Search - life

 
 
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Feb 14, 2020

'Shape of Red' shows what Japanese women really want

Yukiko Mishima addresses the dangers of traditional gender roles with her latest film, 'Shape of Red,' adapted from a Rio Shimamoto novel.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Entertainment news
Feb 6, 2020

Kirk Douglas, Hollywood's tough guy on screen and off, dead at 103

Kirk Douglas, the cleft-chinned movie star who fought gladiators, cowboys and boxers on the screen and the Hollywood establishment, died on Wednesday at the age of 103, his son Michael Douglas said.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHY DID YOU LEAVE JAPAN?
Jan 25, 2020

Hiroko Tanahashi: A journey from film studies to multimedia art

Inspired by manga featuring New York, Francis Ford Coppola's 'The Godfather' and the diversity of Western cities, Hiroko Tanahashi moved to the U.S. and Germany to pursue multimedia arts.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books / 2010S: DECADE IN REVIEW
Nov 2, 2019

Our critics' favorite Japanese books of the decade

As 2020 approaches, The Japan Times' book reviewers look back at a decade of literature and their favorite and most impactful books written about Japan or by Japanese writers.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle / WHY DID YOU LEAVE JAPAN?
Oct 26, 2019

Miho Beck connects cultures with travel

Miho Beck's encounter with some heavy metal fans in an English pub in Manchester provided the lightbulb moment that redefined the way she thought about travel, eventually leading to the start of her travel experience platform, TripJunction, some 25 years later.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHY DID YOU LEAVE JAPAN?
Oct 12, 2019

Leaving the urban jungle for northern wilds

Having traded city life in Tokyo for the nature of Chena, Alaska, Masako Tokida says she can't imagine returning to an urban existence in Japan any more.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Sep 11, 2019

Actress Honoka Matsumoto is tackling tough issues on her journey to the top

22-year-old Honoka Matsumoto's latest film looks at the issue of same-sex marriage in Japan, one of a number of difficult topics the actress has taken on in her roles
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Economy / TICAD 7 Special
Aug 27, 2019

A messenger in name and actions

"I want people to feel happy through music," said singer Misia, who endeavors to bridge Africa and Japan through the power of music.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHY DID YOU LEAVE JAPAN?
Aug 24, 2019

Atsuko Kuwana: Jumping in at the deep end

Disability, Kuwana says, is no barrier to achieving goals in life
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHY DID YOU LEAVE JAPAN?
Aug 17, 2019

Shiori Aiba: Getting the right paperwork

Life in Berlin inspires textile designer Aiba to branch out into jewelry.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
May 18, 2019

Aging population spurs drive to tidy nation's cluttered homes

KonMari? Let's, by all means.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / Japan
May 13, 2019

On migrants and belonging

There are some strategies by which Japanese and foreign advocates for migrants can argue for their rights to work and belong in Japan.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / TELLING LIVES
May 8, 2019

Photographing Tokyo's human side: Isaac Aquino finds an 'interloper' in us all

Isaac Aquino has just quit his job as a reporter, and he seems quite pleased with himself. The soft-spoken Filipino recently decided to go all in on Tokyo Interlopers, an Instagram account he launched three years ago, by focusing on a business MBA.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
May 4, 2019

'The Forest of Wool and Steel': Music and nature intertwine to paint a portrait of growth — review

Natsu Miyashita's 'The Forest of Wool and Steel' is a mesmerizing reading experience, a slow journey in how one young person renders an occupation into a vocation.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Mar 22, 2019

How many times do we have to die before we are dead?

Thanatometabolomics, a new field of science that looks at how biomarkers can help determine time of death, brings up new questions on the definition of 'dead'
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / Japan Pulse
Mar 9, 2019

Spotify has one eye on untapped podcast market in Japan

Spotify paid nearly $340 million to acquire podcast producer Gimlet Media and services provider Anchor in deals disclosed to the Securities and Exchange Commission last month, prompting analysts to start considering what this all meant for the industry.
Japan Times
WORLD / Science & Health
Feb 12, 2019

Earth's earliest mobile organisms lived 2.1 billion years ago, Gabon shale fossils indicate

Scientists have discovered in 2.1-billion-year-old black shale from a quarry in Gabon the earliest evidence of a revolutionary development in the history of life on Earth, the ability of organisms to move from one place to another on their own.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jan 16, 2019

The critical importance of staying connected

Preparing for what has been touted as the '100-year life' is not a task for elderly people or the government alone.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / BLACK EYE
Dec 19, 2018

For me, 2018 was the year Japan began to listen

One day next year, and the year after that, someone will ask me in the course of a conversation why I decided to stay in Japan. I know this because it ranks among the top questions I'm asked — by Japanese and non-Japanese alike — since I arrived here back in 2004. And on the day I'm asked, my answer...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Dec 4, 2018

On the road to new experiences, post-SMAP, with Tsuyoshi Kusanagi

It has been almost two years since pop group SMAP split up, but its demise after over two decades at the forefront of entertainment in Japan is still fresh in everyone's memory.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / Japan
Nov 26, 2018

The Protestant ethic and Carlos Ghosn

For many in Tokyo, the news about Carlos Ghosn was a shock but not a surprise.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Oct 2, 2018

A master of Zen wisdom and dad jokes

If you are an older chubby man with a receding hairline and facing nothing but a decline into old age and death, there's always the work of Zen monk Sengai Gibon (1750-1837) to fall back on.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Oct 1, 2018

A creative force in a concrete jungle: Architect's Tokyo project draws on love and improvisation

Sandwiched between old residential apartments in the capital's central Minato Ward is the Arimaston Building, an eccentric collage of individually patterned concrete slabs piled upon each other as if by happenstance.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Sep 2, 2018

Elderly women to bear the brunt of Japan's spending cuts

As Japanese society ages and the government cuts social welfare spending, older women are bracing for the impact.
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
COMMENTARY / Japan
Aug 15, 2018

Start lifetime learning now

We need to depart from the conventional thinking that a majority of learning takes place when we are young and mainly at school.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / BLACK EYE
Jul 22, 2018

With Japan trip, New York teacher proves to inner-city students that sky's the limit

In an epic feat of fundraising, teacher Eric Jordan has completed his mission to bring some less-than-privileged students from Brownsville, Brooklyn, to Japan.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHY DID YOU LEAVE JAPAN?
Jun 30, 2018

Playwright Aya Ogawa: Seeing theater as a stage for cultural identity

Director believes her multicultural upbringing helped open doors to the theatrical business.

Longform

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