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Kaori Shoji
Kaori Shoji writes about movies and movie-makers for the Film Page, plus takes a turn at the Bilingual Column. Biggest mistake of her career: taking the very dignified Nagisa Oshima to McDonald's for an iced coffee.
Japan Times
LIFE / Language
Feb 18, 2019
Money talks: Can you understand what it's saying?
Digital currencies and smartphone apps are changing the way we do business with the yen, but some monetary habits die hard.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHY DID YOU LEAVE JAPAN?
Feb 16, 2019
Yoko Wylegala: The best lesson in life is to never stop learning
Albert Einstein once said that the "important thing is not to stop questioning." A similar aphorism applies to composer and classical musician Yoko Hamabe Wylegala, whose life has been defined since the age of 7 by studying and questioning one subject or another.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jan 24, 2019
The Japanese family, seen through Iranian eyes
Iranian director Ida Panahandeh's fourth feature, "The Nikaidos' Fall," took her way beyond her comfort zone. She didn't speak Japanese nor had she ever visited the country, and yet there she was with a Japanese crew and cast, filming a story about the Japanese family dynamic in the ancient city of Tenri...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jan 16, 2019
A second helping of horror for 'Suspiria'
Filmmaker Luca Guadagnino cites categorization as one of his enemies, and the sudden fierceness in his eyes shows he's not kidding.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle
Jan 13, 2019
Step into Sawano Kobo, an unusual mix of sandals and music
Traditional Japanese footwear and European jazz make a bizarre but successful combination at the Sawano Kobo store in Osaka.
Japan Times
LIFE / Language
Jan 7, 2019
Join in the chatter during film awards season
With the Golden Globes finished, the race to the Oscars is on. It's time to try out your Japanese on the topic of movies.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies / Taking the Lead
Jan 6, 2019
Changing times: Seiko eyes global luxury watch market as CEO takes iconic firm in a new direction
The executive floor at Seiko Holdings Corp. in Tokyo's posh Ginza district is a piece of history unto itself — the chambers have remained the same for almost a century. If these walls and museum-worthy carved moldings could speak, they would perhaps wax poetic about how Seiko evolved from a watch and...
Japan Times
LIFE / Language
Dec 31, 2018
In Japanese, you can express your new year tidings in more ways than one
New Year's Day is a major holiday in Japan, but the date for it hasn't always been in January.
Japan Times
LIFE / Language
Dec 24, 2018
Going back and forth with the language of giving and receiving in Japanese
It's that time of year when thoughts turn to プレゼント (purezento, presents) — 何をあげるか (nani o ageru ka, what to give), いつあげるか (itsu ageru ka, when to give it), and how will it affect the relationship between giver and receiver?
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / Japan Pulse
Dec 8, 2018
Enthusiasm over new year cards wanes as online options grow
Once a tradition firmly entrenched in the national consciousness, the nengajō (new year cards) is facing extinction.
Japan Times
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Oct 22, 2018
Halloween in Japan: Make up, dress up — and hook up?
Halloween has become one of the coolest days on the calendar, and it's less about sweets for kids than it is an occasion for grown-ups to deck themselves out in costumes for all-night reveling.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink
Oct 6, 2018
Expensive and unsustainable, 'unagi' remains as popular as ever
Unagi (eel) may be one of Japan's most beloved dishes, but despite its much-touted health benefits, rising prices and shrinking numbers of juvenile eels may threaten consumption levels of this Japanese dish.
Japan Times
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Sep 24, 2018
How to sum up Japan's summer of disaster in Japanese?
The summer of 2018 was one for the books — busting meteorological records, wreaking havoc and devastating entire regions along the coast of western Japan.
Japan Times
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Aug 27, 2018
Will society still need me, will it still feed me, when I'm 100?
Back in the 1960s when Paul McCartney wrote 'When I'm 64,' the average life expectancy worldwide was 52. Yet half a century on, Japan is already gearing up for the era of u4ebau751fu767eu5e74 (jinsei hyakunen, 100-year life).
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Aug 7, 2018
Mission: Accomplished — Simon Pegg's path to blockbuster stardom
Last week the "Mission: Impossible" franchise saw its biggest opening ever — $61.2 million — with the release of its sixth film, "Fallout." The action blockbuster's first installment hit screens in 1996, and for more than 20 years the series has served to showcase the gravity-defying acrobatic abilities...
Japan Times
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Aug 6, 2018
Spooky Japanese tales will scare the summer's heat out of you
Until recently, summer nights involved turning off the AC and doing things like kurumaza ni natte kaidanbanashi (sitting in a circle and telling ghost stories).
Japan Times
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Jul 16, 2018
'All Japan' World Cup team gave fans and the media much to mull over
Regardless of musical chairs with the manager job, the Japanese are basking in the afterglow of having made it to the round of 16 when few people had thought they could pull it off.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHY DID YOU LEAVE JAPAN?
Jul 14, 2018
From 'big in Japan' to far better in America
Megumi Ijiri Haskin felt so different to other children when growing up in Japan, that she aspired to live in the U.S. at the age of 17.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / Japan Pulse
Jul 7, 2018
Women in Japan fall for an Amuro who isn't the J-pop star
Most people in Japan associate the surname Amuro with the retiring 40-year-old queen of J-pop of the same name, who gave a series of farewell concerts in June that attracted 800,000 people.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jun 20, 2018
Hiroshi 'Croket' Takigawa switches funny faces for funerals in 'Yuzuriha'
Ask a Japanese person who Hiroshi Takigawa is and you're likely to get a blank face. Give them his stage name, Croket, and you're bound to get a smile.

Longform

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