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November 21, 2024
 

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Mark Thompson
Mark Thompson is the managing editor of The Japan Times, where he has worked since the birth of HTML. Once upon a time, he was on the features desk and wrote regularly about culture and technology. He can be found on way too many social platforms, including Mastodon, Post.news, Bluesky and Threads.
Japan Times
WORLD
Jan 13, 2019
New York Times publisher A.G. Sulzberger: 'Following the truth, wherever it leads'
In the spring of 2014, a low rumble could be felt deep in the media landscape. An in-house report about the need for digital innovation at The New York Times was leaked by competitors, and what it revealed was a major news organization clearly struggling to overcome internal stasis and catch up with...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jun 3, 2018
Yayoi Kusama in Jakarta: She'll be your mirror
'Life is the Heart of a Rainbow,' the Yayoi Kusama exhibition now on at the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in Jakarta, is the first retrospective of the artist Indonesia has ever hosted.
Japan Times
MULTIMEDIA
Oct 27, 2017
The faces of the Tokyo International Film Festival 2017
The 30th Tokyo International Film Festival, which opened on Wednesday, is screening a variety of cinema from all over the world at various venues in Tokyo. The festival runs until Nov. 3, when the jury will announce the winning films from the competition.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Aug 26, 2017
Reconnecting with our nature: teamLab's digital revolution
An interactive art collective wants us all to connect and experience a world without boundaries.
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital
Feb 2, 2017
Tributes to the 'father of Pac-Man'
Following the news that Masaya Nakamura, whose company created Pac-Man, had died at the age of 91, social media was filled with tributes to the 'father' of the beloved yellow gobbler.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jan 17, 2017
The new testament to Bowie's star power
"I was probably stupid enough to believe that having the same birthday as him actually meant something," the younger Bowie once said about "a major hero" of his, Elvis Presley.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Nov 8, 2016
'The Universe and Art: Princess Kaguya, Leonardo Da Vinci, teamLab': Art that moves beyond our world
In the beginning, long before Netflix and Google Maps, our ancestors had only the sky, the sun, the moon and the stars to guide, dazzle and humble them. Naturally, as religions began to form, the first place to look was up, because surely that's where the deities dwell, right? And that yearning to better...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink
Sep 20, 2016
Japanese food samples: Look so good you could eat them
Last week, the Google Doodle paid tribute to Takizo Iwasaki (1895-1965), the inventor of shokuhin sampuru, the lifelike food models that appear in restaurant displays throughout Japan.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film / Wide Angle
Jun 8, 2016
'Girls' just wanna have fun in Japan
"Girls," an Emmy award-winning HBO series, focuses on a quartet of women in their early 20s who are trying to — surprise, surprise — figure out what they want to do with their lives. Like its outspoken creator — the intellectual "It Girl" Lena Dunham — "Girls" is polarizing: You either get it...
Japan Times
MULTIMEDIA
Mar 3, 2016
Hot wheels at the 86th Geneva International Motor Show
Journalists pore over a cut-down Aston Martin on the second press day of the 86th International Auto Show in Geneva on Wednesday. The show opened to the public on Thursday and runs until March 13. It has more than 200 exhibitors, and more than 120 product launches are expected. | MARTIAL TREZZINI, KEYSTONE...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / David Bowie in Japan
Jan 15, 2016
15 minutes more
One day in 1996, when I was working as an editor/writer on the features desk, I arrived at work and was told as I walked in the door that an unnamed person had called. They were looking for someone at The Japan Times to do a one-on-one interview with David Bowie.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / David Bowie in Japan
Jan 14, 2016
Like some cat from Japan: A tribute to David Bowie
The late David Bowie's appreciation of Japan and its culture was strong. Following his recent death, The Japan Times asked five people who share that connection with the country, and who witnessed the decade-spanning trajectory of this starman, to recall what his sound and vision meant to them.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jan 5, 2016
The difficulty of being Frank Gehry
The exhibition "Frank Gehry: I Have an Idea," currently at 21_21 Design Sight and curated by fellow architect Tsuyoshi Tane, crams in a lot, but it's not exactly a linear retrospective. Rather, it's an upward look at a man on a tightrope — a man who must balance form and function; rein in creativity...
International Reports
Dec 31, 2015
Global Insight
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Dec 16, 2015
Derrick Woollacott: Lost postwar memories find the light of day
In 1942, Derrick Woollacott entered the military and ended up kickstarting his career as a photographer at age 19. Lacking formal education after 14 and the financial means to own a camera, this was his best shot.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle
Oct 26, 2015
This is Halloween, Japan-style
Stumped for a costume idea this year? This selection of outfits from pre-Halloween parades on Sunday, curated from social media and Japan Times's staff, might give you a few ideas for the big event this weekend.
Japan Times
Places
Oct 23, 2015
Halloween events in Japan 2015
Halloween in Japan ... can it get any bigger or crazier. Thanks to a perfect storm of cosplay and consumerism, Japan's major cities have embraced the Western holiday in a big way over the past five years. And this list of Halloween events in Tokyo and elsewhere is just the tip of the big orange iceberg.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Sep 11, 2015
Scenes of flood damage from Typhoon Etau, as seen on social media
[View the story "Typhoon Etau's torrential rains flood Ibaraki, Miyagi prefectures" on Storify]
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Aug 18, 2015
Erik Satie: A 'gymnopedist' ahead of his time
Erik Satie (1866-1925) said and did a lot of memorable things, many remarkably outlandish. Brilliant and bonkers, he composed works that range from cabaret ditties to a "symphonic drama," from light music for educating children to complex parodies of the masters. And who can forget such composition titles...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jun 9, 2015
'Beauty of the Spirits': What lurks behind masks of mankind
"Masks: Beauty of the Spirits" comes from the Musee du Quai Branly, an institution that former President Jacque Chirac spearheaded toward the end of his long reign. Opened in 2006 to both fanfare and controversy, the Paris museum's stated mission is to celebrate the masterpieces of non-European countries...
Ishiba delays meeting with Trump, citing legal restrictions
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba waves upon arrival for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum, in Callao, Peru, on Friday.
Two of America’s biggest debt holders are dumping Treasurys
The U.S. Treasury building in Washington. Investors in Japan and China sold a pile of U.S. debt in the last quarter, just before the U.S. presidential election.
Rising sex tourism exposes loopholes in Japan's anti-prostitution law
While financial misfortunes during the COVID-19 pandemic may have driven some women to work the streets, others simply want more money to spend — or want to pay off their debts — at host clubs.
Japan ranks last in romance satisfaction for second straight year
In a survey of 31 countries, Japan ranked last in terms of those who felt loved, with just 51% of respondents saying so.
Ruling coalition and DPP strike last-minute deal over economic policy
DPP policy chief Makoto Mahaguchi speaks at the party's policy gathering in Tokyo on Wednesday.
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.
Haruki Murakami's 'The City and Its Uncertain Walls' gives deep deja vu
For “The City and Its Uncertain Walls,” translated into English by Philip Gabriel, Haruki Murakami confronts the ghosts who won't leave him alone.
Japanese expats in Asia find community through rugby
The Taiwan Fivewoods celebrate their victory at the 2023 Asian Japanese Rugby Cup in December of last year.
In Fukushima, a weekend of prose, poetry and translation
Aomori-based writer JJ Carter presented on tabletop gaming as creative inspiration for building characters and narratives.
For Dr. Nakamats, aging is just experience in action
Though he didn't win the recent gubernatorial election in Tokyo, the 96-year-old Dr. Nakamats' run was seen as inspirational in Japan's aging society.

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

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