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Japan Times
JAPAN / History / JAPAN TIMES GONE BY
Feb 4, 2017

Japan Times 1942: 'Roosevelt orders aliens to abandon homes'

President Franklin Roosevelt's high-handed action ordering 10,000 aliens residing chiefly in the West Coast of the United States to abandon their homes has deeply shocked Christian circles in Japan, according to Domei.
Japan Times
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Jan 2, 2017

Japanese is affecting the English lexicon in new ways

From 'emoji' to 'KonMari,' the English langauge is getting a pleasant dose of Japanese culture.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books / ESSENTIAL READING FOR JAPANOPHILES
Dec 31, 2016

'The Teahouse of the August Moon': a subversive comedy in postwar Okinawa

Published in 1951 and later adapted for a movie and Broadway play, Vern Sneider's "The Teahouse of the August Moon" is a satirical take on the U.S. Occupation of Japan.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Dec 29, 2016

Shamisen faces crisis as cat skins fall from favor

Few instruments are as integral to a nation's traditional culture as Japan's shamisen, whose evocative sound accompanies a range of performances from kabuki and puppet plays to folk songs and geisha entertainments in teahouses.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Dec 23, 2016

Japan's image and culture

Japans' language, culture and democratic image are assets of vital importance. They should be carefully nurtured.
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
Oct 21, 2016

Japan still a developing nation in tourism: JTA chief

Despite the visitor boom, Japan is still an "undeveloped country" when it comes to tourism, Japan Tourism Agency chief Akihiko Tamura said Friday.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Sep 10, 2016

Asakusa: in the glow of Nippon kitsch

Every once in a while, the Japanese have to remind themselves that they're Japanese. We feel the need to reconfirm that we are part of a long and enduring traditional culture — one which includes kimono, samurai, ninja, eels on rice, and other weird items. Many like to pretend that these particular...
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / BACKSTREET STORIES
Aug 27, 2016

Vintage ventures in Tabata Ginza

The midday sky swirls with typhoon clouds as I set off to explore a little shopping area known as Tabata Ginza in Tokyo's Kita Ward. I'm thrilled to be in the charismatic company of a third-generation rakugoka (traditional storyteller) who lives nearby. I met Mikio Katsura, 32, by chance in Tabata last...
Japan Times
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Aug 15, 2016

If Japan slow to ban ivory trade, online shops even slower

Elephant ivory has long been used worldwide to make a host of items from jewelry, piano keys and billiard balls to art and personal seals.
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design / ON: DESIGN
Aug 6, 2016

Designs on summer

The Japanese summer is not for everyone. Unbearable temperatures, clammy humidity and glaring sunshine can leave you a dripping, squinting, frizzy-haired, hot mess. We can't help you — but here's a few Japanese designs that may make summer a bit 'cooler' for you.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Aug 3, 2016

Momoi is on fire in her new indie film 'Hee'

In her four-decade acting career Kaori Momoi has always been a free-spirited stand-out, indifferent to convention. But beneath her easygoing attitude and signature drawling delivery (which used to make me wonder what she had been ingesting before the cameras started rolling) was a thorough professionalism...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / NEIGHBORHOOD HOP SPORTS
Jul 22, 2016

Heady craft beer in Tokyo's 'Little Paris'

French accordion music is floating out from lamp-post speakers as people crowd into the narrow strips of shade on either side of a street in Tokyo's Kagurazaka neighborhood. Long a cultural center, the gentle slope on which the neighborhood now stands once ended at the moat around Edo Castle. Kagurazaka...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jul 12, 2016

The fall and rise of the Empire line

The Pola Art Foundation is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year, and as part of this, the Pola Museum of Art has organized an ambitious exhibition that aims to present a cross-disciplinary view of art, product design and women's fashion of 19th- and early 20th-century France.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Jul 9, 2016

Baron Raimund von Stillfried: The photographer who invented Japan

To many in the West, Japan is an exotic country, seen through the distorting lens of tourist cliches: cherry blossoms, geisha, samurai, kamikaze. In that sense, little has changed since the Meiji Era (1868-1912), when Japan was first promoted abroad as a sort of Oriental theme park.
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Jul 1, 2016

'Doctor X'; 'The Man With the Divine Tongue" Kagome

Ryoko Yonekura returns as the genius freelance surgeon Dr. Michiko Daimon in a special two-hour installment of "Doctor X" (TV Asahi, Sun., 9 p.m.).
Japan Times
JAPAN
Apr 29, 2016

