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LIFE
Dec 9, 2012

Apocalypse made in Japan

A world-ending cataclysm is common to many mythologies. The Biblical flood narrative is the best known and follows a fairly typical pattern: wrathful deity, mass destruction, surviving remnant — in this case the righteous man Noah and his family. We gather from these tales that life to early humans...
COMMUNITY / Our Lives
Dec 8, 2012

In era of skyscrapers, group lobbies to keep Tokyo's traditional buildings

Sitting at a wooden table in the glass-enclosed sun room of the miraculously preserved 95-year-old Yasuda House, Sumiko Enbutsu, a very youthful 78, radiates enthusiasm.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives
Dec 8, 2012

In era of skyscrapers, group lobbies to keep Tokyo's traditional buildings

Sitting at a wooden table in the glass-enclosed sun room of the miraculously preserved 95-year-old Yasuda House, Sumiko Enbutsu, a very youthful 78, radiates enthusiasm.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Dec 6, 2012

"Maki-e for Celebration: Kisshou Monyou Pattern in Kyoto Lacquerware"

Kissho monyo refers to Asian auspicious motifs that are often used on objects to bring about good fortune or ward off back luck. Such designs are typically inspired by mythological tales and include animals such as tigers, cranes and turtles. The motifs symbolize a range of human desires and qualities...
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / OLD NIC'S NOTEBOOK
Dec 2, 2012

Horse power helps bring light to a national forest's gloom

If you drive, ride or fly over Japan, you might note that a very large part of the country is covered with trees. If you're traveling in autumn or early winter, you might also note that much of the forested land is in uniform patches and swaths of dense, dark green, or perhaps a faint pale-yellowish-brown....
CULTURE / Film
Nov 30, 2012

Hashima Island provides the inspiration for a villain's lair

There are a few things no self-respecting 007 super-villain can do without: an exotic beauty who will eventually betray you, a small army of expendable goons, and a way-cool secret lair in which to hatch your dreams of world domination. Bond villain lairs have ranged from Hugo Drax's orbiting space station...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Nov 30, 2012

'Skyfall'

The 007 franchise has been around for 50 years now, and in that time we've seen the good, the bad and the Lazenby. The tendency has been, however, to view the success or failure of each movie as resting entirely on the actor playing super-spy James Bond. People will talk fondly about the rugged, masculine...
BUSINESS / NOTEBOOK
Nov 28, 2012

Donate to global charity fund; new hair care products

Charities
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design / ON: DESIGN
Nov 27, 2012

Double-A seating power

The AA Stool is the lovely result of a collaboration between Torafu Architects and the Ishinomaki Laboratory, a platform that brings together creators in one of the hardest-hit areas during last year's earthquake and tsunami, Ishinomaki in Miyagi Prefecture.
CULTURE / Books
Nov 25, 2012

Introducing the irreverent, unconventional Ryokan

SKY ABOVE, GREAT WIND: The Life and Poetry of Zen Master Ryokan, by Kazuaki Tanahashi. Shambhala, 2012, 224 pp., $17.95 (paperback) It is fitting that the first poem in this book features Ryokan's nod to the most famous of Japanese poets:
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Nov 24, 2012

Yaeyama stray cats steal the show on the beaches of Taketomi

After eight days on Miyakojima in which again our departure was delayed by bad weather, we finally set sail for Ishigaki Island, part of the Yaeyama Island chain and the end of our sailing trip through Japan.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 24, 2012

America through the eyes of Benjamin Franklin

When he was a young man, Benjamin Franklin wired together a set of batteries he had just invented and used them to shock turkeys slated for a Thanksgiving feast. Thus he added yet another invention to his list: the fried turkey. "The birds killed in this manner eat uncommonly tender," he wrote.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / TRAVEL INSIDER
Nov 21, 2012

See auroras with SAS; visit, help clean up Bali with Garuda; Cathay's free business upgrade

See auroras in Norway
Japan Times
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Nov 16, 2012

Airport event boasts a runway by the runway

The art of Japanese textile will mix with the beauty of fashion from other Asian countries at the Sakura Collection this weekend. As an event meant to bring cultures together, it's fitting that it will be held at Kansai International Airport.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Nov 15, 2012

"Skillful Artifice in Japan's Old Smoking Paraphernalia"

In the Edo Period (1603-1867), people in Japan used pipes called kiseru to smoke tobacco. Their search for a more comfortable and flexible smoking experience later led to the invention of portable smoking paraphernalia. These items often sported fine designs, each different according to their owners'...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink
Nov 9, 2012

