with mounting debt
Lawyers estimate that personal bankruptcies in Japan are on track to reach the highest since 2012 this year.
Honda and Nissan consider mutual production of vehicles, report says
Honda CEO Toshihiro Mibe at the Japan Mobility Show 2023 at Tokyo Big Sight in October 2023.
The mighty Mekong River's growing plastic problem
A group of elephant keepers in Chiang Saen, Thailand, remove plastic waste from the Ruak River, a tributary of the Mekong River, as a pair of Asian elephants bathe behind them.
Record 78% of people in Japan feel anxious, government survey finds
The public opinion survey on people's lives, conducted by the Cabinet Office, found that 28.1% of respondents think that their standard of living is at a lower-middle level among the general public — the highest percentage to give that response in 35 years.
Casual workouts, cool living, ‘complete’ food: Japan’s health trends of 2024
In 2024, efficiency trumped effort among Japan's fitness-focused aspirants.
The mighty Mekong River's growing plastic problem
A group of elephant keepers in Chiang Saen, Thailand, remove plastic waste from the Ruak River, a tributary of the Mekong River, as a pair of Asian elephants bathe behind them.
Japanese officials inspect Yokota Air Base over PFAS concerns
The Yokota Air Base in western Tokyo in September 2019. An inspection of the base by Japanese government officials on Friday came amid public pressure to investigate suspected links between the use of PFAS-containing firefighting foam by the U.S. base and contamination of soil and groundwater in western Tokyo.
Crime numbers rise in Japan for second straight year
A police officer stands in front of the residence of a man alleged to have stabbed two junior high school students in Kitakyushu.
North Korea aiding Russia where it needs it most, Canadian general says
North Korean special forces soldiers march and shout slogans during a military parade marking the 105th birth anniversary of the country's founding father, Kim Il Sung, in Pyongyang in April 2017.

Podcast

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.
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Visitors to Kyoto walk along a street near Kiyomizu Temple in April. A popular tourist spot, Kyoto has seen what locals feel to be an overwhelming amount of tourists in 2024.
Is Japan ready for 60 million tourists?
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