Japan looks to reform rigid tour guide exams as part of wider tourism push

As Japan begins to adapt to the unprecedented influx of foreign visitors, the tightly regulated tour guide industry prepares for major reform.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink
Apr 1, 2016

Chef Zaiyu Hasegawa presents creative takes on dishes that a mother would be proud of

Zaiyu Hasegawa pauses for a moment when I comment on the diversity of the clientele at Den, his restaurant in Tokyo's Jinbocho neighborhood.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Feb 27, 2016

Participation in society should be barrier-free

When Prime Minister Shinzo Abe formed a task force last year to promote greater citizen involvement in whatever it is he is trying to accomplish, many people objected to the name of the group. "Ichioku Sokatsuyaku" reminded them of a slogan used before and during World War II that demanded national solidarity...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Feb 23, 2016

Tokyo sightseeing boats offer unique views, but missing foreign tourist tide

A trip to Tokyo does not necessarily mean elbowing your way through crowds. You can get fine views of the capital from a boat on the bay.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Feb 13, 2016

When life deals a bad hand, be a tough cookie and visit Kyoto

"Some men dream of fortunes, others dream of cookies," goes an old saying from a fortune cookie. As for my good friend Dale, who has had a a mean case of winter malaise since he broke up with his girlfriend, he is still dreaming of finding a wife. Thus, on a January morning we set out for Kyoto and Fushimi...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Feb 2, 2016

Japan's picture ID before World War II

Last year, the number of tourists coming into Japan outnumbered those going out for the first time in 45 years. In absolute terms, it may be the first time that tourism has properly taken off for this country, despite numerous attempts by various ministries and semi-official agencies over the years to...
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / Japan / THE VIEW FROM NEW YORK
Jan 29, 2016

American legal principles and the Magna Carta

Henry Mittwer was a man of Japanese and American descent who stood up to the U.S. internment during World War II but in the end bore no rancor for that nation.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Jan 16, 2016

Dotonbori: Where Osakans eat, drink and be merry

Comparing Osaka with almost any other Japanese city is akin to likening a bloodied steak to boiled chicken.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Jan 16, 2016

The ink-stained road: ‘age of adventure’

If foreign visitors to Japan in the Edo Period (1603-1868) ran certain risks by committing their impressions of the country to paper in a totalitarian state that worked hard to maintain its obscurity, the new Meiji Era (1868-1912) positively encouraged attention.
Japan Times
JAPAN / 2016 NEW YEAR SPECIAL
Jan 1, 2016

Ultraman: 50 years battling monsters

Young boys and girls jumped up in excitement shouting, "Ultraman!" when three characters from the iconic series appeared on stage during an event in Kuala Lumpur in November.
Japan Times
MULTIMEDIA
Oct 25, 2015

Freak show on parade at the Kawasaki Halloween Parade

People decked out in a variety of costumes participate in a parade in Kawasaki on Sunday during Kawasaki Halloween 2015. The annual event, now in its 19th year, brought together some 2,500 people and stretched for about 1.5 km. | SATOKO KAWASAKISuper Zombie — hopefully not faster than a speeding bullet...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film / Wide Angle
Sep 9, 2015

Kyoto International Art and Film Festival is a challenge to Tokyo's cultural power

The Kyoto International Film and Art Festival, which takes place from Oct. 15 to 18 in Japan's ancient capital, began as a sort of challenge to the local film industry's power center, Tokyo.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle
Aug 31, 2015

Katana swordplay exercise is a hit with Tokyo women

Samurai may be known as a man's pursuit, but feudal Japan produced a number of legendary female warriors who took to the battlefield with a sword that still holds a high cultural position today.
Japan Times
CULTURE / TV & Streaming
Aug 13, 2015

Lena Dunham brings 'Girls' to Tokyo for a fifth season episode

In the fourth season finale of HBO's hit TV show "Girls," a comedy that follows the exploits of a group of 20-somethings navigating New York, Shoshanna (played by Zosia Mamet) surprises her roommate, Jessa, by declaring "I'm moving to Japan," while leafing through a travel book and practicing her chopstick...

Longform

Tour guide and history buff Rory Dent left his job at a U.K.-based tour operator to move to Japan and start his own business.
Guiding Japan through the challenges of overtourism