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July 16, 2024
 

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Damian Flanagan
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books / The critics who shaped modern Japan
Sep 2, 2017
Hideo Kobayashi: Spearheading the age of the professional critic
In the autumn of 1956, Japan's most renowned literary critic, the 54-year-old Hideo Kobayashi, engaged in taidan ( a "conversation" to be published in a magazine) with 31-year-old rising literary star Yukio Mishima.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / FOREIGN AGENDA
Aug 27, 2017
How a love of Japan led me to stop dating its women
A British academic concludes that the only way he can truly enjoy and develop his love for Japan is by excluding his love life from the equation.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books / The critics who shaped modern Japan
Aug 5, 2017
Junichiro Tanizaki: Speaking to the light from the shadows
In 1933, when Junichiro Tanizaki (1886-1965) published his short but landmark essay "In Praise of Shadows," it could hardly be seen as anything other than a riposte to the "enlightening" agenda of the great cultural critic Fukuzawa Yukichi of the preceding Meiji Era (1868-1912).
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / FOREIGN AGENDA
Jul 19, 2017
To find the joys of 'real Japan,' get on your bike
Japanese society and culture seem intrinsically suited to bicycles, which require a degree of safety of environment and intimacy that are alien to many thunderously car-based, brash and crime-ridden Western societies.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books / ESSENTIAL READING FOR JAPANOPHILES
Jul 8, 2017
'The Sea and Poison': Shusaku Endo dissects the human capacity for evil
This 1957 novel has at its heart Shusaku Endo's fascination with a seemingly tranquil and civilized postwar Japan still traumatized by the horrors of the Pacific War. Even a harmless-looking gas station attendant might be a grizzled war veteran involved in brutal killings on the front line little more...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books / The critics who shaped modern Japan
Jul 1, 2017
Yukichi Fukuzawa: A cultural critic truly ahead of his time
Ask just about anyone with a keen interest in Japan to name their favorites from the nation's rich literary history and they are likely to rattle off a few famous names. But ask the same person for their favorite Japanese critics, and stony silence is likely to ensue.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / FOREIGN AGENDA
Jun 28, 2017
Japan — where the suburbs meet utopia
After flirtations with city and country, a roaming suburban boy finds that true bliss lies somewhere in between.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jun 17, 2017
The extraordinary untold Japan story of 'You Only Live Twice'
On the 50th anniversary of the premiere of the fifth 'James Bond' film in Japan, we explore spy rings in Tokyo, a secretive Sherlock Holmes society and an Australian double agent behind 007's Japanese adventure.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
May 27, 2017
'Record of a Night Too Brief': Hiromi Kawakami uncoils life's mysteries with an exploration of dreams
When I met the popular author Hiromi Kawakami in London recently, I asked her thoughts about the great authors of Japan's literary past. Did she, for example, enjoy the novels of Meiji Era (1868-1912) great Natsume Soseki?
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Apr 15, 2017
'The Book of the Dead': The first complete translation of Shinobu Orikuchi's classic
Both influential and deeply mysterious, "The Book of the Dead" ("Shisha no Sho," 1943) is the most famous work of fiction by Shinobu Orikuchi (1887-1953), a pioneer of folklore studies in Japan and renowned poet. Orikuchi was fascinated with the origins of Japanese religion and the connections between...
Japan Times
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Apr 3, 2017
門: Your 'gate' to understanding Japan
The word 'gate' lurks deep in the Japanese psyche. So central is the word to Japanese thinking that at least 50 kanji incorporate it.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / FOREIGN AGENDA
Mar 29, 2017
The psychological perils of a Japanese homestay
All the homestays I have done in my life — three of them — were psychologically traumatic in uniquely torturous ways.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Jan 21, 2017
The triumphant second coming of Endo's 'Silence'
Martin Scorsese's adaptation of "Silence," Shusaku Endo's tale of Catholic missionaries suffering brutal repression in 17th-century Japan, has met with mixed reviews. Some have found it ponderously overlong and, for those unfamiliar with Japanese history, baffling in context. It is, in fact, not a minute...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Jan 14, 2017
Mishima and the maze of sexuality in modern Japan
In June 1948, novelist Osamu Dazai committed suicide. The 38-year-old, who had just completed his masterpiece, "No Longer Human," and whose fame was peaking, jumped into Tokyo's Tamagawa Canal with his mistress, Tomie Yamazaki, and drowned.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Dec 17, 2016
