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CULTURE / Music
Dec 4, 2009

2009: Cracks in the facade

A year of tragic deaths, amusing scandals and a series of increasingly senile looking attempts by the music industry to cling onto its outdated business model — that was 2009.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle
Dec 3, 2009

Platter of the day: Flash Sushi

LONDON — Nyotaimori — aka "female body arrangement" aka "naked sushi," in which the food is eaten from the nude body of a beautiful woman — is as much legend as fact in Japan (see accompanying article). But that hasn't stopped the Western imagination from seizing upon it as supposed shorthand for...
Japan Times
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Nov 20, 2009

Asian Performing Arts Festival has works from seven nations

If you'd like to sample some of the best contemporary performing arts that Asia has to offer — without leaving Japan — then check out the Asian Performing Arts Festival 2009.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Japan Pulse
Nov 11, 2009

Spirited away by tunes at the onsen

Nothing beats a nice bath but how about listening to music in a bathhouse? Onsen Ongaku Vol. 1 and Furorock make it happen.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 10, 2009

Recalling the fall of the Wall 20 years later: 'Botched' press release changed the world

NEW YORK — For weeks, the scene has been re-played on TV screens around the world, as if the events were breaking news: joyous Berliners dancing atop the infamous Wall, toppled 20 years ago on Nov. 9, 1989.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Nov 6, 2009

England's War of the Roses is being fought in modern-day Tokyo

Back in July, at a New National Theatre Tokyo (NNTT) press conference to herald this autumn's special staging of William Shakespeare's nine-hour-long "Henry VI" trilogy, Hitoshi Uyama, 56, its director, declared his intention to go beneath and beyond the blood, guts and gore of the famous epic set during...
Reader Mail
Nov 5, 2009

Wonders of carbon science

Regarding Gwynne Dyer's Nov. 1 article, "Avalanche of evidence on vanishing ice caps": As the Copenhagen conference on global warming approaches, Dyer gives an excellent introduction to the sophisticated science applied to this issue. It seems to be well established that high temperatures are associated...
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Oct 24, 2009

Concretology — getting lost inside a mammoth structure

Japan is the home of concretology. This form of architecture started in the 1960s as a way to use molds, iron bars and rendering to form structures that make people say, "Whoa!"
CULTURE / Film
Oct 23, 2009

'The Time Traveler's Wife'

One of our most common romantic notions is that of destiny, the idea that there is in fact one perfect soul mate out there who we are fated to meet. Most of us get this notion drilled out of us the hard way, through a couple of failed, bitter, find-all-your-stuff-piled-outside-the-door relationships,...
EDITORIALS
Oct 20, 2009

An important step forward

Armenia and Turkey took important steps toward overcoming a long bitter history this month. The two governments' agreement to establish diplomatic ties will help reduce the enmity that has dominated their relationship for nearly a century. It could also help transform relations in southeastern Europe...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Oct 9, 2009

The past and present of bands tearing up Japan's underground scene

Old school: Notable for Koichi Makigami's distinctive, Kabuki-influenced vocal style, Hikashu were, alongside P-Model and The Plastics, one of the defining bands of Japanese new wave and technopop, although from their poppy debut they quickly tacked in a more experimental direction. At Drive to 2010...
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / Japan Pulse
Oct 2, 2009

Japanese R&D brings 3D technology closer to home

We all love those retro 3D glasses, but now (or very soon) it is the time to fasten your seat belts for trip into the real deal.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Sep 26, 2009

Maybe it's time for some age-old wisdom

The cover of a Japanese magazine recently showed a photo of Shiraishi Island along with a title that urged people to come and relax in shima no jikan (island time). This, of course, is the image outsiders have of our island.
EDITORIALS
Sep 21, 2009

Lessons of Lehman Brothers

On Sept. 15, 2008, Lehman Brothers, a venerable international financial firm, went bankrupt. Its collapse set off a chain of events that triggered a global financial crisis that is estimated to have caused more than $1.6 trillion in losses and cost millions of jobs. A year later, we are still assessing...
COMMENTARY / World / SENTAKU MAGAZINE
Sep 21, 2009

Less 'exclusionary' DPJ to test mettle of reporters

The resounding victory by the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) in the general election Aug. 30 not only will bring about a change of government but also is likely to shatter an exclusionary "press club" system that has long prevented freelance, non-Japanese and other nonmember journalists from interviewing...
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle / WEEK 3
Sep 20, 2009

Mystery on the 'Dark Dinner' menu

One evening in mid-August, a dozen people gathered at Ryokusenji temple in Tokyo's Asakusa district for a meal. But this was to be no regular feast, as the diners sitting shoulder to shoulder with strangers would all be blindfolded and served a series of dishes the organizers would not disclose beforehand....
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / WILD WATCH
Sep 20, 2009

U.K. birders' fair shows we can all help save even LBJs

"Life works by making lots and lots of different kinds of living things, and every one we lose impoverishes us and the world. Every single species, obscure or common, funny or dull, gorgeous or LBJ [the bird-watchers' abbreviation for "Little Brown Job"], is a strand in the web of life: every time we...
ENVIRONMENT / WILD WATCH
Sep 20, 2009

U.K. birders' fair shows we can all help save even LBJs

"Life works by making lots and lots of different kinds of living things, and every one we lose impoverishes us and the world. Every single species, obscure or common, funny or dull, gorgeous or LBJ [the bird-watchers' abbreviation for "Little Brown Job"], is a strand in the web of life: every time we...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Sep 18, 2009

'Infinite moments' brought to stage

Seminaked men, shaven-headed, their bodies covered in white makeup, move with intent slowness on the stage: Anyone who has ever seen Ankoku Butoh — Japan's most famous dance export — will recognize this description. But, as good as the likes of internationally acclaimed dance troupe Sankai Juku are,...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / VIEWS FROM THE STREET
Sep 15, 2009

How do you keep up with what's going on in Japan?

Japan Times
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Sep 15, 2009

Community groups provide lifelines in many ways

If you spot a festival or sporting event taking place in your neighborhood, chances are it was organized by the local neighborhood association.
COMMENTARY
Sep 12, 2009

DPP scoring political points at Taiwan's expense

What's going on in Taiwan? A year ago, there were serious concerns about the viability of Taiwan democracy. The Nationalist Party (KMT) had achieved an overwhelming majority with a sweeping victory in Legislative Yuan elections and had regained the presidency as a result of a landslide victory by its...
EDITORIALS
Sep 3, 2009

Getting disarmament started

The 21st U.N. Conference on Disarmament Issues was held last week in the Sea of Japan coastal city of Niigata, attended by about 90 people from 21 countries, mainly government officials and researchers who exchanged opinions as individuals. In a positive development, they agreed that the international...
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Aug 28, 2009

Children get opportunity to experience traditional Japanese arts

Anyone interested in exploring the field of traditional Japanese music need look no further than the "Introductory Traditional Japanese Music Concerts" being staged at the Tokyo Metropolitan Art Space in Ikebukuro from Aug. 28-30.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle / Japan Pulse
Aug 18, 2009

Matches made on the green

Golf begat golf bars begat gorukon (golf + group dating). Those without the yen to burn on real golf courses are teeing off for love at virtual greens.
JAPAN
Aug 18, 2009

Traumas of Showa Era have shaped a man's life

A man's life alone cannot represent the Showa Era in its entirety, but Susumu Iida's serves to underscore many of its harsh legacies.

Longform

Visitors walk past Sou Fujimoto's Grand Ring, which has been recognized as the largest wooden structure in the world.
Can a World Expo still matter? Japan is about to find out.