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April 01, 2025
 

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Kris Kosaka

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Kris Kosaka
Kris Kosaka, a resident of Japan since 1996, contributes regularly to The Japan Times. She is a lecturer at Meiji Gakuin University in the Faculty of International Studies.
CULTURE / Books / WORKS BY JAPANESE WOMEN
Sep 15, 2018
Mieko Kawakami: A writer's writer who is at once highly readable and immensely popular
From her distinctive style to her choice of topics, Mieko Kawakami is both a writer's writer and an entertainer, a thinker and constantly evolving stylist who manages to be highly readable and immensely popular.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Aug 25, 2018
'Hybrid Child': Enter a sprawling excursion into the unknown
For any fan of speculative fiction, Hybrid Child presents a sprawling, imaginative excursion into the unknown that also predicts current familiar thematic questionings on gender politics or weaponized robots.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books / WORKS BY JAPANESE WOMEN
Aug 18, 2018
Fumiko Enchi: A critical advocate of female empowerment
In the midst of Showa Era (1926-89) Japan, with patriarchy dominating and imperialism rising, a young female playwright, Fumiko Enchi (1905-86), started a literary career that would eventually lead her to become a passionate advocate for female empowerment, while casting a critical, penetrating eye over...
CULTURE / Books
Aug 11, 2018
'The Penguin Book of Haiku': Morsels of poetry from the mountaintop to the gutter
According to author and translator Adam L. Kern, there's a pervasive myth that haiku is only nature poetry, that it is always serious and connected to Zen, that there are hardly any women haiku poets. But haiku covers far greater ground.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Aug 1, 2018
In Yokohama, they'll be dancing in the streets
Summer is a time for dancing. Across the country there are countless local matsuri (festivals) in which a regionally specific odori (dance) is the main attraction and, of course, there are the many outdoor music festivals that allow people to let loose and move.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / TELLING LIVES
Jul 22, 2018
'Miracle' lands Japan-based Bangladeshi doctor with a teaching career once dreamed of but denied
Sabina Mahmood is an associate professor and medical educator at Okayama University, and mentors incoming International Baccalaureate graduates and foreign students at the university.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books / WORKS BY JAPANESE WOMEN
Jul 21, 2018
Fiercely intelligent and unstoppably prolific, Hiromi Ito is a modern literary provocateur
Love her or hate her — and her work tends to provoke strong passions in critics and fans alike — Hiromi Ito is a defining force in Japan's literary world.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Jun 27, 2018
The mind games of choreographer Philippe Decoufle
Choreographer Philippe Decoufle describes his new circus-inspired show, "Nouvelles Pieces Courtes" ("New Short Pieces"), as a "sort of visual and physical mind game."
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Jun 23, 2018
'The Penguin Book of Japanese Short Stories': Memorable shorts from the greats of modern literature
From Haruki Murakami to Natsume Soseki, 'The Penguin Book of Japanese Short Stories' serves up a feast of literature, a smorgasbord of over 30 widely varied modern Japanese writers.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books / WORKS BY JAPANESE WOMEN
Jun 16, 2018
Danly's 'In the Shade of Spring Leaves' brings writer Ichiyo Higuchi's genius into the sun
Hailed as a true poet and lauded for her humanistic perspective in depicting the seedy underside of the Meiji Restoration, the test of time puts paid to Ichiyo Higuchi's (1872-96) lasting influence.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books / ESSENTIAL READING FOR JAPANOPHILES
May 26, 2018
'Of Dogs and Walls': A concentrated hit of Yuko Tsushima
Pick up this small chapbook for a double dose of classic Japanese short fiction from Yuko Tsushima.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books / WORKS BY JAPANESE WOMEN
May 12, 2018
Where would we be without the words of Japanese women?
Often overlooked, female writers in Japan, such as Ichiyo Higuchi and Raicho Hiratsuka, have a staying power that surpasses their male contemporaries. To help amplify these female voices, over the next few months we'll be highlighting some of the lesser read in translation but equally deserving Japanese female writers.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Apr 28, 2018
'Poet to Poet' finds an English voice for Japan's female poets
A new bilingual poetry publication presents a range of fresh, female voices and satisfies the art of the genre in both languages.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Apr 14, 2018
'Lion Cross Point': A child's abandonment, cushioned by hope and quiet resolve
