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Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / BLACK EYE
Dec 18, 2016

A 'Big Bang' in the ring kicks it old school in Japan

American 'joshi puroresu' follows her dreams and finds fresh challenges in the 'mecca of wrestling'
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / FOREIGN AGENDA
Dec 7, 2016

So you want to write about Japan?: the 10 essential tips

Having taken the daring — not reckless or avoidant — step of leaving your home country, you now have a million stories to tell.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / DARK SIDE OF THE RISING SUN
Dec 3, 2016

Working harder to end death by overwork

"When you're in the office 20 hours a day, you don't understand what life you're living for anymore. (It's so pathetic) you come to laugh." — Twitter post by Matsuri Takahashi, as reported in the Mainichi Shimbun
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Nov 26, 2016

A dark, bittersweet childhood becomes a manga masterpiece

"Sunny" is a manga masterpiece. Page by page, it quietly transcends similar slice-of-life comics in its depiction of children in a foster home, their caregivers and estranged parents. Written and illustrated by renowned manga artist Taiyo Matsumoto, this six-volume collection, which won the prestigious...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Nov 2, 2016

The 'uncool' girl can still get the guy, or two

It's a fantasy that many women like to give into sometimes: That you can be somewhat older, a little disheveled, not exactly fit, but still get the man of your dreams. Or make that two, or even three if you count a perfect baby son on the way.
Japan Times
JAPAN / History
Oct 22, 2016

Welcome home, Okinawa

Under the slogan "Let the whole world move to the Uchina beat," Okinawa will host the prefecture's largest international event, the sixth Worldwide Uchinanchu Festival from Thursday, Oct. 27, to Sunday, Oct. 30. (Uchina means Okinawa in the island's language, while Uchinanchu means an Okinawan person)....
Japan Times
JAPAN / WORLD FORUM ON SPORT AND CULTURE
Oct 19, 2016

Sports seen as engine to encourage, unite people

Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Sep 21, 2016

Hany Abu-Assad: Making strong voices heard

Ever since the first series of "Pop Idol" screened on British TV in 2001, the televised music competition has become practically inescapable, with franchises springing up everywhere from Macedonia to the Maldives. Given how cannily stage-managed these "reality" shows really are, though, it almost comes...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Aug 10, 2016

Japan's Crown Prince ready for throne, but no fairy tale for his unhappy Crown Princess

When Crown Prince Naruhito proposed to a reluctant Masako Owada, he promised to protect her with all his might, a vow that may get tougher to keep if, as expected, his father Emperor Akihito abdicates, and the woman who has struggled to adjust to royal life becomes the empress.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Science & Health
Aug 4, 2016

New robot prioritizes motion over appearance in exploration of human essence

With today's advanced technology, robots are so well designed they could be mistaken for people at first glance.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
Jul 31, 2016

Difficult questions for Japan's animal-loving city dwellers

This week's column deals with two queries that highlight cultural differences in attitudes to animal welfare.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Jul 16, 2016

Rethinking the age-old question of youth

Japan used to follow a wonderful practice to mark old age: Everyone who reached their 100th birthday received a silver sake cup called a sakazuki. It's certainly better than the tradition in Britain, where centenarians simply get a letter from the queen.
Japan Times
JAPAN / CHUBU CONNECTION
Jul 4, 2016

Gifu town looks to share-house initiative to meet depopulation challenge

A small village in central Japan facing depopulation has renovated an empty home into a share house in a bid to attract young women who want to experience life in the countryside.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 20, 2016

China well-positioned to create a 'good economy'

Optimizing its resource allocation is far from all that China must do to boost prosperity. It is time to focus on workers and elevating the experience of their labor.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jun 18, 2016

Japan's first lady, Akie Abe, speaks her own mind

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has outlasted those that scoffed at his return to power as leader of the conservative Liberal Democratic Party in 2012. And yet while the prime minister appears to have established himself as an increasingly dominant force in domestic politics over the past decade, the most...
Japan Times
JAPAN / OBAMA VISITS HIROSHIMA
May 26, 2016

Hibakusha recalls horror of bombing, pain of stigmatization and road to healing

It took Tamiko Shiraishi nearly seven decades before she could come to terms with her experience surviving the atomic bombing of Hiroshima in August 1945.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / BLACK EYE
May 15, 2016

Laid-back baker finds luck and love in Tokyo

Once shunned by his in-laws because of his race, father of four hopes to change minds in Japan, little by little.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Mar 16, 2016

The transformative power of Japan's 'magical girls'

There is one surprising thing about Japan's male-dominated — some may say rabidly misogynistic — society: manga and anime support women. True, there are plenty of examples to the contrary (take a short stroll through any Akihabara anime shop if you need proof). But at the same time, the modern Japanese...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / LABOR PAINS
Feb 29, 2016

'Landmark' ruling sent Japan's foreign residents back to welfare limbo

Widely misunderstood 2014 case reaffirmed the decades-old stopgap that means noncitizens can receive support but can't appeal if their application is rejected.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / TELLING LIVES
Feb 3, 2016

Japanese Odissi dancer masters Indian classical art form

Masako Ono's skills in this ancient style of dance have won her kudos and success in her adopted land of India.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle
Jan 23, 2016

Can farmed tuna save the bluefin from extinction?

Conservationists have long warned that bluefin tuna stocks are declining. While the development of aquaculture may offer an alternative, it doesn't come without a few headaches of its own.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Jan 14, 2016

Takehiro Hira steps into a 19th-century affair in the award-winning 'Kaku Onna'

Tokyo was bathed in warm sunshine in the run-up to 2016, and when Takehiro Hira meets me at a rehearsal studio his smile is beaming just as brightly — while in his arms he's carrying a box of mikan (mandarin oranges) to share with the rest of the team as they prepare for this month's rerun of Ai Nagai's...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jan 9, 2016

Nagisa Oshima: 'You have to tell the truth about your country, whatever it is'

Jan. 15 marks the third anniversary of the renowned film director's death. Roger Pulvers, who knew him for more than 30 years and was his assistant on “Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence,” discusses the man and his work
Japan Times
JAPAN / Society / DEMOGRAPHIC CHALLENGES
Jan 3, 2016

Options available to mitigate dangers of living alone with dementia

At first glance, it's hard to tell what's wrong with Keiko Sawada. As casual exchanges continue, however, it becomes increasingly clear the former bar hostess has serious memory problems.
EDITORIALS
Dec 5, 2015

Remembering Setsuko Hara

Fans and critics regretted that acting great Setsuko Hara never made more films after 1961, but with her passing perhaps a new generation will discover the pleasure, complexity and intensity of her work.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle
Nov 21, 2015

There's no time like the Christmas present

It may not be a traditional custom in Japan, but Christmas gift-giving is always played up by shopping malls here. If you're finding it all a bit overwhelming but still looking for something special, our writers are here to help with a few ideas that they think will make perfect gifts for your friends,...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Nov 18, 2015

Kohei Oguri's 'Foujita' struggles to win over foreign audiences

Veteran auteur Kohei Oguri's first film in 10 years, "Foujita" is a biopic of artist Tsuguharu "Leonard" Foujita. The toast of prewar Paris for his elegantly drawn women and cats, Foujita radically switched styles on his return to a militarized Japan and his propaganda art for the war effort was heavily...
Japan Times
WORLD
Nov 12, 2015

Putin's daughter and Russia's second-generation elite

Since Vladimir Putin began cementing his grip on Russia in the 1990s, many of his friends have grown famously rich.

Longform

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