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Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Apr 10, 2018

'I can only speak my own truth': Otoboke Beaver rocks tunes not politics

More than 100,000 people are expected to attend this month's Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in the Southern California desert. While heavyweight North American pop stars such as Beyonce and The Weeknd are grabbing the most attention, the lineup also features dozens of noteworthy names — including...
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 Times
JAPAN / Media / Japan Pulse
Mar 24, 2018

Blog post sparks a constructive debate on office culture in Japan

One person’s cultural observations can be another’s daily gripes but, with any luck, they can lead to an enlightening debate. That was the case last week when a blog post about one non-Japanese individual’s experience working in the country’s information technology sector proved popular with...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHY DID YOU LEAVE JAPAN?
Mar 10, 2018

An odyssey from brain scientist to creative mind

Satoki Nagata, a neuroscientist-turned-photographer captures the fleeting nature of life experiences in Chicago
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / Japan
Mar 7, 2018

Allow different surnames for married couples

Japan is the sole country in which husband and wife are legally obliged to use the same surname. This should change.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / How-tos / HOME TRUTHS
Mar 4, 2018

Doling out some truths about Japan's 'share houses'

Many Japanese people are wary of investment as a means of growing their savings. There are a variety of reasons for this caution, so most keep their money in a bank, gaining almost no interest in the process, in the hope that they won't lose any in the long run. However, some salaried workers who understand...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / 20 QUESTIONS
Feb 24, 2018

Reylia Slaby: Picturing a brighter future

American photographer on the honesty of a photograph.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jan 29, 2018

Japan's three structural challenges

To ensure its future prosperity, Japan must resolve its demographic, productivity and fiscal dilemmas.
LIFE / Digital / ON: GAMES
Jan 21, 2018

Beloved games get bigger and better

'Dissidia' breeding'
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHY DID YOU LEAVE JAPAN?
Jan 20, 2018

A successful cocktail of travel and tenacity

Shingo Gokan might well be the most traveled barman in the world. By his own count, last year he took more than 80 flights, landing in Atlanta, New York, Havana, London, Milan, Berlin, Manila, Bangkok, Tokyo, Shanghai, Singapore and Hong Kong.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Jan 5, 2018

Finding a little historical perspective in Iwate's Hiraizumi

World Heritage site steeped in history remains largely free of tourists.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Dec 5, 2017

Hokusai's great wave that swept Europe

Innovative, creative, and immensely prolific, Katsushika Hokusai (1760-1849) was celebrated during his lifetime in his native Japan. His works were among the first major examples of Japanese art to be widely appreciated overseas in the second half of the 19th century.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices
Nov 26, 2017

Japan is seen through a lens warily in 'You Only Live Twice,' James Bond's sole sojourn to Tokyo

"You Only Live Twice," the only "James Bond" film — to date — to be set in Japan, celebrated its 50th anniversary this year. While undoubtedly great fun, it must be admitted that it's a long way from being a masterpiece of cinema.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books / ESSENTIAL READING FOR JAPANOPHILES
Nov 25, 2017

'The Paper Door and Other Stories': Naoya Shiga's rollercoaster ride of human emotions

Considered a master of the Japanese short story, Naoya Shiga's "The Paper Door and Other Stories" truly impresses. Seventeen stories explore a vast range of human emotions, from fever-induced insanity in "The Razor" to the analytical musings of a circus performer whose stunt has just gone horribly wrong...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / 20 QUESTIONS
Nov 25, 2017

Designer Takeshi Nishio prefers 'cute' to 'cool'

'Kawaii' has more sense of affection than 'kakkoii,' says designer Nishio.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / BACKSTREET STORIES
Nov 3, 2017

Changing times in Setagaya's Shoin Jinjamae

There's something alluring about the suburban stops between Sangenjaya and Shimotakaido stations, which has been serviced by the Tokyu Setagaya tramway for the past 110 years.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Nov 2, 2017

Tokyo International Film Festival closes with an inconvenient message from Al Gore

Former U.S. Vice President Al Gore Jr. still remembers the childhood experiences that inspired his passion for the natural environment.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Oct 28, 2017

Limit the damage on office battlefields

What a nest of vipers an office is! Tens, hundreds, thousands of people, supposedly united in a common enterprise — yet if looks could kill, how many would make it alive through the day?
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Oct 21, 2017

'Okinawa': Remembering Takuma Nakahira in a different light

A figure stood on Zushi Beach in Kanagawa Prefecture one night in 1973, silhouetted against a fire as he fed piles of prints and negatives — the bulk of his photographic work so far — into the flames.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Oct 5, 2017

Food, folks and film: Yamagata festival dives deep into documentaries

Once an obscure corner of a film world dominated by the fantasies of Hollywood, documentaries are now drawing more attention from both paying audiences and wider society. And the Yamagata International Documentary Film Festival, whose 15th edition unspools from Oct. 5 to 12 in Yamagata, has long been...
Japan Times
MORE SPORTS
Oct 4, 2017

Drifting: Japan-born street sport roars onto global stage

The first thing you notice at a drifting competition is the noise — a crazed shriek of engines punctuated by the sudden firecracker pop of an exhaust pipe under extreme duress.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Sep 23, 2017

'Devils in Daylight' and 'The Maids': The literary sleuthing of Junichiro Tanizaki

Question: Is it really the case that for a large part of the 20th century Japan enjoyed a golden age of literature? Or is this just misty-eyed nostalgia?
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Sep 19, 2017

Ultra stakes a claim on Japan's music festival throne with help from Chainsmokers, Tiesto and more

Security tugs a woozy-looking man toward the exit of Odaiba Ultra Park after he got in a scuffle with another festivalgoer. His opponent, only steps behind, has bright red bumps on his face. He approaches a guard and, with a smile, snaps a selfie.
SOCCER / J. League
Sep 16, 2017

Cristiano's late strike gives Reysol draw against Marinos

Kashiwa Reysol striker Cristiano scored an 88th-minute equalizer to salvage a 1-1 draw against Yokohama F. Marinos on Saturday in a result that did little for either side's J. League title ambitions.
Japan Times
MORE SPORTS
Jul 29, 2017

Former super featherweight champion Uchiyama retires with pride in career accomplishments

Just like people in general, there is no immortality in sports. One day, every athlete starts declining, and one day he or she must quit.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Jul 14, 2017

Saitama's Nagatoro is home to stillness, motion and an endless variety of color

It wasn't immediately clear what the man tossing large pebbles at the torii of a shrine was trying to achieve.
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.

Longform

A man offers prayers at Hebikubo Shrine in Tokyo's Shinagawa Ward. The shrine is one of several across the country dedicated to the snake.
Shed your skin and reinvent yourself in the Year of the Snake