Natsume Soseki and 'The Orient's No. 1 Elevator'
What is the top tourist destination in the Kansai region? Is it Kyoto's geisha district? Is it the temples and bamboo forests of Arashiyama? Is it the town of Yoshino, with Japan's most famous cherry blossoms? The majestic views from Mount Rokko in Kobe? Or Lake Biwa, the country's largest freshwater...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Dec 17, 2016
Love, obsession and perverted desires in Japan's age of steam
Japan began to open its doors to the West in the 1850s, after centuries of remaining closed. In the following decade, foreigners' "concessions" were established in port cities such as Yokohama and Kobe to cope with the new visitors. The Japanese, with their characteristic desire to extend guests every...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Nov 26, 2016
The hidden heart of Natsume Soseki
Dec. 9 marks the 100th anniversary of the death of Natsume Soseki (1867-1916), a novelist widely regarded as being the one of the greatest writers of modern Japan. Events commemorating this anniversary have been held throughout 2016 but, in case you think it will all be over by Christmas, another milestone...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Nov 19, 2016
The shifting sexual norms in Japan's literary history
More than 3,000 women and almost 900 men — that's the number of lovers the main protagonist in Ihara Saikaku's 1682 novel "Koshoku Ichidai Otoko" ("The Life of an Amorous Man") tallies up as he reminisces. Saikaku, born in Osaka in 1642, became a renowned poet who wrote about the fluid, open sexuality...
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Nov 5, 2016
Kofu: the mountain fortress of warlord Takeda Shingen
In Akira Kurosawa's classic 1980 film "Kagemusha" ("Shadow Warrior"), the 16th-century daimyo Takeda Shingen is mortally wounded by a sniper after being lured by the sound of a flute during a castle siege. Takeda's clan know that rival warlords Oda Nobunaga and Tokugawa Ieyasu will pounce on their domain...
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Oct 8, 2016
The 'onsen' retreat that transformed Natsume Soseki
Shuzenji, an onsen (hot-spring) town in the heart of the Izu Peninsula, is a little piece of heaven. Nestled in the densely wooded hills of Shizuoka Prefecture, its collection of baths, guesthouses and shops line up on either side of the rushing Katsura River, with historic temples, shrines and bamboo...
Bloodied Trump survives assassination attempt at political rally
Former U.S. President Donald Trump is surrounded and evacuated by Secret Service agents at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on Saturday. Trump was rushed off stage at the rally after shots rang out.
How to beat Japan’s summer heat in ways better for the planet
Tenugui towels hang up to dry at a dyeing company in Sakai, Osaka Prefecture, on May 8. The durable and versatile tenugui, which many people have in their homes, can be used in many ways to cool one’s body.
The neurological disorder that 'kills culture'
Akiko Trush says her experience with the neurological disorder dystonia left her feeling like she wanted to chop her own hand off.
Amid same-sex marriage ban, LGBTQ couples opt for 'photo weddings'
A lesbian couple, consisting of a 35-year-old woman (left) and 40-year-old woman, cover their faces with bouquets as they pose for wedding photos in Yokohama on Nov. 1.
China and Russia conduct joint Pacific military patrol
The Russian corvette Gromkiy enters the Chinese port of Zhanjiang as part of a joint China-Russia naval exercise on Saturday.
How to beat Japan’s summer heat in ways better for the planet
Tenugui towels hang up to dry at a dyeing company in Sakai, Osaka Prefecture, on May 8. The durable and versatile tenugui, which many people have in their homes, can be used in many ways to cool one’s body.
After Trump shooting, U.S. presidential race might take a violent turn
United States Secret Service Counter Snipers stand guard on a rooftop during a campaign rally for U.S. President Donald Trump in Avoca, Pennsylvania, in 2020.
No AC this summer? No problem (for me).
Think air conditioning is a requirement for a Tokyo summer? Think again.
She’s paying ¥1 million to help behind the scenes at the Paris Olympics
Mai Tarumi, who previously volunteered at the postponed Tokyo Olympics in 2021, has a travel budget of ¥1 million for her trip to volunteer at the Paris Games.
How to tweak your diet when temperatures spike
Most people think of hydration as a strictly liquid-based concept, but eating foods with high water content is an essential part of making it through a Japanese summer unscathed.

Podcast

You can often see generations of families enjoying performances together at Fuji Rock Festival.
Japan’s summer music festivals are feeling the heat in more ways than one

Longform

Akiko Trush says her experience with the neurological disorder dystonia left her feeling like she wanted to chop her own hand off.
The neurological disorder that 'kills culture'
By Tomoko Otake

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