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Japan Times
JAPAN
Jun 7, 2003

Chino Shoho's quirks pose no threat: cultist

On a quiet hill dotted with summer cottages in the village of Oizumi, Yamanashi Prefecture, with Mount Fuji soaring above the southern Alps, a pair of geodesic domes are going up.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Dec 11, 2002

International ideas take shape in Lebanon

Though the word "symposium" comes from Plato's ideal of a drinking party held to facilitate philosophical discussion, most of us are familiar with its modern usage, meaning a conference or meeting. Few people, however, know about the sculpture symposium movement, started by Karl Prantl in Austria in...
CULTURE / Art
Aug 20, 2000

Lessons in transforming space

Mukojima, two stops out from Asakusa, would appear on one's first visit to be the boondocks. Nonetheless, this suburban Tokyo backwater has been the location this year of two site-specific architecture and art projects.
Japan Times
PODCAST / deep dive
Feb 22, 2023

A Japanese photographer heads to Ukraine; a student flees to Tokyo

On the anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Gabriel Dominguez joins the podcast to talk about the effects this war in Europe has had on Japan.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Aug 13, 2014

Female anxiety shot from every angle

The Japanese film industry used to be like much of the rest of Japanese society: male-centered and male-run. It made plenty of movies about women and for women, but their directors were all men. That began to change when Naomi Kawase won a Cannes Camera d'Or prize in 1997 for her first feature, "Moe...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / CLOSE-UP
Jan 6, 2013

Frederik Schodt: pop culture ambassador to the world

Quick quiz: Who was the first Japanese civilian to be issued a passport?
COMMENTARY
Jul 16, 2011

No 'one size fits all' for democracy

"Political man" is a complicated species. Cultural conditions and history differ widely. Humility in the interpretation and prediction of human nature is the wisest bet.
COMMUNITY / Voices / HAVE YOUR SAY
Jul 5, 2011

Disunited 'English-speaking diaspora' bites back

The Community Page received a large number of emails in response to Debito Arudou's June 7 Just Be Cause column, headlined " 'English-speaking diaspora' should unite, not backbite."
COMMENTARY
Apr 7, 2011

West is on a slippery slope

NEW DELHI — From initially seeking to protect civilians to now aiming for a swift, total victory in Libya, the mission creep that has characterized the Western powers' military attack raises troubling questions about their Libyan strategy and the risks that it could end up creating — however inadvertently...
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / WILD WATCH
Jun 18, 2008

Aloft with ospreys, ultimate Fisher Kings

There is a moment of commitment; a glint of scales just beneath the water's surface is perhaps the trigger. As the bright-yellow eyes register the rippled light patterns, the brain is already identifying them as potential food, computing distance, assessing direction, considering depth.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Apr 9, 2008

Life and left-handed meteorites

I wonder if Empress Gensho, who ruled Japan for nine years and died in 748, had something against left-handed people.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Sep 28, 2006

Celebrating civilizations

The Islamic world is home to one of the richest and most important musical traditions on Earth. It doesn't hurt that it also spans an incredibly vast area, stretching west to Morocco and east as far as Indonesia, and that it contains an intricate tapestry of races, languages and cultures, or that it...
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM NEW YORK
Jun 24, 2002

U.S. lessons Japan may prefer to skip

NEW YORK -- Americans love to learn and teach lessons. The Japanese love to seek and accept them.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Apr 14, 2002

New twists on a venerable tradition

EINSTEIN'S CENTURY: Akito Arima's Haiku, translated by Emiko Miyashita & Lee Gurga. Brooks Books, 2001, 128 pp., $16/2,000 yen (paper) GENDAI HAIKU 2001/JAPANESE HAIKU 2001, edited by Modern Haiku Association. YOU-Shorin Press, 2000, 297 pp., 3 yen,000/$30 (paper) A FUTURE WATERFALL, by Ban'ya Natsuishi,...
Japan Times
WORLD / Science & Health
Dec 2, 2022

