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Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle
Mar 31, 2018

Will Japan ever join the great Easter egg hunt?

A year ago, J-pop star Kyary Pamyu Pamyu released a song with lyrics and a promotional video that were as saccharine as a chocolate bunny. The song was titled "Easta" — a play on Easter and "a good start" in Japanese — and the video had dancing eggs, capybaras and fried-egg UFOs shooting laser beams....
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / The Big Questions
Mar 25, 2018

Hands-on leadership, empathy buoy chairman

Sachin N. Shah's love for Japan began with a Toyota Tercel, his first car after he moved from India to an American-Italian neighborhood in the United States in the 1970s.
EDITORIALS
Mar 25, 2018

China's coming propaganda offensive

Beijing is overhauling its state media to better control domestic content and to create a propaganda behemoth that will spread its message around the world.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Mar 23, 2018

Tourism industry tailors more services to well-heeled visitors from overseas as it looks to boost numbers and revenue

In 2017 a record 28.7 million foreigners visited Japan, up 19.3 percent from the previous year, according to the Japan National Tourism Organization.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / HOTELS & RESTAURANTS
Mar 22, 2018

Spring buffet inspired by Shimane Prefecture

A dinner buffet, Night Kitchen Stadium — Premium Ingredients from Shimane, is available at The Yokohama Bay Hotel Tokyu's Cafe Tosca until April 15.
Japan Times
WORLD
Mar 20, 2018

Cambridge Analytica CEO offered to ensnare politicians in dirty tricks campaign: report

The data firm accused of harvesting Facebook Inc. user profiles was captured in secret footage bragging about how it could use prostitutes and former spies to ensnare politicians and influence elections.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film / Wide Angle
Mar 15, 2018

Netflix's new yakuza flick has Jared Leto on the outs with critics

In his 1999 book "Tokyo Underworld," Robert Whiting told the real-life story of Nick Zappetti, a former American GI in postwar Japan who becomes embroiled in a world of yakuza and corrupt politicians. Subtitled "The Fast Times and Hard Life of an American Gangster in Japan," it had all the hallmarks...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Mar 8, 2018

'Legend of the Demon Cat' presents the multicolored beauty of Chen Kaige's China

The current decade has seen China's film market rise to heights exceeded only by Hollywood; in 2017, box-office earnings grew nearly 13.45 percent year-on-year to a splendiferous 55.9 billion yuan ($8.6 billion). This bonanza has spurred massive investment and fueled out-sized ambitions.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Mar 2, 2018

The surfing life is no breeze for Olympic hopefuls in Chiba Prefecture

Sixty years since its introduction to the country, Japan will host the world's first Olympic surfing competion. But where did Japan's surf scene begin?
Japan Times
CULTURE / CULTURE SMASH
Feb 25, 2018

Netflix is animated about anime

Netflix's director of anime, Taito Okiura, tells me he feels like a local baseball player who got drafted into the U.S. Major Leagues. Except, he doesn't play the sport.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink
Feb 24, 2018

In Taiwan, top chefs are building on a long history of culinary exchange with Japan

At 9 p.m. on a Saturday night, the Raohe Street Night Market in downtown Taipei is heaving. A line snakes in front of a stand selling caramelized pork buns near the grand, red gate that marks the entrance, and groups wander through the rows of vendors, munching on skewers of grilled squid and slurping...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Feb 23, 2018

Kyoto develops new niche, hosting wedding ceremonies for international couples who cherish traditional Japan

More and more couples from overseas are holding wedding ceremonies in Kyoto, attracted by the ancient capital's reputation as symbolizing traditional Japanese culture.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Society
Feb 23, 2018

South Korean chat app becomes new outlet for Me Too movement

A chat app where South Koreans can anonymously dish the dirt on their misbehaving bosses and colleagues is belatedly stirring the country's Me Too movement, shedding new light on sexual harassment in the heavily male-dominated corporate culture.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Feb 22, 2018

Uber CEO plans closer ties with Toyota on autonomous driving

The world's largest car maker and the world's biggest ride-hailing company plan to team up on autonomous driving as technological changes sweep through the transportation industry.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 21, 2018

'Herbivore' investor Haruhiro Nakano takes on lions of Japanese finance

In a tiny, windowless meeting room high above the streets of Tokyo, Haruhiro Nakano starts to cry. The rail-thin, 54-year-old fund manager, who looks like a faded former J-pop star, has just shared his investing pitch, which sounds so deceptively simple you may not appreciate just how radical it is:...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Feb 20, 2018

The best pick and mix of modern art

The current exhibition at the Hara Museum of Contemporary Art could be considered a retrospective of Toshio Hara's career as a collector. Surprisingly, given that the museum was founded in 1979, it's the first time that the director and president has personally curated a show there, and the title is...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / The Big Questions
Feb 20, 2018

Strong growth potential seen in Asia and Europe

Romanian Viorel Isticioaia-Budura, who heads the delegation of the European Union to Japan, draws inspiration from Asia's cultures and developments in the belief they hint at our raison d'etre and at goals to pursue in order to strengthen international ties.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 12, 2018

The point of sharp power

The view that despotism is incompatible with 'soft power is a popular one. Yet Russia and China are projecting more influence beyond their borders than at any time in recent memory.
Japan Times
BASKETBALL / B. League / B. LEAGUE NOTEBOOK
Feb 1, 2018

Donte' Hill hoping to return Iwate to respectability in second half of season

In the rapidly changing Japan pro basketball landscape, the Iwate Big Bulls' run to the bj-league Final Four in 2015 is, well, ancient history.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Society
Jan 31, 2018

'Country of cowards': Comedy duo's political satire stands out in gun-shy Japan

In what was perhaps a make-or-break moment for their careers, comedy duo Woman Rush Hour did something on prime-time television in December that most of their fellow comedians try their best to eschew: They talked about politics.
Japan Times
MORE SPORTS
Jan 29, 2018

Iwade takes progressive approach to sports medicine

Teikyo University men's rugby team head coach Masayuki Iwade has a golden rule — never compete when you are carrying a serious injury.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / The Big Questions
Jan 28, 2018

Female workforce crucial for economic prosperity

Bangladesh Ambassador to Japan Rabab Fatima is one of 21 female ambassadors who were invited by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe for a luncheon, during which they discussed female empowerment in their countries, on Jan. 9.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Jan 28, 2018

Launch a tourist-friendly Seto Inland Sea ferry system and they will come

The 250 or so inhabited islands scattered like pebbles between Honshu and Shikoku have been unfairly relegated to guidebook sidebars labeled 'Off the beaten track.'
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle
Jan 27, 2018

Game on! Japan's live-action games offer players a fleeting escape from reality

A group of surly guards inspect a line of inmates on death row standing in front of a prison.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHY DID YOU LEAVE JAPAN?
Jan 27, 2018

Yumiko Oho teaches the ABC's of life in Italy

The desire to escape Japan's old-school notion of gender roles paved the way for a former bank employee to discover business opportunities overseas.

Longform

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