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December 21, 2024
 

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Tim Hornyak
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.
JAPAN / Society
Nov 18, 2024
For Dr. Nakamats, aging is just experience in action
Always trying to solve the problems of modern life, the perennial candidate refuses to bow to societal expectations of age.
In some cases, it's up to individual foreign residents to understand the unique tax implications of their home countries and Japan in order to avoid a penny-pinching retirement.
COMMUNITY / How-tos / Age Wise
Nov 5, 2023
Retiring in Japan? Be prepared to foot your own bills.
“In an ideal world, everyone should have retirement planning on their radar as soon as possible when working life begins.”
Pictured in his Kyoto kitchen, Alain Ducasse has the largest collection of Michelin stars of any chef alive — not that he puts much stock in such accolades.
LIFE / Food & Drink
Sep 3, 2023
Alain Ducasse: ‘The Kyoto customer wants refinement’
The world’s most Michelin-starred chef sees those stars as a “reward” instead of an “objective.”
JAPAN / History / Longform
Jun 19, 2023
Resurrecting a prince's home with a dark wartime past
Tekigaiso hosted meetings that helped set Japan's course during World War II. But with an extensive renovation taking place, how much of its story is set to be told?
JAPAN
Dec 22, 2022
A controversy forces Tokyo to define 'public park'
A plan to redevelop the capital's Meiji Jingu Gaien park and its sporting venues has drawn ire from people who want the area's trees to be spared.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Tech / Longform
Dec 5, 2022
Armed with anime avatars, Japan bids to conquer the metaverse
The nation's penchant for online anonymity and well-established love of virtual idols could boost adoption, but early attempts offer cautionary tales.
JAPAN / History / Longform
Oct 10, 2022
Empire of steel: Where Japan’s railways stand after 150 years of evolution
Much has changed since the country's first railway line between Tokyo and Yokohama laid the foundation for a world-renowned network of trains to be created.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics
Aug 18, 2022
No backpedaling for Suginami Ward’s bicycling mayor
Satoko Kishimoto is a breath of fresh air in local politics. But can she bring about change?
BUSINESS / Longform
Apr 4, 2022
Reimagining Japan’s growing glut of empty homes
Entrepreneurs see an opportunity in Japan's abandoned properties as businesses try to change them from liabilities into assets.
CULTURE / Books
Jul 4, 2021
‘The War on Wheels’: Head-butts, broken bones and big bets
Justin McCurry gets readers up to speed on the gritty sport of keirin, Japan's premier cycling competition.
Japan Times
OLYMPICS
Dec 31, 2020
Tokyo Olympics face threat that no vaccine can tame: the weather
Even though the weather conditions during the original games schedule were not as bad as they could have been, experts caution that it's a dangerous time of year for outdoor sports.
ENVIRONMENT
May 11, 2019
Reading the air: Tokyo still has work to do on air pollution
There are days when Makiko Ishikawa can barely breathe. Indeed, the 62-year-old Tokyoite has been short of breath for decades. In the early 1970s, she began feeling the effects of the miasma of vehicle exhaust along Shin-Ome Road, which ran by her home in the city of Musashimurayama in western Tokyo....
JAPAN / History / Defining the Heisei Era
Dec 22, 2018
Defining the Heisei Era: When communication in Japan went mobile
The launch of a pager known as the Pocket Bell marked the birth of texting and mobile communications in Japan.
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design
Oct 14, 2018
Good Design Awards go beyond industrial design
There's no shortage of transformative ideas in Japan, particularly in the field of design. This year's Good Design Awards showcased many surprising examples of innovation from Japan and abroad.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Oct 13, 2018
Mountain High: Junko Tabei's adventures at the top of the world
Junko Tabei was a pioneering alpinist who dramatically changed the landscape of mountaineering around the world. Previously available only in Japanese, excerpts of her writing have been translated and compiled into 'Honouring High Places,' a beautifully illustrated retrospective.
LIFE / Lifestyle
Sep 15, 2018
Ensuring Tokyo Bay is fit for swimming ahead of the 2020 Olympics
If you squint your eyes, it almost looks like Club Med: an expanse of blue sea, a stretch of beach, white tents and umbrellas on the sand, and plenty of staff ready to help out. However, this isn't a tropical paradise, it's Tokyo Bay and Odaiba Plage is an attempt to turn it into a swimming spot.
LIFE / Lifestyle
Mar 31, 2018
Will Japan ever join the great Easter egg hunt?
A year ago, J-pop star Kyary Pamyu Pamyu released a song with lyrics and a promotional video that were as saccharine as a chocolate bunny. The song was titled "Easta" — a play on Easter and "a good start" in Japanese — and the video had dancing eggs, capybaras and fried-egg UFOs shooting laser beams....
JAPAN / History
Dec 16, 2017
Heart of gold: The Ginza Line celebrates its 90th birthday
Born of disasters, war and massive infrastructure projects, 21st-century Tokyo has plenty of ghosts buried underground. If you ride the subway these days, you can catch a fleeting glimpse of two of them but, if you blink, you'll miss them. The Ginza Line is marking 90 years since its opening with the...
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle
Aug 19, 2017
Gachapon: Tracing the evolution of Japan's colorful toy capsules
Where else but Japan could you buy a miniature version of Edvard Munch's "The Scream" figure crouching over a squat toilet, horror-struck? It's one of thousands of ingeniously designed trinkets you can buy for a pittance from toy machines across the nation. They're subversive, beautifully crafted and...
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT
Jun 10, 2017
Plastic fantastic: How does Tokyo recycle its waste?
The next time you trek out to the Tokyo Regional Immigration Bureau, situated on the fringes of Shinagawa along Tokyo Bay, look around and you'll see a giant smokestack by the Konan Ohashi Bridge. The visa-dispensing center, essential for foreign nationals who want to live in Tokyo, stands right by a...
Mother hopes for reunion with daughter ensnared by Tokyo host clubs
The Kabukicho district in Tokyo, where the daughter of a woman in her 60s fell deeply into the host club culture.
A year after going private, structural reforms bearing fruit for Toshiba
Toshiba's Corporate Senior Executive Vice President Koji Ikeya speaks during an interview in Tokyo on Monday.
Taiwan lawmakers brawl over bills that would 'damage democracy'
Lawmakers from the Democratic Progressive Party and opposition party Kuomintang brawl in parliament in Taipei on Friday.
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.
Police raided suspect's home to arrest him after fatal Kitakyushu stabbing
Broken window glass is seen at Masanori Hirabaru's house in Kitakyushu's Kokuraminami Ward.
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.
A year of Oscar wins and a quiet push for diversity
Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s “Evil Does Not Exist,” released in Japanese theaters in April, sharply dramatizes the clash between rural and urban values. The film won five awards at the 2023 Venice Film Festival, including the second-place Silver Lion prize.
Curiosity didn’t kill the meme: Why cats still rule Japanese YouTube
A screen shot from YouTube user @lagelda shows the simplicity of going viral in Japan in 2024: A cat dancing to EDM in front of a green screen.
With rare Asia carrier deployment, France seeks greater interoperability
The flight deck of the French Navy's Charles de Gaulle aircraft carrier during a stop at Changi Naval Base in Singapore in May 2019

Podcast

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

Longform

Yasuyuki Yoshida stirs a brew in a fermentation tank at his brewery in Hakusan.
The quake that shook Noto's sake brewing tradition
By Alex K.T. Martin

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