Physicists create ‘the smallest, crummiest wormhole you can imagine’

Scientists used a quantum computer to explore the ultimate escape route from a black hole.
Japan Times
SOCCER / World cup
Nov 8, 2022

Neymar ready to carry the weight of a nation on his shoulders

The PSG star's form and attitude in the first three months of this season bode well ahead of Brazil's bid to win a record sixth World Cup crown.
Japan Times
WORLD / Science & Health
Sep 10, 2022

To probe tornado secrets, these scientists stalk supercells

Tornadoes can form and dissipate rapidly, making them difficult to predict and sometimes impossible to avoid.
JAPAN / FOCUS
Jul 10, 2022

With fresh mandate, Kishida set to have hands full in coming months

Fresh off his party's Upper House election victory, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida is expected to set his sights on a signature economic policy, Japan's COVID measures and a defense overhaul.
JAPAN / Science & Health / Longform
Jun 13, 2022

As COVID-19 fears subside, Japan debates the future of masks

How much longer before the nation reaches a tipping point when people start ditching their masks en masse?
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World / Geoeconomic Briefing
Mar 21, 2022

Why China has failed to build 'great power relations' with the U.S.

Fifty years on from the Shanghai Communique, the nations have failed to reach a concrete understanding, despite changes in leadership.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / How-tos
Feb 22, 2022

Are you headed for a Japanese quarantine? Here’s what you could be in for.

Japan is relaxing its re-entry rules from March, but there's still a good chance you'll end up at the “Hotel Quarantine.” One person's experience gives a glimpse of what you might encounter.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Feb 20, 2022

Theater Commons Tokyo rethinks the 'voices' of performing arts in the COVID era

The festival examines radically different ways of creating and experiencing theater in the context of the pandemic, while also challenging the very idea of what theater can be.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 30, 2022

How venture capital created the modern world

Rather than focusing on predictable returns, venture capitalists are in the business of betting on the future.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Dec 29, 2021

How errors and inaction sent a deadly COVID-19 variant around the world

In early 2021, flare-ups in the Indian city of Amravati were the first visible warning that the delta variant was spreading. A devastating path across the world would soon follow.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle / Longform
Jan 9, 2021

Insects: The future of food?

A thriving industry looks promising if consumer aversion can be overcome.
Japan's culture of floor-sitting stretches back to ancient times. Only in the last 60 years has it faced off against a new lifestyle brought along by the rapid spread of chairs and other high furniture.
LIFE / Lifestyle / Longform
Nov 20, 2023

Has Japan mastered sitting?

Sitting is a deceptively simple act. But the story of sitting in Japan spans centuries of culture, politics and religion.
Japan's men's and women's gymnastics teams pose for photos during a news conference to announce the team's uniforms for the 2024 Games.
OLYMPICS / Gymnastics
Jun 24, 2024

Leotard vs. unitard debate in gymnastics still raging ahead of Paris Olympics

The German gymnastics team took a stand against sexualization in the sport in 2021, but heading into Paris, the leotard is still very much in vogue in Japan and abroad.
A man stands atop a float holding a portable shrine at this year’s Sanja Festival in Tokyo.
PODCAST / deep dive
Jul 20, 2023

Why 2023 will be a deciding year for Japan’s iconic summer festivals

As the population gets older do we risk losing the summer festivals that make Japan unique?
Any mix of the above foods that fit your dietary needs and preferences will make for filling and nutritious meals during an emergency.
LIFE / Lifestyle
Mar 9, 2024

Don’t let the next quake catch you (or your stomach) off guard

There’s a hidden threat in the days of limited power and bare grocery store shelves that follow a natural disaster: nutritional deficiencies.

Longform

Professional cleaner Hirofumi Sakurai takes a moment to appreciate some photographs in a Gotanda apartment whose occupant died alone.
The last cleanup: Life and death in a lonely Japan