Savor Hokkaido's warming winter menu

Autumn in Hokkaido is a comma before the long period of white winter. Autumn's food season too scurries almost directly from summer to wintry tastes, so here's a look at how the locals keep warm, starting in November and feasting all the way into May.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Nov 8, 2012

"The Spirit of Kuniyoshi: From Ukiyoe to Japanese Modern Paintings"

Kuniyoshi Utagawa (1798-1861) was one Japan's greatest ukiyo-e (woodblock print) artists during the late Edo Period (1603-1867). He is perhaps best known for his visually striking depictions of traditional Japanese warriors. But Utagawa also portrayed the beauty of Japanese women in a genre called bijinga...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Nov 2, 2012

Madonna finds kindred spirit in Wallis Simpson

"At dinners and parties," Madonna recalls, "I found that whenever I brought up the topic of Wallis Simpson, the Duchess of Windsor, it was like throwing a Molotov cocktail into the conversation." Of course, the same story could be told about the speaker herself.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Nov 1, 2012

"Yoshihiro Suda Exhibition"

Yoshihiro Suda is known for his highly accomplished wood-carving technique, which he uses to fashion extremely realistic recreations of foliage and flowers. He often presents his work by placing them in the corner of a room, where one might least expect to find them. His delicately carved wooden flowers...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Oct 26, 2012

'A Room With a View' / 'Another Country'

Note to self: Do not travel back in time to the 20th century. Or to be more accurate, to early 20th-century England. We've been conditioned to think it was all hot scones and tennis on the lawn, but after a closer viewing of historical facts I have learned that only a certain segment of the populace...
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle
Oct 23, 2012

Doctors discuss a face-lift for Japan's plastic surgery societies

Though it's hardly talked about in public, cosmetic surgery appears to be an increasingly popular option in Japan for people trying to enhance their looks and defy the signs of aging.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WORDS TO LIVE BY
Oct 23, 2012

Samurai-armor restorers Chizuru and Fumio Nishioka

Chizuru, 58, and Fumio Nishioka, 59, are samurai-armor restorers. Among the handful of such specialists in Japan, they are the only ones who use the same techniques as artisans historically did in the past. Whether 900 or 150 years old, a samurai's armor reveals its history through its layers of skilled...
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle
Oct 16, 2012

Colored contact lenses get a new 'macho' vision

Hiromu Uetake's muscular physique and distinct side-shaved haircut, not to mention the tattoos peeking from below his T-shirt, make him quite a striking sight. But when talking to him, it is his left eye I can't keep my own eyes off. Every now and then there's a flicker of something that makes me stare...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink
Oct 12, 2012

Hunting for Tokyo's real bagel heads

By now, everyone has likely heard of — and been baffled by — the recent "bagel head" phenomenon. Last month, a video clip that showed three people in Tokyo undergoing a beauty treatment that involved saline injections into their foreheads went viral on the Internet. The clip, taken from the program...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Oct 11, 2012

"Earth, Sea and Sky — Nature in Western Art: Masterpieces from the Metropolitan Museum of Art"

Tokyo is the next city to receive the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art's impressive traveling exhibition of masterpieces.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Oct 4, 2012

Looking at art from a local perspective

In these recessionary times, any contribution to the arts is a cause for celebration. Such a state of affairs makes the opening of the Daegu Art Museum (DAM) in May 2011 in Daegu, South Korea, an especially joyous event.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT
Sep 30, 2012

Time seems to slow as Joei-ji Garden comes alive

"The whole countryside was full of snakes sunning themselves along the roads and swimming in the ditches and newly flooded rice-fields. ... Out in Sesshu's old garden behind the temple, the pond was starred with tiny twinkling water-lilies." Such was, in part, how Glenn W. Shaw described the rural outskirts...
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle / Japan Pulse
Sep 29, 2012

Bagel head trend is a big distortion

Bagel heads as Japanese beauty trend? It's just an ugly distortion.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Sep 28, 2012

'Ashura (Asura)'

An anime with a sad-eyed waif as the hero must surely be something for the kiddies, no? Well no, if the waif carries a blood-stained axe and greedily devours human flesh like a starved wolf.
COMMUNITY / Voices / VIEWS FROM THE STREET
Sep 25, 2012

Tokyo: What 10 words or phrases sum up Japan for you?

Luis Martin Padro

Longform

Eme-Ima Kitchen is one of over 10,000 kodomo shokudō in Japan. A term first used in 2012 to describe makeshift eateries offering free or cheap meals to disadvantaged kids, it now refers to a diverse range of individuals, groups and organizations working to provide not only food but a sense of belonging to both children and adults.
Japan’s ‘children’s cafeterias’ are booming — but is that a good thing?