Lion Cross Point' is a novel of intersections: of memory and dream, past and future, rural and urban, of innocence and tragedy. Masatsugu Ono's poignant tale spins out in a child-driven stream of consciousness, unwinding from a series of shrouded traumatic events.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Mar 31, 2018
'Territory of Light' is a timely translation that sheds light on Japan's marginalized
Acclaimed novelist Yuko Tsushima spent her lifetime reflecting light on the shadowed voices in Japan, inspired by her own experiences as a single mother facing the censure of a traditionally patriarchal society. In her later years, Tsushima explored the marginalized in Japanese history, writing from...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
Mar 28, 2018
From Tohoku to Tokyo, Acchi Cocchi NPO offers healing through art
Acchi Cocchi brings music, dance and the visual arts into everyday life in Tohoku and the greater Tokyo area.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books / ESSENTIAL READING FOR JAPANOPHILES
Mar 17, 2018
In 'The Rape of Nanking' Iris Chang deconstructs the horrors of war
Iris Chang's groundbreaking work, "The Rape of Nanking" is widely credited with publicizing the World War II atrocity that many in Japan continue to deny or belittle as exaggeration. Graphically observant to multiple atrocities, it is not a book for the faint-hearted. Despite this, it is immensely readable....
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / TELLING LIVES
Feb 28, 2018
Florian Busch, the architect who floated the Tokyo 2020 Olympic stadium
Japan-based German architect warns that Tokyo risks squandering a historic chance to offer an ambitious, sustainable vision in 2020.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Feb 24, 2018
Kazuki Kaneshiro's Go: Strength and irony in the face of prejudice
One of the most memorable characters in modern Japanese literature is not Japanese. Sugihara, the 17-year-old narrator of "Go," by Kazuki Kaneshiro, is a third-generation Zainichi Korean in his last year of high school. Son of a North Korean ex-boxer and shrewdly adept at silencing bullies, Sugihara...
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
Feb 7, 2018
Bringing the great outdoors to Japan's underserved children
Almost 39,000 children are under government supervision in Japan, and 85 percent are institutionalized in various homes around the nation, according to Human Rights Watch. Last August, the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare made good on its 2016 revisions to the Child Welfare Act by announcing a new...
Japan's biggest beef bowl chain Sukiya to shut nearly 2,000 stores after rat and bug contamination
Zensho Holdings, operator of fast-food chain Sukiya, said it will close all of its stores in Japan, except for a small number in shopping centers, between Monday and Friday following recent contamination incidents.
Alert raised for volcano in southwestern Japan
Shinmoedake, a volcano located between Miyazaki and Kagoshima prefectures, in November 2019
Japan considers all possible options as Trump threatens new auto tariffs
Subaru cars awaiting export at a port in Yokohama on Thursday.
Nankai Trough earthquake could kill 298,000 people, government says
Residents participate in an evacuation drill held with West Japan Railway in Shirahama, Wakayama Prefecture, in January 2024 to prepare for a Nankai Trough earthquake and a possible tsunami following the quake.
A Canadian made a weekend trip to Costco a Japanese pastime
Under the watchful eye of Ken Theriault, Costco representative director and Japan country manager, the American membership-model wholesaler has flourished in Japan.
A Canadian made a weekend trip to Costco a Japanese pastime
Under the watchful eye of Ken Theriault, Costco representative director and Japan country manager, the American membership-model wholesaler has flourished in Japan.
Tokyo tech failures lean into misfortune, mistakes and missteps
Tsuyoshi Domoto in Tokyo's Shinjuku Ward on March 28. As an entrepreneur, Domoto experienced plenty of setbacks but maintains a positive attitude and continues to pursue his dreams.
Who among the opposition would join the ruling coalition?
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba enters his office in Tokyo on Friday.
Traveling the Three-Star Road, the tourist route made from thin air
Scenes like this snow-covered bridge leading to the village of Shirakawa-go are what make the Three-Star Road worth traveling — its name notwithstanding.
Recent spate of wildfires in Japan and South Korea linked to climate change
Smoke and flames rise from a wildfire in Andong, South Korea, on Tuesday.

Podcast

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

Longform

Professional cleaner Hirofumi Sakurai takes a moment to appreciate some photographs in a Gotanda apartment whose occupant died alone. 
The last cleanup: Life and death in a lonely Japan
By Johan Brooks

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