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Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Nov 18, 2017

Ishiro Honda: The master behind Godzilla

Everyone knows "Godzilla," the 1954 film that introduced Japan's most famous monster to the world. But the name of its director, Ishiro Honda, was for a long time only mentioned by foreign critics and fans in passing, if at all.
Japan Times
Nov 17, 2017

Pubcen Inc. Unveils its Lifelog / Content Curation Service

Maebashi City, Gunma Prefecture, Japan – November 17, 2017 – Today Pubcen Inc. (CEO & Co-Founder: Takao Sato) launched its flagship cloud service, “Pubcen.” People throughout the world perpetually create digital content for their online lives via SNS and cloud services. Pubcen gathers the digital...
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle
Nov 4, 2017

Sawtelle Japantown: A return to one's roots?

A Los Angeles neighborhood is struggling to preserve its unique cultural identity.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHY DID YOU LEAVE JAPAN?
Oct 7, 2017

Monk Kaishun Nishigaya's voyage from Japan to Seattle, Alaska and Saipan

Nishigaya was offered a resident ministry at Seattle Nichiren Buddhist Church and, undeterred by the 14-day journey by ship to reach the United States, snapped it up.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / BLACK EYE
Oct 4, 2017

Kyoto Seika's next dean, Oussouby Sacko, was schooled in the violent tumult of '80s China

Malian architect lived through protests by Chinese students targeting Africans just months before the Tiananmen Square massacre.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Sep 23, 2017

Prepare for the future, at your convenience

Japan's first convenience store was not, as many suppose, 7-Eleven in Tokyo in 1974 but Mitsui in Kyoto in 1673.
Japan Times
CULTURE
Sep 14, 2017

Written or rapped, Seiko Ito has a way with words

It's hard to describe Seiko Ito with one handy label. When I ask my friends to do it, they struggle.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / 20 QUESTIONS
Aug 26, 2017

Sayuri Suzuki: Showbiz interpreter who works with witches and Dalmatians

Translator reveals the strangest request she's ever been asked in her career.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / BLACK EYE
Aug 20, 2017

Educator calls for better understanding of black history in Japan

On occasion, I still get asked this question: Of what value is a column dedicated exclusively to black issues — particularly here in Japan?
Japan Times
JAPAN / History / THE LIVING PAST
Aug 19, 2017

Wabi lies at the heart of Japanese history

You could spend your entire life in modern Japan without ever hearing the term wabi, though no overview of Japanese history or art is complete without it. It's a beautiful word, hard to define like most beautiful words. Poverty is the heart of it, which sounds dispiriting, but there's the Zen phrase...
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle
Aug 13, 2017

Taking minimalism to the next level

Ever since the release of Marie Kondo's 2011 bible on the Japanese art of decluttering, much of the developed world has been somewhat fixated on tidying up.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Aug 12, 2017

'Inheritance From Mother': Tackling the taboo of caring for elderly parents

"Mother, when are you ever going to die?"
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / FOREIGN AGENDA
Jul 19, 2017

To find the joys of 'real Japan,' get on your bike

Japanese society and culture seem intrinsically suited to bicycles, which require a degree of safety of environment and intimacy that are alien to many thunderously car-based, brash and crime-ridden Western societies.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle / CHILD'S PLAY
Jul 16, 2017

Traveling through time with the kids in tow

Life in Japan has changed dramatically over the past 100 years. In the span of a few generations, millions of Japanese left the countryside and moved into urban and suburban sprawl. For city kids like mine, the connection to rural farm life is tenuous at best, but we feel that it's still important to...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Jul 8, 2017

'Fall Down 7 Times Get Up 8': 'The Reason I Jump' author returns with new English collection

The accomplishments of Japanese poet, novelist and essayist Naoki Higashida are impressive. He's published more than 20 books in Japanese, pens a popular blog and is seeing the release this month of his second book in English — all before his 25th birthday in August.
Japan Times
Figure Skating / ICE TIME
Jun 27, 2017

Olympic champion Kristi Yamaguchi speaks on greatness of Hanyu, Mao, Takahashi

One of the benefits of covering skating for many years has been the high caliber of people I have continually come in contact with. Skaters, coaches, choreographers, executives and parents, they almost always seem to be open and approachable.
Reader Mail
Jun 2, 2017

Ease the stifling school pressure on teenagers

How does one measure satisfaction in life? Money? Relationships? The article "Why are Japanese teens so glum?" in the May 2 edition explains that Japanese teenagers are behind other countries in well-being and happiness. I believe that one reason why Japanese teenagers are glum is because of the social...
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
May 19, 2017

Slowing down time with a trip to Okinawa's Zamami Island

Growing up in a small beach town on the west coast of Florida, much of my free time as a youth was spent in or around the Gulf of Mexico. The Gulf was almost always warm, not unlike bath water, yet it provided the perfect respite from the stifling heat of the Florida summers.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / Japan
May 1, 2017

Why are Japanese teens so glum?

Young people in Japan score distressingly low in OECD measurements of well-being.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHY DID YOU LEAVE JAPAN?
Apr 1, 2017

Etsuro Sotoo: Master sculptor in Spain found calling in a pile of rocks

Etsuro Sotoo cuts a distinguished figure on the Barcelona culture scene. As the Sagrada Familia's only official sculptor, he exudes old-world style in his felt fedora, flowing scarf and manicured goatee.
JAPAN / History / THE LIVING PAST
Mar 18, 2017

The evolution of the Japanese ego: the discovery of themselves

'There was no room for mercy in view of their crime." None asked, none given. "They met their end ... with ... a touching acquiescence in their fate."
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Mar 15, 2017

'Sing': Pigs can't fly but they sure can sing

'Sing" is brought to us by Illumination Entertainment — the animation studio that brought the "Despicable Me" series and last year's sleeper hit "The Secret Life of Pets." In many ways it's "La-La Land" with animals. In a color-filled, LA-like town inhabited by non-Homo sapiens in human clothing, a...
Japan Times
JAPAN / Society
Feb 16, 2017

Japan-born Thai teenager fights to remain at 'home' despite deportation order

In December, the Tokyo High Court upheld the Tokyo Immigration Bureau's decision to deport 17-year-old Utinan Won from Japan, the country he was born and raised in his entire life.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Jan 28, 2017

Media starts to focus on Japan's aging prison population

When it comes to crime and punishment, Japan is a conundrum for progressives. It has low crime rates and small prison populations, but it is also one of the few developed countries that still enforces capital punishment, and its criminal justice system is often criticized for giving too much power to...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jan 11, 2017

'Dirty Grandpa' is quite a stinker

'Dirty Grandpa." The un-ironic title is like a spray-painted graffiti sign warning everyone to stay away from this sewage-swilling clogged cesspit masquerading as a movie. Woe betide anyone who catches this on an airplane, they may wind up using all the airsick bags in their row, because it really stinks....
Japan Times
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Dec 26, 2016

2016: The year Japan said 'sayonara' to some sexist terms

What a year 2016 has been. Recently, a usually frugal girlfriend of mine drained her bank account by moving into a new, swanky apartment, and by buying a bag and shoes from Prada.
Japan Times
BASKETBALL / B. League / HOOP SCOOP
Dec 24, 2016

Toyama coach Nash persevering through challenges

The Toyama Grouses have experienced both ends of the emotional spectrum over the past seven-plus months.

Longform

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